Melinda Zhu walked along the dark streets of the entertainment district. While normally alive with nightlife, drunk patrons spilling out of bars, or people generally out to have a good time, the district had quieted down considerably in recent months due to the pandemic. Now, only a few of the clubs were open with restrictions and a lot of the area had darkened down. Keeping up with trends, she was dressed in thick lug-soled boots that came halfway up her calves, leather leggings, black sweater and a short beige trench coat thrown over top. Black leather gloves covered her hands, completing her outfit that demonstrated someone keeping up with current fashion trends and hopefully making her a potential target for the Shadow.

Melinda had been pursuing the figure known as the Shadow for the better part of the year. Authorities had been baffled by this dark figure that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, dressed completely in black and practically radiating darkness before binding and gagging the victims. Some victims were robbed, some were kidnapped, some just completely disappeared. The ones that were robbed or returned after a ransom couldn’t describe their captor well, they didn’t even know if the Shadow was male or female. They were often kept blindfolded, but they talked about a figure in black that was more than happy to tie them up.

Melinda had been hired to begin the pursuit after the daughter of a wealthy family disappeared completely. That had been months ago, and the best she had been able to come up with is that the targets were often girls from well off families, girls living alone, or girls that were simply easy pickings. Not that those criteria actually changed much to Melinda since it covered a wide range, but it did result in her dressed as she was walking through the entertainment district in hopes that maybe she would attract the eye of the Shadow if it was prowling and follow her back to an apartment she had set up to ensnare the hunter.

In all honesty, she had felt herself become frustrated. Girls were continuing to be attacked almost weekly and so far Melinda had practically nothing to show for it. She walked past an empty restaurant patio and nodded distractedly to a dark haired woman in a black trench coat and boots who was walking in the other direction as they passed each other before keeping her eye on a sharp lookout for any hints of the Shadow. She was recounting some of the attacks in her brain when she heard a cry of surprise from behind her and whirled. The woman that she had passed by was nowhere to be seen across the street or down the sidewalk she had just come from, but there was the mouth of an alley a few meters away.

Glancing around, there were very few people about and all seemed too far away to have heard the cry. She dashed back towards the mouth of the alley poking her head around the corner but she couldn’t see much with how dark it was in the shadows cast by the two tall buildings and the dumpsters. Gritting her teeth, Melinda drew the Gerber folding knife she carried and flicked it open before entering the alley. She could hear some muffled sobs and the ripping of duct tape coming from deeper in the alley and steeled herself to prevent another abduction.

As she crept down the alley, the sound of duct tape stopped, replaced with some muffled sobs and leather squeaking sounds. Melinda cursed the building owners, given that they had seen fit to forgo any lighting into the alleyway. As the sobs became louder, she rounded a corner and came face to face with the dark haired girl. In the dark, she could make out the duct tape wrapped around the girl’s wrists, booted ankles, and several strips plastered over her mouth to muffle her cries. “Are they nearby?” She whispered to the girl, who frantically nodded and pointed with her chin deeper into the alley.

Carefully scouting out the area, Melinda concluded she would have time to free the girl and two slashes with the knife made quick work of the duct tape. She allowed the girl to peel the tape from her lips before she practically collapsed into Melinda’s arms. “Thank you thank you!” She said, “I thought I was going to be carried off like all those other girls on the news.”



“Shhhh.” Melinda shushed. “The Shadow is probably still here, get back to the street and call the cops, I’m going to see if I can find it.”

She readjusted the knife she held before turning to face the shadows of the ally again. She had barely taken a step forward when she felt a prick in her neck, her hand slapping the spot before realizing that it was an injection of some kind and her head began to spin. “Whaaa…” She trailed off as she collapsed to the ground and darkness claimed her.

- - -

Melinda awoke to a thumping headache as she slowly regained consciousness. “Urrrgh.” She groaned as she raised her head before realizing that her mouth was filled with something rubber tasting.

She was tied down to a sturdy metal chair that was bolted to the floor. Her arms were bound together behind her back at the wrists and elbows and were pulled over the back of the chair with a rope connecting her wrists to one of the cross beams below. Her legs were spread apart, each booted ankle tied to a chair leg and more rope was wound around her waist and chest, trapping her against the chair. A pink ballgag filled her mouth and her trench coat had been removed, leaving her in her boots, leggings, and sweater. Oh shit.

Melinda looked around the room that she was now trapped inside. It was small, dirty, with a single door entering the room and a wall dominated with a glass window which she suspected was one way with how it was tinted, allowing her to see outside to the larger room that looked like part of a warehouse. Scattered throughout the room were more captive girls that Melinda recognized from files that she had reviewed. Three girls were chained up inside of a set of cages along the left wall, two girls were bound to pillars in the middle of the room and one was hogtied on a mattress in between the two captive groups. The girls were all in different states of dress, some in loungewear from when they had been abducted from their homes, one in clubwear, and one dressed in business casual. They were all bound and gagged heavily, with varying gags from cleaves to balls and ropes and shackles were used liberally. She knew that the Shadow liked to use tape on its victims, so she suspected rope and metal replaced the tape once these girls were brought here.

Her attention was diverted by the door opening and the Shadow entering the room. Remembering the events in the alley, despite them being slightly hazy, Melinda concluded that the dark haired girl she had walked past was the Shadow and seeing the black catsuit and mask covering all of her features, she could see it was a female form. “I have to congratulate you on figuring out as much as you have.” The Shadow said in a sultry voice. “Your investigation was enough for me to have to set up a trap for you. And it was so easy to set up the web and for you to become ensnared in it, all while thinking you knew something about me.”

Melinda flinched as a gloved hand stroked her hair and grunted behind her gag. “You’re not like those other rich snobs that I’ve kidnapped and sold off.” She cooed to her captive audience. “No, I think I’ll keep you. You’ll disappear just like the rest.”

Melinda strained at the ropes binding her to the chair but the ropework was too strong for her to overcome. “Don’t worry.” The Shadow’s gloved hand reached down and groped her breasts through her sweater. “I’ll be sure to take good care of you…”