When I was finally able to get back to being Shadow-Man, I was ecstatic. I had missed it so much, and I couldn't wait to get back to punching criminals again. I went out the night after I was told that I could start wearing binders again, and train with Warren again, and it was just like my very first night as Shadow-Man, but so much better.

The first crime I had come across was a mugging. I quickly helped the woman who was being mugged, successfully beating up the man who did it. I decided that even thought I had the batons, and even though I was learning how to use them, I wasn't going to use them unless I absolutely needed to. A lousy mugger with a switch blade was night one of those situations. However, I was quickly thrown into a situation where I thought I would need to use my batons, because soon after I had stopped the mugging, I was slammed roughly against a wall by a very large man, and his buddies.

"It's you again." The man who had me pinned against the wall hissed. It took me a moment to recognize him and his friends, but I eventually did. It was the group of guys that I had beaten up in the video that Clair had showed Gill and i the day that she found out that I was Shadow-Man.

"Indeed it is." I responded, unafraid of the men.

"You attacked my brother. He couldn't reach his quota because of you, and he got punished for it. He only has one eye now, and it's your fault."

"Your brother was a criminal, and so are you. He deserved what he got. Maybe now you guys will see that you need to turn your lives around."

"We can't do that. You don't know what we're up against. None of us have a choice anymore." The man seemed very distressed. 

"You always have a choice. Tell me what you're up against. Tell me what's going on and let me help you." I was getting concerned.

"I can't. He'll kill me if I do."

"I won't let that happen. Tell me what you can."

"He-he'll kill me. He's merciless, an-and he doesn't make any exceptions. I've already told you far too much."

"Please, at least tell me his name."

"I don't know his name. Everyone just calls him Pip."

"Where does he live? Where do you guys meet?" The man groaned when I asked him the question, which let me know that he did know the answer to this question.

"God, I'm gonna get killed." The man sighed. "We meet in the old paper factory by the harbor. Our next meeting is tomorrow night."

"Morton." A deep voice called. All heads turned to the side, where the voice had come from. The other men that were there took off, running in all directions, trying to get away as fast as they could. The man who had me pinned to the wall, who I assumed was Morton, groaned. He let me go, then took a step towards the sound of the voice.

It was another man. He was tall, and muscular. He looked as if he had an immense amount of influence over others, and by the way Morton practically kneeled at his feet, he probably did. I stepped closer, but tried to stay in the shadows. I wanted to see what was going on, but I didn't want to make my presence known, even though it was likely that the man already knew I was there.

"Morton, what have you told this man?" The strange man asked, making a lazy gesture in my general direction. He definately knew I was there.

"Nothing Pip! I would never betray you!" Morton said desperately. So the strange man was Pip. I really should have known that.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I was trying to get revenge for what he did to my brother."

"Your brother deserved what he got! He shouldn't have been caught by this imbecile in the first place! We can't have that kind of recklessness!" Pip boomed, startling me a bit too.

"I know Pip!"

"Wether you told this man anything or not, he now knows far too much. Get rid of him." Pip ordered, then he stepped back to make sure that the job got done. Morton sighed as he pulled a gun out of his pocket, and pointed it right at the centure of my head.

I thought fast, doing what I could to disarm Morton. I jumped up, and kicked Morton in the wrist of the hand that was holding the gun. Morton dropped the gun, and I caught it before it hit the ground, and hucked it down the street, far away. I then knocked Morton off of his feet, and charged at Pip. Pip was really good at fighting. He kept dodging my attacks, and managing to land his own. Fortunately for me, I was good at fighting too. Pip and I were both moving quicky, and burning off a lot of energy, but we weren't actually doing a whole lot of damage to each other, because we were both able to dodge the other's attacks.

I guess Pip started to get sick of how the fight was going, because he suddenly pulled out a gun and pressed it roughly against my forehead. I pulled out my batons, which were strapped to my back, and hit Pip roughly with them. I hit the gun out of Pip's hand, then started beating him up with the batons. I managed to knock Pip over, and he fell onto his face, and I took the chance to knock him out. I breathed heavily, and put my batons back in their holders on my back. I looked over at Morton, who was standing neat by, still looking scared. I nodded at him, then left without a word, planning to show up at the old paper factory the next night.

Instead of going home, I ran as fast as I could to Steven's house. I had to tell them about what had happened. Whatever was going on sounded big, and serious, and I felt that Steven and Warren needed to know about what was going on, and what we might be dealing with. I knocked hurriedly on the door of Steven's house, out of breath and sweating profusely. No one answered, so I kept knocking. However, when I realised that everyone was probably asleep, and no one was going to open the door, I sighed, and walked around the building.

I knew which room I wanted to get into, but the window to that room I wanted to get into was on the second floor. I sighed, staring up and the window with my hands on top of my head, still out of breath. I began to scale the wall, using little ledges that were added onto the house for aesthetic to climb up the building. I eventually reached the window that I was trying to get to, and opened it, silently slipping through it. I closed the window behind me, and crouched down beside the bed, where Warren was sleeping. I planned on just shaking Warren awake, but then I stopped and thought about how creeping it would look to him, so I took off my mask because I thought that would help.

"Warren." I said softly, shaking Warren lightly in an effort to wake him up. Warren woke with a start, and let out a small gasp when he saw me there, but soon relaxed when he realised who it was.

"Tyler?" Warren asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he turned on a nearby lamp, dousing us in light. "What are you doing here?"

"I just stumbled upon something big. I need to talk to you and Steven right now. Let's go wake him up." I said, standing quickly, and going to leave Warren's room and go to Steven's.

"Wait, he's not going to be in there." Warren told me, quickly standing up to stop me.

"Well where is he?"

"Probably down in his lab."

"Well let's go."

"Wait, can I like, put on some pants first?" Warren asked, and it wasn't until then that I noticed that he wasn't wearing anything but bright blue, loose fitting boxers.

"No. There's no time. This is important." I said, running out of Warren's room. I heard Warren sigh before following me to Steven's lab.

Warren was right, Steven was down in the lab working on a machine with Jess. Those two seemed to be getting along, and I thought that was great. Steven and Jess turned and looked at us, confused by both me being there, and my worried expression. I quickly explained to all three of them about Pip and Morton. They listened intently, and gave me all of their attention, and they didn't say anything, until I told them that I was going to go to the paper factory.

"No." Warren told me without hesitation, causing the rest of us to look a him in confusion.

"Why not?" I asked, slightly offended.

"Because, you're talking about going right into a factory that is going to be filled with criminals who are clearly very serious about what they do. You were already attacked tonight, because one of those people wanted revenge. Morton, you said his name was, is probably going to get severely punished for what happened tonight, if not killed, and there will be people who want to get you back for that. You going to that factory is a suicide mission." Warren told me seriously.

"But there's something big going on. A guy lost his eyeball, because he couldn't meet his 'quota'. People are loosing body parts because they aren't pulling in a certain amount of money. That's not ok, and it sounds like these people need our help." I argued.

"Going in and spying on a gang like that will get you killed. Are you prepared to get yourself killed for this?"

"if it means that no one else has to loose their limbs, then yes. Without hesitation. I didn't become Shadow-Man to preserve my own life. I became Shadow-Man because there are people out there who need my help. Now wether you support me or not, I will be at that paper factory tomorrow night." I said, putting my foot down on the matter. Warren couldn't help but hide his smirk of pride. Soon after that, Warren, Steven, Jess, and I began making a plan.     

***

Gill flipped out when I told him about what I was going to do. He thought it was too dangerous, and seemed to have the same line of thinking as Warren did. So I gave him the same speech that I had given Warren, and it had the same effect. However, Gill gave me a hug along with a proud smile, then he kissed the top of my head, which made me smile slightly. I then changed the subject, by letting Gill know that my mom had invited him to stay the night at my house, sense it was the weekend, which meant that Gill would be coming over to Steven's house with me, and then probably staying there while I go to the paper factory for a little bit.

When we got into Steven's car, Gill was really excited, as per usual. He was ecstatic to get to see me use my batons, and get to see me go to the paper factory. Steven had informed me that he had put camera's in the eyes of my suit and built an ear piece for me to wear so Steven, Jess, Warren, and I could talk while I was in the factory. Everyone else seemed a lot more worried about the whole thing than I was. They all assumed the worst would happen, and that I would get ripped apart limb by limb or something, but I honestly just intended to just spy on everyone. Not interact with them.

"Before we go to the house, can we stop somewhere and buy a couple of burn phones?" I asked Warren and Steven.

"Why?" Steven asked me, looking back at me in confusion.

"For Morton. He wanted me to help him, and it would be nice to have an inside man while trying to get information." I explained. Steven sighed.

"You plan on giving Morton a burn phone so that he has direct connection with you?" Steven asked as if I was an idiot.

"Look, I know it's risky, and stupid, and so many things could go wrong. But yes." I responded. I heard Warren chuckle, and so did Gill.

"Sure. We'll get some burn phones for you and Morton." Warren told me kindly. I smiled as Steven rolled his eyes, then look disapprovingly at Warren.

"You're too soft on him Warren." Steven scoffed.