Shade: Unbound

Contrary to Finn’s expectations, the shipment hadn’t come in a truck at all. Instead, it arrived via boat across the canal. Or so Finn guessed, because the front door of the building he was standing on opened, making way for a group of men armed with assault rifles to head outside toward where the ship was docking.

Thankfully, there weren’t any houses closeby. He didn’t know what to expect, as he wasn’t exactly sure what was being delivered, but if a fight broke out, they wouldn’t have to worry about innocent bystanders getting involved.

What surprised him more was that the villains waiting hadn’t made their move yet, even if they’d moved closer. He would’ve expected them to move in guns blazing to secure the haul and get out, but that was not what happened. These criminals were being careful, getting into position for whatever it was they were planning, not making any noise.

Obviously, since Finn and Lyra had discovered this meeting through their own investigation, no Aegis missions had been listed for this situation. They wouldn’t be losing any credits by alerting the authorities before they could secure their own objectives; there was no reward to be had, in the first place. Unless they planned on stealing the cargo, which Finn definitely wanted no part of, given how cautious everyone was being.

Regardless, this situation was precarious, and they didn’t want to be the ones to throw it into chaos. Jack was ready to call in the police, but they weren’t sure if that would be enough, and they didn’t have a direct line of contact with the district heroes.

They descended, hitting the street in total silence, remaining unnoticed as they approached the ship. Finn readied his staff as he blended in with the environment.

“Are you hearing anything?” Gridlock asked for what must have been the twentieth time since they got here. It was understandable, though. All the waiting had made Finn restless as well, especially knowing there was a group of villains right around the corner.

“Still nothing,” Lyra said. “I can’t tell what’s inside the container. I think it’s completely sealed.”

“Wait for the right moment,” Jack said, but they didn’t need to be told that. They knew what they were getting into. Or rather, they didn’t know, which was why they were exercising caution.

The container was carted toward the building, and that was the last moment of calm. One of the criminals fired his gun at the group escorting the shipment, but the uniformed man it was directed at dodged without even looking. He turned and fired his own rifle back at the shooter, but the air distorted and the bullets curved around their target, sailing harmlessly into the open air.

When Finn took a step forward to join the battle, Gridlock spoke again. “Wait. It might be better to hold off on jumping in.”

“Why?” Finn snapped.

“Calm down, Shade. I’m saying this because we don’t know what side to join right now. You could help fight against the villains, sure, but you have no clue if that other squad will attack you or not. Keep in mind, we’re probably looking at an illegal shipment being defended from potential thieves. I’ve already called it in. If we just wait for the cops to arrive, we won’t have to do anything.”

That was… true, if the police brought a strong enough force. But he wasn’t ready to let this go. “We can just take them both on,” Finn said. “No need to choose a side.”

“Can you? Chances are, Deft and that squad leader both have powers, and I see Panel running up behind them.”

Finn wanted to rebuke him, but looked ahead and saw the villainess was indeed there. She’d been the one hiding in the car beside Deft, her costume now on full display. Her brown hair flowed freely behind her a mosaic mask that reminded him of modern art he’d seen in school. The bodysuit she wore was entirely white, sporting only a few tools on its utility belt.

Finn knew what their powers were, but Jack relayed the relevant information for Lyra’s sake. “Deft has a minor variant of spatial manipulation, and Panel makes flat square surfaces of energy that she can control. You think you can fight that?”

Again, Finn wanted to push back. However, Lyra surprised him by speaking up first. “I think so. We’ve all gotten a lot better at fighting, right?”

Unconsciously, Finn nodded along, approving of her attitude this time. “She’s right, Gridlock. We can’t just sit still and let fights like this play out in front of us.”

Jack sighed. “Just be careful, the other squad might see you as a threat. Stick together and watch each other's backs.”

They moved closer, staying hidden behind a stack of crates as they observed the escalating conflict. The men guarding the shipment were putting up a formidable defense, utilizing their powers and firearms with precision, though it was looking to be a stalemate so far. Deft's power allowed him to manipulate the positioning of objects and distort trajectories, making him a challenging opponent to face. Meanwhile, Panel was using her energy panels to create shields and barriers, effectively protecting herself and her allies.

Yet they had a hard time advancing, because the squad leader seemed to know exactly how to direct his gunmen in order to keep the opposing party from making progress, while keeping the pressure on Panel with grenades and other tools so she couldn’t use her ability to push them away.

Deft’s group was hit by a shock wave in the middle of all this, sending them tumbling away from each other.

The company squad leader didn’t capitalize on the opening, opting to suddenly direct his men to dive out of the way, but not all of them were fast enough. Their formation was ruined by a second shock wave. And that was just the opening salvo for the third party.

His staff in one hand, Finn dove straight for Deft. His weapon stretched impossibly forward and glided over the man, but Finn was ready with his other hand, which managed to electrocute him. Space spasmed along with the villain and Finn was sent bobbling and rocketing out of the way.

Other criminals were clearly affected by this as well, but Finn was the first to recover, disarming one thug with his staff and tasing him. A square pane of light surged up from behind him, but he dove underneath it in a roll and kept running and neutralizing the shooters, using camouflage the entire way through.

Apparently Deft had recovered partway. Unfortunately for him, he had made the mistake of using a sonic gadget on them to gain the advantage, and Lyra punished him for it by neutralizing it immediately.

As Finn reached the last of Deft's goons, he bore witness to a gruesome scene. The guy didn't find cover in time, and he was riddled with bullets a moment later.

Finn watched the thug slump in shock, seeing red liquid leak onto the pavement from his head and torso.

The way the shooter coldly moved on after confirming the criminal's death… the sheer finality of it hit Finn like a truck. This guy was gone. Forever. He would never get up again. Finn just stood there, hands shaking. It wasn't supposed to be like this, every bad person was supposed to be cuffed and taken to someplace far away from—

“Shade!” Lyra’s voice shouted over the comms, bringing him back to the moment. “I can’t hold this for much longer!”

He had to focus. His grappling hooks shot out, leaving the rapidly cooling corpse behind him. He saw the company men weren’t taking shots at Lyra, using non-lethal methods to subdue her, while the rest fought Panel and Deft, the latter two being deprived of their men.

“We could work something out, kids!” the squad leader shouted. “Just come with us, and we won’t have to do anything drastic.”

Finn had absolutely no plans of listening to the man. He yanked Lyra back with his grappling hook. When she was steady on her feet again, Panel summoned one of her shields to block a barrage of incoming gunfire, then flipped it sideways and hopped on top of it, rising into the air in an impressive display of agility and control over her energy panels.

Deft pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Lyra, but she used her sonic shielding gadget and enhanced it with her power to block. She and Finn repositioned themselves before he could do more.

The villain quickly shifted his attention back to the uniformed gunners trying to shoot Panel off-course, providing cover fire as his companion flew toward the container. She didn’t make it, though, because the squad leader was standing in the way.

Without their squad leader to direct them, the uniformed men were much more susceptible to Lyra’s next shock wave. They all fell, but Finn was already headed straight for Deft.

This time, Deft had been smart enough to not leave any open route to touch him. At least not that Finn could see. The man’s suit and blank mask seemed to spiral to his eyes, as if twisted like a rope. But that was impossible, as Deft was still shooting just fine.

Left with no way to approach, Finn moved around trying to find an opening, then told Lyra to fire a shock wave at him. She did so, and Finn got another opportunity. But it seemed Deft had anticipated it, because a spinning vortex pulled him in. Finn swayed, dizziness and confusion setting in.

He shot out his grappling hooks toward the ground in order to keep himself in place. It worked, though Deft aimed the gun at him this time.

Another shock wave came in, but it seemed to travel around Deft, leaving him unharmed. He turned and covered over ten meters with a single step, running toward the shipment and taking potshots at the squad leader.

Finn and Lyra attacked the company squad during that time, the leader fighting off two superhumans at once with what looked to be only a single sensory ability.

The men themselves weren’t too difficult to disarm, since they were already on the ground and got picked off one by one. Lyra turned to Deft, who still had his defenses up, and clapped, in a different frequency, channeling her next shock wave longer than Finn was used to. Perhaps longer than ever before.

She tossed it at the masked villain, successfully breaking through his protection. The man was visibly vibrating and fell to his knees, trying to stay in control, but Finn suspected the technique used to keep protecting Deft also kept Lyra’s attack inside.

Not even five seconds passed before his power went haywire again, making space tremble, and letting the shock wave free.

Into the metal container.

It rattled loudly, and the squad leader instantly backed away from it. “Run, you idiots!” he shouted.

Even Panel listened, floating the other way. Deft also didn’t waste a second, bolting back to the city, each step swallowing an abnormal amount of distance.

A banging noise came from inside the container, and the metal bent out of shape at the point of impact. Then again. And again.

It broke open.

Water flooded the road, washing out an octopus. Given how still it was, Finn would have been convinced it was dead, if its appendages didn’t start to glow.

The water flowed back toward the creature. From the container first and the canal. A huge wave surged upward, like a small tsunami.

One of the prone men shot at it. Bullets splashed ineffectually into its water barrier, which morphed into a levitating sphere. It flicked a limb. A blade of water shot out at devastating speed, right at Panel in the distance.

She reacted in time to raise one of her shields. It didn’t matter. The blade pushed against it and sent her sailing right off of her platform. Another blade came for her before she could defend herself. It split her in half, sending two gory chunks falling from the sky.

“Get out of there! NOW!” Gridlock yelled over the comms.

Lyra was tugging on his arm by now, and he made no argument as he started running, but he knew they wouldn’t be getting away without a fight. A fight they had no hope of winning.

Ultimately, Finn’s guess had been half-right. This was a trafficking operation.

It just wasn’t humans being trafficked.