Cops and Vigilantes

 Sparrow was quiet as a mouse, standing still under the cover of the shadows in the dark alleyway. Although he knew that he wasn’t making a sound, he was irrationally afraid that someone would hear the loud thumping of his heart, seemingly echoing in the silence.

He could clearly hear the sounds coming from outside his alley sanctuary, noises which would be impossible for any normal human to hear, much less clearly identify and distinguish.

‘But then,’ thought the costumed teenager, with a silent snort of amusement. ‘If I was normal, I probably wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.’

The blaring of police sirens rang through the city, piercing through even the loud hustle and bustle of London at night. The anxious murmur of scared civilians could be heard from nearby, along with the happy chatter and laughter of people a few streets away. The clear disparity in situations never failed to surprise Sparrow, and disappoint him, even with how long he had been in his line of work.

“Did anyone see him? We can’t have lost him again, the Chief will kill us when we get back!” groaned a tired police officer from outside the alleyway, unaware of how close she was to her target.

“She’s been saying that for months before I joined, and we aren’t in the morgue yet.” laughed a familiar voice, cheery as ever. “Anyways, I think I saw a shadow slipping into that abandoned building over there. Maybe we’ll finally catch the vigilante, Julia!” said the second officer happily.

There was a sound like a choked-off giggle and what sounded like the wind shifting due to the shake of a head, before the first officer, Julia, spoke up again, voice becoming slightly fainter, probably due to an increase in distance. Was she walking away?

“I’ll go check it out. Even if it was Sparrow, he’s probably gone by now. You stay put Oliver, you’ve already injured yourself with your stunt from earlier.” She said sternly, her tone contrasting with the care in her words for her partner.

“Aye aye, ma’am!” cheered Oliver, and Sparrow could already imagine the mock salute and smirk on the newbie officer’s face. If he was less experienced, he might have laughed at the silly image. As it was, a small smile threatened to creep onto his face.

There was a moment of eerie silence, before Sparrow saw Oliver walk into the alley he was hidden in, a rustle of clothing his only warning to the sudden approach. Of course, simply being in the same place did not mean the police officer could see him. Neither spoke, waiting for something to happen.

Oliver broke the tension first. With an exasperated sigh, he looked around, squinting at the shadows like something might be hidden in them, and turned his flashlight on, flooding the area in front of him with light. “Come on out, Sparrow. We need to talk. You and I both know that nobody but us is around.”

Just to spite him, Sparrow shifted slowly from his hiding spot to move behind the older man. Only when his back was facing Sparrow, did the vigilante speak up. “What do you want, officer?” He said, voice carefully blank.

Oliver stumbled with a start, clearly not expecting to be snuck up on. With jerky movements, he picked up the flashlight that had fallen to the ground, no longer lit up.  He groaned as he turned around to face the teenager, flicking the switch of the former source of light fruitlessly, ignoring the costumed person in front of him.

“What do you want, officer?” The vigilante repeated, teeth gritted in annoyance. At this, Oliver looked up at the boy, the flashlight left forgotten. Silence rang for a moment, the two of them locked in a silent stand-off.

“Look, Sparrow,” The man began, looking him straight in his eye, as if he was looking straight through the ominous helmet hiding his identity. “This has got to stop. I’ve been distracting the other officers, making sure you wouldn’t get caught, but it’s getting risky. I was fine with you taking down small-time criminals and thieves, but tonight was too dangerous.”

Sparrow shifted, posture changing to reflect the anger which couldn’t be seen through his helmet. “And why should I care about what you say? I didn’t ask you to help me. In fact, I’ve never even spoken with you before!” He said derisively, crossing his arms in front of him.

However, Oliver did not rise to the challenge. Instead, he simply raised an eyebrow with an amused smile. “Is that so? So when I get home today with takeout for my little brother, he won’t have a gunshot wound in his leg?”

The vigilante with a fearsome reputation was far outside his comfort zone. Shaking his head, Sparrow sputtered indignantly. “What do you mean? I-I mean, I don’t know your brother, but he’s probably not injured!”

“Really, Eli? Give it up. Don’t you think your own brother would recognize your voice?” Chuckled the police officer, crossing his arms in front of him. “I became a police officer because I knew what you were doing, and I wanted to protect you from behind the scenes. And you are way too stubborn to be convinced to stop.”

“But-”

“But nothing.” Interrupted Oliver, stopping any arguments before they even arose. “Now you better get home and get that wound cleaned and bandaged. I’ll get home in an hour, you better be there by then.”

“I- fine.” grumbled Elijah, having given up. He turned around and went to climb onto a roof and leave, but he heard the voice behind him continue speaking.

“And you better tell me before you patrol from now on. At least let me have some warning so I can help you out in emergencies.”

“Fine!” the younger brother replied, just wanting to get away quickly. He wasn’t planning on following that instruction anyways.

“Oh, and you’re grounded.”

“Fine- wait, what?!-”