Getting up, I went over to the dresser to check it out. The clothes were big and baggy, and there were only a few shirts, a pair of jeans, and one pair of active shorts. Thankfully the shorts had a drawstring. Still it would be better than the prison outfit I had been wearing. Once I was dressed I left the room and headed out to the main area. Nebula wasn’t here, and neither was Macaw. Seeing as I had the place to myself, I looked around a bit more before sitting in front of the central desk lined with screens.
There were so many things to do here, it was hard to keep it all straight. I saw programs that had 4 different news channels playing. Two were local news, one was national, and the final was international. I also found a program that seemed to track people of interest. Keiji was one of them, along with Andree, though his name was grayed out. Others on the list were people I didn’t know. Names like Sugar, Semiotics, and someone just labeled HG. I clicked into Keiji and got way more information than I expected.
Name: Keiji Sugino
Age: 52
Occupation: Detective, on call
Connections: NDI, Police
Associates:Andree Pyotr, Nebula, Macaw
Tasks: Find any lead on The Reaper
History: (click for more)
I backed out of Keiji’s profile. It even had an up to date photo of him as well. Perhaps something to explore another time.
There was a beep, and a notification appeared on the screen
FOR RAY: CLICK HERE
Clicking on the notification, I was taken to a messenger app. The message had no listed sender.
To: Raymond Ingram
Subject: Codes and Access
Body:
Please find the access codes to the building and to the elevator for entry and exit. These codes are specific to you, so if anyone other than you uses them, we know who leaked the codes. Don’t worry that Keiji knew your code, I had sent it too him before you arrived at the base.
Door Codes (alley way and back doors) – 72253
Elevator Codes (press in order) – 14 5 12 3 20 8
- Boss
I made sure to commit these codes to memory. It wouldn’t do to forget them and get locked out. Especially since I had no way of getting in contact with anyone.
“Maybe I can request a phone from the boss.” I muttered to myself.
A loud yawn came from the hallway that led to the rooms. Turning around, I saw Macaw in a plain white shirt and some athletic pants. His hair was a little messy.
“Morning Ray.” He said as he yawned again. “Sleep okay?”
“Hey morning Macaw. Yeah, did you?”
Macaw looked at me funny for a sec before slapping his head. “Oh duh, Nebula and I never introduced ourselves to you. Calling me by my villain name while not in costume threw me for a loop!” Laughing, he came and sat nearby. “Call me Lucas from now on when I’m not in costume. It’s a good habit to keep in mind, otherwise you might use the wrong name at the wrong time, and then…” He shrugged. “Anyway, Nebula will be a bit. And the only reason I’m still using her name, is cause she hasn’t told you hers.” He puffed his chest out a bit. “That’d be disrespectful of me.”
I couldn’t help it, I started to laugh. Not a loud laugh like Mac- Lucas, but a laugh. The guy was just funny, whether this was him trying to be or if it’s just how he is. He is a funny guy.
“Oh, find me amusing do ya? Finally!” Lucas was facing me, so he didn’t see the door to the elevator open. “Someone who’s not a stick in the mud like Nebula. This team might just be enjoyable now!” My face paled, and Lucas noticed.
“Who’s the stick in the mud?”
Lucas gulped loudly. Slowly, he turned the chair around to stair at Nebula.
“Ahh, you… you heard that did you?”
The smile that spread across her face was devious. “indeed. And due to that comment, you get to spar me first today. You two go to the training room and warm up, I’ll be there shortly.”
With that said, Nebula walked towards the rooms to change. Lucas and I sat there for a few seconds before we got up, and made our way to the training room.
We both started to warm up with some light stretches again. I tried to make small talk, but Lucas was focused, seeming to prepare himself for the upcoming spar. His reaction did not give me hope for when it would be my turn to spar Nebula. Once we felt as warmed up as we could be, we stood across from each other. My other crows were in here, but the three I had with my last night had not come to me all morning. The other two were still in my room. I reached out with my mind, trying to locate each one. I felt the connection with each of the nine crows snap into place, and then felt almost an itch in my mind. Focusing on it, I realized it was the muscle I had used to first summon the crows.
With no physical way to scratch it, I did the only thing I could think of, and flexed it again. Much like before, the slight mirage of the scarecrow appeared. Like before crows were surrounding it, but this time, there were ten. I connected to each of the ten new ones like I had previously, and suddenly they were there. My other crows had come in just as I relaxed the muscle, vanishing the scarecrow.
Ten though, that’s different. Yesterday it was only nine.
No.
No. No, it wasn’t. The tenth, or the first, would have been the one I had in my room, the one with the note. Did I summon it when I was unconscious? Or maybe these intrusive thoughts did that for me.
“Yikes!” Lucas yelped in alarm, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Did they multiply over night?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“No,” I shook my head. “It looks like I can summon up to ten a day.”
“Ten a day? Man, you could build a whole army of birds!”
“Please, tell me I misheard that. You did not say an arm- Oh!” Nebula came into the room wearing a workout shirt and leggings. “An army of birds… What a nightmare.” Turning to Lucas, she smirked. “Ready to get your ass kicked Lucas?”
Matching her smirk, he stepped forward. “Damn straight, Kaitlyn!”
“You don’t even deny it. Also, who said you could say my name in front of him?”
“You did, when you used mine, and he has a name, it’s-“
“He can speak for himself too.” I cut in. Turning to Nebu- Kaitlyn.”My name is Ray.”
“Earn my respect and I might just remember it. Now, let’s get this started!”
Kaitlyn and Lucas made there way out into the center of the training room, standing about eight feet apart from each other. There was no go, or start signal, Lucas rushed Kaitlyn head on trying to give her little time to prepare.
I watched, as he lashed out with kicks and punches. With the longer reach his arms provided, he managed to grab her shoulder, pulling her down as he brought his knee into her stomach. If glares could kill, Lucas would be dead ten times over from the glare Kaitlyn was giving him.
There was a bright burst of light, and Lucas was thrown away from Kaitlyn, sliding across the floor. With another burst of light Kaitlyn was hovering over him, her hair platinum blond and weightless. One more flash and she was digging her heel into his stomach.
“How’d you like that, you ass?” She seethed.
Coughing, Lucas tried to get up, but Kaitlyn wasn’t going to let him. A bright light condensed itself into her closed fist, and as she swung there was another flash. Lucas skidded up against the wall on his side. She raised her hand, preparing for another strike, but Lucas shielded his face yelling out.
“I yield! I yield! You win!”
“Not that easy you don’t!” And she brought her fist down into his stomach. No flash of light, just pure rage and strength.
It had only lasted thirty two seconds in all.
Using the wall, Lucas got to his feet and started walking towards me.
“Uh no. Get your ass over Lucas. This is your punishment for this mornings comments.” She glance at me. “You’re going to fight the newbie now.”
“Are you crazy?! After the hits you just gave me??”
“You shouldn’t have punched a girl that hard.”
Lucas wasn’t even saying full words, he just sputtered in disbelief. Regardless, he made his way back out to the position he was in before. At Nebula’s beckoning, I made my way out, to stand eight feet away from him. My crows were split, seven on the left side and seven on the right. The last five were flying around close to me.
Once again, there was no starting signal. Lucas rushed me much as he had done to Kaitlyn. Even though I knew what to expect, what moves he would throw at me, I couldn’t move fast enough. He lashed out with more kicks this time. Where as Kaitlyn had managed to evade a few of the strikes, I was hit by every single one. They hurt like hell. Kicking my left leg twice, he then swept my right leg out from under me, and punched me in the chest. It might not have been in that order, but I could barely follow. Did he have super speed or something? Super strength?
I flexed the muscle in my mind that tied my shadow to me. It exploded out in front of me thanks to the way the lighting worked in here, pushing Lucas back with strength I knew I didn’t have. Taking this chance, I stood up and worked to gain some distance from him. He stumbled as he was pushed back, falling down on his back from the surprise. We were now further apart than when we started, with my shadow in-between us.
To my shadow. I commanded the rest of my crows to my shadow, having them fly above it. The effect caused the darkness around my shadow to expand, hid it a bit more. As the crows stayed together, another odd thing began to happen. The dark motes that surround each bird seemed to grow, becoming an almost mist surrounding my shadow. I need a name for that thing. Shade? Shade did not chase, instead staying close to me.
I could see the almost mad grin on Lucas’ face. He was enjoying this.
“Rush him, keep him off balanced.“
I had thought the order before saying it aloud, and Shade obeyed immediately as the thought finished, running off to Lucas. The crows followed with, keeping Shade in their shadows the whole time. It fought with the vigor and knowledge that came from years of fighting, it was actually keeping Lucas at bay. While they fought, I studied Lucas. He seemed to be slowing down now that Shade was on the offense and close in. He was well within the shadow of my crows. Slowly, his attacks started to go wide, while Shade kept hitting the mark.
I watched Shade too, keeping an eye out for any sign it might try and push this too far. I knew it could take bullets, and it seemed to take hits pretty easily, as Lucas could attest to, but it didn’t register the hits. The speed it had while in the shadows was immense. Curiously, I called back the crows. The effect was immediate.
Shade slowed down, the strikes not hitting with the same strength it had before. While still strong, it seemed much weaker when not in direct shadows. Back. I commanded it mentally, watching it disengage from Lucas and return to the shadows of the crows.
“That was very well done!” Lucas clapped his hands in approval. “Creating the darkness from your crows to help your shadow. Now we know how your two powers interact with each other.” He still had that obnoxious grin on his face. “Now, it’s time for my power.”
I cringed, he hadn’t been using his power this whole time? Lucas was about 12 feet or so away from me. I tried to look around the room for anything I could use to help me. With great force, my head was snapped back to face Lucas. I tried turning my head, and found I couldn’t. I tried moving the rest of my body and found that all worked as expected. Lucas took a step forward, and Shade moved forward without any input from me. I noticed a crow leave from flying around me to land on my shadows shoulder. It moved it’s head around, looking around the room. With a sudden impulse, I linked myself to its vision, and I grinned. The crow was not beholden to the control Lucas had placed on me.
“How do you like it Crow? This is my power. It gets stronger the closer I get. I’m curious if it will actually affect your shadow though.”
Both of them walked closer together until Lucas was eye to eye with Shade. That’s when I noticed the difference. When my shadow had appeared to fight Andree, it had matched my height. Andree had stood taller than me, and right now, my shadow was taller than Macaw, who was closer to me in height. My shadow looked to be right about the same height as Andree. It had taken the appearance of Andree’s shadow!
“Interesting, the shadow and crows seem to be immune. This could be really good for some team combos Crow!”
“I told you already. That’s not going to be my name!”
In line with my yell, Shade punched Lucas in his stomach where the body armor didn’t reach. Right where Kaitlyn had hit him twice earlier. With that, Lucas’ power stopped and I could look around again. I brought Shade back to me, and split the crows apart. As I approached Lucas, I reached my hand down to help him up. He looked at it for a moment, and then took it as I helped him to his feet.
“Well, we at least know your power is a really good one. If we get you trained up in hand to hand combat, and up your cardio,” I glared at him as he laughed a little “We could make you into quite the opponent.” He paused for a moment. “There was also this weird feeling I had, when I was underneath the shadows of your crows. I felt dreadful. Like there’s something watching me, or hunting me. I-I-I’t scared me, but I couldn’t tell what there was to be scared of. The closer I get to your shadow, the further into the shadow of your crows, the worse it got.”
“Perhaps they get stronger the more of them there are.” Kaitlyn spoke, walking towards us. “Like me and light. The more ambient light I have around me, the more I can pull in for my attacks and bursts.”
“Sorry to interrupt the training. I need to speak to the new recruit, get a few things in order. You two, please stay at the base. It won’t take too long.”
I jumped at the voice, looking around for the source. It was a speaker in the room. Our employer.
“No worries boss! See ya Ray.”
“Oh sure thing. Birdbrain and I will be on the main console, checking things out.”
With a wave, I watched them leave the room, leaving me alone with our boss.
“Please head to your room before we discuss any further. This is not for other ears to listen to.”
His tone left little room for discussion. So I complied and followed his instructions. What else was I to do?
Prove you are stronger.