I was surprised to find out that Steven and Warren were still willing to help me stop Pip. I figured they would decided that they were too close to Pip, and cared about him too much to do any form of harm to him, which would have been understandable. However, they agreed that what Pip was doing was horrible, and that he needed to be stopped, and I was grateful to receive their help.

Morton had texted me, telling me when the nest meeting was at the paper factory, and we sent me in, just like the first time I spied on a meeting. It went very much the same way too. Morton and some guy argued, they all talked about how Shadow-Man was ruining their jobs, and their lives, and how they still weren't pulling in enough money to reach their quota. I noticed that the man from the first meeting who argued with Morton constantly and claimed that he liked what he did, was starting to look nervous. Things were going well for me, since I was getting information, when the worst thing ever happened. I sneezed.

"What the fuck?" Someone asked loudly, looking around for he source of the sneeze.

"He's up there! It's the shadow mother fucker in the costume!" Another guy yelled, pointing up at me. Suddenly, just about everyone had pulled out a gun and aimed it at me. They all began firing, and I ran as fast as I could, jumping from wooden beam to wooden beam.

"The name's Shadow-Man you fuck wad!" I yelled down at the man who had called me out. I managed to get to the sky light window, and climbed through it, avoiding getting shot. Everyone ran out of the factory, hoping to catch me as I ran away, but I was still on the roof, watching everything happen down below. I sighed, and sat on the roof, planning to wait everyone out.

When I finally was able to leave, I went to Gill's house, and told him all about what happened. I found myself needing Gill's comfort more and more often. He was always enthusiastic about me being a superhero, and always knew how to show me the bright side of every situation. I was very, very disappointed in myself when I told Gill the story, specially when I told him about how I sneezed. But Gill laughed. He laughed his ass off when I was done with the story, and I found myself starting to laugh too. We were just both sitting on his bed, laughing hysterically at my mistake.

"Why am I laughing?" I laughed. "i just messed up so badly."

"Because it was funny. Yeah, you messed up, but what superhero hasn't? Some superheroes killed the wrong person, or blew up whole buildings and stuff like that. All you did was sneeze." Gill responded.

"Thanks Gill." I sighed, and I fell over so that my head was in Gill's lap. Gill's fingers went straight to my hair and began to play with it.

"When someone's as cool as you are, the least I can do is cheer them up." Gill responded, beging to braid my hair a bit.

"I'm not cool. Shadow-Man is cool. He's badass, and he isn't afraid of anyone or anything. He'll be who he wants no matter what, and no one would dare question him, because they would know that he would lay their asses out if they did."

"Ty, you're Shadow-Man. You aren't two different people. Even if you weren't Shadow-Man though, I would still think that you're one of the best people I know, and I'm proud to call you my boyfriend, regardless of you being Shadow-Man." Gill told me, gently running his fingers through the short braid that he had made, and gently rubbing my scalp.

"You know what Gill? You're right. I am Shadow-Man." I smiled, sitting up suddenly, causing Gill to look at me in surprise. "And Shadow-Man isn't afraid of anything. So I'm going to do what I've been wanting to do since eighth grade."

"And what's that?" Gill asked.

"I'm going to cut my hair, and I'm going to start wearing binders to school, and I'm going to feel great about myself doing it."

"Hell yeah. You do what you want to do, you look how you want to look, and don't let anyone stop you. Just please try not to get expelled."

"I don't give a shit if I do."

***

I did exactly what I said I was going to do, and got a haircut. It was short, easy to wash, and I didn't have to brush it all the time. I could just roll out of bed and not worry about my hair at all, and I loved it. I also started wearing binders to school, and tried to ignore the fact that I was still wearing the goddamned skirt, though that wasn't easy. I walked into the school being Tyler Lang, the boy, with a boy's body, and I loved it so much. When Gill saw me, he ran happy fingers through my short hair, and grinned at my smile.

"You look very handsome Ty." Gill told me seriously, and I smiled even more.

"Thank you Gill." I smiled. Then I had to go speak to the principal of the school about violating my dress code by cutting my hair. I got talked to about how I would be serving detention for a day, and told that I was lucky I wasn't getting expelled.

"We have very strict standards young lady." The principal told me. "By cutting your hair as you have, you put this school at risk. What if someone came touring the school and saw that things were disorganized, because we aloud one of our girls to cut her hair? We try to teach all of our students to be proper young ladies and gentlemen, and yu cutting your hair goes against what we have taught you. What do you have to say for yourself miss Lang?"

I rolled my eyes, and sighed. I didn't know what the principal expected me to say, or what he wanted me to do about my hair. It was already cut, and there was nothing that could be done about that. I considered just agreeing with him, and leaving, but that's not what Shadow-Man would do. So I summoned all of my crime fighting strength before speaking.

"Actually, sir, I am a boy. My name is Tyler, I am a male student, and I am sick of being treated like a girl. I cut my hair because it's my body, and I feel more comfortable in it now that I look more like a boy. I don't care if I fit your molds for what a girl should look like, because women come in all shapes and sizes, each on is beautiful, and, either way, I'm a boy. Now the way I see it is you can either give me detention and fix nothing, or you can give me the uniform for a boy, and treat me like a boy, and solve both of our problems." I announced. The principal looked completely flabbergasted by the words that had come out of my mouth, but I ended up getting my way.

That was one of the greatest days of my life. I was given maroon pants to replace my skirt right away, and I made Gill wait for me outside of the restrooms while I changed. He didn't know that I was given pants, or that I was going to be treated just like every other boy until I walked out of the girl's restroom with pants on. That was the last time I would ever have to use a girl's restroom at school. Gill was so happy for me, that he scooped me up into a giant hug and spun me in a circle, before setting me on the ground and kissing me in a way that made my knees go weak.

"How do you feel?" Gill asked.

"Warmer." I chuckled with a smile, and Gill smiled back.

***

After school, Warren told me that I looked great, and that he was happy for me. Things had been weird between Warren and I after Pip had showed up at Steven's house. Nothing was different between Steven and I though, because I knew that he didn't care about me to start with. Speaking of Steven, he wasn't there.

"Steven is sick, and I'm making him stay in bed, so there isn't really much we can do today, but I was wondering if you would like to go get something to eat." Warren told me, looking at me in the rearview mirror. I shook my head.

"No, you can just drop me off somewhere and I'll take a nap before heading out tonight." I responded. Warren frowned.

"Are you ok? You've been different lately." Warren asked.

"I'm fine." I replied blandly.

"You don't sound fine. Why won't you tell me what's up?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does. Why wouldn't it matter?"

"Because I'm just a project, remember? I'm a charity case that you guys pulled off the streets to make yourselves feel better because you were bored. So if there is nothing for us to do in regards to Shadow-Man, then just drop me off somewhere instead of pretending that you actually want to spend time with me for the sake of your own self conscious." I said bitterly, looking out the window and sulking.

"Tyler, I didn't mean it like that." Warren told me in a sincere tone, referring to when Pip was at Steven's house. "You're not a charity case. We chose to help you because we saw the potential for greatness in you, and we knew that you would be willing to reach for that greatness by doing what you knew was right."

"That's not what you told Pip."

"When I told Pip that you were Steven's latest project, I didn't mean that that was all you were. How long have you been sitting on this?"

"Since Pip's visit." I mumbled.

"I'm sorry I made you feel so bad."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Want to get some food?"

"Sure."

***

That day hadn't been bad all things considered. That night, however, was not that great. I was out as Shadow-Man, stopping crimes as usual, when I was jumped. I really should have seen it coming, but I didn't.

I was walking down a street, looking for signs of someone needing help, when I was suddenly tackled to the ground from behind. I fought back, getting the person off of me and standing up, ready to fight. The man who had tackled meswung at me, and he and I began fighting. I was winning, taking a few hits, but throwing some powerful ones myself, when two people snuck up behind me and grabbed each of my hands, stopping me from punching the man any more.

"Let go of me you basterds!" I yelled, fighting against the people who had my arms. The man I was fighting to start with reached over my shoulders and grabbed my batons off of my back. My eyes widened, and I fought harder against the people who were had my arms, but I just couldn't get free.

With one swift motion from the man who tackled me, my head was split with pain. My vision blurred before my eyes, and I couldn't think for a moment. I stopped fighting, and fell limp in the holds of the other two men. I blinket, seeing stars as everything came into focus more. Once my vision clured more, though the pain in my head stayed the same, everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The man who had tackled me was illuminated by the golden glow of nearby street lights that lined the side walk. I watched, unable to do anything as the man swung one of his arms back, and the baton he was holding glimered in the oragne light. The man swung his arm forward with a significant amount of force, and the baton in his hand came into contact with my head.

Then everything was black.