Hello and welcome. I hope you all enjoy this episode. Please leave a review, they always make my day. The most recent two made me so happy. I'm so glad you're all enjoying this story. Now onto the episode, and don't worry "It'll be fine". ;)

S1E19: It'll Be Fine

December 16, 2021

"Seriously, man, go catch the flight. Everything's been sorted and nothing's happening." Miles tells Henry.

"Go while you still have the chance." Chapa agrees, flopped across the couch with a grumpier expression than her usual. "We'll be good here."

"You guys sure?" Henry asks.

"Yes. It'll be fine" Mika assures.

"Cool." Henry says, accepting the airline's offered ticket replacement on his phone. "Bye!" he says and leaves, retrieving his luggage that had been left at the airport the other day and running to his gate. The quarter of an hour he has to wait to board, then the time waiting to take off, are some of the most stressful he thinks he's ever lived. After landing and opening his phone he's somewhat surprised that he has no messages from his team telling him the world ended while he's been unreachable.

He catches a taxi outside the airport to take him to Game Shakers. He can hear Babe's loud voice before he's even made it inside. "Hurry, Hurry! He's going to be here any minute!"

As Henry walks in the back door a flying pink disc comes toward his head. Reflexively, he activates his forcefield to deflect it, after it's hit the floor in front of him, recognizes it as a donut-shaped pillow. "Oops! Sorry!" Trip says sheepishly.

"Hey Henry!" Hudson waves with a big smile.

"I told you he'd be here soon." Babe berates them. She and Kenzie are only a couple feet in front of him with their backpacks on, both having just dodged the flying donut pillow.

"You said the same thing last week!" Hudson argues. "I didn't believe you."

Henry smirks and steps over the pillow. "That's on me, sorry," he tells them with an awkward half-smile. "I was kinda busy, but I certainly didn't earn myself any points by ditching you and not telling you about it for hours."

Babe drops her backpack on the ground and throws her arms around Henry in a hug before he's even finished talking. He chuckles and hugs her in return. "I'm glad you made it this time." she says.

"Me too," he nods very seriously. "You have no idea."

She laughs and steps away from him. He greets the others with high-fives and fist bumps. "What's up guys?"

"Everything awesome!", "All good things!" they reply to him over top of each other.

"Sweet." He nods.

"How're you?" Babe asks him. "Weren't you supposed to be out of that boot by now?

"Yeah, I should've," He shrugs, "but then I ran full out from a zombie invasion and reaggravated the nearly healed bones so now I have to wear it until at least Christmas."

"That sucks." Hudson comments.

"That sums it up, at least my finger bones have healed." Henry nods.

"Your fingers still look pretty bad," Babe notes.

"Those are burns, and they may never heal. I said the bones have healed." Henry clarifies. "My injuries from Drex are getting better. Only my reaggravated foot and knee are still big problems."

"Any small problems?" Babe asks shrewdly.

He presses his lips together and reluctantly answers, "My shoulder… and abdomen… there's some lingering aches… and the fingers are still a little stiff."

She shakes her head, "I'm going to make you sit on the couch for the next five days and not do anything."

"What do you think my mom's been trying to do for the last month?" Henry retorts.

"Difference is there's no emergency alert here to use as an excuse so I can enforce it," She says.

Henry smirks, "Do you at least have a bunch of stuff to entertain me while I'm stuck on the couch? A new game or something? I want to relax and have fun and not think about villains or work while I'm here. As far as I'm concerned, everything is going good there and, knock on wood, nothing truly awful is going to happen for the next few days that will pull me back early."

In Swellview things seem great for the first couple hours after Henry's left. Ms. Hart sets the SW.A.G. students a new essay, the 'Zomb-kini' incident becomes something of an inside joke for the whole city, and all Trent and Mary have to report on the two thirty-eight news is that Benny: that dog with a hat, has a new hat for the holidays. Then the emergency phone rings with a message from Officer Fulcrum that they've got another Shadow Man victim. Danger Force rush to the scene.

"Hey," Officer Fulcrum greets them glumly. They are on an open street and a group of people have gathered beyond the police tape. "You've noticed our audience; this one is a bit more public than we'd like. The news is sure to be here any minute."

"What do we know?" Shoutout asks nodding at the sheet-covered figure.

"Student body president at Swellview High School, Angela Liu." She informs them quietly. "On track to be Valedictorian, had already been offered places at Stanford, Harvard and Yale for the next year."

"She was still in high school?" AWOL phrases as a question though he's not really asking.

"With a very bright future." Officer Fulcrum answers anyway. "Shadow Man has a knack for picking the best people as his victims; stealing their light from the world one person at a time."

"It so horrible. How can someone be so evil?" Brainstorm says.

"We already know he isn't above killing kids." Volt sneers.

"We aren't going to be able to keep this one from the public eye. They're going to be demanding answers," Shoutout says, "and we aren't going to be able to come up with any."

"Don't think like that," AWOL warns. "Be positive and we might have a better luck."

She shakes her head and opts to not respond to her brother.

"We need to move out; the cameras just rolled in." Detective Hawkshaw says to Officer Fulcrum, joining them, with his usual sour expression on his face. He glances at the heroes and asks snootily, "You get the information you wanted? Anything to come up with some solve you believe only you can solve?"

"Shut up." Volt says with a glare.

"You don't have to be so mean," Brainstorm agrees.

"We're here to help," Shoutout says.

He rolls his eyes and asks, "Where's you boss, Girly? It's bad enough I have to work with his level of immature, I'm not going to stoop to taking orders from his preteen underlings."

Not a one of them isn't glaring distastefully at him now. "He's out of town at the moment, so we're what you get." Volt says.

"Out of town?!" Detective Hawkshaw demands. "At a time like this? For what possible reason?"

"He missed a date with his girl because of the Zomb-kinis," Officer Fulcrum answers with a smirk. "I suspect he's with her, groveling and wooing himself back into her good graces."

Danger Force laugh. Brainstorm says, "You're not far off."

"I don't think he needs to grovel much; but the wooing has got to be embarrassing to witness, I'm glad I don't have to see it." Volt pretends to gag.

Shoutout raises an amused eyebrow, "Okay guys. You're not wrong but remember that they're not really official, they're just flirting."

"Yeah, flirting hard," Volt says, Brainstorm nods.

Detective Hawkshaw is the first to notice AWOL's nonparticipation in the conversation. "Uh... What's wrong with him?" he asks in reference to the glowing yellow eyes and stiff posture. They all look too.

"AWOL?" Officer Fulcrum asks.

Danger Force have become more serious and tell her to, "Give him a minute."

AWOL comes out of his vision with a gasp and wide, alarmed eyes. "What is it?" Shoutout asks him when he doesn't immediately speak. "What did you see?"

"See?" the two police ask simultaneously.

"I- I don't know. It was so mixed up." He pants tiredly with a worried look on his face, "But it was bad. Really bad. I saw darkness and death. I-" he pauses with disturbed revelation, "I think I saw Shadow Man. He killed a lot of people."

"We already know that." Detective Hawkshaw interrupts irritably.

"No, it wasn't like he has been, he was there, right in front of us, and he'd killed so many people." AWOL corrects.

"You saw him? Like the real him?" Brainstorm asks frightened.

"Did you see his face?" Volt asks.

AWOL shakes his head, "He was all darkness. Not like the shadow him that led us to Drex, he was solid. But he was all in black, covered and shady, I could see really see him clearly enough to make out any features."

"When is this going to happen?" Officer Fulcrum asks.

He shrugs and thinks, "Soon. It started with his symbol, blackening the sky like… like that." He points into the sky where the black circle and swirling arms of Shadow Man's sign darkens the otherwise clear afternoon sky.

"Not again." Brainstorm complains.

"What does he want this time?" Shoutout asks.

The symbol pulses darkly, swirling and growing before bursting in a wave of darkness so physical that everyone in the area is visibly affected. Well, except one man who walks around a corner down the road without anyone taking notice.

(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...)

Henry pounds the buttons on his remote violently, yelling, "Go! Go!" at his character on the screen as it runs down the pathway and jumps over the obstacles.

"I got you! I got you!" Trip insists, his own character right on Henry's tail.

"Oh no you don't! Run little guy! Run!" he encourages as if the game character can hear him.

They're neck and neck as they race toward the finish line. "C'mon Henry! Go, go, go!" Babe cheers.

"Catch him, Trip." Hudson counters, "you can beat him even though he's a superhero."

"My superhero status has nothing to do with video gaming." Henry protests. "But I'm still going to beat you."

"I don't think so!" Trip retorts and presses a sequence of buttons on his controller that makes his character go zooming past Henry's at the last second and cross the finish line a split second before Henry's. "HA! WOOO!" he cheers. Hudson joins him.

"No!" Henry complains wide eyed. "How…?"

"I got mad skills!" Trip responds jumping on the couch cushions to celebrate his victory.

Henry flops the other way across the couch dramatically, "Such a crushing defeat! How will I ever recover? This is the end for me. No more Henry, no more Danger. It's all over."

"Woah, Trip, are you really a supervillain?" Hudson asks seriously. "You never told me that."

Trip stops jumping to stare disbelievingly amused at Hudson. Babe shakes her head and laughs incredulously. Kenzie drops her head onto her computer and mutters, "Geez Loise". Henry snorts but sits up to look suspiciously at Trip and asks faux seriously, "You've been plotting against me all this time? I thought we were friends."

Trip laughs and latches onto the act. "Yes, my evil plan is working. I have defeated the great hero! Mwahahaha!"

"No!" Hudson says, "You can't defeat him! He's our best superhero friend."

"Too bad!" Trip cackles maniacally. "I am the champion, and I have won the day. No one can dethrone me!"

Babe raises one eyebrow at the challenge. "Bet," she insights, hopping over the couch and grabbing the remote control from Henry with a challenging look to Trip.

"Oh, it's on!" he cheers, setting the game for another round.

She sits down, prepping to play, and it takes a moment for her to realize she sat down on Henry's legs, which stretched across the couch; she's practically sitting in his lap. She freezes and looks over at him, blushing to equal the redness in his face. She opens her mouth but can't speak any intelligible words; all that comes out is a small, excited squeak. Neither break the eye-lock they have as they both grow increasingly redder.

"Babe, I thought you were going to beat him!" Hudson breaks in oblivious to their situation. Trip has started the race without her.

"Hey!" she protests and sets her character chasing after his.

"Cheater!" Henry accuses, embarrassment at least temporarily forgotten. "Get him, Babe!"

"No problem!" she growls and fluidly manipulates her character through the course, gaining on him and knocking him off the edge of the road to pull ahead. They race so closely, switching the position of first place so many times as they switch off edging ahead of each other just enough for the computer to detect the change in leadership. They are so close that it's impossible to tell who's won until it's over and Babe's character gets the crown.

"No!" Trip complains while Babe jumps to her feet, dancing around victoriously.

"You did it!" Hudson cheers. "You stopped his evil plan!" They both break into more laughter at his continued belief in the gimmick.

"You have avenged me!" Henry thanks Babe sardonically but with a smile. "Now I will be able to return to being Danger…" he drops the sarcasm to finish with, "in like five days. Not right now."

Babe drops onto the couch, this time beside him instead of on top of, smiling flirtatiously as she says, "Well, what good is a damsel if she can't save the hero in distress?"

He laughs brightly and says, "What indeed?"

Beyond the two, the other Game Shakers share exasperated looks. Trip mocks them with little dancing motions and kissy faces. Kenzie mimes barfing back at him. Babe turns to them with a frown. "I can see you."

"Good," Trip shoots back at her.

"We weren't trying to be subtle." Kenzie seconds.

Babe puts her hand sassily on her hip. "So, mocking me is your poignant way of releasing your jealousy?"

Kenzie and Trip balk and protest, "Jealous?", "We're not jealous." But Hudson nods honestly with a "Yep." Kenzie and Trip glare at him and repeat their protests. Hudson shakes his head sadly with a frown of his own. "C'mon guys, don't lie. We're jealous. We'd all date Henry in a heartbeat and you know it." They are unable to honestly deny it.

Henry gapes at them all, feeling flattered but awkward. Babe covers her mouth to avoid any laughing she can't hold in at the sight of all their embarrassed expressions.

"So, what's up next? Something we can all play together?" Kenzie asks hopefully.

"I think the only game we have that can accommodate five players is Danger Games." Babe says adversely.

"Awesome! I call Brainstorm!" Hudson says.

"We could play the new mission for the next update." Kenzie offers with a smile.

"Ugh, missions, I don't even want to think about missions," Henry moans quietly. "I wonder what missions I've missed. What're the odds Shadow Man's attacked? They'd call me if he did right?" he asks no one while pulling out his phone anxiously.

"Henry, they would call you if they needed you. Don't worry about it for a while. And how about we play a game that doesn't remind him of the work he's supposed to be breaking from?" Babe berates Henry then her fellow Game Shakers.

"Then what else should we do?" Trip asks.

"We can play Danger Games, I don't care," Henry says.

They've all decided to follow Babe's advice though and propose other ideas. "We could go explore all the touristy places we never go to as local New Yorkers, show Henry the sights." Babe says.

"Or some cool, harder to get into places." Trip suggests. "I could hook us up."

"Isn't it getting a little late for that?" Kenzie puts in, "We could do some work on our new puzzles and room design game."

"We can't be doing work while Henry's here to visit, that's not how you play a gracious host." Trip corrects her. "We need to do something awesome."

"We could play Prance, Prance Revolution. It's up to four players so, we'll only have to switch someone out for one round at a time." Babe proposes to general acceptance.

"You don't have to switch out at all. I'm perfectly happy to not do any dancing." Henry volunteers quickly.

Babe frowns at him not accepting that answer. "Oh no. I told you I was going to correct that dislike before it gets stuck, and you said you'd give me a chance, so you are going to dance."

"I'm in a boot!" he tries to protest.

"We'll set it to easy. You 'ran full out from zombies', I think you can handle the simple video game dance steps," Babe retorts, grabbing his hands to pull him up. "So, come dance with me, H. D. Hart. You're going to love it."

"Yeah. I know." He admits under his breath as she pulls him up.

"Shadow Man couldn't have picked a worse weekend to up his game." Mika says, grabbing her gum tin as she and her teammates rush to answer the latest emergency call.

"It's another double." Schwoz reports from the phone. "Eighth North and Captain Man Street Four. They're waiting for you."

AWOL teleports them right there, and sure enough there are two bodies on the ground. Several officers are holding off the crowds of people. "Danger Force," Officer Walnut greets and lets them by.

"Danger Force? Danger Force!", "What's happened?", "What do you know about these murders?", "Are they connected to the others?" a cacophony of voices call from the crowd, some of them reporters.

"This is an even bigger audience than yesterday," Brainstorm points out.

Volt flicks a microphone out of her face with a spark. "Not the best for a secret investigation."

"And they're making it impossible for us to move these victims out." Dr. Denouement says. He is crouched by the bodies, examining them.

December 18, 2021

"Shadow Man seems to be less concerned with secrecy the last couple days." Officer Fulrcum says. "A lot of other officers have cornered me in the station asking about what's going on."

"And still, despite the unprecedented uptake in attacks we still have nothing to go on in finding or stopping Shadow Man."

"This is horrible," Shoutout says.

"The two victims or the fact that they make five in the last two days?" AWOL questions rhetorically.

"Both," She responds anyway. "As well as the lack of answers. We didn't understand him before but at least he seemed to have some kind of pattern."

"You mean the inexplicable, very quick and stealthy murders every couple weeks?" Volt says.

"Yes. But now he's switched things up which makes him even more difficult to understand." Shoutout finishes with a furious waving of her hands upward.

Officer Fulcrum heaves a heavy breath of agreement and makes the comment, "Yeah, and more dangerous."

"I hate this guy," Volt sneers.

"Ditto." AWOL says.

"I've wanted to tear him apart since day one," Volt rants, voice nearly breaking as she speaks, "just for killing Captain Man. But the longer he's out there, the more we find: the worse he gets."

"You're preaching to the choir here," Shoutout reminds. "We've been with you through all of this. We hate him as much as you do."

"But what can we do? We don't know who he is, or where to find him, or anything." Brainstorm asks petting his monkey, looking at the little creature like he might have answers.

Blue is as silent as the rest of them on that front.

"Should we call Danger?" AWOL proposes.

"No!" his teammates protests.

"This isn't serious enough, well immediately serious enough, to drag him back from his trip for." Volt says.

"But according to my vision, it's going to just keep getting worse." AWOL argues.

"You said you vision was all messy and dark and you weren't one hundred percent sure what it meant." She argues.

"But I know it was bad! And that it's coming." He retorts frustrated.

"But for now, there's nothing to even tell him. Let's not pull him back until we get to the worse things," Shoutout tries to placate them both. "If we really need him, it'll only take a minute tops for AWOL to pick him up."

"Fine," Volt grumbles.

AWOL nods, "Okay."

"Okay," Brainstorm nods along, "But what about right now? Like what do we do about this, here, today?"

"For now, we need to get these bodies out of here. I'll require some help and for our audience to be distracted." Dr. Denouement directs.

"Brainstorm," AWOL says, "You still carry a marker around everywhere?"

Brainstorm nods, "Of course."

"Then, lets go sign some autographs." AWOL nods towards the people.

"You four can, I'll stick to helping the good doctor." Officer Fulcrum says.

So, Danger Force try to distract the crowd, which is less than perfectly effective. "What can you tell us?" "Who killed them?" "What villain is behind this?" "What do you know?", and many other questions of the like are thrown at them from all sides.

"We have nothing to share about that right now. You all need to give the police some space to investigate." Shoutout responds.

"If you'll step with us over here, we'd be glad to sign some autographs." AWOL says.

"Please, take a few steps back people." Officer Lacy helps to corral them away as Dr. Denouement and those assisting him move the bodies to his van.

"Who are the victims?" "Which villain did this?" "Is this connected to the other murders?" the citizens and reporters call over top of each other and the talking authorities.

"We'll release appropriate details at a later time." Officer Walnut backs her partner up. "Please let us do our jobs."

They manage to clear a path and with practiced haste the task force moves the investigation out of the public's eye. Though not out of their minds.

(Commercial Break)

December 19, 2021

The next morning Danger Force meet with the rest of the investigative force to plan their day. "Thank you all for coming, I'm sorry to have called you all in, I know some of you had taken time off for the holidays, but as you all know, things have gotten out of hand with Shadow Man. We need everyone on duty today." Mayor Blithe says.

No one complains about being there. Most of them nod along seriously with her words. "We're all in." Officer Fulcrum speaks for them all.

Chief Stalwart nods gratefully to them and begins giving orders, "We're going to be splitting up and patrolling the city. The way things have gone the last few days we're sure Shadow Man will make another attack today. We want as many eyes as we can get on the lookout for him; therefore, you will each be partnering with someone outside the Task Force today. We want to be in as many places as we can, it'll give us the best chance to catch Shadow Man in the act and hopefully prevent more deaths. They will not be read in, they've only been told this is a response to the string of murders." His officers nod obediently. "You partners will be assigned as soon as we're done here. Keep your radios on and call-in backup if you see anything."

"We'll be patrolling too," Shoutout says.

"And Danger?" Detective Hawkshaw asks. "Is he back from his little vacation?"

"No." AWOL says with a frown. "If things get serious enough that we need him, I'll get him, but until then, he is going to stay on his trip."

Detective Hawkshaw rolls his eyes, "It'd be appreciated if he took these crimes as seriously as he does his love life."

Danger Force glare at him. The other cops either give him similar looks of irritation or look away completely and shake their heads. "That'll be all," Mayor Blithe dismisses curtly.

For hours the officers and Danger Force patrol the streets with no luck. The only shady people they come across are of the usual Swellview variety: goofy goons and petty thieves. "We hasn't seen anything all day." Officer Lacy tells AWOL subtly when they cross paths later in the day.

He frowns unhappily. "Keep an eye out," he requests.

She shrugs, "Of course. I'll let ya know."

He teleports away, joining up with Brainstorm. "Hey man, any luck?"

"Nope." Brainstorm says feeding Blue part of a clementine. "Your Officer Aunt told me she hasn't seen any Shadow Man-y stuff."

"I keep getting the same." AWOL bemoans. "Anything from the girls?"

Brainstorm shakes his head, "I haven't heard from them."

"Do you know where they are?" AWOL asks, stealing a piece of his friend's orange.

"No." Brainstorm says. He pulls out another clementine and gives it to AWOL.

"Thanks." AWOL says. He peels the fruit while dialing his sister's number. Once she picks up he greets, "Hey, Mika, what's going on? You guys found anything?"

"Volt is checking around the next block but nothing yet. I know Officer Fulcrum is around here somewhere, but she hasn't made a report yet either." Shoutout says walking briskly down a road past a goodwill store.

"I'm here." Officer Fulcrum announces coming around the side of the building.

"Oh!" Shoutout jumps.

"Sorry." Officer Fulcrum says.

"It's fine," Shoutout says, "I just didn't expect you to pop out like that. AWOL give me a minute." She says into the phone briefly before turning all attention to Officer Fulcrum. "Anything?"

The young officer shrugs despondently, "We were detecting some weird power drops in the area, but we haven't found anything. He could be around, but I doubt we'll know unless he does some more obvious."

Shoutout agrees morosely, "Keep looking, Volt and I will stick around here too."

"You got it." Officer Fulcrum says with a friendly salute. She points back around the goodwill store, "I'm going this way, Officer Ogden will wonder where I am."

"Good luck," Shoutout offers walking the other way and resuming the conversation with her brother.

They part ways but Shoutout doesn't make it two buildings away when she hears the screams. They're coming from back near the goodwill and are silenced quickly, it's likely no one around but herself heard it based on their lack of reaction. But the scream is followed quickly by the distinct voice of Officer Fulcrum cursing in alarm and shouting Shoutout's name. "What's up?" AWOL asks in response to the abrupt ending in the middle of her sentence.

"Get here quick! The Goodwill on Bouillon Boulevard," she orders and hangs up, calling Volt to relay the same message as she runs back towards the screams.

Around the back of the Goodwill, Officer Fulcrum's partner, Ogden, is with a man's body. Officer Fulcrum is not in sight. Officer Ogden looks up in surprise and relief when she stops beside him. "We were too late, but we saw some of it, a man in dark clothes ran off that way," he points across the lot to the next shop down, "and Fulcrum followed."

"The rest of Danger Force will be here soon, look after the body, I need to go after the killer too." Shoutout says. Officer Ogden nods and she runs down the alley.

Before she finds them, she can hear what's happening around the next building's corner. "Hold it right there, Shadow…!" Officer Fulcrum's voice trails off, "…wait, you? You're…?" this time her voice is cut off; a wave of darkness accompanies the ceasing of all electrical humming in the buildings around them.

"That can't be good." Shoutout mutters.

"Shoutout!" Brainstorm calls appearing with AWOL a short ways behind her.

"Hurry!" she yells at them in a panic.

It's only a couple more seconds before they turn the corner but it's already too late. Officer Fulcrum lays prostrate on the asphalt and there is no sign of Shadow Man. A darkness hovers as the heroes approach her much more slowly, horrified by the obvious truth. "Officer Fulcrum?" Brainstorm asks wishfully despite knowing she won't respond.

"She…" Shoutout breaths raggedly. "She's dead. Her heart isn't beating. I can't hear it anymore."

"But…" Brainstorm can't finish his protest as he kneels beside the body.

"Where's Shadow Man? He has to be close; you were just with Officer Fulcrum a minute ago." AWOL says teleporting around the area and searching for him.

"Guys!" Volt shouts, running across the lot from the other direction. She stops in her tracks upon seeing the situation. "Oh god, no! He got her?"

Shoutout nods. "We were so close."

AWOL comes back to the group fuming. "I don't see anything! How can he just vanish like that?"

"We need to call in the task force," Shoutout says. With shaking hands she takes Officer Fulcrum's radio from the deceased cop's belt and calls across the task force's frequency. "All units converge on Bouillon Boulevard between Anise Street and Cumin Court Avenue. Shadow Man is in the area. And Officer Fulcrum is down."

Henry's day is going far better than his team's. He wakes up late on the couch at Game Shakers and right in front of his eyes, sleeping opposite to him on the couch is Babe, her feet entwined with his. Kenzie, Trip and Hudson are also sprawled across the room: on the couch, trampoline and in the donut pillow pit. Henry stretches and sits up. Moving his feet stirs Babe as well. "Hey." She greets with a yawn.

"Good morning," he returns.

Getting up from the couch with him she asks, "You want some breakfast?"

"Can we go out to get it?" he asks, walking to a "As much as I like the sweets and junk food you guys keep stocked here, I'd rather have something more substantial, and fresh cooked."

"I suppose I can allow that. Just the two of us?" she asks impishly.

"That would be nice too," he says. "But we'll have to hurry before they wake up."

She nods, grabbing her backpack from the floor. "Just let me freshen up a little bit and we can go find something." she says and rushes off to get ready. He gets himself ready to go too.

Not ten minutes later the two are walking out into the streets of New York hand in hand. Babe looks at Henry with bright, mischievous eyes and says, "Maybe we should not come back for a while."

He smiles back, an enamored twinkle in his eyes. "Okay."

After brunch, they spend the next several hours finding any reason to avoid returning to Game Shakers. Between the cold and Henry's injuries, there's not many exciting things they can do. The check out the extravagant Christmas decorations around the city, then spend a while sitting and talking in Central Park. There, they end up on a horse-drawn carriage ride.

Cuddled under a blanket, hot chocolates in hand, with snow softly falling around them the day feels like a romantic scene from a cheesy Christmas movie. She doesn't let timidity hold her back, leaning into him comfortably. He wraps his arm around her in turn and rest his chin on her head. "This was the right thing to do today." She comments with a huge smile.

He looks down towards her with a smile of his own, "I don't want to be anywhere else. I've never been this comfortable in my whole life."

She laughs lightly. "That's good," she says. "You deserve it."

"How long do you think I have until the other foot drops?" he asks, only slightly joking.

"Don't say that!" she swats him gently. "Everything is going to be okay."

He smiles and breathes in the cold December air. Cuddling her closer: his is cheek on her head, his mouth near her ear, he whispers, "Here and now, I think I'm actually able to believe that."

She turns into him until their cold noses are pressed together. They spend the rest of the ride in intimate silence, pressed close together and feeling like nothing can go wrong.

The level of stress at the crime scene is at an all time high for the Shadow Man task force. The teams of officers, both of the task force and not comb the entire area meticulously and with great caution, hoping beyond hope that they can find the killer. With the death of Officer Fulcrum, things had become far more personal for the team, and thereby almost more real than they had been before. Even Detective Hawkshaw has nothing to comment about how close they had been, how they might've been able to catch Shadow Man if they'd only been quicker. He is as quiet as Shoutout, who stands in regretful, contemplative silence.

"Sir, please, I don't understand what happened," Officer Ogden says to Chief Stalwart. "How could she have died so quickly. She'd only just run after the killer and Shoutout was right behind her."

Chief Stalwart sighs wearily, "It is a lot to explain."

"She was my partner. If only for the day." Officer Ogden says. "I was responsible for her, and I failed. Can't you at least tell me how? How could it have happened?"

"I will explain," Chief Stalwart says resignedly. Danger Force nodding agreeably to the intent. "But you must understand that this investigation is highly classified. You cannot repeat the details to anyone."

"Of course," Officer Ogden nods with a tentative tone. After being given the short of it, Officer Ogden seems no less confused, equally as saddened, and a deal more horrified. "…how… what is this man to have that kind of power? To kill so quickly, so efficiently, and vanish?"

A beat precedes AWOL's response, "The worst kind of person. The most dangerous. The kind with no humanity, and superpowers."

"And he killed Officer Fulcrum…Isadora because she almost caught him?" Officer Ogden states searchingly.

"Yes. This is a huge blow for the investigation." Chief Stalwart says, watching Dr. Denouement load Officer Fulcrum's body into the forensics van with great care.

Volt blinks, rageful grief surging up in her. "What?" she asks.

"She caught him," Chief Stalwart says, "and she was immediately killed. That doesn't bode well for our chances of stopping him. We can hunt him, but if we can't catch him without being killed it's all for naught."

"Is that all you care about? She was our friend and she just died." Volt scowls.

"She was a great officer. She had so much potential. I hate to see her taken," Chief Stalwart asserts. "But it's made all the worse because her murder shows that we may not be able to do anything to avenge her and all the others who've died at Shadow Man's hand, or whatever means it is that he uses."

"I don't care what it takes," Volt growls, "even if it kills me to do it, I'm going to find a way to stop him, to kill him."

Her statement is followed by a rush of stifling repression of the sound and light in the alley. Everyone freezes as the world seems to around them. Out of the shadows a voice rough as cold, dark stone comes to haunt the silence. "Is that what you want so bad?" it says, "To kill me?"

"Shadow Man," Shoutout breathes, stepping closer to her friends.

"Can you hate me so much? I've hardly gotten started." The voice keeps speaking. It's not particularly loud but it fills every particle of space in the shaded area.

Blue tucks his way into Brainstorm's vest in instinctual terror. "What is that?" the boy whispers terrified. "Where is his voice coming from?"

"This is just like my vision." AWOL moans smally.

"I've only just begun to make myself at home here in Swellview. I've never been in such a richly flavored town as this! You should feel honored that I've found so many here worthy of my attention." The wicked voice chuckles. "And there are so many more for me to devour before I can have the pièce de résistance. You can't be killing me now."

Every cop has their guns out, Danger Force on the edge for a fight, Volt is sparking madly, but they do not know where to direct themselves. "Where are you, villain?!" Chief Stalwart calls back at Shadow Man.

"Show yourself, you vile coward!" Volt screams. "You're going to pay!"

Much in the back lot of the Goodwill begins to move. The employee cars and the delivery trucks rocking, the dumpsters scraping the ground as they shift in their places, the metal railings leading to the back of the nearest shop begin to bend. Shadow Man laughs his joyless, rough noise again. "You think so?" he asks, obviously amused. "I suppose I could give you a fair try, just this once."

The stifling darkness all around pulls together, collapsing onto itself until it's the shadowy figure of a man. Then in a moment the shadow has become solid and before them stands a man in a cloak of blackest black, the darkness only beat by the abyss of the hood or helmet he wears on his head. No one can see what it is or what is beneath, and all would then decree that they don't want to. While broad shouldered, he seemed smaller that his reputation would imply. He carried no visible weapon but stood before the guns and powered teens as calm as a clear winter's night.

For a long moment no one moves. The awful terror and disbelief of the day petrifying them all. "Go ahead," Shadow Man invites, "take the shot."

With a vengeful courage Volt throws a lightning bolt at him. It arcs across the space between them like an atomic blast but fizzles around him, dulling and losing power until it's absorbed into the faint halo of shadow that exudes from him. Each bolt she throws hits this halo; none seem to have any effect on him at all. With a scream of rage, she ceases her attack.

Shadow Man has not moved an inch, facing them without so much as a ruffled fold in his cloak. He says nothing, apparently waiting. The cops and heroes wait in equal quiet stillness for several long minutes, not sure what to do. Brainstorm decides he can't take the stalemate and picks up a trash can with his telekinesis and launches it at Shadow Man. When it reaches the shadowy halo, it appears to dissolve into nothingness. Brainstorm's attack prompts a small spray of bullets, but they meet the same failure as the trash can. Shadow Man still does not move.

"Anyone else?" he speaks with a hint of amusement. No one makes a move. "No? Then I will."

With a sharp thrust of his hands, the darkness around him comes barreling toward him. Acting on instinct they all make to avoid it, feeling without knowing that being touched by it would be bad. It vanishes into the daylight down the way. Before the darkness is even gone, Shadow Man had made his next move and the area becomes like a vacuum.

He stands in the center of the maelstrom, a dark form with four dark arms swirling violently around him, pulling in all light and color around them. The very air seems to be pulled from their lungs and all those without the storm struggle to keep their feet. The suction grows in strength, pulling them towards it, despite their resistances.

Volt slips and slides several feet nearer to Shadow Man. She manages to keep her feet under her and reaches desperately for a railing. Her hand hovers less than a foot away but by the power of the attack remains out of reach. The force of the vortex pulling everything in only gets worse and everyone must find something firmly stuck to grab onto, those who don't vanish into the black center of the storm. Volt is pulled right off her feet, but by some luck or miracle, the metal railing bends, and she somehow reaches far enough to close her fingers insecurely around it. There she hangs, keeping what should be an impossible hold until the maelstrom ends a minute later.

All the good guys drop to the ground at the abrupt end, those who'd entered the heart of the vortex don't move to rise as the rest do. Shadow Man stands hunched and heaving huge, ragged breaths. Shoutout picks that moment to send a sonic scream his way. He sends out another burst of Shadow to swallow it, but the wave is smaller and less consuming than it had been before. No aura of darkness shrouds him now.

AWOL teleports right up nest to the villain and lands one reasonable punch but it hurts his hand as much as it seems to affect Shadow Man and he is touched by another shadow blast as he teleports away. He comes out of his space-between-space holding the side of his head which is burnt, the dreadlocks shorn off on that side into smoldering stubs. He screeches in furious disbelief, feeling the missing hair. His friends react with nearly as much shock and outrage. With little preamble they attack Shadow Man together to AWOL's war cry of, "NOT MY HAIR!"

Shadow Man blocks each attack as he had the last, but with each he takes a step back. He moves away more and more quickly as they continue to come at him. They're almost on top of him before he makes another offensive move. He grabs hold of Brainstorm's arm when the boy throws a punch at him, and a lesser tugging force holds him to the villain. Brainstorm cries out in terror and pain but it peters off rapidly.

Shoutout shrieks very powerfully and sends Shadow Man flying. The villain cast his darkness about and disappears a moment. Reappearing a few yards away hardly ruffled.

Meanwhile, Brainstorm collapses to the ground where he is, holding the arm Shadow Man had had a hold of and looking horribly dazed. Shoutout drops to his side with concern to check on him. He slumps against her, completely drained. "Bose," she mutters for only him to hear. He passes out on her.

Casting her gaze back to Shadow Man, she sees that his posture shows no wear from their fight nothing has affected him. Volt and AWOL stand stiffly terrified and unsure between her and Shadow Man. AWOL glances down at her and asks, "Is he okay?"

"He's breathing," she nods, his rising and falling chest the only sliver of hope she has right now.

"He won't be much longer if we can't do something about Shadow Man." Volt comments, raring to fight but seeing the hopelessness of the situation.

"I'm gonna go get Danger," AWOL says quietly.

Both girls nod. "Quickly," Shoutout says.

"I'll be right back." He vows and teleports away.

(Commercial Break)

Henry and Babe return to Game Shakers soon after their carriage ride ends. The place is deserted, the others not having waited around for the two of them to return. "Today was amazing!" Henry says, sitting on the couch.

Babe takes the place next to him, sitting close and says, "I told you it would be."

"I never doubted," he asserts, "Any time with you is well spent."

She smiles brightly, "I loved every minute of it."

"Me too. And I do feel a lot better than I have in weeks." he stretches and flexes his various injured or formerly injured limbs, displaying the more normal movement in his fingers and knee.

A playful glint enters her smile as she replies, "I can think of one more thing that might be able to make today a little better still."

He looks intrigued, eager at her, wondering if she's thinking the same thing he is. "What?" he manages to ask quietly into the still room.

She scoots over, turning towards him more as she does, shifting until she's straddling one of his thighs and leaning close to him. They share an intense gaze, filled with want and nerves as they lean into each other. They're a breath away from each other when a brilliant yellow flash startles them apart. "Oh!" Babe yelps, getting off Henry's lap quickly.

"Gah! Geez!" Henry curses whilst jumping.

"Henry!" Miles cries with an anxiety Henry's never heard the equivalent of.

"Miles?" Henry asks. His Danger side kicking into high alert and concern at the sight of the teleporter, "Are you… what happened to your hair?"

AWOL begins trying to explain as quickly as he can, but it comes out in a way that Henry cannot understand. "Shadow Man! I had a vision. So much darkness, and so many dead. We tried… but Fulcrum. Then my hair, burned… and Bose too. It's really bad. We need you."

"What?" Henry asks, lost but understanding that it's a very serious situation. "Slow down. What's happened? You had a vision about Shadow Man?"

Miles doesn't stop to even breathe, "Yes! Hurry! He's in Swellview, they need us now!"

"He is Swellview? You saw him?" Henry asks. He scrabbles through his pockets for his gum tin and finds it's not there, so he quickly dives to his bag to retrieve it from it's tucked away place. "Where? When?"

"Now!" Miles insists while Henry shoves the gum in his mouth and chews quickly. "We've got to go!"

"What's happening?" Babe asks, following the shorthand even less than Henry.

He turns to her regretfully as his costume changes. "I've got to go. I'm sorry."

"NOW!" Miles says, taking Henry's arm and teleporting out of there before wither young adult can say another word.

The two heroes come out the other side to see a kind of calamity Henry couldn't have imagined to be happening ten minutes ago. He'd been in bliss while this was happening here. The task force is spread out in the back lot of a strip mall next to a goodwill and an antique shop. They're all looking with terror and vulnerability towards a fight happening a couple dozen feet away where Volt and Shoutout are throwing everything they have at a figure dark as night in a sinister black robe. Henry's mouth goes dry, "Shadow Man?"

AWOL nods not saying a word but rushing to join his teammates. Danger follows, pausing for a second to peer in horror at what looks to be the body of Brainstorm. He joins his harassed team and places a forcefield around them before a wave of shadow can hit them.

The attacks that had been coming incessantly up until that point stop. Danger and Shadow Man stare each other down. "You. You're Shadow Man?" Danger asks, grief and anger rising up. That intense desire for vengeance filling his every cell.

The dark man takes a step back, the unnatural darkness drawing into him. "It is not yet time for me to have you. Until we meet again." He says in his rough voice. The shadows collapse around him and disperse and just like that, the Shadow Man is gone.

As when he'd appeared, no one moves for a moment, in shock and disbelief at what had just happened.

Shoutout is the first to dare break it, turning and rushing back to where Brainstorm lies. Danger follows despite his complete nonunderstanding of what happened and how and why. "Is he alright?" he asks.

"He's alive," Volt says.

"I don't know what Shadow Man did to him." Shoutout worries. "He's alive but he's hurt, I think. I don't know."

"What happened!?" Danger asks them in his most serious, most commanding tone.

The three look anxiously at him as they try to come up with the right words to explain all that had happened. The police of the task force and their temporary partner's approach. Chief Stalwart bravely comes to crouch beside them and ask, "Is Brainstorm…? Did Shadow Man get him too?"

Shoutout shakes her head, "He's alive. He might need medical help."

The police chief nods, "We can get him that. Thank God he's not dead."

"Who is?" Danger asks, struck by the notion that someone must have been killed. "Who'd he get? Kill? How did you guys find him? What happened to Brainstorm?"

The distress only seems to grow in the already overwhelmed group as they get a moment to reflect on everything. "A lot… a lot of people are dead." AWOL says.

"At least ten," Chief Stalwart confirms.

Danger looks aghast. "I've only been gone three days."

They nod. Chief Stalwart says, "At least half of them were today, and were my officers. Fulcrum, Gerald, Smythe, Hatch, and Chan. They all died here, while we were trying to stop him. But we never stood a chance." The chief covers his face with his hands, too overwhelmed by the amount of loss.

Danger doesn't know what to say. He can hardly believe what he's hearing, what he'd just seen. He can't get any words out of his mouth. Neither can the others. A heavy moment of silence passes for all the dead.

To be continued

Next Episode: S1E20: Blinking Lights Part One