He could hear the young man's footfalls, carried down the ally from behind. The guy was fast, no doubting that. Green Mike couldn't hope to outrun him, and likely wouldn't find any sort of decent hiding place before Mr. Hero caught up.

Rounding a corner, the thief turned about and backed against the building. He continued to jog in place just enough to fool the sort too riled up to pay further attention to the sound and realize it wasn't actually moving away. The other man's steps came along, allowing Mike to predict the right time to swing his cane around.

He had to guess at the height, but managed to hit the youth in the stomach. The young man doubled over and Green Mike's free hand came down on the back of his head, knocking him over. He was about to shoot off another dart, one that couldn't be dodged, when the other's legs came up unexpectedly and bashed into Mike's head. The force wasn't enough to knock him down, but he stumbled to the side and almost into the street, surprised more than anything.

"I'm not about to let a criminal get away!" the stranger shouted, back on his feet and moving to punch Green Mike.

Moving to block, the thief was thrown off again when the man's body turned before reaching him, legs coming up again and leaving Mike trying to maintain his footing again, only to fail when his shoe hit the curb wrong. He tumbled into the street, quick to bring his own legs up defensively. The youth was there, just close enough for Green Mike to kick him back, simultaneously giving himself enough force to roll backward.

Righting himself again, he stuck his cane out before him and fired once more. This time, the stranger had been recovering and was unable to avoid the dart. It hit the shoulder joint. Quick as the young man was to yank it out, the thief knew the victory was already his. Proof came when the young "hero" tried to charge, but stumbled instead.

Green Mike stood and helped the man steady, keeping him from falling into the street too. The youth still tried to fight, but the tranquilizer the dart had contained worked extremely fast. It wouldn't be long before he was sound asleep.

"If the shouting was to draw attention," Green Mike said calmly, kindly even, half carrying the stranger back to the ally so he'd be less noticeable, "you were doing it wrong. Most people aren't like you, they'll run if there's trouble. If you want to draw attention, yell 'fire.' Fires always draw crowds."

He set the guy down, uncertain if he had enough consciousness left to have heard his words. He rather hoped the young man had, it'd be a pity for anything really bad to happen to him. Mike leaned him against a wall and stood, about to leave when a thought occurred to him. Glancing back, the thief smirked.

When Nash woke, he would find a diamond ring in his pocket, a tiny tag on it declaring that the ring was being reserved. Along with it was a little note requesting that the ring be returned to  the store to that no romance would be spoiled. Green Mike would be long gone.