Hello! Thank you for continuing to read this story, and for the reviews! Now, without further ado, here is the next chapter!

TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide attempt.


Christine/Crimson Shadow

Today had been a horrible day for Christine. Going into details would be tedious enough as it is, so I'll just summarize. She woke up really late for work, malicious co-workers, arrogant and demanding boss, machines that didn't work right, etc, etc. It seemed like one of those days that the universe had just decided to be a complete and total jerk to her. But, I digress. As she sat on the washer she was currently using, she twisted the promise ring her father gave her around her left ring finger. Her father... I highly doubt that thinking about him will make this day better. Even that wasn't enough to stop a single tear from sliding down her face. Another one followed, and another, and another. Her heart began to ache terribly, just like it always did when she was in emotional pain. Realizing that she would cause people to notice her pain if she didn't stop crying, Christine wiped her face off and jumped off of the washer. She soon finished her laundry and got back to her apartment, only to see that it was time for her to get ready for the night's work. Leaving her clothes in the living room, Christine quickly changed into Crimson Shadow. Well, it wasn't exactly quick; it took 15 minutes, at least. When she felt that she was ready to go, she ran into a shadow and emerged on top of a roof. Crimson took out her police scanner and pressed it up to her ear. Let's hope something interesting is gonna happen. I didn't take long for a case to present itself.

"We have a 10-56A on the roof of an apartment complex on 34th St. I repeat, we have a 10-56A on the roof of an apartment complex on 34th St." A deep voice belted into the radio.

Crimson's eyes widened when she heard the code. 10-56A means a suicide attempt... She stuffed the radio back into it's pouch and ran into yet another shadow. When she emerged, she saw a man standing on a ledge in front of her, about to jump off.

"WAIT!" She cried.

The man tensed up for a moment, before slowly turning around to face her. He saw her eyes widen as she got a good look at his face.

"Stay away from me! If you get any closer, I'll jump." He replied.

"I know you will." Crimson said, her voice unusually gentle. "What's your name?"

"Billy Prescot."

"Well, Billy, you don't have to jump."

"Yes, I do."

"Why do you need to?"

"Because, the one person I loved most in this world is dead and it's my fault!"

She sighed sadly, and gave him a look of understanding.

"That may be, but you don't have to kill yourself for it."

"You wouldn't understand..." He told her, turning his head back towards the street below. There were now cops surrounding the building, the sirens starting to disorientate Billy.

"Actually, I do. I was in your position not too long ago." Crimson responded.

"Really?" Billy asked, his eyes still fixated on the pavement. "I didn't think heroes got depressed."

"Well, they do. I remember what triggered it: one of my enemies brought up something that hit a little too close to home. At first, it sent me into a blind rage. My friends had to stop me from using my powers to rip him apart. After the rage settled down, sadness and guilt took its place. Prompted me to do exactly what you're doing right now."

At this point, Billy had turned around completely to face her.

"Who saved you?"

"Would you believe me if I said it was an ordinary civilian?"

"Seriously?"

"Yep. He talked me through everything and made me realize that no amount of guilt is worth taking my life. Or any life, for that matter."

"It must have meant a lot to you when he did that."

"It did. Now, I'm going to help you the same way he helped me. And the first step, is you going from the ledge to where I am."

"That's the opposite of my current goal." Billy asked, his voice lined with deep sadness.

"Well, if you go through with your current goal, you'll make the people who care about you sad. Not to mention the fact that you have nice face, and I would hate to see a face like that covered in blood."

"Good point. Not good enough to get me down, though."

"Drat! The flirtatious line usually works."

"Saying I have a nice face is considered 'flirtatious'?"

"I'm socially awkward; what can I say?"

Billy smiled a little at that remark. Good, we're making progress.

"A superhero is socially awkward?" He asked with a smile in his voice.

"It can happen! At least I'm not an arrogant superhero, like Captain Hammer; those are the worst."

"I can agree with that statement."

Crimson laughed, sat down on the rooftop, and put her hands in her lap.

"Finally, someone who shares my pain!" She cried.

"Same here! I thought everybody loved loved Captain Hammer."

"Well, 99% of these people do. We must be that 1% that still has standards."

That's when Billy laughed. His laugh sounded soft and gentle to Crimson's ears, and it made the love she had for Billy grow even more.

"I never thought that there could be someone like you as a hero." He told her.

"Well, there is, and here I am!" Crimson said.

Just then, Billy shivered slightly. It was then Crimson noticed that he didn't have a jacket on.

"You must be freezing; come over here and put this on." She said, as she began to take off her leather jacket.

"No, I'm fine." Billy responded, shaking his head.

"Billy, you're shivering and I'm pretty sure that icicles are going to start hanging off of your nose any second now. Put. On. This. Jacket."

Sighing, he reluctantly stepped off of the ledge, walked over to Crimson, and allowed her to drape the jacket over his shoulders.

"Thanks." He grumbled, sitting down next to her.

"You're welcome." There was an awkward silence for a while, until Crimson decided to break it. "You wanna see something cool?"

"Well, since my plans for this evening are shot and I have nothing better to do, sure." He replied in an incredibly sarcastic voice.

Just then, door burst open and a dozen police officers flooded the roof. Crimson rolled her eyes and stood up with a sigh.

"Listen fellas, I've got this under control. Now, if you would please-"

"HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!" One of the officers cried, pulling out his taser.

"Excuse me?"

"HANDS UP, NOW!"

Crimson slowly raised her hands, a look of confusion on her face.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"You're under arrest for vigilantism."

"WHAT?!" Both Crimson and Billy cried.

"Officer, this woman just saved my life!"

"We're well aware of that. However, that doesn't make it alright to be an unregistered superhero."

One of the officers began to read Crimson her rights, and another turned her around and handcuffed her hands behind her back. She winked at Billy, before back-kicking the officer behind her. Her eyes went red, as the handcuffs on her wrists unlocked by themselves and dropped to the ground. Crimson spun around to face the policemen, only to have her chest explode with electrical pain. Using almost all of her strength, she yanked the two electrodes out of her body and threw them to the ground.

"Freeze!" She cried.

With that word, a shimmering red aura surrounded each of the officers and made them freeze in place. Crimson started to collapse, but Billy quickly ran up behind her and caught her.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I just got electrocuted by a taser; what do you think?"

"Right. You think you can walk?"

"Not right now. Since I'm keeping those officers frozen, I'm running out of energy. I need to rest."

"Alright. I'm guessing you can't, you know, disappear into the darkness again."

"It's called shadow traveling, and if I do, I would most likely pass out from exhaustion."

"But, in theory, you can still shadow travel?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

Billy picked her up and started walking towards the darkest part of the roof.

"Billy, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to throw you into the darkness. When that happens, you need to get out of here."

"But, I-"

"No buts. You saved my life; now, I'm returning the favor."

With that, he threw her into the shadows. It took the rest of Crimson's energy to get back to her apartment. When she landed on the carpet, she was already asleep.


I'm so sorry for the extremely long wait. School's started up again, and I haven't been able to write anything for the past month. I hope this chapter was enough to fulfill your needs! Please review!