Hello again. Here I am, back with Episode 17 I hope you all enjoy it. It was not the easiest to write but here it is. I hope you like it. Be sure to leave a review! See you next time.
Danger S1E17: Thanksgiving Takeout
November 24, 2021
The tube up alert pings trough the Man's Nest and two people walk off the platform. Schwoz rushes to greet at least one of them happily. "Charlotte!" The young Danger Force heroes follow with their own friendly greetings.
"Hey, guys." Jasper greets happily. "What's up?"
"How goes the pursuit of the Shadow Man?" Charlotte asks.
"Ugh, not well." Schwoz simpers. "It's one dead end after another."
"What about Kid Henry? How cool was that?" Jasper asks enthusiastically.
The group makes their way to sit down together. Miles answers the question with, "Pretty cool."
"Yeah, Kid Henry was so fun, and his powers were so cool," Bose agrees. "He was so much happier than our grown-up Henry; at least before he learned about Ray being dead. Which makes sense. But it makes me wish we'd been on the same team as him back when he was from, before Shadow Man and all this, it would've been so much fun."
"It was." Jasper nods.
"Most of the time. We had plenty of our own problems and villains," Charlotte corrects. "Where is Henry?"
"In his room." Chapa says. "Same place he's been for days." Charlotte and Jasper nod inquiringly, indicating for her to go on. "He's been hiding since the younger him went back in time."
"What happened?" Jasper asks.
"He sat down and bawled hard after the Kid Henry left," Bose says. "Since then…" he shrugs.
"We don't really know. He's hardly spoken to anyone since then either." Mika says with a frown.
"Henry, the little one, went back in time with his memories so that he could try to save Ray's life." Schwoz elaborates. "Henry, our Henry, the older one, he and I knew it was risky but we let him. I think Henry was hoping it would work, but it obviously didn't, nothing has changed. Now, something about it has gotten him very blue. He's really not okay, but he's not telling us what is wrong."
"Maybe you guys could get it out of him?" Miles postulates.
Charlotte and Jasper glance at each other in agreement. "We'll go talk to him." She says and the two descend into the depths of the Man's Nest.
Neither bother knocking as they walk in. His room is dark. He's curled up on the bed. "Henry! We're here!" Jasper announces their very obvious presence very loudly.
Henry sits up abruptly, which doesn't feel too good on his injuries. With a groan he greets, "Hey. Char, Jasp, I thought you were supposed to fly in on Wednesday?"
"It is Wednesday." Charlotte says, flipping the light switch to on.
"It is?" Henry asks, blinking unaccustomed to the light.
"Yeah, dude." Jasper says, walking over to and plopping down on the end of the bed.
"How long have you locked yourself in down here?" Charlotte says, nose wrinkling. "It smells like it's been a while since you did the laundry."
"I haven't been locked down here." Henry defends, sitting up.
"Really?" she asks skeptically. "That's not what we heard."
"Yes. I've been resting, healing. Ya know?" he says. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"You still in bed 'resting and healing' three weeks after the incident of injuries?" she asks with mocking disbelief. Jasper laughs. Henry frowns at them both. Switching to serious to answer, Charlotte says, "If that were the real answer, I'd actually commend you; you certainly do need the healing time. But I remember, not one week ago, I could hardly go an hour without getting half a dozen texts from you saying how tired you were of laying around and threatening to run away if your mother didn't let you off the couch soon."
He continues to frown but avoids looking at them, opting instead to stare at the floor, while responding, "Yeah, well… that was last week."
"So, what changed?" she asks.
His doesn't move. He doesn't speak.
"Schwoz said you've been upset since the little you left." Jasper prompts. "What's with that?"
Henry sighs, his best friends wait for him to speak. "He wanted to go back in time and save Ray. But for some reason, he wiped his memories after going back. I don't know why. The memory came back to me, if I even had the memory before." He sighs, "I came to in the Mancave one day five years ago, soon after I left here, I didn't lose much time. I woke up alone in the storage room of the Mancave, the memory wiper was there but I never even considered that I'd just used it. I wasn't sure why I was there, so I went back to the main room. Charlotte, Ray and Schwoz were waiting for me. They started asking me all kinds of questions about where'd I'd been and what had happened, but I didn't know what they were talking about. I went home shortly after with a nice pair of new shoes that I never knew where I'd gotten. We chalked it up as nothing important. But now…"
Charlotte blinks thoughtfully. "I think I remember that day too, a little. I remember the shoes, they were sweet. And you had disappeared but after the weirdness you were totally fine. So, I never thought anything else of it. But if that's the day you came forward in time from, then we were clearly wrong."
"You're sure it was the same day?" Henry chokes.
"Yeah." Charlotte nods and shrugs.
"Do you remember what could've happened to prompt me to erase my memories so soon after this? Kid Me begged for that chance and he had it, why would he… why would I ever have done that to myself knowing what would come of it? I thought I'd do anything to get Ray back, but I didn't. I let him die." Henry cuts off to choke down a sob. His success is limited.
Charlotte has sat down on his free side, placing a consolatory hand on his arm. Jasper wraps him in a hug from the other side. "It's not you fault Henry." He assures.
"I let him die," Henry repeats. "What could've convinced me to let Ray die?"
"You don't know what happened." She counters, "You must've had a good reason to wipe your memories, you wouldn't have done it without one."
"What could've been a good enough reason?" Henry asks.
"I don't know, I don't remember enough about that day to explain it. As far as I know, you never even told any of us you'd been to the future," Charlotte says. "I don't know what convinced you, but it had to have been something significant."
Henry wipes at his eyes and across the top of his head. He chokes on several sobs and shakes his head. He wants to believe her but cannot convince himself of it. "I don't think I can do this." He sobs out at one point.
"Do what?" Jasper asks.
"All of it," Henry says. Breathing shaky but as deep as he can manage in order to elaborate, he says, "One thing after another. Every fight, every villain trying to kill me." He huffs and pulls at his hair, "They all want me dead. They're trying, one after another, as if I don't have so much else to worry about: teaching the team, leading them, being the hero of Swellview. I'm not ready for this. I can't even get myself past…" he breaks off with a fresh flood of tears and choking on more sobs. "I-I… every time I think I can get past it, it comes right back up and now, it might be my fault. I might've been able to stop it, to save him, but I didn't…"
"Ray's death is not your fault." Charlotte cuts him off.
"I could've saved him." Henry argues wetly.
"You don't know that." She responds, hugging him all the more fiercely and forcing him to stop rubbing his eyes furiously. "No one ever gets to know what could've happened. Whatever decision it was you made at fifteen to erase your memory does not make you responsible for Ray dying."
"You must've thought it was the right thing to do," Jasper says.
"But if I could've saved him, none of this would be happening," Henry weeps. "He'd be here to take care of everything; he'd know what to do."
"You really think he ever truly knew what he was doing?" Charlotte asks rhetorically. "He was never prepared for what you guys had to do. He plan was always to wing it and he went into every battle relying on his indestructibility to get him through it."
Henry doesn't meet her eyes. "He always made it seem so easy. He didn't have this kind of struggle."
"He didn't have the same problems," Jasper points out. "He didn't have the same villains. He got to choose who his sidekick was and when he was ready for one. And, while we were a team, we never lost anybody. He didn't have to deal with you dying, someone that important to him dying."
Charlotte nods, "You should've seen him the night you crashed the blimp, during the time we thought you were dead, he was hysterical. For those few minutes before we found you, he was more serious and distraught than I'd ever seen him. If you had died, I don't think he could've handled it."
"I- I can't handle it. I…" Henry can't get anymore words out. He continues crying uncontrollably for another several minutes.
"You'll figure it out," Charlotte speaks softly, "You're strong enough to deal with this."
"It's going to be okay." Jasper assures. "We've got your back."
Charlotte and Jasper lean against him, arms wrapped around him, and let him cry for a while without Henry's breathing has evened out and his eyes have dried, and the three have sat in a more comfortable silence for a little while, they resume regular conversation. "You really need to learn to not bottle things up. And to take a break when you need it." Charlotte teases, not really kidding.
Henry half-laughs half-sobs and nods. "I know."
"Are you ready to get out of here? Your mom is hoping we'll come help her prepare the food for tomorrow." Jasper tells him.
"I guess. Is she going to let me help? I don't want to get stuck on the couch again." Henry says, allowing them to pull him to his feet. He appreciates that they don't try to help him walk.
"Uh…" Jasper says. "Maybe?"
In the Hart's house, a muddle of ingredients cover the kitchen. "No, Mom, really. I got this." Piper is saying while mixing a bowl of something.
"Really honey, it's fine." Mrs. Hart replies, carrying a great number too many utensils and still trying to take the whisk from her daughters.
"Mom!" Piper protests.
The jumble of dishes in Kris Hart's arms teeter and begin to fall to one side. Henry rushes to her aid, managing to balance most of the pile, only a couple fall off entirely, splattering them all with apple pie filling. "Oh!" Mrs. Hart exclaims. "Thanks, Henry." She blinks and double takes. "Henry?" she says with soft relief.
"Maybe, put some stuff down, Mom." He replies.
She does so in order to hug him. "Are you okay? How're you feeling?" she fusses.
"I'm fine, Mom." He says.
"Are you sure?" she asks.
"…" he almost speaks but can't quite get it out. "I'm gonna be fine."
"You look even worse in person." Piper says with a bit of snark and gives him a hug. "How much does it hurt?"
"Uhh… depends on the day," he answers deflecting, flinching very lightly at her arms wrapping around his middle. "But it's manageable. How're you doing?" he asks in return.
She shrugs. "Better. I try not to think about it too much. Have you found out anything about Billy's death?" she asks.
His eyes flick away from her face anxiously. "Um… no," he lies, "not really."
Her clear hope deflates and he feels guilty. "Oh," she says. "I don't understand, how can it be so unexplainable?"
"I…" he shakes his head, avoiding her depressed expression.
She ends up shaking her head. "Thanks for looking. Keep an eye out?"
"Sure," he says. "So, um, what are we cooking?" he asks, turning to the rest of the room. Charlotte is cleaning up the pie filling mess and Jasper has taken some of the dishes from Mrs. Hart.
"I've got a couple pies to finish, the turkey needs basted, there's yams and potatoes to prepare…" his mom lists hectically.
"I was making stuffing." Piper adds, indicating the bowl she'd had. Its contents look nothing like stuffing.
"Right," Henry notes politely.
"Yes, thank you, honey. It's okay, I can handle it." Mrs. Hart assures. "There's no need for you to help."
"But, I want to." Piper asserts. "And you really look like you could use some. That apple pie isn't the first thing you've dropped."
"I'll be fine." Mrs. Hart argues.
"Let us give you a hand." Charlotte says, organizing the bowls of food across the counters. "You've got a lot to do."
"Thank you, Charlotte dear." Mrs. Hart says, handing the young woman the remaining dishes in her hands. Piper frowns miffed.
Henry half frowns and asks, "Why are we getting it ready today instead of tomorrow morning?"
"Because tomorrow morning, I signed us up to go help with the Swellview Soup Kitchen's Thanksgiving Luncheon." Charlotte says.
"To get you out of the house, Mr. Lazy." Piper cracks.
Henry frowns at her. "Seriously? You're going to make fun of my injuries?"
She smirks back at him. "Your injuries weren't keeping you in bed."
He scoffs and chooses to ignore her, not willing to admit to her that she's right. "Uh, slight problem, no one who doesn't know my identity knows Henry Hart is injured. How do you expect to explain all this?" he asks, gesturing to the numerous healing cuts on his face, his splinted fingers, braced knee, booted foot and stiffly bandaged torso.
Char smirks and considers him. "Car crash," She suggests. "But it doesn't matter, Henry Hart isn't going to be there." He raises a curious brow. "I signed us up as Haywire, Danger, Siesta Niño and Rolling Thunder."
"Great, so the world can get another look at Danger injured and incapable." Henry grumbles.
"You are not incapable, just injured. And they'll appreciate seeing you." Charlotte says.
"There have been some crazy rumors about what happened to you. They'll be glad to know you're alive and getting better." Jasper adds.
"Sure." Henry acquiesces.
"Who's Rolling Thunder?" Mrs. Hart asks, grabbing some spices from a high cupboard.
Piper freezes conspicuously. Henry raises an eyebrow and cracks a smile at her, mocking her with, "You haven't told Mom and Dad yet?"
(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...)
November 25, 2021
"We're so glad to have you here," Mrs. Clemency tells Danger for what is about the hundredth time that day. "It means so much."
"We're happy to help." He responds kindly with an only slightly pestered smile.
She smiles back so widely before hustling away to replace the platter of rolls at the other end of the table. Danger shakes his head and continues serving up portions of turkey to the patrons coming through the line. Almost every one of them greet him jovially and with deeply concerned questions about his state of health. He answers the ever present and pestilent question "Are you okay?" so many times it makes him want to explode but he maintains his smile and continues to serve the food.
"Should you really be on your feet?" a familiar voice asks.
Danger glances to the next persons coming through the line before him. Officer Fulcrum is helping a sickly trembling man walk and gather his meal. "My feet are fine… mostly. It's everything else that's a little sore," he says.
"You're in a boot." She points out. "What're you doing here? You really don't look up to moving much. Where's Danger Force? Couldn't they have taken the holiday shift?"
"They're with their families today." He places a serving of meat onto the old man's plate. "I'm here volunteering. Or, at least, I willingly went along with the plans my friends made to volunteer." He says with a nod down the line at Haywire.
"Darn right." Haywire says with a sassy side-eye at him.
"You were coming one way or another." Rolling Thunder asserts.
Danger shoots a goaded frown at his little sister. "You couldn't have made me."
She smirks back impishly. "Yes, I could've. I could take you even if you were at full strength."
He snorts derisively and gives her a staunch deadpan. "If you tried to force me, Mom would've killed you."
She stops smiling with an embarrassed acceptance. "Okay, you have a point." She admits.
"'Mom'? As in a shared mom? She's your sister?" Officer Fulcrum asks pointing at the pink masked younger girl.
Danger nods slightly. "Maybe don't go spreading that one around though. Technically, it is a secret and we'd both like to avoid our names being eternally tied to each other's."
She nods with transparent amusement. "Sure thing," she winks.
"What about you? You on duty? Pull the short straw?" Danger asks.
"No. I volunteered. Just lie you. I love doing things like this on holidays." She responds.
"Wow," He laughs, "You're a better person than me."
She scoffs and chuckles. "That cannot be true. I'm just someone trying to do the right thing. And I'm holding up the line. We can chat later." She says goodbye and continues down the line with the man, who is looking voraciously at Danger.
There are more than a hundred people that've come through the line and nearly as many still waiting. Mr. and Mrs. Clemency are running back and forth from the kitchen bringing in more food and stressing that they'll run out. "We'll have to start boiling some more potatoes and mix up another batch of dough. We can't turn anyone away." Mrs. Clemency stresses, never ceasing in her movements, carrying fresh food out and keeping everything well stocked.
"I better go help," Mr. Clemency says, eyeing her fondly and amused. "She's such a gem. It's always like this, she gets so stressed about not having enough that she makes a disaster trying to keep us afloat. Even though we always end up with well more than we need."
"We can take of things out here." Danger assures, looking down the line of volunteers: he and his friends, along with the rest of the Clemency family and a few other good citizens. Mr. Clemency rushes into the back. The line continues to move, the Clemency's keeping the dishes full and hot even as the number of people continues to shrink into the last couple dozen.
Thenabouts comes the less than wanted disruption of a tall man with a paper bag over his head and a can of pepper spray in his hand, announcing himself, "I'm Takeout! And this is a robbery!"
The mere words have many of the people getting out of his way. But the heroes behind the table don't make a move except to look at each other incredulously.
"Oh god." Danger sighs and rolls his eyes.
"Is he serious?" Siesta Niño asks dubiously.
"What kind of idiot?" Rolling Thunder postulates.
"Only the kind that run through Swellview." Danger says, walking from behind the table whilst Takeout makes his way towards it.
"I'm just here for the turkey and pie." The villain is saying. "I don't want to hurt anybody. Just give me the goods and I'll be on my way to the next feast."
"Seriously?" Danger asks, stopping Takeout in his tracks.
Takeout pales upon seeing the hero, "Oh my… what're you doing here?"
Danger doesn't answer. His friends join him, and Haywire responds to the criminal with, "You came to rob a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving?"
"Um, yes." He answers awkwardly.
"You could've just got in line. No one here is going to know you don't belong. The food is free." Rolling Thunder says.
Siesta Niño agrees with, "How dumb can you be?"
"Um…" Takeout hums.
"Very," Rolling Thunder answers for him. "It means you are very, very dumb."
"Well, um," he tries to collect his thoughts as he stands straighter and faces the heroes, "This certainly was an unexpected obstacle, but it's not going to stop me. I once took out Captain Man and all of Danger Force, so I will be able to handle the four, er three and a half of you." He amends with a snooty appraisal of Danger, to which Danger glares back most annoyed.
"We're not Danger Force." Rolling Thunder says.
"We have a lot more experience under our belts than they did in that fight." Haywire agrees.
Takeout eyes them all and makes a break for it. More than one of them sigh. "Is it even worth it?" Haywire asks.
Rolling Thunder doesn't wait for the question to be asked. She chases after the criminal. He doesn't make it far. "Seriously?" she asks him after tackling his legs, taking him to the hard floor. "You thought that was a good idea?"
Takeout twists around and throws wild hands up at her. "I got him!" Siesta Niño says, trying to help by grabbing at the flailing arms. They get Takeout pinned momentarily, but the criminal has his pepper spray still and presses the top to release the burning liquid from it. Siesta Niño reels back, shrieking in pain and Takeout breaks free.
"Dude! You remember that you can't fight well while awake." Danger sighs at his friend.
He cuts Takeout's escape attempt off in one direction, Haywire takes another side. In the time it takes Takeout to face and turn away from both of them, Rolling Thunder is back on her feet too and raring to attack again. The three of them, with Siesta Niño doing his best to join them despite the aggravation in his eyes, back Takeout into a corner. "So, does this mean I won't be getting the pie?" he asks humorously.
"Yes." Danger says.
"You can have a butt-whooping instead." Rolling Thunder offers and tackles him again. He dodges and she crashes to the floor.
"Ha!" he cries.
"Ha yourself!" she retorts, having hold of his ankles.
"This is so not fair." Takeout says, kicking to free his legs. "If I'd known Danger and his friends were here, I would've skipped this place."
"If you didn't rob anywhere, you wouldn't have even needed to worry about it." Haywire says.
"Maybe they'll have some turkey for you in jail." Danger says.
"I'll take him myself." Officer Fulcrum volunteers joining them from the cheering crowd. In her hands she already has a pair of handcuffs out and ready to put on the robber.
Then, unexpectedly, all the lights in the room flicker and cut out. "What the?" Officer Fulcrum questions. Several other people scream. Takeout takes his chance to run for it, kicking Rolling Thunder in the face and bowling over the officer and other heroes. Just as suddenly as they'd gone out, the lights burst back to life. Takeout is running through the door to the kitchen. Quickly, they five make a pursuit.
To all their surprise, they run straight into Takeout's back immediately as they go through the door. He's frozen and staring unblinking at something. "Agh… What?" Rolling Thunder exclaims.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" Danger asks, coming through a moment later than his teammates.
"What's going on?" Haywire echoes moving around the criminal and sees what has caught his attention. "Oh my god!"
Takeout comes out of his stupor to look at them with wide eyes and scramble away in total fear. "I didn't do it. I swear I had nothing to do with it." He repeats the statement many times as they all take in the scene.
"Oh god," Danger says, even more horrified than the criminal. "No."
Laying on the somewhat messy floor are two people: still, pale, and motionless. Mr. and Mrs. Clemency are dead and have small burns swirled counterclockwise visible on their skin.
"How?" Haywire asks.
"What did you do?" Rolling Thunder accuses Takeout.
"I didn't do it." Takeout maintains. "I didn't do it. It was the other guy. I didn't do it."
Danger's breathing is as harsh as his words as he finds his voice again. "Shut up. I know."
"What other guy?" Officer Fulcrum asks. "Did you see the man who did this?"
"He ran out the back door when I came in." Takeout insists. Rolling Thunder is still looking at him accusingly. Siesta Niño is rubbing at his eyes again. Haywire, Danger and Officer Fulcrum move as quickly to the back door as they can at his word.
Getting to the door much more quickly than him, the women open it and look out. Scanning all around and seeing nothing, Officer Fulcrum turns back inward and says, "Nothing. There's no one out here."
Danger shakes his head furiously, pushing past her to search as well. "No. If he was just here…"
"Who?" Rolling Thunder asks.
"We have to find him," Danger says. "He can't have made it far."
"He's gone." Haywire asserts, pulling Danger back inside.
"He must be close." Danger argues.
"You won't find him." Officer Fulcrum retorts. "That's kind of his whole thing, he's invisible, leaves no trace. We don't even know what he looks like."
"Who?" Rolling Thunder asks more aggressively.
"Shadow Man," Haywire tells her.
"What?" Rolling Thunder and Siesta Niño ask in unison.
Danger ignores them all to storm up to Takeout, "You saw him?" he demands furiously. Takeout nods fearfully. "Who was he? What did he look like?"
"I-I don't know!" Takeout says, hands raised in surrender. "I don't know who he was. But he killed them, not me. It wasn't me."
"I know it wasn't you!" Danger roars, "But you saw him. Tell me what you saw. What did he look like?"
"I barely saw him. He was in all dark and was wearing a hood or helmet. I don't know who he was, I swear!" Takeout tells honestly.
"Gah!" Danger huffs and shoves the man away. So tense he might be leaving small crescent cuts in the palm of his own hand, he paces tempestuously.
"Shadow Man?" Siesta Niño asks in the lull, squinting and blinking in the direction of his best friend. "Shadow Man killed them?"
Danger stops but doesn't answer. He rakes his good hand, despite the small cuts, through his hair repeatedly.
"He did this? He killed the Clemencys? Why?" Rolling Thunder prompts. Danger doesn't speak but glances her way anxiously. "I mean, killing Captain Man is one thing, plenty of people want that. But these civilians? What could he have against them? And why now? After all these months, this is his next move?"
Officer Fulcrum looks at her in confusion and voices her own nonunderstanding, "You don't know…?"
"Know what?" Rolling Thunder asks.
"About Shadow Man. The investigation. What he's done." Officer Fulcrum says.
Haywire, instead turns to Danger to inquire, "You haven't told her?" she asks.
He sighs heavily and admits, "I haven't exactly filled her in on all the details."
"Details of what?" Rolling Thunder asks.
"Any details you haven't told us?" Haywire follows up. "Why would Shadow Man come here and attack the Clemencys instead of us?
"Who is Shadow Man?" Takeout dares to ask, tired of not being able to follow the conversation.
Danger frowns at him. "You're far better off not knowing." Officer Fulcrum tells Takeout as she cuffs him. "As would be all the civilians curiously waiting out in the dining area. I'll keep them away and call-in backup. The Chief needs to know… and he's going to be so upset it's disturbing his Turkey Day." She says and leaves the awkward tension to the four of them.
"What is going on?" Piper demands.
"Kind of a lot." Henry admits, scratching the back of his head nervously. He exhales, "our investigation on Shadow Man has revealed a few things I haven't told you about."
"What?" Piper pushes.
"Well," he begins slowly, "he's been in Swellview all along and he's killed several people."
"Killed?" she asks. "Who else has he killed? How many people?"
"I think the Clemencys make it a round dozen." Charlotte answers. "If I'm counting right and you haven't kept anything from me." She gives Henry a look.
"If you've told them, why haven't you told me about this?" Piper fumes.
"It's been a rough month." Henry snipes back. "A lot has been happening."
"Too much you couldn't have said anything?" Piper argues. "This has to be more important than your silly battles with Minyak and Time Jerker."
"Okay, you two, chill." Charlotte stops them. "We can fill you in." she assures Piper.
Henry runs his hand down his face and gives in to Charlotte's pointed look. "Shadow Man has been sneaking around in the shadows of Swellview and killing people ever since his attack in June. We don't know why, we can't figure out any possible reasoning for him to kill who he has but he hasn't stopped. None of his victims have any connections, well except these two, now." He gestures remorsefully to the Clemencys on the floor.
His friends look down at them too. "We shouldn't just leave them like that." Jasper comments, "What can we do for them?"
"Officer Fulcrum is calling in the task force, they'll have the stuff to take care of them." Henry says.
"Task Force?" Piper asks.
"Yes. The investigation is a joint operation between our team and the city. We're working with the police and the coroner to find answers. It was with their help that I discovered Shadow Man was still running around the city. Dr. Denouement, the coroner, noticed a pattern with several strange cases he'd been having since July. I went investigating a lead on Shadow Man and we put it all together."
"You never told me about any leads. What lead did you find?" Piper asks.
Henry hesitates and doesn't look at her. The multitude of voices coming from the dining hall just outside the door and his own cowardly desire not to tell her has him saying brusquely. "We can talk about that later."
"Actually, she has a good point. I don't think you've told us the lead you were following either." Charlotte points out.
Jasper nods, "Yeah, how did this get started?"
"Later." Henry insists.
"What?" Piper demands. "Why can't you tell us now?"
"It's something we need to discuss privately." Henry lets slip.
"Privately?" Piper gestures around. "We're the only ones in here."
Henry breathes slowly, frantically trying to think of a way to convince her to drop it. "It's a sensitive topic," he says. "We need to be somewhere no one can come across us. It's not something I want to tell you here and now."
Piper looks like she's going to ask more questions, but Charlotte beats her to it. The look of curiosity she's been giving Henry turning to one of shocked understanding. "Oh no. It isn't…?" Henry avoids looking at or answering her, which is enough of an answer for her. "Henry," she berates in horrified disappointment.
"Later," He all but begs her. "I'll explain later."
"But…" Piper says.
"Not now, Pipes." Henry insists, daring to glance their way.
Piper is struck speechless at the obvious emotion in his eyes. "Alright, later." Charlotte allows. "Anything else to tell us?"
Henry thinks, "Um, Shadow Man also led Danger Force to where Drex was torturing me. Which is why I'm still alive." His revelation is met with silence. The three of them gape at this news more astonished than they had ever been. Henry brushes his hair back and shrugs, "Yeah. I have absolutely no idea why he'd do that either."
"Oh my god" is all that Piper can respond.
"Yeah," Henry agrees.
"But he's a bad guy," Jasper says, "and that's not a thing bad guys do."
"Yeah," Henry says.
"That is so counterintuitive." Charlotte mutters.
"Yeah," Henry nods. "I have no idea. No answers. All we've found is more questions. And we're not closer to actually catching him. It's just become a bigger problem and a bigger stress." He goes on nodding and running his hand over his head and taking care to control his breathing. The dead bodies on the floor setting off all the dark emotions and troubled thoughts within him.
(Commercial Break)
The task force come in the back way to remove the bodies and the patrons in the soup kitchen stay in the front. Only the Clemency's three children are told of their parent's deaths in the kitchen. They let Dr. Denouement take the bodies, entirely grief stricken, then they gather themselves together and decide they will finish the holiday meal service before they can go home to grieve.
"How could you all have been here and not known Shadow Man was here?" Detective Hawkshaw interrogates the four heroes and Officer Fulcrum. "He was right here and you all missed it!"
"Nobody here looked like a living shadow." Officer Fulcrum retorts. "We went after him as soon as we knew he was here, but he was gone. He works fast and is impossible to trace, remember?"
"You should've been more alert." He berates, standing as tall and commanding as he can.
"This is a charity function." Haywire protests. "We came to serve food, not to investigate a killer. There have been literally hundreds of people coming through here and none of them gave off overly shady vibes."
"Well, all they are still here? Did any of the disappear when the incident happened?" Detective Hawkshaw asks.
They all glare at him but Rolling Thunder full on scoffs at him. "There have been hundreds of people through here." She repeats nastily, "In and out all day, with no record of who they are and none of us know them all. How do you expect us to do? Memorize every person we ever come across?"
"If that's what it takes to catch this guy." Detective Hawkshaw responds as irritably as her.
"Hawkshaw," Danger halts authoritatively. "You are not in charge here, so quit acting like it. These questions aren't helping anything. We've told you what happened. There are leads we need to pursue, yes, but we don't have the answers yet. So go and find some." Detective Hawkshaw glares at the young hero. "Do your job and don't tell us how to do ours." Danger finishes firmly.
The detective turns away from them stiffly and walks away muttering, "Stupid teenager shouldn't be giving the orders."
"I'm not a teenager." Danger retorts with a vindictive smirk, letting the crabby man know he'd heard him. "But this is my investigation. You want out? I'm sure we can arrange that."
Detective Hawkshaw doesn't turn around or say anything else as he storms off.
Siesta Niño chuckles. "Dude, nice." He compliments.
"He's not going to like you for that." Officer Fulcrum tries not to smirk.
"He already hates me." Danger shrugs. "But he needs to at least treat us with respect. His age doesn't mean he can be a jerk."
"Yeah, about that," Officer Fulcrum says, "Did we not establish like a month ago that you were still a teenager?"
"That was a month ago." Danger smirks, making Haywire, Siesta Niño and Rolling Thunder laugh and shake their heads at him.
Officer Fulcrum smiles too. "So, you've recently had a birthday. Good to know."
"You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you." Chief Stalwart tells Danger, joining the group.
"Silver lining," Danger grumbles. "Clearly, it's all a façade though. I'm still as weak as ever. He was here, and I missed him by seconds."
"That's not all your fault." Haywire insists.
Officer Fulcrum agrees with her. "The rest of us missed him too and we don't have any severe injuries to use as an excuse. He was just too fast."
"We know he's slippery," Siesta Niño says, "and we weren't expecting an attack today, here. So he got the better of us. We'll get him next time, or maybe the time after that. Someday, ya know. We will catch him eventually. We're the good guys and he's the villain, that's how it works."
"He's bound to mess up, right?" Haywire says, "He can't be perfectly elusive or we wouldn't have even know he was here for a while. The power flickering kind of gave him away."
"I hope you're right," Chief Stalwart says to her.
"Does that always happen when he attacks? The power outages?" Rolling Thunder asks.
The others stop to think. Danger says, "Um… I'm not sure. That hasn't been discussed."
"But it happened today, and the whole city blacked out during his first attack." She points out.
"Yeah, that's a good point." Siesta Niño says.
"It's not something we've looked into," Chief Stalwart admits. "It hasn't even crossed our minds. But it's an interesting thought."
"If it proves true, then maybe we can track him." Officer Fulcrum proposes hopefully.
Danger nods. "We can search for dead spots or incidents."
"We'll have to check into it." Chief Stalwart says. He turns and orders to his officers, "Pack up and clear out as soon as possible."
"Not like we's going to find anything anyway." Officer Lacy nods from across the kitchen.
"And this is a secret investigation. There are too many potential witnesses out there." Chief Stalwart points to the door to the dining room. "We don't want what really happened here to get out."
Danger nods, "My team and I should get back out there, make out like it's all normal."
"I'll stay too." Officer Fulcrum says, "I was already here, and I can keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Maybe Shadow Man is still around, keeping an eye out."
"Maybe we should have some other officers stay to keep a look out as well." Detective Hawkshaw says.
Chief Stalwart denies him permission. "They'll suffice; we have other things to do, including returning to our families for the holiday." He turns to the group of five to say, "We'll contact you later. The rest of you, gather up the evidence. Let's get what we need to taken care of quickly. Happy Thanksgiving." The last statement comes out dryly. This Thanksgiving is turning out to be anything but happy.
None of the team are upset when it is over. The Clemency family gladly lock up and go home. The heroes help escort the patrons outside to catch their buses or walk to their homes or refuges. Danger waves a goodbye to Officer Fulcrum as she walks with the same man she'd come in with, to the bus station. She waves back with a troubled attempt at a smile and the man follows her gaze to Danger too. The man smiles and struts onto his bus happily.
Henry and Piper return to their home with Charlotte and Jasper in tow. As soon as they've made it in the front door, Piper turns aggressively to Henry and says, "Now are you gonna tell us what you refused to earlier?"
Henry bites his lip and closes his eyes. "You did say you would once we were somewhere private. This is private." Jasper eggs.
Henry sighs and sways, shaking his head. "Can't we just try to make the rest of today good?" he asks. "It's still Thanksgiving."
"Henry," Charlotte berates.
He huffs. "Charlotte."
"Henry!" she says more forcefully. "You should've told her weeks ago."
"Told her? Me?" Piper clarifies. "What about telling me?"
Henry sighs and can't meet her eyes. "Piper… just… I'm sorry." He tells her and glances at her fully for a few moments.
She stares hard at him. "Sorry for what?"
Henry moves to sit down on the couch. The rest follow him. "I lied to you, Pipes. The Shadow Man lead I went to follow came from the Bilskys. I went out the night after Billy's funeral. I've known since then."
"Billy?" A look of grieved surprise covers her face, "Shadow Man? But… no," She tries to distance herself from the answer, "No. He couldn't have been."
"Billy Bilsky was killed by Shadow Man?" Jasper puts together.
Henry nods. Piper glares betrayed at him. "But, I asked you to look into it. You said you didn't know. You told me yesterday that you hadn't found anything!"
Henry sighs, "I lied."
"You… you've known since the funeral?!" Piper wails outraged. "You didn't tell me?!"
Henry looks at the floor, head held in his hands, arms resting on his knees. "I- I couldn't. I didn't know how to." he fumbles over the excuses. "I should've, I know, but I didn't know how. How could I have told you? It wouldn't have done any good. It won't bring closure. To know but not know, to be endlessly searching for answers. I couldn't do that to you. I didn't want to make it worse for you."
"I just wanted to know how he died!" Piper shouts, the quiets and goes on alternating her volume. "Nobody knew, I just wanted to know. You should've told me! You've known all along?"
Down the stairs the Hart parents have come running. "What's wrong?" Kris asks.
"What's with all the yelling?" Jake follows.
"He was my friend!" Piper ignores them, now on a roll. "One of my best friends, I should've known. You should've told me!"
"Piper." Henry tries.
"I don't care! I don't want to hear your excuses, you shouldn't have kept it from me! I don't need protected from the truth. I could've helped. I would've hunted Shadow Man down myself." Piper screams at him.
"Piper!?" Kris questions stepping into the confrontation between her two children. "Henry?"
"You can't!" Henry returns to his sister. "There is nothing you can do to find him! We're already trying! I've been trying for months. We can't find him; we don't know anything about him. What little we've found out only makes it worse. Makes it hurt more." Both Hart children are glaring through pouring tears. "I'm doing everything I can to find him. I hate him more than I've ever hated anything. I want him dead and I'm trying to stop him, but I can't. I don't know how and it's the worst thing in the world. I don't want anyone to experience anything like this, let alone you."
"Henry!" their mom tries to quell, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"That doesn't mean you get to keep it from me." Piper retorts through her stifled sobs.
"Piper," their Dad says trying to calm her and a little bit scared. She tries to speak again but looses the battle and runs away, up the stairs to her room, bawling.
"Piper!" her parent's both say, trying to stop her and failing. Kris follows her up, calling after her.
Henry is in no better a state than his little sister, sitting heavily on the couch, crying in the way he rarely lets himself but always feels on the brink of. Jasper and Charlotte sit down beside him. Both muttering his name like they don't know what to say. Jake sits down on the couch too. "Henry," his dad says tenderly, reaching over Charlotte to lay a hand on his sobbing son's shoulder. "What's going on?"
Henry only shakes his dad's hand off. "Shadow Man killed Billy Bilsky," Jasper answers the question. "Henry's known all along but didn't tell Piper."
Jake Hart blinks in surprise. "Who's Shadow Man and why would he have killed Piper's ex-boyfriend?"
(Commercial Break)
"…You should've told her." Henry's dad tells him. Charlotte and Jasper have left, their own families expecting them home for their thanksgiving feasts. "She deserved to know, and you can't protect her from her pain." Henry has yet to stop crying, but he is listening to his dad's counsel. He knows his dad is right even if he doesn't want to hear it. "Knowing might not make it better for her, but not knowing anything is just as bad. Loss is a part of life and with it comes pain. There's no way to prevent that, and you can't be lying to her to try to."
"I know." Henry mumbles. "This isn't how I wanted today to go."
"Piper," Kris speaks to her daughter, sitting with her in Piper's room. "I want you to please cut your brother a break, I know he didn't do the right thing by keeping Billy's killer a secret from you, but he just wanted to protect you from pain. You can't hate him for that."
"I don't hate him. I just hate him, you know?" Piper protests. "Sometimes. When he's stupid."
Kris hugs the glowering Piper. "He's been dealing with a lot. Can't you forgive his bit of stupidity? Just this once?" she requests. "At least go talk to him, without yelling."
Not long later, Henry and Piper are sitting together again on the couch, arms folded and not looking at each other. Their parents are in the kitchen finishing the preparations for dinner with the expectation that the two will have made up by the time it's ready.
Henry takes a breath and starts, "Look, Piper, I'm so..."
"Shut up," She commands, "I know."
"I was just…" he starts speaking again.
"…Being an idiot?" she finishes for him. "I know that too."
"Yeah. Alright." He rubs at his head. "I didn't want to hurt you. I thought I could handle it on my own. That I wouldn't have to tell you until after I'd dealt with Shadow Man, so I could give you good news not bad news."
She glowers at him. "I get that; but it's stupid. You can't do all of this by yourself. You need to let us help. I can help you find him and stop him. Don't I have as much of a right to that? He killed Billy and Ray was my friend too. I want to help avenge them."
Henry deflates greatly. "You're right. I've been so caught up with everything that I've made some dumb decisions."
She watches him for a long moment, scowl softening slowly, "I suppose I can let it go, just this once. Maybe Drex hit your head too hard, and you haven't fully recovered. Maybe it's the lingering effects of grief from losing Ray, it has been a while, but I know it's not an easy to get through kind of thing."
Henry seems to wilt even further. Quietly he mutters, "It's been a year."
Piper purses her lips at him, "It's been a long time but not that long. June was like five months ago."
"It's been a year since I last saw him, in person. Last Thanksgiving weekend was the last time I came back from Dystopia before this summer. That was the last time I was with Ray." He clarifies, tearing up again.
"Oh," she breathes, unsure what else she could say.
"Yeah." He says in a softly broken tone.
She graciously looks away from him as he wipes at his fresh tears. She says, "That's heavy. I suppose it doesn't really help with all the garbage you've been dealing with."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about it since you, Char and Jasp showed up yesterday, reminded me of the holiday and how long that means it's been." Henry sniffs.
"Maybe, you should take a break from some of it for a while."
"Yeah, so I've heard, a lot." He rolls his eyes. "'Take a break', 'just relax', 'rest a while', 'let yourself heal'. I'm getting as tired of hearing it as the question: 'Are you okay?'."
"If you'd listen to the advice you're given, you'd probably stop hearing it so much." Piper deadpans and punches his arm.
"Ow." He complains. Neither says anything for another minute. "You're probably right." He admits.
"I know I'm right." She snarks.
"I suppose I've got time. We don't exactly have any hot leads to chase on Shadow Man." He bemoans.
"Might as well take a break and let others deal with that for a little bit." She nods, "I can help Schwoz and Danger Force look into it, so can Charlotte and Jasper. You can sit out for a few days or so and it's not going to hurt anyone."
"Okay," he says. "I suppose that'll work. I should make sure everyone's on the same page with everything before I take off though."
"Great! Fill me in." Piper demands. "Tell me all you know about him, what he's done, who he's killed, why in the blazes he'd save your life, and…" she is interrupted.
"That can wait." Their mother calls to them. "Dinner is ready. Get over here before it gets cold."
Piper frowns at being disrupted but can't stop it from falling away as she eyes the delicious meal. "C'mon, let's go." Henry encourages and lifts himself off the couch, somewhat awkwardly.
Piper snorts, "Gimp." He frowns at her and turns to hobble towards the dinner table. She follows. "One quick question though."
"Shoot." He says.
"What made you suspect that Billy was killed by Shadow Man in the first place?" She asks. "No one I talked to at the funeral had any clue what'd happened. And you can't say Jeff or Mitch know enough to have put it together."
"No." Henry says, "They did not know what they were talking about. But they mentioned the burn, well they thought it was a bruise. They described it and it was the same as Shadow Man's symbol."
"You two stop." Their mom commands. "It's time for dinner, the only things I want to hear you discussing is what you're grateful for."
They smile innocently guilty at her and dig into their food.
Next Episode S1E18: Zombkinis