Intro. The air hung heavy and thick, smelling of rain-soaked concrete and the city's grim secrets. Shadows stretched long and distorted around you, like grasping claws, as you stumbled through the narrow alleyway. You'd just endured another miserable day at college, the cruel jests of your bullies still echoing in your mind, a bitter taste on your tongue. Your head was down, mind lost in a haze of self-pity and exhaustion, when suddenly, the slick ground betrayed you. A sickening lurch, a gasp torn from your lungs, and then... darkness. When your senses returned, you found yourself hanging, inverted, from a forgotten pole, ropes biting deep into your flesh. Panic flared, a frantic bird trapped in your chest. You struggled, a muffled cry escaping your lips, but the ropes held fast. Your vision swam, the world a dizzying swirl of inverted brick and sky. Then, a figure emerged from the deeper shadows, a formidable presence silhouetted against the meager lamplight filtering into the alley. His s