Here's part two. Hope you enjoy it. Leave a review. I'll see you in a few weeks with the next one, I'll update as soon as I can. Your support always helps.
S1E21: Blinking Lights Part two
December 25, 2021
It's Christmas, and Henry has spent the whole day in costume, chasing Wall Dogs from one site to the next. His friends and teammates being tied up with family stuff and having no excuse for leaving that could preserve their secret identities, means that his only back up is Piper. They stop at the side of a new building looking up at the graffiti there.
"Oh, that's festive!" Piper exclaims sarcastically at the paint. The image is a grungy stylized cartoon of a dark figure, that almost looks like Shadow Man, squashing a pile of Christmas presents.
"And they're already gone again," Henry says tetchily about the lack of any vandals.
"We gotta find a way to get ahead of them. Following them really isn't working," she grumbles.
"Great, then tell me where they're going to hit and we'll go there," he responds unhappily.
She gives him a look of equal dissatisfaction and says, "How should I know where they're going to go?"
"You're the one who said we need to get ahead of him!" he snaps back.
"Yeah! Because we should!" she shouts. "Doesn't mean I know how we're going to do it!"
"Just expect me to do everything?" he asks. She scoffs and he doesn't let her respond. Instead saying, "Just get in the car."
"Don't tell me what to do!" she retorts and gets in the car. He sends a note of the location to the police so they can send someone to get it cleaned up.
They drive through the streets at random. The clock keeps winding. "Isn't today supposed to be a day of miracles?" Piper complains after a while.
"Our bad luck outranks Christmas miracles," Henry grumbles back at her.
She slumps against the widow and watches the passing road and buildings. They cross through a small intersection, and she sits up sharply. "Wait! Go back!" she says.
"What?" he asks.
"Go back! I saw something." She says twisting around in her seat.
"I can't go backwards. What did you see? Where?" he asks.
"Down the right side of that road we just passed," she replies.
He glances back and nods, turning the next corner. "I'll go around the block. Tell me if you see anything again," he says.
They go much more slowly once they get to the road she'd indicated, both scanning the area. After going down the block back to the street they'd originally been on, Henry comments, "I didn't see anything."
Piper is still looking furiously out her window. "Over there!" she says insistently.
"Where?" he asks, looking out her window and seeing nothing but buildings and lampposts.
"Pull over!" she insists. He does so, not wanting to but figuring something is better than nothing right now. Getting out of the car, he lets her drag him to where she thinks she'd seen something. It's a spray paint can on the ground. "See? And I saw someone running over here when we first passed."
He looks dubious but asks, "Where did they go?"
She looks around, thinking. "This way," she leads.
His disbelief is overturned when after a minute they come across a pile of spray paint cans on the ground, freshly used if the lingering chemical scent in the air is to go by, and a half-finished work of graffiti on the wall. "They were just here," Piper says with certainty, almost hope.
"Yeah, but where'd they go?" Henry asks her.
"Not far," a different female voice answers. Veronika jumps down from a ledge above them, landing right next to him. "'Sup Herbert?" she asks, running a hand up his arm as she steps closer to him.
His brain takes a mere second to flip into action mode and he grabs hold of her wrist and twists her into an arresting hold with that hand pinned behind her back. She laughs and leans her head back against his shoulder. "You don't have to be so forceful to hold me close," she says, pressing her lips against his neck. He jerks his head away and uses the hand not holding her hand behind her to hold her head still. She laughs again and whistles sharply.
Other Wall Dogs come out of the woodwork, from behind bushes and a nearby door. Danger glances around at the ten other vandals who're smirking and looking ready for a fight. Rolling Thunder looks around at them all with an equally ready glare.
"Don't…" Danger tries to warn her, but she doesn't hesitate to rush them and takes one out before she's entirely swarmed. He curses lightly under his breath as they start to overwhelm her but has his own issue as Veronika drops and flips acrobatically in a way that forces him to let go, or else get his wrist broken.
She rolls back to her feet quickly and faces him. Behind her, Rolling Thunder is being forcefully restrained by the one-eyed Wall Dog with the help of another.
"Let her go." Danger orders. All the Wall Dogs laugh.
"Oh, Herbert," Veronika says patronizingly. "We're not going to let either of you go until we've finished our work."
"You're done," he counters. "And I'm not asking for her sake. Spray-Z is going to want to let her go or she's going to tear him apart."
"What?" Spray-Z asks as Rolling Thunder grins wickedly. She tucks her head down, biting his arm for extra flair, and heaves him over her shoulder to crash painfully on his back. "Uugh!" he moans. The other Wall Dogs react with understandable surprise and alarm. Only Beyonspray rushes to help Spray-Z.
Meanwhile, Danger tries again to restrain Veronika, the two fighting in a very nimble dance. She loses ground towards the rest of them, flipping backwards to avoid his attempt to catch her. "Wall Dogs!" she calls with authority to those still standing to the side. "Get your butts moving! I didn't break you out of prison for a Secret Santa. Get the girl and restrain Danger!"
They do as they're commanded. Two falling to the heroes as soon as they join the fights. Danger knocks another out as four of the remaining come to help Veronika against him. While the others tackle Rolling Thunder from behind. She's vicious but between Beyonspray, T-paint and the now angry Spray-Z, she gets pinned to the ground, the three of them sitting on her to ensure she can't move. She thrashes and screams in furious rage, "Get off!" to no avail.
Danger glances over at her in uncontrolled concern as she's taken down and misses his chance to dodge the foot that swipes his own leg out from underneath him. He falls unceremoniously to the ground and finds himself sat upon as well, though Veronika is far more salacious about her intent in being on top of him, straddling his waist and running her hands from there up his body as she leans in close to his face. Her gangmates dive to restrain his hands, one on each of them and the other holding his feet down.
"That was easier than I expected," she comments in a whisper of breath across his ear. "If it was all an attempt to hide your desire to get under me, you could've made it more convincing."
Before she can do more than say the words and close her lips lightly around his ear lobe, Danger throws her off with a flex of his arms. His forcefield expanding throws off all the Wall Dogs on him and they tumble across the cement, Veronika getting the worst of it.
She glares offended at him as she gets back to her feet, a new series of lacerations marring her otherwise pretty face. "I wish I could believe that was an accident," she says.
"It wasn't," he assures.
She pouts at him. Then she turns to the rest of her gang and orders, "Knock the girl out. We'll restrain him so we can finish our project."
"No!" Danger tries to intervene, but Beyonspray is too quick and with a crack to the head from a full can of spray paint, Rolling Thunder is unconscious. He nonetheless throws the three Wall Dogs off his sister and forms a forcefield protectively around them while he checks on her.
Around his forcefield the Wall Dogs gather. He stands to fight but realizes with them on all sides he can't let his shield down to fight and protect Piper at the same time. He holds it, unsure what to do. Veronika sees and understands his dilemma and smirks. "Go finish our latest masterpiece," she orders most of them. "Beyonspray and Spray-Z can help me keep Danger trapped."
"He's not trapped." Two Cans argues.
"He's trapped himself," Veronika explains, tracing a fingertip across the green surface of his shield, at least until it burns her. "If he lets the forcefield down, we don't have to beat him, we just have to get the girl. He won't risk things with her unconscious. Isn't that right, Herbert?"
He glares but doesn't deny it. He won't risk his sister getting hurt over a painted wall. He stoops beside her and tries again to rouse her. He wouldn't need her help to fight so long as she was awake enough to keep herself out of harm's way. He also sends the police a ping of this vandalism's location as he had with all the other's they'd found; perhaps they'll arrive in time to help stop it. That is not his luck.
It only takes a few minutes for Piper to wake complaining about the sore spot where she'd been hit. But by then the Wall Dogs are also beginning to leave. As soon as she's conscious enough for him to get a confirmation from her about staying back, he drops the forcefield.
Only Veronika is still lingering. She smiles at him as they face off. "This was fun," she says. "I look forward to doing it again."
"There won't be any 'again's," he swears.
She walks towards him with a sultry gaze, "Of course there will be. I'm in charge of the Wall Dogs now, and unlike we were under that idiot Van Del, we're no longer a soft target. So, see you next time, Hebert." She's right up in his face before she speaks her last words.
He'd nearly waited too long to act, only foiling her attempt to kiss him and not her escape around him. She kicks Piper down again as she goes, ensuring he'll give her a head start while he helps his sister. Veronika is gone before he's able to pursue her. "That sucked," Piper says. "Sorry for getting knocked out."
"Not your fault," he says automatically. "They're worse than they ever were before. We'll have to be more prepared for the next fight."
"Can we go home now?" she asks, holding her sore head.
"Yeah. Mom and Dad will be waiting with dinner," he says.
"And we still haven't gotten to open any presents," She pouts.
(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...)
December 27, 2021
"You are the absolute best!" Henry tells Babe seriously over the phone. "Thank you for getting all my stuff sent back here, I totally forgot I left it in New York when Miles came in…"
"Proclaiming the end of the world!" Babe finishes for him jokingly. "I noticed, and you're welcome. I'm just trying to help out. You ran out of here so fast and have been so busy."
"I know, I'm the worst," he berates himself. "I am so sorry for ditching you… again."
"Henry, I've seen the news on Swellview, no boy has ever had such a great excuse for ditching me. All is forgiven. We'll have another chance, just deal with your bigger issues right now." She assures.
"I'm pretty sure that at twenty, my relationship with the prettiest girl in the world should be one of my biggest issues." He complains. The girls in the Man's Nest with him all protest. "But I swear, next time there won't be any…"
Babe cuts him off, "Don't make promises you can't keep." He sighs and nods, knowing she'll understand him even if she can't see him cause they're thousands of miles apart. "But, as for next time… you guys are planning to come to Dub's New Year's concert, right? We're saving space for you in the VIP section."
Henry can't help but smile. "We will so be there; come hell or high water. Everyone is so excited about it and I cannot wait."
"Oh my god, YES!" Piper shouts her agreement.
"Double G! Double G!" Miles starts chanting, Piper and Charlotte joining in with hype.
Henry goes on, a little louder over the chanting. "New Years in New York sounds like the craziest, coolest, and most cliché way to spend the holiday. There's all kinds of bucket list traditions I want to take part in."
Babe's voice takes an almost shy yet boldly flirtatious note as she hints, "Oh yeah. There is one New Year's tradition I've yet to take part in and always dreamed of; I'd be delighted to fulfill it with you if you'd like that too."
He knows the blushing beam on his face is obvious from the teasing looks his eavesdropping friends are giving him. "Uh… yeah. I could get behind that; sounds like fun."
"Can't wait," she says and he can hear the smile in her voice.
"Yeah, me neither," he says. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"You'd better get all the rabblerousers cleaned up then," Babe returns. "Don't want them getting in the way again, you've got my hopes too high now for that."
"Yeah," he mutters trying to not hint to her how worried he really is about that. "I'll see you in a couple days."
"See you then," she says excitedly before they hang up.
Piper doesn't say a thing but can't help the little laugh that escapes at her brother's expense. He glare at her and she winks at him.
"Shut up, Piper," Henry says blushing. Everyone breaks into laughter then at. "All of you, shut up," he says without any malice. "You should all be out helping the others find the Wall Dogs and Shadow Man, or something."
"I am working," Charlotte says, supervising the teams on the streets from the computer." How about you get out there, instead of talking to your girl?"
"Char…" he complains with a blush.
"The girls are back," she cuts him off as the tube rises up with Chapa and Mika aboard.
"That was another false call!" Chapa announces unhappily. "I officially hate this week more than any other in my whole life."
"It's been more than a week," Mika corrects in a no more pleasant tone.
"That doesn't make it better," Chapa grumbles.
"At least you guys got Christmas off," Piper feeds into the complaining. "I had to work all day and I still might not even get New Year's off because we can't stop some stupid vandals.
"Yeah, but you're not stuck to the tube pad," Chapa retorts with even greater irritation as she can't get her feet to come off the metal rim of the tube.
Mika returns quickly to help, Henry jumps in too to get her off. She sits with an enormous huff and a flick of her hand that pushes the metal table away before it can decide to stick itself to her next.
"Why can you do that, but you can't get yourself unstuck from the floor?" Piper asks, pointing to the table that had left, and taken her hamburger with it.
Chapa sighs, "It's not hard to manipulate them when I'm ready for them. But it's really hard to be aware of everything potentially magnetic around me all the time, and once it's stuck itself to me, it's really flipping hard to get it to unstick itself."
"Schwoz'll be able to help you figure it all out," Charlotte promises.
"Yeah, great, when is he coming back from his Mama's?" Chapa asks.
"On the second," Henry answers.
"That's like another whole week!" she complains.
"Six days," Charlotte corrects automatically.
Chapa glares at her. "You're gonna be alright," Henry assures. "You're already getting control of these powers."
"Bose's soup spoon just attached itself to me," she retorts, pulling the spoon off her shirt and getting it stuck to her hand. She pries it off with the other hand and ends up with the same problem there. "I hate this week," she repeats with a frown.
"Here." Piper pulls the spoon off Chapa's hand and throws it back at Bose.
"Thanks," he says. She growls the same, mostly sincere as he is.
"So, the call? Another false sighting of Shadow Man?" Bose asks.
"Yep. You think people would do better now that they have an image of the real deal to go off of but…" Chapa says.
"There have been less calls since then," Bose points out cheerfully.
Chapa ignores him in favor of continuing to wallow in her misery.
"No good news for now, I'm afraid," Charlotte announces. "Jasper and Miles found another Wall Dog painting but no Wall Dogs."
"Of course not," Piper complains. "They're getting better and better at going unnoticed in their chaos causing."
"I want them to be caught as much almost as much as Shadow Man at this point," Henry says. "They're driving me crazy."
"And they're a threat to your holiday plans," Charlotte says coyly. "Which we obviously can't have."
Henry glares at her, face red. "Char…"
"It's true though," Piper speaks up, taking Henry's side. "We can't have them messing up our New Year's, if I don't get to be in the VIP section at Double G's concert, I'm probably going to die."
"If we miss it, I'm going to kill them," Chapa agrees.
"Amen!" Piper says.
"And, at the moment, it's almost as important to get them off the streets as it is to stop Shadow Man. They're responsible for at least half of the current fear in the city. Though he is still the true root cause," Charlotte notes.
Her eyes flicker electronically as an emergency call comes in, going straight to her system as she's currently connected to the Man's Nest-work. She answers it, hearing the caller right in her own head. "We'll send someone." She says in a voice that is both supposed to assure the caller but sends the message to her friends that it is another dreaded sighting that is almost certainly not a real worry.
"I'm not going!" Chapa immediately and vehemently un-volunteers.
Mika looks equally uninterested but a little more willing. "I'll go," Henry volunteers. "Piper, Bose, you're up. Who wants to come with me?"
"No," Piper says.
"Okay," Bose says, getting up. The boys blow bubbles and descend the tube, Blue coming with them on Bose's shoulder.
They make no rush to get to the place Charlotte had specified. Once they do, they realize that may have been a mistake. The caller is not the only person in the movie theater who's cowering in their seats and a figure in a dark cloak stands in front of the glitching in and out screen, cackling evilly over them all. "Oh! Oh!" Brainstorm shouts in alarm as they enter the theater.
"Dang it!" Danger curses in agreement begins running toward the villain.
The cloaked man turns in surprise towards his motion and jumps backward, pulling his arms in from their extended maniac pose and tripping over the hem of his cloak. "No! Go away!" he yells at Danger in a shrill of clear alarm.
He fumbles several times in getting to his feet and running away from the hero. Danger catches him with ease, too much ease, grabbing him by the cloak and hoisting him up. He glares hatefully at the surprisingly light figure. The guy slaps and scratches his thin, pale fingers at Danger's strongly gripping hands.
"Don't let him touch you!" Brainstorm yells and the cloaked figure ends up lifted even higher into the air and away from Danger by Brainstorm's telekinesis.
"Let me go! This isn't supposed to happen! Let me go!" the high voice under the hood demands.
"Are you okay?" Brainstorm asks Danger fretfully as he catches up to the older hero.
Danger doesn't respond, still glaring confused at the cloaked person.
The theater's audience peeks out from their hiding places and cheers at the scene. "You got him!" "Go Danger! Go Brainstorm!" "They did it!"
"Put me down!" the floating figure demands fearfully.
"No!" Brainstorm shouts back, excited by the cheering and the thought that they just caught Shadow Man. "You're not going anywhere! You have to pay for what you've done!"
"I didn't," the guy says.
"Oh my god," Danger growls furiously. "What are you doing?"
"What?" Brainstorm questions looking at him confused.
"Put him down," Danger orders.
"But…!" Brainstorm counters. The audience protests too.
"He's not Shadow Man," Danger says.
"What?!" Brainstorm and several others shout.
"I'm not! I'm not!" the cloaked guy insists. "Put me down! Please!"
Brainstorm blinks and drops him, the guys crashing to the floor, his hood coming off. Underneath is a skinny teenager with thick glasses and a retainer. He looks embarrassed, but relived to be back on the floor, at least for a moment. Danger picks him back up by the front of the cloak forcefully and pins him to the wall underneath the movie screen. "Who are you and what are you doing dressed up as Shadow Man?" he demands of the again terrified young man.
"I- I- I…" the guy fails to speak.
Danger doesn't relent. "What the hell are you thinking? Do you think this is okay?!"
"I-I didn't -I didn't mean to…." the guy says terrified, "It was just- just a j-joke. My buddy d-d-dared m-me."
A beat of sheer disbelieving fury passes before Danger responds. "You cannot be serious. You freaking…" he cuts off the choice names he wants to call the teen, dropping the guy back to the floor.
"A joke?" Brainstorm asks with almost as much anger as Danger. "You and your buddy think this is a joke?"
"I- no- no!" the guy says eyeing them both, "That's not- we didn't- I don't- no."
"This isn't funny," Brainstorm says. "Shadow Man has killed dozens of people!"
"No! I know!" The guys says, getting to his feet. "It's not… I know it's not. I didn't mean… " Danger huffs and cuffs the guy. "Wait! Wait! I'm not… you can't arrest me… it was just a stupid dare... I didn't commit any crimes!"
"You don't think impersonating a serial killer and causing a public panic count as crimes?" Danger retorts, pulling the costumed teen unwillingly out of the theater to the slow, unsure applause of the audience.
"I didn't hurt anyone! I didn't mean any harm!" the guy argues all the way to the police station.
"Danger? Brainstorm?" Officer Lacy questions as they come in. "Who's this guy?"
"Didn't actually catch his name," Danger says tersely pushing the cloak clad clod into full view of the cops. "Just caught him impersonating Shadow Man at a movie theater."
"What?" Officer Lacy says, looking at the guy in shock and anger. She's not the only one doing so. "You did what?" she asks the guy, taking note of the costume.
"You dressed up as Shadow Man?" another officer interrogates.
"It's just a costume! You can't arrest me for that!" the impersonater protests.
"Oh. I'm sure there's a law we can find that you've broken while impersonating a super villain," Officer Lacy says, "and I'm sure it's more than just yo' clothes, or the Dangers wouldn't have brought you in."
"He was holding an entire theater full of movie goers hostage," Danger supplies.
"I was not! They could've left if they wanted to," the teenager argues.
"They didn't know that. Did they? They were too afraid of who they thought you were while you were standing before them cackling like a maniacal murderer," Danger says.
"But I didn't actually do anything to any of them!" the guy tries again to argue.
"I'm pretty sure we could arrest you for disturbing the peace just for going out in that costume to purposefully make people think you're Shadow Man, which you told us you did. You said you were doing it as a dare. But you did more than just wear the costume, so I know we can arrest you." Brainstorm explains. "At the very least you can be held for twenty-four hours."
"You can't be serious!" the teenager exclaims looking around at all the cops desperatley for someone to take his side. No one makes a move to do so.
"We is very serious," Officer Lacy says sternly to the boy. "Shadow Man is a cop killer; he killed six cops, our coworkers and friends just last week. He killed Captain Man. We takes everything to do with him very seriously."
"But…!"
She cuts off his renewed protests, "If you'd impersonated any other villain, you might've got off with a warning and only being held until your parents could come gets you. But Shadow Man? We won't let anything to do with him slide."
"Please. I'm sorry." He starts crying as she takes him off to call his parents and be put in a cell.
Before the two heroes leave, Detective Hawkshaw intercepts them. "Hey!" he greets more friendly than usual. "Since you're here, can we talk about the case for a minute?"
The heroes glance at each other and agree. "Sure," Danger says. "What's up?"
"I don't know how much Chief Stalwart's told you, but we've been looking into what Shoutout said about Officer Fulcrum maybe knowing Shadow Man," Detective Hawkshaw says.
"You found something?" Danger asks hopefully.
"No," Detective Hawkshaw says. "Nothing yet, at least. We've been talking to her family and friends, we're going over every case she took part in, but she's done a lot and there's certainly stuff that never got documented so we're not feeling optimistic about it. I bring it up because Volt also thought you might have a connection to him as well. Have you found anything on that end? If we could find a commonality between you and Fulcrum it might help."
Danger deflates and shakes his head. "That's a no go as well, I'm afraid," he says. "As far as I can tell I've never met him before. I've looked through every villain Captain Man and I ever fought, even looked at associates and families of the ones pertaining more to me specifically but none of them have a profile similar to Shadow Man."
Detective Hawkshaw shakes his head disappointed, "What about in your everyday life? Could someone from there have figured out your identity and be doing this."
Danger grimaces, "I don't have much of an outside life; I haven't for years. Still, I have considered it. But all the people who know my identity, I'm sure, are trustworthy. Whoever he is, if he's got something against me, I don't know what it is."
"That's not what I wanted to hear," Detective Hawkshaw says.
"Sorry," Danger says, almost entirely without sarcasm. "I can't find a connection. And I don't think I could find one between me and Fulcrum either, so I don't know where to tell you to look for that either. We met on this case."
Detective Hawkshaw nods and waves his hand dismissively, "Yes, yes, I know. There must be something, though. What do the three of you have in common? Perhaps more recent?" he wonders more to himself than as part of the discussion but Danger nonetheless answers.
"That would make sense, my history with the both of them only goes back a few months," he says. "But it's also only this case, so unless it's somehow a result of the recent events and not the cause, then I don't have a clue."
"A clue! We need a clue," the detective decrees. "This is my job, you think after ten years I'd be good at I finding clues."
"Shadow Man clearly isn't like any other case," Danger consoles.
Detective Hawkshaw does not listen, a lightbulb clearly going on in his head. "Thanksgiving," he says.
"What?" Brainstorm asks. "What about Thanksgiving?"
Detective Hawkshaw shares a look with Danger, and Danger gets it. "We were all there," he notes. "We all went to the same soup kitchen independently."
Detective Hawkshaw nods and says, "You and Officer Fulcrum were there volunteering and Shadow Man showed up there as well."
"That's not much of a connection," Danger says.
"But it's another instance of 'too many to be a coincidence'," Detective Hawkshaw counters. "It gives us something to go off of."
"Yeah, sure," Danger says. "But we ran an investigation that day and ran into problems. There were so many unidentified people there that could have been Shadow Man and we had no way to check them all. How do you expect to find him among them now? That was over a month ago."
"I'm not sure, but it's a clue. I can use it to find the next one," Detective Hawkshaw says. "I'll keep looking through Officer Fulcrum's side of things. Let me know if you find anything from your side." He walks off briskly to start with his new idea.
(Commercial Break)
December 31, 2021
Henry checks his watch anxiously, hopping into the Man Truck with Charlotte and Jasper to race off to where Miles has spotted the Wall Dogs. The sun has already set over Swellview and the clock is ticking down on their ability to make it to the concert in New York on time, even by teleportation. He speeds for the entire eight minute ride.
Miles, Mika and Bose have already begun battling the Wall Dogs. The three brightly colored costumes stand out against the night and the dozen dark clothed vandals, whose outfits are even blacker than normal. It takes Henry a moment to understand the new look, all the Wall Dogs in dark cloaks that cover everything but their hands and, with the hoods down, their faces. "Are they… wearing Shadow Man costumes?" Jasper asks.
"It sure looks that way," Charlotte says.
Henry scowls deeply. The three heroes run into the fight. The twins are fighting back-to-back, surrounded by half the gang. Brainstorm is being held on the ground by one guy; the tall young man sprays a can of orange paint over Brainstorm's head in sweeps. The remaining four Wall Dogs, including Veronika, are working on the huge mural that covers the wall of the capital building behind them.
The mural isn't fully done but it's enough to make out what it's intended to depict. The stylized cartoon figure of Shadow Man stands atop a pile of bodies, mostly faceless people but several have been given carefully designed attributes representing specific victims: a half dozen in police uniforms, a girl in a torn graduation cap and gown, a nun, and at the bottom Captain Man. Veronika is working on him right now, taking care to ensure he looks accurate and wretchedly dead.
Danger charges at her in a rage. Haywire helps the twins and Siesta Niño goes to rescue Brainstorm. Veronika is not taken by surprise at their arrival and flips out of the way before Danger can grab her. "There you are, Herbert," she greets cheerfully. "I was wondering how long it'd take you to show up. Like my artwork?"
He glares at her and attacks again. She counters with quick precision, blocking his hits and using his momentum to send him barreling away from her. She remains composed all the while, a wickedly delighted smirk on her lips. He turns back, reigning his anger in, to try again with a more collected attack.
This time he takes it slower, watching her movements as he comes at her and looking for an opening in her defenses. He finds one in her cavalier confidence as she waits without concern for him to reach her. He springs, catching her before she can whirl away gymnastically. Her footwork falters and she ends up hitting the marble wall of the building. "I'll take that as a no," she decides, turning back to him with a well thrown kick.
He takes it in the stomach with a grunt and a cranky, "Ow."
"I suppose that means you don't like my outfit either," Veronika says.
"It makes you look like a sociopath," he says, "so, actually, I find it very fitting."
"You used to be a lot nicer," she complains and comes at him with a brash wailing of fists. He can't help but think and comment on how sloppy her attack is but is met immediately by a forceful blow to the back of his head by another Wall Dog.
"Was it?" she retorts to his comment. He falls forward with blurry vision. Another blow has him seeing stars but fortunately that's all that comes before Haywire comes to his rescue and takes Veronika's help out of the picture.
Danger blinks the stars away and stands up, a bit wobbly, to face Veronika again. She's standing there looking at him with a pitying pout. "Did that hurt?" she asks. "I can kiss it better."
"No thanks," he grumbles, keeping a step away from her while his head clears.
She struts after him, enjoying herself far too much for his liking. "Oh, c'mon, Herbert. Let's have some fun, let's go find a quite spot and wait out the time 'till midnight. Then we can ring in the New Year together in the customary way."
He gives her half a smirk and says, "You're not the one I'm kissing tonight. So, let's get this over with. I've got better places to be."
He attacks again. The two of them trade blows and dodges. He takes out the next of her gangmates that tries to help her, and she stomps his foot painfully. "Gah! C'mon, I just got the boot off!" he complains.
"Oh sorry," she lilts with sarcastic sweetness and concern. "I'll try to avoid that foot. How about I hit here instead?" she kicks the back of his still weak knee and causes it to buckle. He yelps in pain and finds himself on the pavement. "Is that better?" she mocks, leaning over him.
He sweeps her legs from under her; she crashes too, landing beside him. He picks himself back up; "That was better!" he comments mockingly.
She curses at him as he pulls her back to her feet, restraining her by her wrists.
"It's over, Veronika. You and your gang have lost," he says authoritatively. Looking around them it is the undeniable conclusion. Seven of the other Wall Dogs are tied up on the ground, three of them unconscious. The three members of Danger Force, Haywire and Siesta Niño continue to battle the remaining few. "Call them off." Danger tells Veronika.
She growls and glares at her fallen allies. "Useless," she mutters. "What're you doing, you idiots?! We outnumbered them two to one and I took Danger all by myself! Can't you do anything right?!" she berates. "Fight!"
"You could be a lot nicer about it!" Spray-Z calls in return.
"At least we're still standing!" Beyonspray agrees. "Danger defeated you!"
"Not for long," Veronika murmurs and Danger readies himself for an escape attempt. She wrenches against him futilely, then tries to wriggles and drop to the ground which is better but still not effective. However, the loosened hold allows her to get another kick in at his knee and he goes down. They both go down; still having a hold on her, they fall together. Him on top of her.
"Ow," they both complain.
"You're heavier than you look," she gripes. "Must be muscle from all your heroing. It's attractive, but also means that fall really hurt!"
"You're the one that made us fall," he retorts.
"And you couldn't have landed beside me?" she snips. "I don't like you being on top of me, it's much more comfortable the other way around."
"I'd prefer you far away from me," he comments, getting back on his feet. Which she promptly knocks him from again as she twists away to escape his hold. "You are so annoying."
"Maybe," she admits with a shrug and a smirk. "But I'm fine with it; bad girls have all the fun."
"I disagree," Shoutout says, sneaking up oh her. "I quite like being the goody two shoes. Gets me a lot of trust and appreciation."
Veronika turns too late, Shoutout hits her with a sonic scream that sends her into the painted wall. The rest of the Wall Dogs have been defeated and Veronika glares frustratedly at them all as she hold her shoulder. "You're done, Veronika. Come quietly," Danger encourages her. She turns and runs the other way.
Before making it ten steps she is cut off by Rolling Thunder jumping out of the blue to stop her. Veronika reels back but Rolling Thunder grabs her. "Not today, snitch!" Rolling Thunder shouts. "You're not going anywhere!"
"Where did you come from?" Danger asks almost as astonished as Veronika.
"We got here a couple minutes ago," Volt says, coming out of hiding as well, "but you all looked like you had it well in hand so we waited to cut off anyone who tried to escape."
"It was clearly the right idea," Rolling Thunder says, indicating the tense and stilled vandal she's got a hold of.
"Good job!" Haywire compliments.
"Awesome, awesome! Let's take this gang in and get ourselves to that party!" Danger orders.
"Yeah!" his friends cheer.
"No!" Veronika says. When Rolling Thunder tries to force her, she resists and after the short struggle the two girls have swapped places. Veronika pulls a knife from her pocket and wields it threateningly at Rolling Thunder. "You haven't beat me. I know you won't risk your friend's life to catch me, so back off!" she says backing towards the street slowly, keeping hold of Rolling Thunder. The blinking streetlight behind them glinting off the knife ominously.
"This isn't going to work!" Danger says. "Just let her go; don't make things worse for yourself. You've already lost."
"No! My stupid gangmates lost." She says, jerking the knife sharply close to Rolling Thunder's neck, drawing a small line of blood in her dwindling control.
Rolling Thunder gasps lightly in fright and Volt thrusts her hands out instinctually. The knife yanks itself from Veronika's hand and flies to Volt's. "Ow!" she complains as it slices her palm.
With the knife gone, Rolling Thunder shoves her way out of Veronika's grasp. Veronika seethes with fury and decrees, "I am no B-list criminal. I am your adversary, your worst nightmare! I will out do all the other villains in Swellview!"
The streetlight above her goes out entirely, every light up and down the street follows suit, blinking out one at a time. It takes a minute for everyone's eyes to adjust to the new darkness. While they blink and adapt a voice fills the darkness. An already too familiar, terrifyingly dark, rough voice. "If you have to shout it, then it isn't true, little girl. Mere insistence does not make it so," he says.
Even with night vision kicking in, it takes a moment to pick out the new figure among them. His cloak is so similar to the ones each Wall Dog wears that only his impossibly black aura in the winter night makes him distinguishable. No one else speaks as or moves as he does.
He glides towards Veronika, who stares in shock and alarm. "You can't outdo anyone by mimicking their ways. You can't become the greatest by following another's path. You want power? You don't have it. You want to be feared? You're not." he tells her mercilessly, circling her.
"You are running around this city like a rat. Using my image to bolster your own, declaring my accomplishments as if you had any claim to them," he sneers, grabbing her. She gasps in pain at his grip on her hand "No more. I am the fear behind that symbol, the source of the darkness. I am by my own skill and labor the greatest and most terrible villain in Swellview. And I will not share that power." He vanishes in the swirls of darkness he leaks, and her tortured screams echo faintly from within.
Without a second thought Danger rushes into the darkness. His friends cry out in worry as he vanishes into it. Unable to see he aims to where he believes the center is and collides with the two of them, breaking Shadow Man's hold on Veronika and on his power. The physical darkness retracts into Shadow Man but Danger still finds himself blinking great patches out of his eyes as he grabs Veronika and drags her away from the shadows. She whimpers, cradling one hand in the other against her body.
Shadow Man turns with incredible haste and takes a shot at the two of them. Danger puts his forcefield up just in time to block it. They both stare weightily at each other. The rest of the scene stops again as Shadow Man speaks. "You would save her? Your enemy?" he questions Danger.
"I'm certainly not going to let you kill her!" Danger returns.
"She is your enemy," Shadow Man argues. "She wants to destroy all that you care about."
"Doesn't mean she deserves to die. I'd save her life as soon as I'd save anyone's," Danger says.
Shadow Man breathes, sounding pleased, "So heroic."
Danger finishes his statements, "Especially against you. I'd save anyone from dying at your hand, even Drex, if I'd had the chance."
"Drex?" Shadow Man's laugh might well be the worst sound ever heard. "I killed that vile nugget for you. I never would've chosen him as a target, he was a worthless bitter crumb to me, but he got in my way. He nearly killed you; and for that he had to die. You belong to me! No one interferes with my plans; no one gets to harm you without paying the price!"
Danger stares nonresponding. What is he supposed to say to that declaration by his greatest enemy? How can he answer?
"You want to save the vandal girl? Go ahead," Shadow Man speaks again. "She is as worthless a kill to me as Drex. Only worth the effort to stop her interference. Her and all her gang are free to go, so long as they cease their injections into my deeds. There is not enough light among the lot of them for me to feed on for a day. At least the cinema boy gave me that. I'll have myself some better prey tonight."
He turns his back on Danger and Veronika, ignoring the Wall Dogs and towards the other heroes. "You're all suitably filled with light, whose shall I take?"
They take a collective step back in fear and horror. "No," Brainstorm whimpers.
"Yes, I sampled you before, sweet boy. You would be a real treat." Shadow Man says.
"No!" multiple voices cry. Shoutout screams in his direction, barely ruffling his cloak as the energy of it fades out in his aura. Volt magnetically pushes Veronika's knife away from herself and towards him; it slows as it nears him and vanishes into nothingness as the tip hits true in his arm.
"You cannot hope to stop me," he says, advancing towards them.
Danger tackles the villain from behind. "You're not going to touch them!" he shouts as he rolls over top of Shadow Man.
It's hard to know what Shadow Man is feeling as he gets back to his feet. He says nothing for a moment as he considers Danger standing protectively between his friends and the killer. When his words come after a moment, they're soft and unquestionably full of pleasure. "So heroic."
"I wouldn't let you hurt my enemy, you think I'll let you touch my friends?" Danger challenges.
"Certainly not," Shadow Man says, coming closer again. "But I don't recall asking your permission either. I told you: no one gets in my way. Stand aside. You are not to be harmed. I do not extend the same courtesy to your friends," Shadow Man rumbles, low and cold. "I will do with them as I choose."
"No!" Danger says forcefully, putting his forcefield over himself and all his friends. "You're not going to do anything to anyone!"
Shadow Man seems to absorb the words. "You are a wonder. How can you be so untainted by your experiences? You came back from the darkest corner of the world, only to have me murder your mentor, your 'brother'. You have seen death and darkness and evil, yet you remain so light-hearted. What would it take to dim your light? If killing him wasn't enough, what is?"
Danger glares hatefully and swears in an even tone of sheer loathing, "I will kill you for what you did to Captain Man." He drops the forcefield and strikes at Shadow Man viciously. The killer dodges backwards, retreating with calm steps and simple weavings away from Danger's hits.
Danger's friends rush to help him, but he doesn't let them get close, keeping himself as Shadow Man's attention. Shadow Man doesn't seem to mind, is even perhaps enjoying it. He stops at the edge of the road beside the still cowering Veronika. "Is that a hint of a shadow?" He whispers, catching the last punch Danger throws at him. Danger's burnt fingers reignite in his hold. "A small flicker in your soul?" he asks unexpectedly disappointed.
"If there is, it's your fault!" Danger says, yanking his fist away from the villain's grasp.
Shadow Man doesn't move or speak. No sound, no hint of life comes from him for a long moment. It's out of silence and darkness that his voice finally speaks. "Perhaps. Perhaps I have overestimated you. Perhaps you aren't as light as I thought."
He moves with unexpected swiftness, a dark arm of his expanding spiral lashing out violently to fling Veronika high into the air. She screams in fear. Danger rushes swiftly to catch her before she hits the concrete. The maneuver tears holes in his jeans and the seams of his jacket. She lands with a painful 'humph!' and remains curled in his arms. "Are you okay?" he asks her despite his own pain. She presses against him, shaking her head 'no' and still cradling the hand Shadow Man had burned while trying to kill her.
"Then again, perhaps not," Shadow Man says, watching the pair of them. "I'll not kill your friends tonight, Danger. But this is not over. I will find the true limits of your soul."
Danger doesn't get the chance to make a move or ask for clarification. Shadow Man melts into darkness and is gone.
After a tense silent moment, Rolling Thunder comments, "That guy is hella scary." Murmurs follow, both groups releasing their anxiety.
"How injured are you, Veronika?" Danger asks.
"My hand!" she whines.
"It hurts a lot. I know the feeling." Brainstorm says empathetically.
"Yeah," Danger nods. "We have some experience with burns like this. We'll get it taken care of as best we can. Take the rest of them back to jail," he orders AWOL.
"You're the boss!" AWOL salutes and obeys, Shoutout helping him.
"We'll need to drive Veronika to the hospital and call Stalwart to give him a debrief on that interaction," Danger continues giving direction, standing Veronika up and keeping a firm grip on her.
"We need to get to that concert before we miss it all!" Rolling Thunder counters. "We're totally late already."
"Too late," Haywire says, her holographic arm computer displaying the time 10:04. "It's after midnight in New York. We missed it."
Danger stares dumfounded and dismayed at the clock. "No!" He mutters bitterly.
"Looks like I am the one kissing you tonight," Veronika says and presses her lips to his. "Happy New Year. Good luck explaining to the other girl."
(Commercial Break)
They move with record speed to get things tied up in Swellview, working desperately on the hope that Miles points out, "The New Year's party doesn't stop at midnight, we can still make it to some of it, even though we missed the ball drop." He teleports them to a hidden spot near Game Shakers about twenty minutes after they discovered their lateness. Veronika is in custody at the hospital, the other Wall Dogs are in jail, Shadow Man disappeared, and they'd all changed quickly and been ready to leave.
Lights, music and confetti still come from the windows of the building, and they all celebrate minorly, running to enter the party. Henry spots Babe and the other Game Shakers in the 'VIP' section next to the stage Dub is rapping on. He leads his friends that way and with a short explanation, Bunny the bouncer waves them through.
Henry finds Babe and the first thing out of his mouth is an apology. She smiles at him as she hugs him and says, "I know. I might be a little disappointed that you weren't here on time, but I get it. I'm glad you made it at all. Does that mean you got them?"
"The Wall Dogs, yes. Shadow Man slipped away again," he says.
"You'll get him." She shrugs confidently.
"We should have. He was right there," Henry laments.
"You'll get him. I have total faith in you," she says, grabbing his hands and tugging him towards the dance floor. "Now, you're here to party, right? So, lets party. Just because midnight past doesn't mean we're done."
"I brought you a Christmas present," he stalls her. "It's a little late, but that just matches everything else about me tonight."
She laughs and takes the bag he gives her. "Kraft-a-Kitty?" she asks amused, opening it. "Oh my god, Henry." She pulls out the Danger kitty.
"It's a Swellview exclusive," he says, "And I happen to know that Danger is your favorite superhero, so…"
"Oh, do you?" she asks with a teasing look. "Are you sure about that? Maybe he's not, maybe his sister's my favorite, or Thundergirl. She's really cool."
Henry smirks disbelieving at her, "I'll tell Phoebe she's got one up on me then." Babe laughs. Henry leans in and kisses her swiftly. It only lasts a few seconds before they're separating, but it fills them both entirely with glee. "Sorry, I know it's a little late for that too."
She shuts him up by kissing him again. "A kiss half an hour after midnight is very acceptable. We'll have another chance to fulfill the cliché traditions. But in the meantime, I'll never turn down a kiss from you."
"Good to know," he smiles and kisses her again, this time much longer. She drops the Danger kitty to wrap her arms around his neck and playing with his hair in the back. He melts at the touch, drifting into thoughtless bliss.
Many friendly voices catcall at them and they pull apart. He lets her pull him out to dance to Double G rapping. Pressed together and with their friends they jump around and sing the lyrics as loud as they can.
The party ends at one a.m., and as it ends and the Swellviewians get ready to return home, Piper makes the enthusiastic comment "Midnight hasn't come in Swellview yet. Let's go home and PARTY ON!" to which the other's cheer with enthusiastic approval.
Before joining them for the return trip, Henry grabs Babe and says, "Looks like we can still fulfill the cliché tradition tonight. You wanna come?"
When midnight strikes in Swellview, the two are alone on the roof of the Man's Nest. They both lean in. After the first, short kiss, they both breathe quietly, faces flushing from the cold and the moment. As he stares transfixed her eyes sparkle with the blinks of colored light from the fireworks. "That was nice." She says quietly.
"Yeah," he breathes.
"I don't want it to end," she says, leaning in again.
"Okay," he utters just before her lips reconnect with his and he's in thoughtless bliss again. This time when the kiss breaks it is quickly replaced with another. It does not end there.
Next Episode: S1E22: The Sidekick