Chương 89: 6.10 How many Samanthas does it take to change a lightbulb?

2104: 02: 28: 22: 54: 12 Red and blue alternating lights lit up the scene. Two petty criminals bound tight in thick rope were put in the back of a police car, joining the two that had been shipped off in the car before this one. People woken up by all the noise shot pictures and footage of us while Crowsong and I acted perfectly nonchalant, stoically dealing with the police. Their presence had so far discouraged anyone from outright approaching us, which suited us just fine.

It was only our third night out masking since making a kind of pre-agreement with the Sentinels and it was already paying dividends. While we'd yet to become full members, they'd given us access to their network as a gesture of goodwill – or because they were certain we would join later, either or.

Specifically, they gave us access to a custom-made app called SentiNet, which in turn had access to a variety of data feeds – CrimeWatch and MaskedWatch, police hotlines, Chitterchat, emergency dispatches, the alert systems of Charm's Department of Public Works and Restoration and Department of Law Enforcement, the CAS and other (mostly local) news organizations, and who knew what else. According to them, the Sentinels had permission to use this information and had, in fact, helped found some of them.

Mostly those were the decades-old neighborhood group chats, but they were also behind the old citizen watch systems preceding the one later invented by Charm in the Dark Age, which was itself the predecessor of the modern-day citywide alert network run by PWR. SentiNet would collect, compare and contrast, then compile this information into usable information like alerts based on priority, proximity and scale.

It also provided things like trend analyses, automatically generated reports, lists of hotspots, a crime investigation board-type workspace, a map of the city to pin and connect dots and attach overlays to, etcetera. The system reminded me somewhat of the one I'd seen Nth-Sight use the first time I met him, specifically the map and continuously-rolling feed of information. That one had been built by Incognito, the surveillance and counter-surveillance maker whose name I'd wanted when I first started out.

For all I knew, SentiNet might've even been made by the rogue maker – the Sentinels wouldn't tell – though last I heard Incognito, along with a number of other rogues, had been called in for questioning for their potential involvement with Nth-Sight. Most had come willingly, some had not, and one had supposedly been taken in by Mom. Details were vague – the knowledge that such a thing had even happened wasn't widespread – but Mom had told me that it was more than likely all but a specific few would be let go.

Only the ones that had a record of other crimes – often minor ones, or else they'd have long ago been labelled villains – and were suspected to have had deep ties with Jules Hessian were to stay longer than a couple days. The two criminals Crowsong and I caught today were similarly minor, albeit in a completely different way.

These guys weren't henchies or part of any other organized crime, but a simple run-off-the-mill type of criminal, ones caught circumstantially rather than through deliberate planning on our part. We'd gotten an alert on SentiNet of an explosion in southern Northside, and as we were nearby enough, and my maker-bike form quick enough, for us to catch them basically red-handed.

It turned out the explosion wasn't an explosion at all, but rather a purpose-built reinforced truck the criminals had rammed through the front of a Camelot-owned store, aiming to steal their high-end phones and tablets. They had just started driving away when we arrived. With a quick couple of blasts from the friction-denial Hexkey drone and a couple of cutting darts from Crowsong's knife-shooting pneumatic rifle, the truck was quickly disabled. From there it'd been a piece of cake to capture the group of four.

Right as we wrapped up talking with the police and right before someone else could bother us, our phones pinged simultaneously. A quick look revealed a simple message from some Charmite's Chitterchat. Before MaskedWatch had found out, SentiNet's algorithm had picked up someone posting a picture of a vaguely human-shaped shadow splotched against the wall, carrying an equally conspicuous-looking bag over his shoulder. Shadeveil, one of the new junior villains that had popped up in the last three months.

"We going?" I asked Crowsong. While the picture was certainly that of Shadeveil and appropriately geotagged to eastern Northside, that didn't mean he was actually still there. Let alone whether we'd be able to catch him in time. Without a moment's hesitation, she said, "We're going." I nodded and shifted into my maker-bike form. Crowsong hopped on and with no small amount of noise, we sped off. X Motor Spirit, I was loathe to admit, did good work.

Near-instant acceleration and deceleration, and a grip on the road strong enough to be able to turn right angles without so much as skidding, let alone fall. Really, if it weren't for the fact that doing so meant g-forces too large for anyone but a high-tier super to withstand and/or manage, we could have raced from one end of the city to the other in a mere fifteen minutes (not counting traffic). But for better or worse, Amber still had a human level of strength, so we made do.

Still, we reached our destination in less than five. An incredibly fast pace, yet unfortunately not fast enough. Shadeveil was nowhere to be seen. Crowsong stepped off my back. I shifted as she took out her phone, asking, "No sign of him?"

"No," she replied. Which wasn't surprising, considering the guy could turn into a shadow. Really, it was a surprise someone managed to spot him at all. Or they'd doctored the picture for attention, but those usually got flagged and removed automatically by Chitterchat's moderation.

"What now?" I asked.

"Let's scout around for a bit. With a bit of luck your owl's eyes and my night vision might be enough to spot him in his shifter state." I nodded and shifted into an owl, flying away as Crowsong took out her pneumatic rifle, grappling onto the roof and going from there. It was a long shot on whether we would find him or not, but it's better than nothing.

I took the broad, birds-eye view of the surroundings while Crowsong took a more detailed view in case he hid nearby – inside alleys, on rooftops or fire escapes, behind trashcans, etcetera. Our target's shifter power allowed him to practically deny the third dimension, so he could really be anywhere.

I spotted all kinds of movements – mice and rats scurrying about, cats roaming the streets, a scant few people moving still out and about, even insects lazily circling street lights – yet for all my owl form's eyes could see kinetic movement in even the darkest of streets, nothing resembled anything we were on the hunt for. Shadeveil had likely well and truly fled the scene – if he'd even been here at all in the first place. That was, until Crowsong shone a laser pointer into the air; a beacon to my eyes.

I flew towards it, but rather than land and potentially be spotted, I hovered above my mentor. Crowsong spotted me and indicated a spot on the wall inside an alley. Like a painting, the wall showed a crouched figure searching his comically-oversized burgling bag, counting what was no doubt today's loot. Even with my high-contrast vision was difficult to separate from the natural darkness of the alley. How Crowsong had managed to spot him, I had no idea. I knew she'd gotten new ones, but where they really that good?

Or did she catch him through the infrared lenses, or the vita-vision, kinet-o-vision or whatever it was she'd managed to buy? Well, it didn't matter. He was there and that was all I needed to know. Through a quick series of gestures and signals, Crowsong told me that she would enter the alley from the front while I would swoop down from above to behind him, hopefully cutting off his escape route. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

As for how we would actually capture him… that was left open for interpretation. Even if we'd been able to communicate openly, neither of us had exactly planned for the situation; Shadeveil was new and the limits of his power still vague. For all we knew he was actually an invisible man that cast an unnaturally deep and dark shadow rather than the shadow itself.

Crowsong slid down the side of the building in her usual brick-clawing manner and I made my way to hover over the alley, preparing myself for a dynamic entry. As the villain continued to rummage through his bag in disturbingly complete silence, Crowsong jumped down, illuminated by the warm yellow of the streetlamp behind her.

"Shadeveil." The shadow jumped, startled.

"Are we going to do this the easy way," Crowsong dramatically spread her hands, six knives between her fingers glinting sharply in the light, "or the hard way." Cliché or a classic, I gave the entrance a solid six out of ten. Her growl could have been louder, more menacing, and the lighting in the alley could be much better. The villain relaxed.

"Crowsong," Shadeveil said, voice sounding too adult for what I knew to be a boy. At least he wasn't so new as to not have a voice changer.

"And the Jester's here as well I take it?" I flew down, braking and moving slightly upward as I neared the floor before shifting, appearing on the other side of the alley with a bouncy little hop. A perfect landing.

"…Hi," I said. I'd forgotten to prepare an opening. Shadeveil chuckled, trying to sound condescending but failing to hide his real emotion: mirth.

"There she is: the joke of the vigilante world." A moment of silence.

"…This joke is going to beat you up," I said, sounding a bit too deadpan. Like him, I'd also been aiming for condescending, but what came out was a tone of I'm-offended-but-trying-to-hide-it. Still, it was better than the 'hi' at least.

"Last chance, Shadeveil." Unlike me and him, Crowsong had the condescension down pat.

"Surrender." Silence reigned. The shadow tilted his head – an exaggerated motion considering his two-dimensionality.

"I think not." Metal flashed in the low light of the alley as Crowsong immediately sent out her knives at the shade. They struck the wall where, just barely visible to my regular eyes, I could see the edges of Shadeveil's shadowy form. I imagined she was aiming to pin the cloth of his costume, but the only sound was that of brick being pierced and metal ringing in the effort. That, and a mocking laugh.

"Nice try, knife guy! But these shadows are my domain – one that no blade can pierce!" The shadow rose, Shadeveil throwing his bag of stolen goods over his shoulder.

"Better luck next time, losers!" I shifted into a gorilla and lunged for the location where, by way of the shadow's position, I figured the junior villain stood if he was an invisible man. But as my arms swept for the grab all I caught was air, Shadeveil's laugher redoubling as he slowly sauntered away. I quickly turned and ran toward the shadow on the wall, releasing an annoyed huff as I hit nothing but stone.

At the same time, Crowsong retrieved her flashlight and aimed it at Shadeveil and I, lighting up the area. I quick-shifted into a cat and jumped back, allowing Crowsong's beam to hit the villain head on. All darkness but the form of Shadeveil himself vanished from the wall, clarifying his appearance.

A short guy – be it because of his age or simply by nature – Shadeveil wore an exaggeratedly large high-collared coat and low-set fedora, affecting the look of a noir detective or, more likely, their criminal counterpart. Both were likely there to hide his features, but he needn't have bothered. Even in Crowsong's bright flashlight his figure remained all black and flat, two-dimensional. He too seemed surprised by that fact. He froze on the spot and remained still for a couple of seconds.

Then, as nothing happened, the villain laughed.

"Good effort, ladies." This time he succeeded in being condescending.

"But I really must be going." And yet, while he slowly resumed his escape, I noticed the way he did it. Rather than simply walk the way he'd been going, he looked around for a bit before turning and going the other way. While the flashlight had caught most of him, there was a dumpster that blocked the light from hitting the wall next to him, connecting its shadow with his. I quick-shifted into bike form and immediately blasted him with the maker-bike's bright headlight from the other side.

The shadow-bridge between his form and the wall behind the dumpster vanished under it, and Shadeveil stopped moving. But only for a second. This time without making a snide comment, Shadeveil stretched and reached up, grabbing at the rim of the halo like one would a ledge. Quick as he could, he jumped and climbed up, hoping to meld into the shadows once again and escape. Crowsong noticed and shifted her aim, illuminating where Shadeveil's hands were and causing the edge he'd grabbed onto to vanish.

Despite having nothing to stand on or hang from, however, Shadeveil didn't fall. He simply hung there in the air- well, the middle of the wall, but same thing. Despite Crowsong's efforts however, her repositioning meant her flashlight had allowed another border between shadow and light to be created to his left, one near enough for him to grab and try to foist himself out of the glow. And so a strange kind of rat race began.

Crowsong dashed about and I constantly re-shifted between base and maker-bike form to try and catch him in the headlights in such a way to block his escape. Yet Shadeveil's arms and legs always seemed to reach juuuuust far enough to escape the light of our combined efforts – so much so that I figured it was an aspect of his power rather than mere luck or incompetence on our part. If this continued, he would slowly but surely get away. But I had one more idea.

"Keep your light on him!" I shouted, quick-shifting into a hummingbird before I could hear her response. Powers often interacted strangely with each other. I'd experienced it myself a couple of times, with Darkstar's hold on me failing between shifts or Snorkel's inability to manipulate my water form. But it happened with all superpowers, no matter the category. Maker-tech was no exception, though I could only hope the interaction would fall in my favor rather than his – or worse, in neither of our favors.

I rose into the air and performed my Hexkey drone trick, shifting mid-sweep to linger into the air as the friction-denial drone. The vision of the drone was clearly not made for low light conditions, yet with Crowsong keeping her light on him I could see Shadeveil just fine. I adjusted my aim with the wings and rotors, then immediately began painting the walls all around him with a frictionless surface, firing the beam as quickly as I could. It worked.

Shadeveil grabbed onto the border between light and dark, yet failed to keep a tight hold. His hand slipped from the edge and he stumbled, though the peculiar physics of his two-dimensionality meant he hung in place rather than fell to the floor. I quick-shifted before I myself hit the floor, appearing as a hummingbird once more to do repeat the maneuver.

This sequence continued for a while, me firing the beam as rapidly as possible while constantly quick-shifting to not only fly up and reposition, but also to restore the energy of the drone. Soon every inch of the wall surrounding Shadeveil was soon glowing an icy blue, and wherever Shadeveil tried to grab he found his attempt thwarted by the slippery power.

"What now, shadowboy?" Crowsong said.

"Gonna slip-and-slide your way to victory? Wriggle your way to freedom?" For safety's sake, I kept blasting the wall for a little while longer, layering the effect as much as possible. I'd yet to key in on how long the effect lasted and didn't want to give him the slightest opportunity.

"Oh yeah?" he said as he wriggled about.

"And what are you gonna do? Stay up till dawn to keep an eye on me?" Figuring the wall was covered enough, I shifted back for now.

"If necessary," I said at the same time as Crowsong said, "Yeah, basically." Even though the flat darkness of his body made it difficult to see, I figured him to be scowling as he said, "Ugh! So lame!" I shrugged.

"You're the one that's trapped." He had no reply to that. We stepped away from the villain to the other side of the alley, Crowsong keeping her light focused on him just in case. We didn't know whether or not he could slip away if he was fully emerged in shadow, and we weren't eager to find out.

"Still," Crowsong began, whispering so Shadeveil wouldn't overhear, "there has to be a better way. I doubt my arm will get too tired, but I'd still rather go home today and rest a little."

"Maybe we destroy the wall while he's on it?" I suggested.

"It could break his power."

"Or it could break him." She had a point.

"What if we break the wall around him? Capture his flat image on a slab, hold it away from the ground and shadow?"

"Maybe. But what if he doesn't need the materials to be connected, only the shadows of them? We'd lose him instantly." Another frustratingly good point.

"Well, what else we can do?"

"This is bo-ring," Shadeveil complained. He'd stopped moving light and was now languishing underneath the light as if sunbathing.

"How about I surrender my goods and you two let me go, eh? A nice compromise. That way, we can both go home and, you know, not be dead-tired for school tomorrow." He didn't know it but that was much less of a concern for us – me due to my android nature, and Amber due to her Blackhawk inheritance. Though Amber would have to repay that debt at one point. Crowsong snapped her fingers and – unseen of course – I raised my brows at her."

We can't do anything," she began, putting emphasis on the 'we', "but you know who can?" Ah.

"LieSpy." She'd managed to knockout Mauvist – or his clone, rather – back during our shopping excursion. She could probably reach through the 'veil' and mentally punch Shadeveil as well. Whether that deactivated Shadeveil's powers was uncertain, but powers often had some kind of failsafe built into them, so the odds were pretty good. Better than breaking the wall, at least.

"What?" Crowsong said.

"No, I meant Needle Knight. Her anti-powers should work on him. Or otherwise Antibaronne, though I don't think Anti can affect areas as well as Needle Knight. Why did you think of LieSpy?""'Cause she can knockout people with her mind?"

"She can? I thought it was mostly telekinesis and lie detection."

"Nope. She's got a whole catalogue full of psychokinetic stuff – mind-blasts included."

"Huh. Good to know." She nodded then.

"Alright, we'll try her first. We owe her something for the whole Nth-Sight thing." I took out my phone and called Millie's work cellphone, putting it on speaker. I knew she was on-call today; we talked about it sometimes to see if we could meet up. It never worked because Millie was mostly kept indoors, but now seemed as good a time as any.

"Heya, Jester," LieSpy answered, half-giggling already at my masked name.

"What's up?"

"We got ourselves a villain over here." Shadeveil restarted his wriggling; we hadn't been quiet during the conversation.

"Problem is: he's two-dimensional, and refuses to leave his shadow."

"Ugh! How annoying!"

"I know. Which is why I think he's in need of a good mind-whammy." LieSpy, "Gasp!"-ed on the other end, enunciating the word itself rather than the action.

"A villain, hand-wrapped and delivered just for me? Is it my birthday or something?

"C'mon, man!" Shadeveil complained, hearing his doom approaching.

"Can't you just let me go? Here-" From the shadow a bag emerged, spilling the goods – chips, energy drinks, alcohol, lots of tiny bottles of expensive air freshener and random assortment of other stuff; had he robbed a convenience store? – all over the alley floor.

"-I gave you the goods, see? No harm no foul – not guilty, eh?"

"You can take that up with the law," Crowsong said. Then, less cold, "You're a minor right? You've barely done anything so I'm sure they'll give you the chance to switch cleanly – with some precautions, of course."

"Yeah yeah!" LieSpy added enthusiastically through the phone.

"Besides, we lack a shifter to complete a set!" Was she authorized to make such an offer? Well, not my problem anyhow.

"We also lack a super, but you're clearly not that." Shadeveil audibly grumbled at that. Super-envy was a known thing amongst some powered.

"Anyway, send me the deets and I'll make sure I'll be there quick as a whistle!" I did and fifteen minutes later, LieSpy arrived. Alongside her was Autophaser in his simple white-and-light-blue bodysuit that was all but completely see-through – as in ghostly transparent, not near-nude.

As per his name, Autophaser could flicker in and out of phase with the world around him, and had a base state that was something in between that dampened worldly effects – punches, gunshots, gravity, etcetera – on him without his attacks being dampened in turn. I figured he was here as backup in case something went wrong, or as an alternative in case LieSpy couldn't get Shadeveil out of the wall. And indeed, as LieSpy knocked Shadeveil out, the villain remained stuck on the wall.

Autophaser reached in to grab him, but unfortunately his out-of-phase wasn't the same as Shadeveil's two-dimensionality, and so he failed as well. It wasn't until another Prospectus – Daemonarm, capable of manifesting red claw-like hands from flat surfaces – arrived that we finally managed to get Shadeveil out of the wall.

But manage it we did, and I convinced Autophaser to take a group picture – Daemonarm included, despite his edgy reputation – of us with the captured villain, sending it to Millie, Amber and Naomi right after. I was abuzz with glee and pride. So much so I didn't even care the Heroic Impulse was contentedly purring in the back of my programming. It was a fun day and a good start to our integration with the Sentinels, and that was all that mattered.