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No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

"Please," I pleaded. "Don't do this, I can give you money, lots of money."

The man across from me sneered. He didn't respond, only grabbed me around the neck and prepared to bite.

"Somebody help! Help me please!" I screamed.

It's the dead of night Vanessa, who's going to hear you? a little voice in the back of my mind asked. I pushed it aside and kept screaming.

"Help!"

Just then a man dressed in black jumped from a high rise building. How it was possible for him to do that without killing himself I didn't know. I still don't. He must have had some sort of ropes or wires or something.

As soon as the man in black landed he kicked my attacker in the face, knocking him to the ground. I stumbled sideways, not sure of what I should do. I was paralyzed with uncertainity and fear.

The attacker got up and came at the man in the black. The man grabbed him by the foot and slammed him against the wall. In a split second move the man in black pulled something from his belt and stabbed my attacker with it. He dissappeared in a cloud of smoke.

I stood there, dumbfounded and in awe of what had just happened. There was no way that a man - any man - should be able to disintigrate like that.

"What... just... I don't understand."

The words just tumbled out of my mouth. I must have been in schock.

The man in black smiled at me.

"Don't try to understand. Just go home and stay away from dark alleys. You'll be fine if you do that," he said.

"But... who are you?" I asked.

I was dying to get to know him better. Not only was he mysterious he was also handsome - just my type.

"It dosen't matter," he said, turning to walk away from me.

"But..." was all I could say.

A car screeched near by, jolting me. I think I jumped about a foot. A group of men dressed all in black and carrying guns suddenly swarmed around us. One of them was speaking loudly into a radio he was carrying.

"The area is secure. I repeat, the area is secure. Angel wasn't harmed. Hostiles have been contained. We'll sweep the area and confirm."

Several more cars pulled into the end of the alley, bright lights shining directly at me. Instinctively I inched away, staying close to the wall. I was terrified beyond belief. Why were these people here? What did they want?

My good samaritan was speaking to the men and gesturing. He looked almost as confused as I did though. Suddenly a woman in a burgundy suit thrust some papers into my face.

"This is to confirm that you've been rescued by Angel, CEO and president of the law firm Wolfram and Heart -"

"Now wait just a minute!" I cried, interrupting her. "You run a law firm?"

The man in black squirmed uncomfortably.

"No, I don't. Well sort of... Well I guess just recently," he said.

Anger bubbled up in me.

"How could you?" I snapped. "You mean to say that you did this whole thing for publicity? How sick!"

"No!" the man in black said. "I help..."

I didn't have time to hear the rest of his reply. I stalked away, fuming. How dare some endanger my life for the sake of publicity? The dissapearance/"death" of the man who attacked me was probably some elaborate illusion, all designed to show what a wonderful law firm Wolfram and Heart was! There would probably be a big story in the papers the next day, right on the front page!

I fumed all the way to the bus stop and all through the rest of the night until I fell asleep. And to think that I was even interested in that tall, dark, and handsome man until I found out what he really was - a publicity whore!

The End