My mind slowly awoke at the sound of someone in my room with me. The warehouse I was in was dark with large crates along the walls. I tried to move only to hear the chair rattle under me. I peeked down and saw the ropes binding me and realized they were something that David had shown me before, they were meta-binding ropes. They prevented the use of abilities.
I then recognized the taste of dirty cloth in my mouth. I wanted to gag, but it was stopping me from doing so.
How did I get in this situation?
I looked around as the memories began to flow back to me and the cloth in my mouth stifled a gasp. Hank, Naya, the mission!
The other person who caught me.
~~~~
The wind assaulted me as I stood staring at the lights of the busy city as they started fading into the distance. This neighborhood was sketchy to say the least, but I knew what I had to do in order to get answers and to complete the mission. Naya walked beside me, doing her best to hide herself in the shadows, but her white fur made her very noticeable anyway.
"Pretty girl, try as hard as you may, but that white fur catches the moonlight, the shadows will only be cut through as you walk. I'm afraid that may not work," I said in Japanese, chuckling when she scoffed at me. I waved my hand and let some shadows coat her and she yelped in surprise as they hugged her.
I heard a thumping on a rooftop above us and felt my body tense on its own as I felt his presence touch the shadows scouting there.
I knew that my outfit would hide my identity well enough now, but I couldn't guarantee that it would if whomever was following me got any closer.
"Naya," I started in Korean, hoping that our pursuer couldn't understand the language. "We're being followed. I need you to cut back to the car, don't let anyone see you. I'm going to lose them, okay?" I heard a small whine indicating she didn't want to leave me, but I knew that she would. "On three, pretty girl."
The footsteps grew closer.
"One."
I heard the stop on the roof above us.
"Two."
The person hit the ground as I spun.
"Three!"
I heard Naya howl as she ran and I went in the opposite direction. My shadows starting to slither up my body and form my armor. I knew as soon as I heard the steps gaining on me that this would become a fight, but I needed to get away from civilians first.
I saw a forest starting to grow closer and I knew this would be perfect for me, I knew how to blend in within the shadows of a forest.
I felt the person gaining on me and as I hit the tree line, I made one of the worst mistakes possible, I looked behind me.
He was in a costume like me, but his suit was dark green with some black outlines and a green and black domino mask. He had black combat boots to his mid-calf with green laces. His hair was an earthy brown that was shaggy on his head.
I hit the trees and couldn't tell how long I was running until I hit a clearing. The trees on all the other sides would be too dense for me to run through.
"Enough running," I heard behind me, fear coated my insides as I heard the steps coming closer. "Time to face me, little girl."
I jumped away and turned to face him, forming a dagger in my hand. "I'm most certainly not a little girl, crazy boy," I taunted back.
I threw the dagger and he easily dodged it as it dug itself into the bark of a tree.
"Okay, maybe I was being childish again," he started as he watched me form another dagger in my hand, "I don't want to fight you, I just want to know why you're in my city."
I heard a growl as Naya walked herself into the clearing and stood between the two of us.
"Naya! I told you to go to the car!" I yelled at her, centering myself to hopefully hit my target this time. Naya huffed at me, as if arguing back.
"Interesting, so this is who you've been talking to," he said in wonder before dodging yet another one of my daggers. "Okay, you're definitely not going to make this easy."
He bent down to the ground and touched it. The forest began to quake before a crack opened up. I tried to catch myself with my shadows but even they slipped, I watched Naya as she fell beside me.
"Naya!" I reached myself out and grabbed her, wrapping my body around her.
I don't remember hitting the ground, but I do remember being held in someone's arms only half-conscious and heard one last line.
"I'm sorry, little warrior, but I need answers before I let you wander around playing hero."
~~~~
Panic set in as I scanned for Naya, finding nothing. I reached out for the shadows surrounding me, only to come up empty. I couldn't reach them.
"Ah, so you're awake, huh, little warrior?"
Annoyance filled me as he walked up and smirked at me, his arms crossed across his chest. Then anger as I saw Naya trot in with him, her tongue lolled and happy.
'Traitor.'
"I have a few questions for you to answer for me," he said, walking behind me to untie the cloth gag in my mouth. I cough and sputtered as it fell, grateful that the disgusting thing was gone. "So, I suggest you listen, little warrior."
"I. Am. NOT. Little!" I growled and slammed my head backwards, hitting his nose. I smiled a bit in triumph as I heard him stumble backwards. Naya bristled and growled at me. "Oh hush, you traitor."
"You definitely still have some fight in you, don't you, little warrior?"
"Stop calling me that."
He stepped out in front of me and I realized that he was studying me without my mask obstructing my face.
"Get a good long look, Romeo, because when I get out of here, I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?" he asked, tilting his head at me. The action was incredibly cute and make me speechless. "You will what, Serenity Rae Alacritas?"
My gut sank as he spat out my name. How did he know who I was? How did he know my name?
"I certainly have your attention now, don't I, little warrior? I want you to answer my questions, do we have an understanding with each other now?" he said, his voice cold. I nodded and for the first time since I started this job, I just felt the fear and anticipation that my body was giving off. I needed to find a way to escape, but the only way to do that would be to cut the ropes tying me to this chair.
I can't form my weapons. The only thing I have is the spare already formed dagger in my left boot.
If only I could reach it...
"What's your end game, Shadow Girl?"
That made me pause.
"I want to take down the Underground, I want to get justice for the unjust murder of my parents, I want," I paused. I wanted freedom, freedom from the feeling of helplessness and the feeling of defeat. Freedom from the pain and despair I had felt watching someone be murdered in front of me. Freedom from the darkness in the corner of my mind, slowly trying to corrupt my mind with the thoughts that I wasn't worth it.
"Serenity?"
I felt the moisture suddenly and stared up at the man in front of me. I couldn't lose to someone like him.
I reached into my boot suddenly and grabbed the dagger and snapped the tied around my body. Shadows surged forward and started molding themselves into people to hold him back.
"I want to win."
~~~~
"I still don't get the point of all of this, Axton, why did you suddenly decide I needed your help again?" I asked, watching Hank walk into his apartment building, a stumble in his step. We could see Rosangela on the couch in the apartment, her head in her hands. We could see some bruising and some cuts that meant the file hadn't been lying, someone was hitting her.
And for that, this man would pay.
"Because, little warrior," I growled, "you are obviously very new to the whole 'society hates us' thing, you are also very new to the whole vigilante thing, and I won our little spar earlier, in case you forgot," he smirked over at me before refocusing on Rosangela. The woman had now taken off her ring and seemed to be examining it.
Axton (the name he was born with and seems to hate) had chosen the name Icarus for himself as a vigilante. This pain in my ass was now stuck with me, all because I decided to take a wager against him. It was if I won, he would leave me alone. If he won...
Well here was the evidence of that.
He insisted that he had to finish this mission with me, and he suggested a spar match after that with another wager. I become his partner or he stops being a vigilante.
I turned back to the window to watch as Hank walked in and he and Rosangela got into a fight. I watched as he hit her and my body reacted on its own.
"Shadow, gods, what are you-"
The sound of shattering glass cut off everything else as I restrained Hank on the ground and looked up at Rosangela, who had relief and a bit of fear on her face.
"Are you okay, miss?"
"Oh, um, yes, thank you..." she paused, waiting for me to fill in my name.
"Shadow. My name is Shadow," she smiled at me and I felt my body light up. Was this what it was like to not be hated just because of who you are?
"Shadow!"
I flinched as Incarus (Axton, I refuse for him to be Incarus in my head too) came in with his scolding tone.
Rosangela blocked me from his scolding. Her body was tensed up as she stood with her back to me. Why did this seem somewhat familiar to me? "She helped me, please don't be mad at her."
I saw him look at me and it seemed like his features softened, but I couldn't tell by the way his mask hid his eyes. "It's okay, I wasn't going to hit her, I promise. She's my partner. She's very new to this, okay?"
I saw her body relax and she let Axton around her. He took my head in his hands and made me look directly at him.
"Shadow, are you okay?"
My body relaxed to his touch, why does it do that? So much that Hank got out of my grasp and I was thrown into a bookshelf across the room. I don't know how it happened, but when my eyes opened again and the darkness in my vision faded, Hank was bloodied on the ground with cuffs on his wrists.
"Shadow, hey, can you hear me?"
That stupidly attractive voice coupled with someone shaking me. I turned my head and stared up at him, relief paired with concern.
"Hey, there you are. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I, I hit a bookshelf?" I responded. My body felt heavy and pain made my head spin.
He smiled at me, and I felt my insides lighten up. "That's right. Can you tell me who did it?"
The lights suddenly felt a little too bright. "His name was... Hank Davis?"
He smiled again and moved a piece of hair out of my face. "Yes, can you tell me the name of the woman you saved?"
"I, I can't remember," I felt my eyes tearing up. I tried to pull it out of my head, but pieces of my memory was missing.
I felt him lift me up and I turned to see the girl watching with tears in her eyes. Her phone was raised to her ear and with her other hand, she held a folder out for us to take. What were the files for again?
"Thank you, Rosangela. If you need anything, you know how to contact us," Axton held me a bit closer to his chest.
"Is she okay?"
"It seems like a minor concussion, slight memory loss with extra light sensitivity on top of the sensitivity her ability causes," she smiled down at me, but even I could see the pain in her face. "Hey, she'll be okay, I'm going to take care of her, okay? None of this was your fault."
"Okay."
~~~~
I hugged the toilet as I finally finished puking out everything Axton had made me eat. He was still in bed, he didn't hear me get up from across the room. His senses were definitely dulled to normal level, but it could be a part of where I've always heard everything with shadows being everywhere.
"Serenity?" I heard. I groaned in response. "There you are, little warrior. Why didn't you wake me up?"
I groaned again and he sighed above me. He rubbed my back as another wave of bile came up.
A loud ringing filled up the semi quiet room as I finished. I groaned at the loud sound as Axton ran to answer my laptop.
"Hello, this is Serenity's laptop, Incarus speaking," he said, and I would have giggled at his antics if I wasn't busy trying not to puke again.
"Ummm, is this a bad time? Grace and I can call later?"
"A little bit, Serenity here has a slight concussion and happens to be puking her guts out as we speak," he responded as he walked into the bathroom. He broke the darkness as he flipped on the light. I hissed at him and curled up into myself.
"Miss Serenity? Is you okay?" Grace asked as Axton put the Mac down in front of me.
"Not really, baby, everything hurts and--AXTON TURN OFF THE STUPID LIGHTS--and I just want to be home for a bath right now. I miss my Gracie cuddles," I peeked out and pouted at her before the lights made me retreat back into my ball.
"You have to ask nicely, little warrior," he sang back. I would have growled at him again but I felt another wave of nausea hit then and I turned to the toilet just as it all came back up.
"Oh, darlin'," Dani started before turning her aggression onto Axton. "Boy, if you don't turn off those lights, so help me I will come to Chicago and whoop you myself."
The lights immediately went out and I could feel my headache start to ebb. "Thank you." I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me again and I could feel myself start to doze off in the bathroom.
"Alright, little warrior, we need to get you back to bed, okay?" I hummed and tried to stand, only to fall back to the ground.
"Darlin', let the boy help you, okay?" Dani said, her voice was the light comforting tone that made me want to immediately do whatever she wanted. I nodded and held up my arms to Axton. He sighed and bent down to lift me and put me back into bed before bringing me my laptop again.
"I miss you, Miss Serenity!"
"Oh, baby, I miss you too, Gracie," I said, yawning.
"Okay, darlin', we're gonna let you get some sleep. Grace, say good night."
"Nighty night, Miss Serenity," she said, flexing her hand at me. Her eyes had a spark as she said that.
"Good night, Gracie," I said as the screen went black.
Axton took my laptop and returned it back to my charger as I curled myself up into a ball. "Okay, sleep tight, little warrior."
I gripped his sleeve. "Wait," I said. Axton turned to me with his green eyes. His contacts were pulled out a while ago, so I could see the rings of silver that meant he was a meta. "Can you cuddle me please?"
He stared at me for a second and I saw a flash in his eyes before he patted my had. "Serenity, you're not in your right mind right now, you just need to-"
"Noooooo," I said and tugged him towards me.
"You're not gonna drop this, are you?" he asked. I shook my head and earned a sigh as the bed next to me dipped down. Axton laid down facing me and continued to stare. "Better?"
I hummed and let my eyes slip closed.
"Good night, my little warrior."