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Chapter 8 - Black Out

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Shift entered the control room at Indigo base and promptly flopped on to the couch.

“Anything interesting going on?” he asked Kione.

Kione continued swivelling in his chair, altering things on various screen and typing notes at various intervals. “Not really, the city’s pretty much clean tonight,” he said, pushing a flashing button of the screen. “There’s been a few reports of strange sightings, but other than that, no villains appear to be out causing mayhem, for once. No sign of Reader, either.”

“Too bad the radars don’t pick up on villains pretending to be a friend.”

Shift glanced around to find Talia leaning against the doorframe. She entered the room and the door slid shut behind her.

“Pride still wounded I see,” said Kione without taking his eyes off the screens.

“Still completely blind to the threat under our noses I see,” she shot back. “She attacks me and you’re all still completely okay with her--“

“Not exactly unprovoked, Tal,” said Shift. “You’re the one that initiated ‘training’ and got your ass handed to you.”

Talia’s face tightened. She put her hands on her hips. “And she took it too far.”

“And throwing boulders at people is completely within the limits, right?” said Kione.

“She almost killed me!”

“After you started throwing boulders at her.”

“Are you all insane? Has she actually messed with your minds?” Talia looked between Shift and Kione, waiting for a response. “She. Is. A. Villain. And not just any villain, she’s the god damned owl! And what, we’re just going to take her word for it that she wasn’t working with Reader? Wasn’t plotting to bring the city down? Because once upon a time, Raph maybe knew her?”

Shift raised an eyebrow at her. “Pretty sure you’re the one who brought Starpoint tower down.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Talia’s tirade went on a whole new level of volume, vocabulary and angry finger gesturing.

Shift watched her, although not really paying attention to the specific words.

How much do I trust my ability to read someone’s colour?

He considered this question as Talia’s accusations bounced off the walls. Raph and Kione trusted the ability enough to go through with their plan, but did he?

Enough to understand how she’s motivated, at least for now.

In the middle of Talia’s speech about how she was going to report them to the Elites and see them bound, Shift stood up and placed his hands on Talia’s shoulders. She gave him an incredulous stare and opened her mouth but Shift beat her to it.

“Talia, for the love of god, shut up.”

Talia’s mouth hung open. “But she’s a--“

“ Yes, she’s technically a villain, but have you actually ever seen a report that lists the Owl for any event intent on bringing down society?”

“No, but--“

“You trust me, right?” he asked. Talia pursed her lips, which he took as an affirmative sign. “Well trust my ability to read a colour. I read yours when you joined the team, just as I did with Kione and I’ve done it with Athira now. I’m telling you that she’s not a purple, and I’m telling you to give her a chance.”

“You can’t possibly know all that.”

“I can,” said Shift. “You ever seen a green like me?” Talia shook her head. “Then listen to me when I’m telling you that she’s not working against us. A person’s colour contains their personality, part of their essence inside it and when I absorb that and take on their powers, I can read it or feel it, whatever you like. Every person’s feels different.”

“How do you know she’s not lying though?” asked Talia. “Not going to hurt Raph and the rest of you?”

Shift considered that a reasonable question. “Remember when I shifted that villain’s colour... the red about a year ago?” he asked. She nodded. “Remember how I went off the rails for a little bit, couldn’t get a handle on myself while his colour was still in my system? That was because of his personality, the destructive, world-will-burn type who are the true villains in the picture.

“And Athira?”

“Athira might not be considered a shining example of the law, but she’s good. She came back to save me when she could have caught Reader instead.” He paused, giving her a moment to process. “Now can we stop with this unfounded hatred and at least give her a chance?”

Talia folded her arms and looked at the ground. “Fine. But if she comes back here, and is still moping around being unpredictable, then so help me--“

“No, Tal,” said Shift. “Giver her time.”

“She needs to--“

Shift pulled out the big one. “How about I kill Raph in front of you then hide him away for a few years before telling you that he’s actually alive and see how you’re coping, eh?”

Talia went red. From his desk, Kione snickered. Talia glared at him, and the screens suddenly seemed infinitely more interesting for him.

“Like she didn’t know Zoe was alive. She’s the Owl.”

“People considered criminals are usually not privy to Elite databases, Tal.”

Shift had seen red colours when they drew too much, but it was nothing compared to the shade Talia’s face was turning. She broke away from him and stood beside Kione to stare at the screens.

“Whatever. Any hotspots tonight, Kione?” she asked frigidly.

“Uh...” Kione tapped away at a few keys, bringing up a map of Sirah. “Not particularly. We did get a message from Raph though, saying if any reports of monsters come up to call him immediately.”

Talia snorted. “Yea, monsters, right. I’m going out on patrol for a few hours. If I see any ‘monsters’ I’ll run back home straight away. Tell me if anything interesting happens.”

With that, she turned and left the room.

“How long do you think it’ll take her to adjust?” asked Kione dryly.

Shift moved over to Kione’s desk and leant over, examining the screens for himself. “About as long as it takes Athira to leave, plus another two months on top of that.”

“That girl.” Kione shook his head. “Love her to pieces but damn is she suspicious of new people.”

“Can really blame her I guess, given her history.”

“Mmm,” said Kione. His hand lit orange for a moment as it slid across one of the screens, bringing something into the physical world before he put it back into the database. “Poor kid, losing everything you know just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time with some psycho villain.”

“She’s not the only one that’s ever lost people,” said Shift. He frowned as one of the real-time graphs he’d been watching off to the left fluctuated, its outline turning a glaring orange with various warnings labelling the line. He pointed it out to Kione. “What’s that mean?”

Kione brought the graph to the forefront and started typing furiously. “The colour readings just went off the charts.”

“Another disturbance?” asked Shift.

“I think so,” said Kione. “They’re so damn hard to track since we can’t feel them ourselves. Still no idea where the things are originating and what’s causing them outside something Reader may or may not know about.”

“Managed to pull anything from the Elites yet?” asked Shift. As he watched, the graph once again began to settle into the normal rhythm, although one or two units higher than before.

 “If only I could just...” Kione trailed off as a call from Raph’s communicator popped up. He accepted it, and Raph’s face showed up on the control screen.

“So this is what it looks like when we’re out on a mission and you’re sitting here,” said Shift. “Damn.”

“Hey Raph,” said Kione, ignoring Shift’s comment. “What’s up?”

“We’re coming back from HQ, retrieved Athiras amulet and picked up Zoe.”

He turned the camera. In the background, Zoe had her eyes closed, leaning against Athira’s shoulder. Shift noted the relaxed expression on Athira’s face, and the amulet that was once more attached to her long-sleeved shirt.

Shift’s eyes fell on her arms. Still hiding the runes. Have to get Talia to see if she can figure out what they mean.

“Sweet,” said Kione. “But what do you need us to do?”

“Discuss it more when we get back, but I want you to start digging on anything you can find related to the colour disturbances.”

“Sure man, but why now?”

Raph smiled. “Because we’ve got a way to track down exactly where they’re coming from, and Reader too.”

*+*+*+*

An hour and a half later, Kione opened the Indigo base doors to allow Raph, Zoe and Athira entry. Shift made sure he was there to meet them.

Raph ushered Zoe inside. Despite the way she swayed on the spot, barely able to stand, Zoe had a visible aura that intensified every time she looked at Athira. Shift had to hold his colour back from shifting into her yellow when she came too close.

“Zoe, upstairs, naptime.” The yellow colour hesitated, glancing at Athira. Raph shooed her away. “Athira’s not going anywhere and we need you later to fight Reader.”

Still, Zoe didn’t move until Athira nodded. Zoe lit up once again, apparently not noticing the hesitance in Athira’s movement as she skipped to her room.

Raph turned to Athira. “You need anything to assist you?”

“Only to be left alone until I find it,” she said quietly. “No one enters once I start, no matter how long it takes.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Raph. “You can use the same room as last time.”

Athira nodded and swept up the stairs in silence, disappearing around the corner without another word.

Shift and Raph stood in the hall together, neither one willing to move.

“Zoe and Athira were close, weren’t they?” asked Shift.

“Closer than she and I ever were, that’s for sure,” said Raph. “When Athira left... it was like Zoe lost her sister all over again. It took me weeks to get her to do something else other than look for Athira.”

Shift started walking up the stairs, Raph following him.

“I just want to make sure,” said Shift. “You know about Athira’s runes, right?”

“You mean the blue ones on her arms?” said Raph. Shift nodded. “Yea, they used to appear every so often, particularly when she got upset or frustrated.”

“They weren’t there all the time?” asked Shift cautiously.

“Not that I remember,” said Raph. He eyed Shift. “Why are you asking me this?”

“I just want you to be cautious, Raph. Especially with Zoe. If... if something happens and we have to take action against Athira, I need to know that you’ll be able to make it.”

“You said the other night that--“

“That she won’t do anything to directly harm us, I know,” said Shift, holding up his hands. “But she has secrets, and the other day with Talia, something was different inside her. It wasn’t your Athira.”

Raph was silent the whole way up the hall and through the common room. When they descended to the control room and stood outside its door, he stopped Shift.

“Thanks, Shift.”

Shift took his hand. “I’m here for you, Raph. And Zoe. And everyone else. We’re all on the same side, we’ll get through this. Together.”

Raph gave him an appreciative smile and opened the door. Kione still hadn’t moved, surrounded by his screens and flashing lights, although there were several new additions to the room. Things he knew Kione called ‘data fragments’ were scattered in the air throughout the room, held in place by Kione’s orange colour.

“What’s all this?” asked Raph, dodging a fragment. “You never bother to pull out so many of these things.”

“Well you see,” said Kione. “I was going through the information and I found something unusual in the Elite database, so I started looking into it some more and then someone tried to counter me, push me out of the system.” He pulled out yet another data fragment from the screen, floating it beside his head before merging it with a smaller one.

“This way, we have the information, it’s untraceable, and they can’t screw with it before I’m done with it.”

“Did I mention how much I love having you on the team,” said Raph, slapping him on the back.

The data fragments flickered. “Don’t do that, man!” said Kione. “I’m concentrating! This ain’t as easy as I make it look, god damn! There’s at least eleven of the damned things!”

“Sorry, bud,” said Raph. “Anyway, have you found anythi-- Shift?”

Shift clutched his head and staggered back, slamming into the wall. His legs collapsed beneath him. Black dots filled his vision, flickering between the control room and glimpses of a foggy cliff, leading off into an abyss below. He tried to blink it away, but it only made the image of the cliff stronger.

He felt his mind slipping away from him, his body on fire as Raph ran up to him, pulling him up from the wall. Somewhere, he knew Raph was talking to him, but the words sounded like they were spoken underwater. Their meaning was lost as the syllables disintegrated into vibrations that shook his ears.

Raph picked him up, throwing Shift over his body, but Shift could no longer resist the darkness calling to him and let go of his mind.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Also at the time of writing this, if you type in 'nanowrimo13' into the WP search bar, Indigo is on the first page ^-^

Wordcount: 26,744 (SEE HOW THAT'S OVER 25k NOW YAY HALFWAY I'M ONLY 1.3K-ISH WORDS BEHIND)

#EATTHENANO #SHIFTAEL #SUBWAYCOOKIESOMNOMNOM