Nexus 100 Weeks, Dinner, He
May. 13th, 2009 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
evillurksTitle: Two Weeks
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: The Shadow
Prompt: 008 Weeks
Word Count: 205
Rating: G
Summary: Part of The Shadow’s methods.
Author's Notes: I had trouble finding inspiration in this one, but it does seem to me in most of the pulps the cases take two weeks or less to solve.
No case, from the moment of genuine pursuit, should take longer than two weeks. It was a private rule of The Shadow, one he’d never voiced aloud, but on the rare occasions when it was broken, it irked him to no end. His work often overlapped such that he was pursuing different criminal activities simultaneously, a practice that let him work on one thing while he waited for developments on another. There were matters of potential interest he gathered information on all the time, some of which were discovered and dealt with by the police, others that in some way resolved themselves. The self-imposed workload fluctuated somewhat, but it was a constant.
From the moment he focused on picking up a trail, from that first night he went in pursuit of some clue or action while cloaked in black, the mental clock began to tick. The chase was relentless, and justice was swift. He wondered if any criminal had ever worked it out, that once he was on their trail, time began to scythe towards a deadline of punishment. Unless they went to ground, and deep, the clock was set. Let them run or fight, The Shadow would catch up to them within two weeks.
Title: Nighthawks
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: The Shadow, unnamed others.
Prompt: 058 Dinner
Word Count: 146
Rating: G
Summary: Night scene in a greasy spoon.
Author's Notes: Dinner is the last thing you eat before sleeping, whenever that may be.
Anonymous in a thick sweater, he huddled low over his coffee. The neon of the signs and the occasionally flickering overhead lights made stark shadows on the countertop. A sidelong glance up the length of the counter showed him other hunched forms, spread out singly with empty seats between. At this odd hour, no one was interested in anyone else. They were an assortment of weary outcasts, bodies fighting the dark hours to stay awake a little longer. While the city rose slowly towards the first signs of life for the day, the graveyard shift of the city got a last meal any place they could find open, and looked toward dawn as a time to sink into bed. They did not know him, or even each other, but over a last cup of coffee and a plate of greasy food they were a silent brotherhood.
Title: He Never Looked Back
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: Harry Vincent (allusion to The Shadow)
Prompt: 084 He
Word Count: 129
Rating: G
Summary: Making of an agent
Author's Notes: For those unfamiliar with the pulps, Harry Vincent was the first agent the author showed being recruited, and he became the most loyal and trusted, appearing in more stories than any other.
He’d arrived in the big city with a letter from his girl, high hopes, and light pockets. By the time he received her last letter, the one that said she’d married someone else, he was down to borrowing from strangers. At only twenty years old, he could see nothing ahead. Youth and good looks were worthless, and the future lay empty before him. Almost unseeing he stumbled, lost, a stranger in a strange land with no home to return to. The black-cloaked figure that found him on the bridge was not the one he went there to meet.
That night he was handed not only money and a place to live, but a purpose. As an agent of The Shadow, Harry Vincent was reborn, and he never looked back.
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: The Shadow
Prompt: 008 Weeks
Word Count: 205
Rating: G
Summary: Part of The Shadow’s methods.
Author's Notes: I had trouble finding inspiration in this one, but it does seem to me in most of the pulps the cases take two weeks or less to solve.
No case, from the moment of genuine pursuit, should take longer than two weeks. It was a private rule of The Shadow, one he’d never voiced aloud, but on the rare occasions when it was broken, it irked him to no end. His work often overlapped such that he was pursuing different criminal activities simultaneously, a practice that let him work on one thing while he waited for developments on another. There were matters of potential interest he gathered information on all the time, some of which were discovered and dealt with by the police, others that in some way resolved themselves. The self-imposed workload fluctuated somewhat, but it was a constant.
From the moment he focused on picking up a trail, from that first night he went in pursuit of some clue or action while cloaked in black, the mental clock began to tick. The chase was relentless, and justice was swift. He wondered if any criminal had ever worked it out, that once he was on their trail, time began to scythe towards a deadline of punishment. Unless they went to ground, and deep, the clock was set. Let them run or fight, The Shadow would catch up to them within two weeks.
Title: Nighthawks
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: The Shadow, unnamed others.
Prompt: 058 Dinner
Word Count: 146
Rating: G
Summary: Night scene in a greasy spoon.
Author's Notes: Dinner is the last thing you eat before sleeping, whenever that may be.
Anonymous in a thick sweater, he huddled low over his coffee. The neon of the signs and the occasionally flickering overhead lights made stark shadows on the countertop. A sidelong glance up the length of the counter showed him other hunched forms, spread out singly with empty seats between. At this odd hour, no one was interested in anyone else. They were an assortment of weary outcasts, bodies fighting the dark hours to stay awake a little longer. While the city rose slowly towards the first signs of life for the day, the graveyard shift of the city got a last meal any place they could find open, and looked toward dawn as a time to sink into bed. They did not know him, or even each other, but over a last cup of coffee and a plate of greasy food they were a silent brotherhood.
Title: He Never Looked Back
Fandom: The Shadow
Characters: Harry Vincent (allusion to The Shadow)
Prompt: 084 He
Word Count: 129
Rating: G
Summary: Making of an agent
Author's Notes: For those unfamiliar with the pulps, Harry Vincent was the first agent the author showed being recruited, and he became the most loyal and trusted, appearing in more stories than any other.
He’d arrived in the big city with a letter from his girl, high hopes, and light pockets. By the time he received her last letter, the one that said she’d married someone else, he was down to borrowing from strangers. At only twenty years old, he could see nothing ahead. Youth and good looks were worthless, and the future lay empty before him. Almost unseeing he stumbled, lost, a stranger in a strange land with no home to return to. The black-cloaked figure that found him on the bridge was not the one he went there to meet.
That night he was handed not only money and a place to live, but a purpose. As an agent of The Shadow, Harry Vincent was reborn, and he never looked back.