Hello. Are you ready for this episode? It's a doozy. I hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review telling me what you think. I've been working on it for so long I've desensitized myself to the shocks of it, so tell me if I did good.
Thank you for all your support and reviews.
Danger S1E13: A Dangerous Pattern Emerges
October 3, 2021
Piper's car parks in the lot of a little chapel. Piper, however, is not behind the wheel; she is in the passenger seat already crying her eyes out. Henry, wearing a black suit, shuts the car off and hesitates a moment to do anything more. "Piper?" he probes gently. She doesn't seem inclined to move. "Piper, we're here. We should get inside."
She remains curled up on the seat. "Just a minute." She requests quietly.
"Alright," he says. He lets her sit in silence, trying to compose herself, while he watches other cars pull up and people walk in.
"I'm not ready for this." Piper mutters. "I can't go in there."
He sighs and looks her over. "Pipes, no one is ever ready for this." He says lowly, empathetically. "But not going in there won't make you feel better, it won't make it un-happen."
"I know." She cries, "I know I'll hate myself if I don't go in, but I don't want to. I can't face seeing him like that."
"I know." Henry whispers seriously. "I know, Piper."
She looks at him for the first time since they'd left their house. "How… how can I…? I still really liked him. He's the best guy I ever knew."
"I'll be with you the whole time. I'll be here for you; you don't have to deal with this alone." He promises.
She nods and wipes her eyes with her black sweater sleeve, breathing shakily but deeply. "Okay." She whispers after another moment. "Okay. I'm… I'm ready."
"No, you're not." He says, but gets out of the car and meets her in front of it.
"I'm ready to go in." she amends as she attaches herself to his side. He wraps his arm around her shoulders and leads her into the chapel.
The Hart siblings walk up to the front of the room where the concentration of the crowd is centered. Henry keeps his arm around Piper as they wait patiently for others to pay their respects at the side of the pine casket. As they have a chance to step up, her breath becomes heavier and her fists clench as she fights to keep from bawling. Henry has his own struggle while he comforts her.
It's dumb really, he thinks, he'd only met the kid once. But it isn't really seeing Billy Bilsky's body that has his emotions in turmoil; it's everything else. The funeral itself: the casket, the mourners, are what rile him. It's too soon since Ray's and he's not ready to face that again. He doesn't want to remember that day. He may not be mourning Billy's death as he had Ray, but it's not so different.
At the same time, it's worse, in a more pitiable way. Captain Man had had the grandest funeral ever seen in all of Swellview, in a great hall with a custom casket and every person in the city had come to pay their respects. He'd been buried with all honors and grandeur. Billy has a small church, with his few dozen family members and friends, a simple casket and a little plot in the nearby cemetery. Henry thinks he might've deserved more than that.
He'd only met him once, years ago, but looking back on it the boy had made an impression. Here lays the youngest Bilsky, the only member of that family that had never made himself a blight on the city or anyone in it. He'd been a kind, honest kid despite growing up with bullies and thieves. Somehow, he'd held onto his light and goodness despite his dingy circumstances. That was extraordinary.
If only there were more people like him. He'd clearly made a difference in the lives of people around him, and not by being a superhero, just by being a good person. How was it fair that he was now gone too?
Piper only manages to stay beside the casket for most of a minute before she's turning and pulling Henry away. He keeps her held tight while more tears slip down her cheeks. Soon after they've joined the groups of people milling around talking and crying together Piper's friend, Emma, sweeps through and takes her away to join their other friends mourning together.
Henry finds a seat nearby and allows himself to sink into contemplation while the true mourners take their time to mourn. "What're you doing here, Hart?" a slightly hostile and forlorn voice asks him.
He looks up and blinks before greeting kindly, "Hey, Mitch."
Mitch Bilsky drops into the chair next to him and repeats, "What are you doing here? You didn't know Billy."
"I brought Piper, my little sister. She and Billy used to date." He reminds.
"Oh yeah." Mitch says. "He liked her, talked about her a lot. I remember he was sad when she left, went to a new school or something."
"Yeah, college, Florida State." Henry nods. "She really liked him too and she was really sad to hear he died."
"Must've, to fly all the way across the country to come to his funeral." Another Bilsky comments as she takes a seat beside Mitch. "Wish I had friends like that."
"Hi, Bish." Henry says. "I thought you were still in prison."
"They let Dad and me out to come to this. I was supposed to be getting parole soon enough anyway." She says testily.
"That's great." He says. "Charlotte's been petitioning for you since the last time you got put in."
"Yeah. She's a good friend." Bish says. "The only one I have, unlike Billy, he has tons." Her face screws up and she begins to weep, "He shouldn't have died. He didn't deserve it, of all of us he should've been the one to live."
Henry frowns and nods, "Yeah. It always is the good ones who go first." He mutters bitterly, "We never get a choice in that."
"What would you know about it?" Mitch growls.
Henry looks briefly at him before saying to his hands, "I lost someone a few months ago. He was family, almost like a brother." he nearly chokes as he tries to downplay the pain. He doesn't want to get into it and certainly not with the Bilskys. "It was hard, too soon for him to die. And I still don't know how it could've happened."
"I don't know how it happened to Billy either." Bish says. "No one's told me much since I've been out of jail." She cast an accusing look to Mitch.
"I don't want to talk about it." He says angrily. "It's not fun to have to tell the story of how you found your little brother dead a million times."
"You found him?" Henry asks commiseratively. "Where? What happened?"
"I just told ya! I don't wanna talk about it!" Mitch insists.
"Well, I wanna know." Bish demands. "He was my little brother too."
"Then ask Mom or Jeff, they can tell you the story as well as I can." Mitch growls back at her.
"Ask me what?" Jeff Bilsky says as he plops himself into the seat on the opposite side of Henry. "What're you all talking about?"
"What happened to Billy?" Bish asks forcefully. "Mitch isn't telling me anything."
"Oh, well, I don't really know." Jeff says. "Mitch just found him lying in the yard. He called me, I was coming over anyway, and we panicked about it together for a while. We didn't want to call the police because they might've thought we did it. But Billy wouldn't wake up, so we had to do something. Turned out he was dead well before either of us got to him anyway."
"But that's not possible!" Mitch interrupts the story which both Bish and Henry are following raptly. "Because I'd seen him not an hour before. He was doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen like the good kid he was. He couldn't have died so quickly after that. If something had happened, I would've heard it. That dumb dead-person doctor-guy was wrong."
"But then how did it happen?" Bish asks, "If he was cleaning the kitchen, why'd he end up dead on the lawn?"
"I don't know." Mitch admits morosely. "He must have taken the garbage out or something. But I don't know how he ended up dead."
"Well, neither does that dead-guy doctor from the city." Jeff says, "He took Billy's body and looked it over but said he couldn't find anything wrong with him."
"Nothing wrong?" Henry asks, "But he was young. Something must've happened."
"No duh, dropout. Even I know that." Mitch says and Henry lets the insult slide, knowing now is not the time to pick a fight with, nor even correct, him. "But the dead-person doctor said that he couldn't find any reason why Billy had died. He was just dead."
"The coroner didn't find any injury or sickness in him?" Henry asks, concerned curiosity peaking.
"Nope." Jeff bleats. "He told Mom there was no injury on him at all except that one small bruise on his chest."
"What bruise?" Bish asks her brothers.
"It was a little thing, a dark and swirly mark. We saw it when the ambulance came. But the doctor for the dead told Mom it couldn't have had anything to do with Billy's death, so we didn't worry about it." Mitch says.
Henry blinks blankly, Mitch couldn't have just said "Dark and swirly?"
"Yeah. A little round spot on his chest with four twisty lines coming out of it." Jeff says drawing the shape with his finger in the air.
Henry thinks his heart may have stopped, "And it was the only injury on him?" He asks alarmed.
"Yeah, Jeff just said that." Mitch derides. "But it doesn't matter, it couldn't have had anything to do with his death. Why do you care anyway?"
"Uh… nothing, I just… that seems weird. I'm sorry you don't know what happened." He says, trying not to panic or let his speeding, terrifying thoughts show in his expression.
The rest of the day, through the funeral and driving Piper home, through family dinner and comforting Piper more, Henry keeps those thoughts in his head. Over and over telling himself "Don't freak out. Don't assume anything. Just because they used the words 'dark swirly' doesn't mean it has anything to do with anything." And above all, "I cannot even mention this to anyone without proof. If I'm wrong, it's not worth it and if I'm right… that would be a bad thing too and is definitely scary."
So, Henry waits until the middle of the night, when he's sure everyone is asleep, and he won't have to explain. In a move he hasn't had to pull in a long time, he sneaks out his window and down the tree, creeping out into the city streets after blowing a bubble. Danger makes his way to city hall without letting himself be seen.
Only the nighttime skeleton crew is there, and he manages to sneak past the few of them without any incidents. Down to the basement he creeps to find the coroner's office. There, he boots up the computer on the desk, doing his best to ignore the humming refrigerators on the opposite wall that hold things he would rather not think about. The computer is locked, which he should've foreseen. "Dang it." He curses anyway, wondering how he is to get into to it to find what he needs.
"What do you think you're doing?" a voice demands.
Danger startles sharply towards the voice, "Jeez!"
"Who are you?" the young woman in the lab coat asks, flipping on the light switch. She stops in her tracks turning back with her hands almost placed on her hips in anger, "Danger?" she says in shock. "What… what're you doing here?"
He cringes guiltily for a moment at being caught before deciding it may be better this way. "Can you help me? I need to get some information from this computer."
She steps slowly towards him, staring at him starstruck. "I guess. I could. But what information could you need from Dr. Denouement's computer? All we have on there is the autopsy reports and related forensics."
Danger steps aside to let the young coroner's assistant, her name tag says 'Johnson', at the computer. "I need to see the autopsy report for Billy Bilsky." He tells her, avoiding eye contact with her because he knows what she'll say.
Surely enough, she pauses in her logging into the network to stare at him in confusion and anxiety. "I can't show you that! Individual files are protected by privacy laws. I can't let you see them, I'd be fired! Or worse!"
"It's really important." He beseeches. "I need to know how he died. If you could just tell me, I won't even look, but I need to know."
"What could be so important?" she asks but does resume typing in her password. "Who is this Billy Bil- Bilsky?"
"He was an acquaintance. I met him once." Danger struggles to explain without mentioning anything revealing while Ms. Johnson sets about searching Billy's name.
"He was a fifteen-year-old boy," She notes, "And he died mere days ago. What…?"
"I know." Danger cuts her confused questions off before they can begin. "His brother is a criminal I've had to deal with many times, and I ran into him today. He said there was no cause of death for Billy."
"No cause of death?" Ms. Johnson asks, and he watches her eyes scan the file and come to rest on what must be the line she's looking for. "Yes, I see. Cause of death: unknown. That's very strange."
"Yeah." He agrees.
"Why are you interested in it though?" She asks, looking back at Danger. "Do you know something more about what happened to this boy? Is there something… supervillain, er, extra-normal about it."
"I don't know." Danger says, "That's why I'm here. I think…" he doesn't dare voice his suspicions even now. "His brother mentioned something else: a strange bruise. What can you tell me about that?"
Ms. Johnson eyes him warily, her own form of alarmed curiosity reflecting his in her gaze. She looks back to the computer and scans through the document again to find what he's talking about. "There is no mention of any bruising. But, Dr. Denouement has taken note of an unusual burn on the boy's chest."
"It's a burn?"
"Yes."
"And is it shaped like a swirl? With four arms twisted around a central circle?" he asks fearfully.
She clicks something, presumably a picture, and says, "Yes."
"Oh god." Danger mutters, running a hand through his hair.
"I…" Ms. Johnson stops herself and asks. "Why do you say that? What is so important about this mark?"
"I was hoping you'd say no. I was hoping I was wrong." He repeats his anxious motion, his hair becoming a real mess as he mutters. "It could still be nothing… Maybe I'm just overthinking… It can't be… Could I see a picture of it?" he asks.
"What is this about?" she returns. "Do you know what this mark is?"
"Maybe. I need to see it." he insists.
"I have seen it." She tells firmly, "But I don't know what it means. I thought it was a coincidence. But it's the same here on this Billy boy as it is on the other and they both died of unknown causes." She trails off, looking almost as heated and disturbed as Danger feels.
"You've seen this before? On another dead body?" he asks in horror.
"Yes," she says. "So, tell me what it means."
"Who? Show me." He demands in return.
They glare expectantly at each other until she gives in with a sigh. "A Jane Doe. She was brought in a couple weeks ago, we have no idea how she died but she has a burn very like this one on the side of her neck."
"I need to see this mark. I need to know if it's really what I think it is." Danger repeats.
"I can show you the girl. She's still in the fridge, we've been holding her while we try to find her identity; but that's a no go as well. In the pursuit of the case, I can let you see her if there is a real possibility that you can provide answers." Ms. Johnson offers. "You can see the mark on her."
Danger pauses and looks at the fridges across the room, not wholly comfortable with the knowledge of what's inside them. "Alright." he says. "Show me."
"I'll have to inform Dr. Denouement and the detective in charge of the case. You'll have to wait for approval, which won't come 'till morning." she says.
"Why can't you just open the thing and show me now? It's right there." he gestures.
"There are procedures I have to follow. I can't break the rules." She denies.
"You already told me about Billy, you said you couldn't do that." He tries to persuade.
"No, you told me about Billy. I just confirmed what you were telling me as I read it. I didn't give you anything else and I didn't let you see the screen. I haven't technically broken any laws. But I can't show you a dead body without going through the proper channels.
"Please." He begs, "Just a quick look. If we go through all the proper channels with the city officials, they'll expect explanations. And if I'm wrong the explanation is going to cause more trouble than it's worth. I just need to know if this mark is what I think it is before I say anything to anyone."
She considers him, clearly debating. "If you're right about what you think it is, you'll have to go through it all with my bosses anyway? So, I probably won't be scolded for having helped a hero solve a clearly serious crime?"
"Yes." He promises. "I'll make sure you aren't punished for anything."
"Then I hope you're right." She says and walks purposefully over to the fridges.
"No." he corrects, "If you knew what I was thinking, you'd really hope I was wrong."
She looks warily at him. "Here she is, Jane Doe. Hope dead bodies don't freak you out too much." She says opening one of the doors and rolling out the slab. There lays a young woman, who had probably been in her late teens or early twenties. "Here's the mark." Ms. Johnson says, showing him a patch of skin on the side of the girl's neck.
Unlike when he was with the Bilskys, Henry is sure now that his heart is beating because it feels like it's trying to escape his chest. He may have stopped breathing though as he sees the burn. He's aware Ms. Johnson is saying something about the burn and asking more questions as she quickly shuts the drawer again, but he can't hear her for the ringing in his ears. His vision too is lost as the mark burns in his mind as sure as it had burned the Jane Doe's flesh. As sure as the same mark had burned his own flesh when he'd touched its shadowy shape in the control tower of Swellview Power Facility three months ago. "Oh god." Is all he can say.
(Theme Song: Henry's Voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as the members of Danger Force and Schwoz run around reacting to an emergency alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
October 4, 2021
First thing in the morning, Danger finds himself in Maoyr Blithes office with her, the vice mayor, Ms. Johnson, Dr. Denouement and Chief Stalwart, being interrogated about his discovery. "I don't understand." Dr. Denouement says. "If you know who the girl is, why can't you tell us?"
"I don't know who she is." Danger snaps.
Dr. Denouement pauses apprehensively, "Then you know how she died?"
"No." Danger says again, more airily and distressed.
"Then why are we even here? What reason could you have for so aggressively convincing my assistant to show you the body?" The coroner asks.
Danger presses his hair back again and rubs his hand down his face. "What does the mark mean?" Ms. Johnson clarifies. "Why did it send you into such a panic when you saw it?"
He sighs shakily and says nothing, back facing the room. "What mark?" Vice Mayor Willard asks.
"A small burn on the Jane Doe's skin." Ms. Johnson says.
"The burn? It means something?" Dr. Denouement questions and she nods. "I knew it must. I've seen it a few times now." The coroner says, borrowing the mayor's computer to pull up the Jane Doe file and a photo of the burn on her neck. He turns the monitor around to show the rest, though Danger doesn't turn around to look at it continues pulling up more files on the computer and saying, "It's shown up on six different bodies in the last few months and I started noticing a pattern with…"
"Six!?" Danger asks abruptly. "Six bodies? Since June?"
All eyes turn back towards him, watching as his expression grows more horrified and guarded as Dr. Denouement responds, "Yes." The doctors then asks, "The first was in the beginning of July. How do you know when they started?"
Danger says nothing. Really, he can't. His throat is constricted by the weight of terror and grief.
"What is it?" Mayor Blithe asks Danger. His eyes flick to and fro with his racing panic.
"That mark…" Chief Stalwart says, "…it looks like… well, it looks the same as the phenomenon at the top of the tower."
"What?" Dr. Denouement asks.
Chief Stalwart gulps, never taking his eyes from the tense, sweating form of Danger who is avoiding eye contact and clearly a million miles away in his head. "June eighteenth." He manages to say.
"June eighteenth?" Vice Mayor Willard asks contemplatively, as though he knows there is an importance to the date, but he can't quite place it.
Mayor Blithe gasps and looks alarmed and pityingly at Danger. She's not the only one to do so, though not all are as immediate as hers, most of the others also gasp in realization as they place the date. "That was the day Captain Man died." Dr. Denouement answers. "Wh-what does that have to do with this?"
Danger paces, his hair is an incurable mess as he rakes his fingers through it more repeatedly than he ever has. Chief Stalwart breathes slowly and stands straight, clearly used to having to answer hard questions in intense situations. "On that day, at the top of the control tower at the power station, we encountered a phenomenon: it was a kind of darkness, made of nothing and it vanished into nonexistence; but it had the same shape as that mark on this girl, and when Danger touched it, it burned him."
"You had a burn like this?" Dr. Denouement asks Danger.
Danger shakes his head stiffly twice and holds up his hand to show them the burns. "Have."
"Oh!" Ms. Johnson says, "Those look horrible. Have they not healed?" Again, Danger shakes his head.
"They can't." Dr. Denouement says. "I think, they can't heal, or won't, not well or completely. They aren't normal, by any standard." Danger nods, Schwoz had said the same. "Same as on our victims, the burns weren't thermal, chemical, electrical, or anything I could place."
"The 'phenomenon', as Chief Stalwart calls it, had no substance." Danger says. "It's a total unknonwn."
"And my six burned cadavers had no discernable cause of death. That can't be a coincidence." Dr. Denouement determines. "So, we're talking about a serial killer? Who has killed six people by unknown means and without anybody realizing until now?"
"Seven people." Chief Stalwart corrects. "This killer must be the Shadow Man, Captain Man's killer. The mark is his, right?"
Danger nods. "Yes. Which is why none of you can get involved."
"You can't do this alone." Mayor Blithe is the first to protest.
"Shadow Man is too powerful; he killed Captain Man despite his indestructibility. Obviously, he's capable and willing to kill whoever he wants, or whoever gets in his way. I can't allow anyone…"
She silences him with a stern glance. "You are not allowing anyone to do anything. We know the risks and accept them as you do. If the Shadow Man is half as powerful as you think he'll kill you too; and then where would we be? You are not expendable. You and Danger Force may run the investigation, but we are going to help. We're going to do what we can to find Shadow Man too."
After a moment with a battle of wills, Danger sighs unhappily but defeated at her and says, "Fine. But this has to stay secret. If everyone finds out about this there'll be a panic. We don't need any more chaos or another crime wave on top of this."
She nods, "Agreed. We will keep this as a high-level need-to-know. Only a limited group of the best officers and investigators will be read-in for this assignment. Dr. Denouement and Ms. Johnson will run any autopsies needed. Dr. Shal can help with the forensics, he has studied the incident with this mark at the power station tower fastidiously. He and your little science friend will need to exchange the data they collect. Chief Stalwart will hand pick his best officers to take part in a special task force with; they will be your contacts and backup."
Danger nods acknowledgment. "Fine."
The mayor smiles and looks at each person in turn as she says. "I expect to be kept up to date on this case. And you must all vow here and now not to speak of this to anyone outside this group without express permission from myself and Danger."
A chorus of "Yes, Ma'am" goes around.
"Okay, now, what our first step is in this?" Mayor Blithe asks.
"We'll compile the data we have on our six- er- seven known victims and see if there is any kind of connection between them." Dr. Denouement says, "If we can find a pattern then we may be able to predict who he will target next."
"We send teams out to more thoroughly search the areas where they died for more evidence." Chief Stalwart adds, "We reexamine all the evidence we have for…"
He is interrupted by Danger's phone ringing. "Sorry." Danger says pulling it out with the intent to turn it off but changing his mind on seeing Piper's name on the screen. "Excuse me." he says and moves away, back turned to them as he answers her call. "Hey, what's up?" he hears first a heavy sniff.
"Emergency?" Chief Stalwart asks.
Danger waves him off. "What's wrong?" he asks his sister, then quickly amends with, "I mean, I know what's wrong, but like, what do you need right now?"
"Nothing. It's just Dad had to go in to work and Mom's at SW.A.G. and I was just wondering where you are." She says with what is clearly an effort.
"I'll be right there." He says, figuring out her request despite her embarrassment to be ask it.
"You don't have to." she says awkwardly.
"I will never leave you alone in your grief, P- sis." He catches himself with a glance over his shoulder to the others in the room.
"Are you out as Danger right now?" she figures him out as quickly as he had her.
"Yes."
"Oh. If you've got important stuff to do, I'll be okay on my own." She says.
"What did I just say?" he asks rhetorically, "I'll be home in five minutes."
"I… okay. Thanks." She says "See you then. Click."
"Click." He finishes. Turning back to the city officials he says, "I've got to go. Compile the data. Set up your task force. I'll be back to discuss it later." He says and leaves unceremoniously.
Entering the house, he finds Piper curled up on the couch. Henry slides in next to her and wraps his arm around her. "Hey. How're you doing?"
"I'm f-fine." She sniffles.
"Yeah, I've heard that one before." He says heavily implying his disbelief.
"From yourself." She says.
"Exactly. It wasn't true for me either. Still isn't most of the time." He says, "So tell me the truth. How do you feel? What do you need?"
"I don't know." She weeps against his shoulder, curling into him. "I'm sorry to pull you away from whatever superhero stuff you were doing."
"I wasn't doing anything more important than you." He assures. "I'm here for you over anything else today. I'll do anything I can to help you through this."
"I just can't believe he's dead. And nobody seems to know how it happened; so, I don't even have anyone or anything to blame for it." Piper sobs.
Henry hopes she doesn't notice the increased rate of his heartbeat. "I'm sorry, Pipes." He says a bit stiffly. "I wish there was something I could do."
"It's okay. I get it. Thank you." She says and snuggles back up to him.
"Of course." He says, desperately trying not to sound as awkward as he feels. "Now, how 'bout we order a pizza or something? Watch a movie?" she nods agreeably.
"Well, thanks anyway." Schwoz says disappointedly into the phone.
"That didn't sound promising." Mika says. The four SW.A.G. students are sitting around the table working on their homework.
"No. Dr. Pennant has been over everything. President Kickbutt has asked around for anything she could find. They have no new information to give us. The Shadow Man, the dark swirly stuff is all completely new and unexplainable to them." Schwoz says.
"So, we have nothing, again. Pages and files worth of information that we go over repeatedly hoping for something new, but nothing comes up." Chapa complains and pushes the tablet she has open away from herself. "How are we ever going to find this douche bag if we can never catch a break!?"
Mika scoots over and hugs her friend. "It's gonna be okay." She assures.
"No, it's not!" Chapa fights. "We're supposed to be avenging Ray and we haven't found a single lead in three months. Where do we go from here?"
No one has an answer for her. "Firstly, we have to deal with how we're going to tell Henry, he was really banking on the Heroes League giving us something." Schwoz points out.
"This'll crush him." Bose says. "He's desperate for some answers."
"We all are." Mika mumbles.
"We'll be okay." Miles says. "Henry's not going to give up. I'm sure we'll find something soon."
"Unless that's a vision, I'm not going to put much stock in it." Chapa snips.
"Be nice." Mika chastises and adds, "We have a day or two before we have to tell Henry anything. He's staying with Piper while she's in town. He doesn't want her to deal with her friend's death alone."
"That totally sucks." Bose comments. "He's already got so much to deal with. Having to deal with another death on top of it. Could things get any worse?"
"Don't tempt fate!" Miles warns anxiously. "We really don't need it to try right now."
"It's probably too late." Chapa says snidely. "According to your rules, we're probably already doomed. We're about to get some call with the worst news imagina…" she is cut off by the phone ringing. "Seriously!?" she shrieks.
"Wow." Mika chuckles.
"You know, I'm starting to think Miles has a point." Bose says amused. "Everytime you start mocking him like that we get a call."
"Thank you!" Miles says to Bose and turns to rebuke Chapa with, "You just had to go provoking Fate."
"Shush!" Schwoz says answering the phone. "Hello?... Madame Mayor?... No. He's not here, he's taken a personal day… About what?... What?... Okay. I'll have to ask him… yes… Goodbye."
By the time Schwoz is done with the phone call the four members of Danger Force are more than intrigued. Standing close by as they try to overhear what's being said on the other end of the line. "What's up?" Miles asks.
"I'm not totally sure." Schwoz says. "That was the mayor."
"Yeah, we got that part." Chapa says.
"She needs to talk to Henry, well Danger. Apparently, he's begun working on some project with her and the police." Schwoz says.
"What?" Miles asks. "What project?"
"If I knew, don't you think I would've said what project?" Schwoz says. "This is the first I've heard of it."
"When would he have even started this project?" Mika asks. "And why wouldn't he have told us about it?"
"I don't know." Schwoz shrugs.
"We'll have to ask him." Bose says.
"Yeah, obviously" Chapa says. "But what could he even be doing with the mayor? What is this project about?" No one has an answer, and really, she hadn't expected one. Nonetheless, they all cannot help but wonder.
It's not until a few days later that they get the chance to ask. Henry hasn't been staying at his room in the Man's Nest while Piper is in town, opting to stay with his family. Danger Force has been handling the crimes; nothing serious enough has happened to prompt him to assist them. Only when he and Piper visit one afternoon, does the team get to ask him about whatever's going on.
"What?" he asks, stopping when they all bombard him with overlapping questions as he walks swiftly through the main room heading towards his bedroom. Piper takes a seat on the round couch.
"We want to know about this secret mission of yours." Chapa says.
"Yeah, what's going on, dude?" Miles asks. "What project are you working on with the cops?"
"What?" Henry asks again. "What are you talking about?"
"The mayor and police chief keep calling, asking about where you are. They say you're supposed to be working with them on something; some kind of investigation and Chief Stalwart said something about a task force." Schwoz says. "What do they mean? What have you got going on with them?"
Henry look of confusion turns swiftly to one of understanding. He blanches and stiffens. "Oh god. I'd almost forgotten about that. I was supposed to be keeping up with them. I'll have to go over there and see what's up."
"What is going on though?" Mika asks.
"Uh…" Henry says, glancing surreptitiously at Piper. "It's not important right now. Just some formalities. Don't worry about it."
They glance at him and between each other dissatisfied with his answer. "Are you sure?" Mika asks, wholly unconvinced.
"Yeah." He says quickly, not allowing them to push the subject any further. "I'll go talk to the mayor as soon as I can. I'll fill you all in when I have a chance, but I'll have to find out what they're looking at first." He says and dashes out of the room.
Henry tries ushering Piper out as soon as he's grabbed what he wants to take with him for the remainder of his stint at their childhood house. But despite his efforts he can't escape the unwanted questions. She stops their departure to ask, "You're working with the police?"
"Yeah." He says, not untruthfully.
"On what?" she asks.
"Nothing…" he says, the lie catching in his throat and sounding unconvincing even to himself. "…nothing I want you to worry about." He finishes more honestly but still overlaid with the immense guilt of what he should be saying. She deserves to know, but he can't, or won't, tell her.
She frowns unhappy and unconvinced at him. "Why don't you want me to know?" she asks accusingly.
He huffs, "Piper, it's not… ugh… it's just not something I want to put on you right now."
"Do not treat me like glass, Henry Prudence Hart." She snipes. "Just because my… Billy, died doesn't mean I can't handle crime fighting stuff."
He shakes his head and rolls his eyes but relents or allows her to think he is doing so. "It's a Jane Doe case. They don't know who she is or how she died, but there's something weird with it. And with superheroes being the experts in weird things, they want me to help them investigate it. Really, it's not a big deal and not something I need everyone freaking out over. I just haven't had much time to think about it while I've been with you. You're more important to me right now." He tells her.
"Aww." Bose comments in the background. Most the other's have the grace to look away from the awkward blushing smile on Henry's face. Mika's head is tilted as she studies him.
"Okay." Piper accepts. "If that's all, I was wondering…"
"What?" he asks when she hesitates.
"Maybe, if this Jane Doe thing doesn't have you too busy, or just when you have a chance, could you look into what happened to Billy?" she avoids eye contact with him as she asks this. Which is a good thing as Henry's sure his face displays his anxiety for a moment before he can control it. He can't say anything over the guilty lump in his throat for a moment. She glances up and goes on, "It's just that no one has any clue what happened and I'm not going to be around to investigate but I figured that if anyone could go around asking questions and researching it, you could."
"Uh… I guess so. If you think it'll help." He manages.
"Don't you? That's what you're searching for with Ray's killer, isn't it?" she responds. "Please Henry, just do a little poking around. I want to know what happened."
He blinks to cut off their held eye contact, so that without being crippled by his conscious for lying, he can tell her, "Alright. I guess I could check it out, see if there's anything to be had."
"Thank you." She says and hugs him.
"Of course." He says, desperately trying not to sound as awkward as he feels. "Now, we should get going inf you want to put those Gladioli and Daffodils on his grave before the sun goes down." He ushers her out of the Man's Nest quickly, ignoring Mika's suspicious expression.
(Commercial Break)
October 19, 2021
As soon as Piper's on her flight back to Florida days later, Henry begins running around in a mania. He's in and out of the Man's Nest, constantly running off at the mayor and police chief's calls and holed up in his room when he's there.
His desk is covered with piles of papers full of information on each of the seven known victims the Shadow Man had killed. For days he sorts through each, and the associated emails Dr. Denouement and Dr. Shal send him. There's a garbage man, a nun, a geriatric nurse, an old woman who'd run a little café downtown, the Jane Doe, Billy Bilsky and Ray; and there is absolutely no obvious connection between them. Their ages, ethnicities, professions and lifestyles seem entirely random. While two may share a neighborhood, there's no evidence they knew each other, and despite, all the other's live miles away in other parts of town. For all Henry and the city official's work, no answers make themselves known.
For nearly two weeks Mika listens to Henry muttering worrisome things, typing hard on his computer, and shuffling papers around in his room downstairs. He has yet to explain what it is he's doing to the rest of them, and they're all growing more restless and concerned.
Now again Mika finds herself tuning out the happenings of the Man's Nest around her to listen to the fainter sounds coming from floors below where Henry is on the phone with the chief of police. His friendly greeting as he answers the call is immediately cut off by the chief's most serious words. "We found another."
Henry doesn't say anything in response but Mika's sure she can hear him whimper a tiny bit for a short moment and breathe heavily. She adjusts her reverse hearing aids to allow in more sound as the police chief goes on. "I'm sorry to say it so bluntly. But I wasn't sure how else to say it. It's horrifying and completely troubling and so much not what we were hoping to hear this soon into the investigation."
It takes Henry another moment to respond. "Oh god. Another? Where? When?"
"A couple of patrolling officers found her on a side street uptown. They identified her as Nani Kalua'olu, a dance teacher at a nearby studio. Dr. Denouement found the burn on her as soon as she was brought in. He's running the autopsy now but doesn't really have much hope it'll end up more helpful than the rest. I and the task force have returned to where they found her to search for any other clues, but we are not having luck either. I don't know what good it'll do for you to come to either place but it's your case; I just thought you ought to know it's happening now. She died within the last day."
"Yes. Thank you. I'll be right there, Chief Stalwart." Henry says.
The phone call ends. But Mika can hear Henry is not moving in his room or the corridors of the Man's Nest. He seems to be taking several panting breaths and releasing the stress or terror he'd suppressed before. Which Mika finds totally understandable because, though she hadn't understood what exactly they were talking about, it was clearly terrible. Some lady was dead, and apparently isn't the first.
The expression of shock and horror on Mika's face must be pretty great because her friends have gathered around her and are trying to get her attention. "Mika!?" Miles shouts.
She flinches. "Woah! Super-hearing!" she reminds glaring at him.
"You weren't answering." He complains.
"What's wrong?" Bose asks her, "You looked scared."
"It's…" she begins to say but stops as her ears still tuned to downstairs pick up Henry's elevated heart rate and quickening breaths. "Something is really, really wrong." She finishes and gets up swiftly, beckoning the others to come with her as she tears through the corridors down to Henry's room.
They meet him coming out the door in uniform. He starts at them coming up upon him unexpectedly. "What? What's going on?" he asks.
"You tell us." Mika says, "Why is the police chief calling you about a dead dance teacher? Why did he say she was another? What's going on?"
Henry stares at her with some confusion before figuring it out. "Super-eavesdropping then, right." he says awkwardly.
"I can't exactly help it. Plus, we know you're working on some secret mission with the police, we're curious." She apologizes meekly.
"No, it's fine, I guess. Makes this easier." He says rubbing a hand over the back of his head. "I should've told you when it started but..." he shrugs.
"So, what's happening?" Mika grills.
He grumbles nervously. "There's no easy way to say this… It's Shadow Man. He apparently, never left town. He's been moving through the shadows, killing people. There have been six more since Ray..."
"He's still around!?" Miles shrieks.
"He's killed six more people?" Bose asks frightfully.
"Well, seven now." Henry nodded. "The city's coroner found the dark swirl mark on six bodies he's examined since July. All died inexplicably but have the dark swirl burned into their flesh."
"How did you learn about this?" Mika asks.
"How long have you known about this?" Chapa asks at the same time.
Henry shifts his weight, feeling guilty, "Um, I've known for a couple weeks. I found…"
"What!?" Chapa makes the demand but isn't the only one to glare shocked at him for it. "Why haven't you told us until now?"
"I… it's a long story. I know I should've said something earlier, and I'm sorry. But I didn't want to say anything while Piper was in town and since she's left again… I've just been waiting for a good time." Henry says.
"A good time? When do you think would be a good time to tell us Shadow Man has killed six more people?" Miles asks incredulously.
"Exactly my point. How exactly was I supposed to tell you? I know I should have but I wasn't sure how to tell you that the guy we're looking for is a serial killer and we totally missed it for months? We were all hoping, and assuming, that when we found something on Shadow Man it'd be good news: who and where he is so we could go get him. Not horridly disastrous news that he's still running around the city killing people unchecked." He asks sitting down and running a hand through his hair. "I promise, I'll explain everything."
"You'd better." Chapa glares.
"Let's take it upstairs, Schwoz needs to hear all this too." Henry says.
(Commercial Break)
Danger and Danger Force meet the new task force at the designated place uptown. It appears they've not had any luck finding evidence. Danger and Chief Stalwart greet each other first. The rest of the cops look over with mixed expressions and quick, nervous glances thrown repeatedly at the chief. "What's happening? Have you found anything?"
"No." Chief Stalwart scoffs, "Nevertheless, we're taking samples of everything just in case. There's just so little to find. No blood, no weapon. No one heard or saw any of it happen. We only know it happened within the last two hours. The victim, Ms. Kalua'olu, left her job then and, at the time, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she was alive and well."
One of the other officers at the scene, an older veteran member by the look of him, steps swiftly up to the chief and says, "Um, sir, I thought this was supposed to be a top-secret investigation."
"Yes, Gerald, it is. This is part of the assignment." Chief Stalwart says.
"Danger is a part of this?" a young woman officer asks.
"All assignments involve danger. We're the police, it's part of the job." Another officer says. All nine are gathering now to hear the discussion.
"I meant him." The young woman says, pointing at Danger.
"Right." The other says feeling stupid. Danger Force giggle despite themselves.
"Yes," the chief explains to his officers. "On this you'll be working for Danger."
"For?" asks a detective, as evidenced by his non-standard uniform.
"Yes. Detective Hawkshaw. The mayor herself ordered the creation of this task force and placed Danger in charge of it. He and Danger Force are the heading the whole investigation." Chief Stalwart nods. "Anything and everything found that may have a connection to this case is to go through them. The city's forensics and coroner's offices are assisting as well. But no one, absolutely no one, outside of the investigation may hear a word of it."
The nine offices stare curiously, quickly shooting glances back and forth to each other. "What exactly is this assignment, sir? You only said we were looking into a series of mysterious deaths before we got called out here." the same young woman as before asks.
"It's the Shadow Man," he says quietly.
"The guy who killed Captain Man?" Officer Walnut interrupts to asks in astonishment.
"What?" most of the rest ask in response. More curious and understanding glances are thrown at Danger. He nods gravely.
"Shh. Yes." Chief Stalwart confirms in a hissed order. There is no one close enough around but their group to hear but he still speaks in a hushed tone. "That is why we were called out despite me not having had a chance to fully debrief you. Shadow Man is the killer we're looking for and his first victim was Captain Man. We are assisting Danger Force in finding him, and we are the only ones who can know what is going on. In the last few weeks, we've discovered evidence that he's been killing more. The woman found here today is almost certainly his latest victim."
"But Captain Man died months ago," Officer Lacy says. "Why are we only getting involved now?"
Danger breathes as calmly as he can, hoping none of them can detect the shakiness of it. "We've been looking for answers about what happened that day for ages but there's not been anything. We call him Shadow Man because he's invisible. He kills without leaving any trace of how, no one knows who he is or even what he looks like. I agreed to work with the police once I'd discovered the connection to these other deaths by an unfortunate accident."
"Seems more like a fortunate one." An officer posits.
Danger scowls and corrects, "The death of a fifteen-year-old who deserved far better than what his circumstances dealt can never be a fortunate one."
The officer doesn't respond, nodding shamed. Chief Stalwart raises one greyed eyebrow at him. He says, "I thought you said you didn't know Billy Bilsky?"
"I didn't, really. But I knew of him." Danger says.
"Bilsky? As in notorious criminal Bob Bilsky?" Detective Hawkshaw asks.
"Yes. His youngest son." Chief Stalwart says.
"And as in Stupid Jeff, Bad Girl Bish, and Bully Mitch. Their family is not short on criminals, except Billy." Danger adds.
"And Shadow Man killed him? Why?" Officer Lacy asks.
"We don't know. We don't know why he killed any of them." Danger says.
"That is why we've assembled this elite unit. You've all been chosen because you're the best we have. Our smartest, strongest, most experienced and/or most capable police. I trust you all to not shy away from this difficult and perhaps perilous task." Chief Stalwart says.
"The best we have? And you included the rookie?" Detective Hawkshaw asks indicating the young woman who had spoken up twice already.
"Yes. Hawkshaw. Officer Fulcrum may be new, but she is more than adept." Chief Stalwart says. "I value her skills as much as I do yours; neither of you would be here if I didn't."
"Besides, I'm older than any of the heroes we're going to be taking orders from." Officer Fulcrum sustains herself.
All five Dangers look her up and down, contemplating. "I'm not sure that's necessarily true. You can't be much if any older than Danger." Shoutout says
"I am." She insists. "I know so. I was fifteen when Kid Danger became Captain Man's sidekick. I took notice of the fact that the kid running around saving the day was younger than me, by at least a few years. You were like twelve, right? So, now your eighteen? Nineteen? I'm older."
Danger gawps but can't respond, feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed at her calling him out so precisely. The feelings not helped as Danger Force's obvious amusement at it. "You're still a teenager?" Detective Hawkshaw asks, unimpressed. A few of the others seem highly amused, including Chief Stalwart.
Danger huffs and curses quietly under his breath, "One month. Less than one month." Shoutout giggles, having heard him. He eyes her and responds more audibly, "I am a legal adult and you do not get to know my exact age."
"Meaning yes, he is still a teenager." Officer Fulcrum says.
"Yep." AWOL says.
"He is." Volt confirms.
"This is an immensely sensitive and serious case, and we're expected to take orders from kids?" Detective Hawkshaw challenges.
"Do not call me Kid." Danger says adamantly.
"Yeah. So what?" Volt demands. "Last I checked, every one of us is more powerful than all of you."
"Yes." Chief Stalwart says firmly. "You will; they are in charge. That is how this is going to go. They know more about this than we do, and we'll need them in order to deal with it. Regardless of their ages."
"Hear, hear." Officer Fulcrum says.
"Good." Danger says, "Now this latest victim, what do we know? Tell me everything, we need to find the detail that links her and all the others. There has to be something we're not seeing."
Next Episode: S1E14: Power Vacuume