A surprise greeted me as I went for my costume the next day. Along with my coat, I found a folded slip of paper. What was inside was even more surprising.

Meet me on the theater roof at midnight.                                                                                        ~Storm

Well, this would be interesting...

Mask in place, coat flowing behind me, I set foot on the theater roof. Storm sat on the far edge, silhouetted by the light as always. Without looking at me, he spoke three words.

"Release the girl."

Of all the people who could have told me to stop this, he was the one I didn't think would.

"What?" My question caused him to turn.

"I won't ask again. Release the girl."

"You didn't ask the first time!"

"That's not really the point!"

"Then what is the point?" I crossed my arms and scoffed. "With all the lives you've taken, why care about me kidnapping a little girl?"

Storm stalked towards me until our faces were inches apart. He dropped his voice to nearly a growl as the next words left his mouth. "I do not harm children."

"What's the difference between harming a child and an adult?" My voice lowered to match his.

"Children have their whole lives ahead of them."

"So a life only matters if there's a lot of it left? Excuse me if I don't take lessons on morals from a man who regularly crashes flying things into buildings." Something flashed across his face at my words, but it was gone before I could determine what it was. I got the feeling I'd struck an important topic, but I didn't have time to dwell on it.

Both refusing to blink, we glared at each other. His eyes were oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place them. Around us, the city was still wide awake: cars drove past, lights flashed, somewhere beyond all the noise where cops looking for the child, but on our roof, nothing moved. Whatever it was that broke Storm's focus escaped my attention, but he finally spoke again.

"I may have done some terrible things, but at least I haven't shot a child."

I swear I almost hissed at him. "Neither have I! That gun wasn't even loaded!" Pain flooded my tongue as I chomped down on it. My voice was getting too loud. A few deep breaths later, I continued, "The whole point of this was to cause fear."

He seemed to fight with himself for a minute. When he answered, his voice was strained. "Just promise me that she won't get hurt because of this."

In that instant, an image of a man in a suit flashed across my mind and my ears echoed with the words, "My sister was just kidnapped. I'm suspicious of everyone."                        Suddenly I understood why his eyes seemed familiar.

I nodded. "I promise." He turned to leave but I called after him. "Your note was left with my costume. You removed my mask didn't you?"

There was a pause. "Does it surprise you? I'm an awful person, remember?"