The alley smelled moldy, like so many mongrel animals that scamper away in the heavy dew ridden streets of a large decaying city. Shoes splashing in puddles that filled the holes in the pavement, a rippling of grayed poxed water, showing that this place was losing the constant battle with time. A man walked to the door in the back of the alley; it began to rain as if on cue, a last desperate, futile attempt to wash sin from the city. He looked up. Water hit his face filling the many crevices in his weather-beaten skin that showed age. The sole source of visibility, an overhanging street lamp, exuded more of a glow then illumination. Showing an old rotted wood sign that hung from discolored clay bricks on a crumbling mooring as if to fall when a strong breeze topples it at any moment. The sign looked burnt; paint had mostly fallen off, only a few captions were visible, nothing that could be formed into anything coherent. Moving his attention to the door with new, fresh paint, and steel knob, standing out like a skyscraper in Egypt. With a gloved hand reaching up grasping the doorknob turning and pulling in a slow methodical motion. A dull metallic click “locked”. Stepping back, in a well practice motion, looking around and producing from his coat a bar, thin tipped with a long shaft. Metallic grinding as it slipped between frame and door. Weight shifting as he leans into the bar, a slight grunt escaping his lips. Brick quickly crumbled and frame gave way; the door flew open one hundred-eighty degrees of arc slamming into the opposing wall. Thunder, echoing through the alley out to a deaf city.