Jackson Hughes and his female friend fell back as the cloaked figure loomed towards them.
"I am the Adventurer, and I say you die tonight, Jackson Hughes!"
"I'm the Outsider, and I say no chance!" I replied, making myself visible once more. As he drew a knife, I fired. I never miss. The bolt struck the cloaked man in the elbow and he cried out in pain, dropping the knife. I approached across the room, reloading, ready to fire again if I had to.
"Hughes has done nothing to harm you," I insisted.
"Hasn't he? He twisted my character, destroyed my legacy! He is my enemy, and he must always be my enemy until he dies at my hand!"
The man didn't sound sane, but I wasn't sure about him. For all I knew it might be an act. He could be pretending that he was insane. And the pain from where I'd shot him wasn't helping him.
Jackson Hughes had a reputation as a tough guy, but caught between a weird cloaked figure threatening to kill him and me, he was scared. His female friend had fainted, and Hughes looked on the verge of fainting himself. I found that kind of amusing - after all, he was the tough guy. But then, I do look kind of scary.
The cloaked killer's eyes were narrow slits, just visible through the folds of his mask. I saw hate in them, knowing my own glowing red eyes don't betray any emotion.
"Do you want me to shoot you again?" I asked him politely. Of course my shooting or not shooting him would be more dependent on his behaviour than his answer.
He turned and ran back into the bedroom. I fired after him, and I heard him cry out as my bolt hit him. Then a window shattered.
I ran after him.
What I found was a broken window. Yet, when I looked down, there was no broken body on the street. Somehow the would-be killer had escaped being splattered on the road below. Well, it would save the city a nasty job. Scraping dead pople off the streets isn't very nice when they've fallen from a great height.
"W...w... wha... what... what ha..." Jackson stammered behind me.
"He was going to kill you, I stopped him," I replied simply. "I'm the Outsider, I have fantastic powers that I use to fight crime. You might want to call the police."
I vanished, knowing that Jackson wasn't in any further danger. Two police officers crashed into the room, and I made my exit. I don't like publicity.
So this 'Adventurer' had struck at Hughes. But I had a clue now. I'd shot him twice. Even if my second shot had only winged him, the first would have put his right arm out of action. So whichever of our suspects had an injured right elbow was our killer.
I'd had a good night.
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