Hey everyone. I know this took a long time and I'm sorry. This summer has totally sucked and thus my writing has had to be put a bit to the backburner. But, happily, now school is back in session and almost all the problems from the summer have been removed from my life. I should, knock on wood, be able to get back to a better writing and posting schedule for the last few chapters here. ;)
Anyway, I hope you like this episode. Leave a review, I love to hear from you. I love to hear your guesses for the end. See you with the next one.
Danger S1E24: Mystic Mystery
February 22, 2022
"No! No!" Dr. Minyak screams incessantly.
Brainstorm yanks the villain's comically oversized gun out of his hands with his telekinesis. "I'll take that!"
"How dare you!?" Dr. Minyak yells outraged.
"I dare easily," Volt says, pushing him over from behind.
"Why you little…" he growls furiously.
"Why you large…" she taunts back.
He seethes and the other kids laugh. They're all around, cutting off his escape from the jeweler's vault he'd broken into. "Ready to give up now, Minyak?" Danger asks. He is standing casually in the doorway, shaking his head amused at his sidekicks.
"It's Dr. Minyak!" Dr. Minyak shouts forcefully. "And I am the greatest supervillain of all time!"
Volt scoffs. Dr. Minyak glares at her. "You're definitely not, though," AWOL comments.
"I will never surrender!" Dr. Minyak screams.
"You don't have to," Shoutout says. "You've already lost. Your chance to surrender passed."
"We do have you trapped," Danger asserts.
"No!" Minyak rages. "I will beat you! I am the greatest villain and I can beat all six of you myself."
"Did Nurse Cohort and Goomer running such an effective series of heists make you feel inadequate?" Lil' Dynomite asks.
"I don't need her! I don't need anyone!" Minyak screams defensively.
AWOL teleports behind Minyak and slaps a pair of handcuffs on him. Quipping as he does, "You need serious help."
"Aa!" Minyak cries out in frustration and alarm. "Remove these this instant!"
"No," AWOL says.
"Let's go," Danger says.
They walk out of the vault and back room of the Jeweler's, pulling Minyak with them while he repeatedly demands, "Unhand me! You cannot do this! I will be your downfall! Release me!"
"Not going to happen, Minyak," Brainstorm says, passing the villain to catch up to Danger and ask, "After we've turned him over to the police, can we get pretzel bites?"
Danger shrugs, "I don't see why not."
"Yes!" Brainstorm cheers. Swiftly he is echoed by the rest of the team and Blue screeches too.
"No!" Dr. Minyak says furiously. "I demand that you not treat my presence so cavalierly. I am a man to be feared."
"You're really not," Volt says.
They make it outside; the sun reflects brightly off the snow on the ground. Officer Kogen waits at a cop car to take Minyak away. A couple news crews are already wandering the scene. Dr. Minyak resists as aggressively as he can, forcing the heroes to work together to pull him along. "No, I won't go. I will not let you take me!" Minyak says.
"Just take the loss, Dude," AWOL says.
"You're being ridiculous," Lil' Dynomite says.
"You're acting like a toddler," Danger says.
"I don't need him either!" Minyak decrees. They continue to push him towards the car.
From the car, Officer Kogen calls out to them, "Was Minyak the only one robbing the shop?"
"Yeah, just this idiot," Volt responds.
"Blaspheme! I am not an idiot!" Minyak shouts.
"So," Officer Kogen goes on, ignoring Minyak as they all do. "what's going on up there now, then?" he points back at the shop behind them.
The Dangers turn to see what he's talking about and are alarmed to see thick tendrils of solid darkness beyond the window screens. "Oh no!" Danger cries. With a final, great shove to send Minyak towards Officer Kogen, the six heroes dash back to the jewelers.
Darkness engulfs the inside of the shop and people are screaming. Over it all, steady and low as an earthquake, Shadow Man's voice sounds. "He truly is a prince. You would've had a happily ever after."
His form is barely distinguishable through the darkness. A couple stands petrified between him and a ring display. Shadow Man is reaching with his life-taking hand towards the man.
"Shadow Man!" Danger shouts, hoping to distract him. Volt sends a lightning bolt his way at the same time. It is enough to at least temporarily to get his focus off the couple.
Shadow Man turns towards them, absorbing Volt's electricity without trouble. He is as expressionless as ever in his hood, but they can practically feel the delight coming off of him. "My favorite little lights," he greets. "And the new one." He says noting Lil' Dynomite specifically. "He does look delectable. Good choice."
Lil' Dynomite squirms uncomfortably. "That sounds really creepy. What do you mean I 'look delectable'?"
"It means he is freaking creepy," Brainstorm says. "And that he wants to kill you."
"Indeed, you would be a true feast; and someday, I will have you." Shadow Man says.
"Not happening," Danger insists, pulling the frightened Lil' Dynomite farther from the villain.
"Sounds like he wants to eat me," Lil' Dynomite comments quietly, stepping gladly behind Danger as he's directed.
"Not yet," Shadow Man admits reluctantly. "I could not palate you quite yet, you would be a gorging too great. The mere sample of the little boy blue was more than enough to satiate me for weeks." Brainstorm flinches at the awful memory. "But soon I will be ready to have you all. For now, I'll have to stick to the simple pleasures of a good man in love."
He turns back to the couple he'd been terrorizing; they'd not been able to escape while he and the Dangers had talked. Shadow Man grabs hold of the man. They both scream. Danger shouts, "NO!" and leaps to interfere. Shadow Man sends a wave of Shadow to stall him. A flash of yellow cuts through the room.
"What the butt?" AWOL asks, looking astonished at the woman who'd just appeared out of nowhere. "Nurse Cohort?" Indeed, it is she, holding a yellow gun in one hand and a black one in the other. "Did you just use my power?"
She has little mind for him, all her attention directed towards Shadow Man. Unadulterated loathing laces her eyes as she aims the black gun at him. Everyone looks at her surprised and confused at her as she fires at him.
Shadow Man cavalierly sends one of his shadow blasts to meet the dark bolt she's shot, but to everyone's greater surprise and confusion, his shadow blast has no effect and her shot hits true in his ribcage. Shadow Man yelps in pain and his spell of darkness breaks.
"What the…!?" AWOL shouts. Many jaws have dropped open, and the entire room is frozen in awe.
Shadow Man releases the man he'd been killing and turns shocked and angry towards Nurse Cohort. "You think you can…" his words get disrupted by another exclamation of pain as she shoots him again. This time in the chest. He physically reels and clutches the spot. "You cannot…" She shoots again. "How…?" he marvels, retreating.
"I'll kill you!" she swears and takes another series of shots at him. He doesn't wait around, instead vanishing himself into the shadows under a shelf. "Aaa!" she shouts, frustratedly, trying to stop him. She can't react before it's already too late. She screams in outrage.
"Oh my god," Brainstorm mutters quiet and slowly. Nurse Cohort spins around to face him, weapons now aimed at him.
"You just hurt Shadow Man," Danger says with awe. He steps towards Nurse Cohort, putting himself in her line of fire.
"What of it?" she asks. "Somebody has to kill him, and you haven't."
"How? How did you?" he asks, "What did you fire at him?"
"Take another step and you'll find out," she swears.
He stops looking at the unassuming little black sci-fi-esque gun. "What is it?" he asks insistently. "How did you hurt him? No one else has figured out how to do that. How did you?"
She scoffs and pulls the trigger. "Because I'm not a fool. Figure it out for yourself hero," she tells him mockingly.
He throws his forcefield in front of himself before the dark blast can hit him, certain he does not want to be hit by it. The projectile sizzles in an implosion of darkness on the surface of his forcefield, tugging smally at the light and power of the green shield. He stares wonderingly at the spot they two forces had met, wondering if she'd really fired what it seemed like she'd fired. "What the…?" he questions, dropping the forcefield.
"You really are a fool," she says. "You need another sampling to get it?" Again, she fires her black gun at him.
He catches it on his forcefield again. "You copied his powers into your gun?" he asks.
"Same as I mimicked all of yours'," she says.
"You copied all our powers?" Brainstorm asks.
"That is what all the guns of hers do. We've seen them. She even matched the colors," Lil' Dynomite says. "The yellow one teleports her, the red one shoots electricity…"
"And the black one shoots out shadow powers," Shoutout says. "How did you do that? His shadows are undefinable by any known physics; how could you have recreated them?"
Nurse Cohort rolls her eyes, "You closed minded imbeciles. There's far more to this world than physics can explain. You've spent all this time chasing him and haven't even figured out his sorceries yet? I replicated it after seeing up close only once." She scorns them, a bitter edge to her voice so sharp it could cut through stone.
"Sorceries?" AWOL asks dubiously.
"We are not imbeciles," Volt contends angrily.
"When did you see him up close before today?" Danger asks.
"I met him when he took my Goomy from me. Because you are a failure. You claim to be a hero, but if you'd done your job and caught this vile killer by now, Goomer wouldn't have died." She spits furiously, gun still fixed on Danger.
"He killed Goomer?" Danger asks, feeling sadly surprised and surprisingly sad.
"Because you're too stupid to look to the obvious solution," she proclaims hatefully. "If you'd spent less time searching for a physical, scientific explanation and had actually paid attention to what was happening, you could've ended Shadow Man ages ago. Instead, my love is now dead and it's as much your fault as Shadow Man's."
Danger breathes heavily, stung by her accusations and even more so that they seem to be right, if her recreation of the shadow power is anything to go by. "What exactly did I miss? What obvious solution is it that you've found? I have searched every lead, called in favors and asked for help from everyone I know trying to stop him. What do you think I could've done that I haven't?" he asks, stepping closer to her.
"You've been to Dystopia. During your year spent 'dead' and travelling the world. You can't have been to that godforsaken place and not seen irrefutable proof of the heinous magics that exist in this world," She derides him. "That place seeps with them."
He blinks, terrible memories of some of the most insane and horrible things he experienced in his year away in Dystopia coming to mind. "Magic?" he questions.
Nurse Cohort steps closer to him, grieving fury lighting her eyes even as she lowers the shadow gun from his face. "Yes," she says tersely, "magic," and she shoots him in the abdomen with the shadow gun.
He collapses backward with a cry. His team, the trapped couple and the employees still within the jewelry shop scream with fright. Nurse Cohort takes a last look around at all of them, glare dissipating somewhat as she eyes the couple, and uses her yellow gun to teleport herself away. Danger doesn't see much of it while suffering from the burning pain of being shot by the shadow magic.
"Are you okay, sir?" Lil' Dynomite asks, dropping to his knees. Danger Force are quick to follow.
"Oh god, that hurts," Danger mutters.
"If it's the exact same as Shadow Man's, then yeah, it really hurts," Brainstorm says.
"Are you going to be okay?" Lil' Dynomite asks. "It's not going to kill you, is it?"
Danger groans and sits up, with a little help from Lil' Dynomite and Shoutout. "I'll be fine," he says, breathing unsteadily in a way that is not at all convincing.
"We should get you back to the Man's Nest to be sure," Shoutout says.
"So long as no more villains show up here in the next few minutes," AWOL says, reeling a bit from what had just gone down. "We just had three villains in one store in five minutes!"
"Yeah, we noticed. We were all here," Volt says.
"Two of which we didn't even fight, because Nurse Cohort blasted Shadow Man!" AWOL marvels.
"We all saw it!" Volt replies with equal amazement.
"She hurt him. What… what does that mean? How…?" Brainstorm wonders. He looks over to Danger, who is lost deep in thought on the subject as well. "What do we do now?"
Danger looks around, wide eyed and clearly concerned. Slowly, he says, "It means we've got a new lead to follow."
"Magic?" Lil' Dynomite asks. "She called it magic."
"Yeah," Danger says. "Magic."
With help, he gets to his feet and they all depart the jewelers. Officer Kogen is still outside with Dr. Minyak, both looking curiously towards the heroes.
"What…?" Officer Kogen doesn't get to fully ask.
"It was Shadow Man," Shoutout confirms.
"Then Nurse Cohort showed up and hurt him," Brainstorm says. "And hurt Danger."
"What?" Minyak asks, his expression is utterly gob smacked.
"You still think you can hold a candle to her?" Volt asks him.
(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...)
"How exactly do we respond to Nurse Cohort's supposition of magic?" Mika asks incredulously, her hands on her hips. They've gathered in the Man's Nest and explained everything to Schwoz.
"You don't think it's really magic?" Bose asks.
"Of course not," she replies.
"It makes sense though," he argues. "It fits with everything else we've learned about Shadow Man, right?"
"Sweetie, magic isn't real," Mika explains.
"Yes, it is," Henry counters. He alone has taken a seat, having moved away from the others. He sits in deep contemplation, cradling his shadow-gun wound.
"What?" Mika, Miles and Schwoz ask him surprised.
"No, it's not," she argues.
"Magic is just what people call something that hasn't been explained by science," Schwoz too argues.
"Yes and no," Henry says. "People do call anything unknown or mysterious 'magic', but there is also real magic. Real powers that go beyond and without the laws of science."
"I doubt it," Schwoz scoffs. "It's just something extradimensional or extraterrestrial. It's not magic, Nurse Cohort was wrong."
"Schwoz, I've seen real magic, I have experience with it. It's not something science can explain," Henry insists.
"What do you mean you've seen real magic?" Schwoz asks.
"You've seen magic? And you never told us?" Bose asks.
"I have never told you anything about Dystopia," Henry counters.
"So, you did deal with magic in Dystopia?" Mika asks. "Like Nurse Cohort said?"
"Yes," Henry answers with reluctance.
"You told us about Blackout," Chapa says.
Henry gives her a look worthy of Charlotte and says, "I never intended to."
"He didn't tell us about Blackout until after he came to Swellview and we'd defeated him," Miles reminds.
"Blackout?" Dawson asks.
"A bounty hunter from Dystopia who was hunting me to eat my soul," Henry says, standing up and pacing around. "I accidentally led him back here, where Danger Force helped me beat him."
"He wanted to eat your soul?" Dawson asks alarmed.
"Yeah. He thought I would taste good, and that by eating my soul he would get a serious power boost." Henry says it with clear discomfort of the topic. "That's when I learned to stay as far away from magic as I can."
"That's really creepy," Dawson says.
"Yep," Miles answers with swagger, "but we kicked his butt with ease. Don't know why Henry was so sca…"
"Blackout was magic!?" Mika asks shocked, cutting off her brother.
"Yes," Henry answers.
"How else could he have stolen people's souls and eaten them?" Bose asks rhetorically.
"Seriously, explain that one with science," Chapa challenges.
"I will find a way!" Schwoz swears dramatically.
"Okay, guys, magic," Mika reminds. "Magic is real. Blackout was Magic. And now Shadow Man is magic too? Can we please focus on that?"
"Yes, good," Henry supports her.
"Okay fine, tell us about 'magic'," Schwoz says, not bothering to hide his skepticism as he mocks the word 'magic'.
Henry good naturedly smiles even as he sighs. "Magic is a force that opposes all natural forces. It is the invar-invet… the opposite of reality, everything that can be studied and explained by science. Sorry, I'm trying to remember how Charlotte explained it all. We should probably just call her and have her explain it to you. She understands it all so much better than I do."
"Charlotte believes in magic?" Schwoz asks, almost disappointed and suddenly less sure of his conviction against magic.
"Yes," Henry says. "Charlotte learned about it with me while we were in Dystopia. Ask her yourself," Henry says, dialing her number. It rings through to voicemail.
"She's probably in class," Schwoz sasses Henry. "Because she's going to college, which is a very busy time, so she can't pick up a call whenever you need her too."
"Yeah," Henry says.
"But, you of course, don't know anything about that because you've never been to college," Schwoz continues harassing.
"Yeah, Schwoz," Henry says more moodily.
"Maybe you should though because college would teach you that magic isn't real," Schwoz finishes.
"Schwoz," Henry says impatiently. "Thank you for that, but magic is real and as soon as Charlotte calls me back, we'll explain it to you."
"Oh yeah, sure," Schwoz nods along sarcastically.
"Great, tell us when that happens," Mika says. "For now, we're going back down to school."
The emergency alert goes off. Miles smiles wryly and says, "No we're not."
Mika grumbles. Dawson picks up the phone, "Hello, Man's Nest hotline, how may we help you?"
"I'm going to assume none of you up there are currently watching the news," Chief Stalwarts says from the other side of the line.
"Uh, no," Dawson answers. "Should we be?"
"We should be what?" Henry asks.
"I'd suggest you turn it on," Chief Stalwart replies.
"Turn on the news," Dawson relays.
Schwoz tunes the computer into the KLVY broadcast and they quickly see the problem. The dark figure of Shadow Man stands over the desk, Trent and Mary staring up at him in horror. At least Trent is staring in horror, Mary is indeed facing him wide eyed and with a terrified expression, but she is also entirely motionless and bears a burn on her throat. The camera pans, following Shadow Man as he flees into the audience in the studio.
"We'll be right there!" Henry shouts loud enough to be heard over the phone. "AWOL," he prompts.
"Good thing we're all still in uniform." Bose says. They all gather, and Miles throws his fist in the air ferociously.
They arrive at KLVY moments later, starling all the cameramen around them. Danger doesn't waste a second in going after Shadow Man who's attacking the audience, he is upon one woman, gripping her tightly. His black tendrils of magic swirling as he takes her life. Danger rips him off her in a desperate attempt to save her, but it is too late. She lies limp in her seat, eyes void of that light of life.
Shadow Man stumbles down the stairs of the audience seats. Danger turns to him, stare burning with hatred. Shadow Man faces him weakly, but with an equal animosity in his stance. The two focused on only each other leaves Shadow Man open to attack from behind.
Volt and AWOL jump him from behind; him taking the villain's feet from under him and her lighting him up from on his back. The dark cloak of Shadow Man begins to smolder and smoke under her hands and Shadow Man curses at her in a pained exclamation. He lashes out with one hand, sending a slice of dark magic behind him. Volt ducks and AWOL teleports away swiftly to avoid it. Shadow Man rolls Volt off him and away from her. She grumbles in complaint and gets back to her feet.
Shoutout sends a sonic scream to knock Shadow Man down just as he's getting up. Lil' Dynomite hovers, tossing small blasts of plasma to cut off Shadow Man when he tries to dart one way or another to get away from them. AWOL reappears beside his sister, ready to fight again. "Keep him from shadows!" Brainstorm shouts.
Milliseconds later Shadow Man makes for the shadows under the seats. The audience reacts by running and jumping over each other trying to get away. Danger pushes through them to grab hold of Shadow Man before he escapes.
For a long, unmeasurable amount of time, all Henry can sense is whirling darkness and burning pain all over and many voices crying out for help. Some of them almost sound familiar but he can't focus on any for the burning of his skin and the nausea induced by the spinning sensation of the blackness.
Then comes the far more physically real sensations of someone pulling and kicking at him. Shadow Man is trying to escape Danger's hold. Henry holds on tighter, not wanting to lose him, both for the sake of stopping the killer and to not be trapped in the black wherever they are without a way out. A forceful blow to the head precludes him loosing his grip on Shadow Man and coincides with the two of them tumbling out of the dark swirly abyss.
They both land hard on the floor of KLVY's studio with matching complaints. A shriek of surprise follows and a cry of Danger's name. Multiple pairs of running feet on the floor sound from across the room. Danger rolls over to see his team and several of the task force cops coming towards them.
Shadow Man is on the floor beside Danger; his hood has slipped down exposing the solid black fiberglass of a motorcycle helmet. Neither of them are able to move; entirely disoriented, they lay on the floor trying to get the world to stop spinning around their heads.
Danger Force, Lil' Dynomite and the cops drop on top of the two. Danger's sidekicks jabbering concerned exclamations over him as they drag him up off the floor. "Where were you?" AWOL asks.
"What happened?" Shoutout shrieks fretfully.
"Are you okay, sir?" Lil' Dynomite asks gently.
Danger looks around, gathering himself as awareness returns to his limbs. Officers Walnut, Lacy and Ogden are forcing Shadow Man down and into cuffs. The villain protests ferociously as he too gathers himself from the trip on the darkness. "I- I think I'm okay," Danger says. "What just happened?"
"You interfered with my shadow-walking," Shadow Man growls, writhing in his cuffs.
"I don't know what that means," Danger says. "But I'm not going to apologize for it."
"I would be disappointed if you did," Officer Walnut says with a smile. "Whatever you did, we've got him in handcuffs now. So, no apologies necessary."
"You have not stopped me," Shadow Man threatens, letting the cops pull him to his feet. "I can turn this setback to my advantage."
"Ha!" Officer Lacy laughs, getting into his face. "Get over yourself, creeper. We got you and you ain't goin' anywhere."
"You're going to answer for what you've done," Officer Ogden says seriously.
He and Officer Walnut have hold of Shadow Man's cuffed arms and shoulders. Shadow Man tenses, resisting their grips. They shove at him. He stumbles a few steps forward and unleashes his retaliation. A sharp burst of shadow escapes from his hands, being directed behind him and down because of his cuffed wrists, hitting Officer Ogden's leg and sending the man sprawling with a scream.
Shadow Man then wrenches himself around, Office Walnut holding onto him fiercely, doing all she can to keep him from getting free. She grabs at his hands but that is exactly what he'd wanted and without preamble he latches his fingers around hers. She goes limp and drops lifelessly to the floor.
"NO!" AWOL and Shoutout shriek more aggrieved than anyone else in the alarmed and dismayed shouts at her death.
Whatever it is that Shadow Man takes from his victims fills him with a new wave of energy as she lays dead. It is enough that despite his injuries from Nurse Cohort this morning and the interfering trouble Danger had caused for him to free himself by dissolving the cuffs into his darkness. He stands far more confidently than before.
With enjoyment in his voice he taunts, "Did that one hurt?" while looking very decisively in the twins' direction. They glare miserably at him, looking ready to charge. He beats them to the punch, sending a wave of darkness their way.
Danger attempts to jump in front of them, very unsteady on his feet he instead stumbles but succeeding in deflecting the attack of his forcefield. Officer Lacy takes a shot at Shadow Man, which he dodges, the bullet also ricocheting off the green forcefield. Volt also sends an attack at him and chases the villain, even after his shadowy aura has stopped the lightning. She almost reaches him, but Brainstorm holds her back from colliding with his defensive power barrier.
Shadow Man moves towards the shadows once again and declares, "This isn't over. Don't think you'll stop me just because you're beginning to understand what should've been obvious from the beginning."
Danger scrunches his brow in confusion at the dark villain. His forcefield still up against the power of Shadow Man until he drops the halo and begins shadow-walking. Danger scrambles to catch him again but his hand passes through only burning shadow as Shadow Man disappears. "No!"
Danger shouts it but he is echoed by the voices of his friends with no delay. Volt curses and sparks furiously after Shadow Man's gone. AWOL kneels grief-laden beside his aunt's body with Officer Lacy. Shoutout screams powerfully and painfully, breaking several pieces of the news studio's filming equipment until Brainstorm pulls her into a hug. Lil' Dynomite is tending to Officer Ogden. Danger rubs his head and sighs entirely frustrated.
"Are you okay?" Volt asks him, genuinely concerned. She stands over him, still sparking and with little bits of metal sticking to her.
He huffs humorlessly. "Yeah. Sure. It's just been a trash day," he says. Looking around and taking in the studio once again. "You guys got everyone out of here fast. And when did the cops show up?"
"Uh… about an hour ago," she answers.
"What?!' he asks surprised, rapidly turning back to her.
"Yeah," she says, "It wasn't all that fast actually. There was a lot of panic after you and Shadow Man vanished. It took a lot of effort to get everyone evacuated, even after the cops got here; and the news crew really didn't want to leave."
"We were only shadow-walking for a little while. I don't think it was more than a minute," Danger says.
"You guys vanished over an hour ago," She contradicts.
"I… what? There's no way… I couldn't have been gone for an hour," he splutters astonished.
She shrugs and shakes her head, refusing to change her story. With a dramatic sigh he drops back to laying on the hard ground, cursing, "Freaking magic!"
"Did yous just say 'magic'?" Officer Lacy asks with a raised eyebrow at him.
(Commercial Break)
February 23, 2022
"You want us to buy that magic is the explanation for all of his murders?" Dr. Shal asks with a grumpy frown. The few remaining dedicated officers of the task force: Chief Stalwart, Detective Hawkshaw, and officer Lacy; as well as Mayor Blithe and Dr. Shal, have joined Danger, Volt, Brainstorm and Lil' Dynomite to hear about the new news.
"I know how it sounds," Danger answers tiredly, slumped in a chair. "Schw-echno hates that explanation too."
"Magic isn't real!" Dr. Shal declares fervently.
"But it totally is," Volt argues.
"After everything I've seen in the last day, I can't argue that magic isn't real," Lil' Dynomite agrees.
"After everything for the last few months," Brainstorm expounds.
"I have some experience with magic," Danger says, "and I now one hundred percent believe that that is what's behind Shadow Man's powers."
"If magic is real, and you know about it, and he is magic, then why did you never bring it up?" Detective Hawkshaw asks.
"Because I didn't ever think about it. Which I feel like a total idiot for," Danger answers. "Magic is not something I ever thought I'd run across in Swellview. It seemed so far from possible that I never made the association."
"Please elaborate," Mayor Blithe requests. "Why wouldn't you expect magic in Swellview? I'd think magic sounds exactly like something that would be rampant in this city, with every other weird thing we have here."
"No, it's not like that," Danger sighs, rubbing his hair. "Okay, I'll do my best to explain since Haywire isn't answering my calls. Magic isn't what you think; it's not sparkles and wands and leprechauns. It's an unnatural, incredibly evil practice that breaks every law of nature, physics, and society imaginable. It's really rare, very few people in the world that know it exists let alone try to use it. I don't know where Shadow Man learned it but it makes sense for how he's managed to kill and escape so constantly without detection."
"So, now that we know that, what do we do about it? How do we use this information to find Shadow Man?" Chief Stalwart asks.
"That's the hardest thing about magic, it's impossible to track," Danger grumbles, walking a few paces away, thinking. "It can't be predicted the same way as natural, scientific things, and it doesn't leave any trace afterward, which we all have seen."
"It leaves a trace," Brainstorm cuts in. "It gave us burns."
Danger nods and amends, "Yes, it leaves a mark, it is a real force with real effect. It kills, it destroys, it hurts. But even within our burns there is no evidence of the actual magic that burned us and keeps us from healing."
"So, what's the plan then? Shake down every magician in town to see if they've been killing people all around the city?" Detective Hawkshaw proposes sarcastically.
Danger answers, correcting him, "Magicians aren't really magic. They use tricks to pretend, but their tricks aren't the same as real magic."
"It was a joke," Detective Hawkshaw says.
"Was it though?" Dr. Shal asks. "If we're going to buy that magic is real, why couldn't some magic tricks be real magic?"
"Magic is for breaking down the rules of the natural world. It's used to hurt and kill and steal souls; it's the ultimate tool of evil." Danger refutes. "No one who uses real magic would use it to pull a rabbit out of a hat."
Dr. Shal hums, "that could make a place like the Magician's Lounge a perfect dissuasion. What better place for real magic to hide than among fake magic? Or at least someone there might know something. They of all people would be interested in real magic if they learned it exists."
"Makes sense to me," Chief Stalwart says.
Danger breathes and shakes his head. "It doesn't need to hide. Unless he's actively using it, we won't be able to use the fact that he's using magic to find him."
"Then what can we do? How does knowing Shadow Man is magic help us?" Mayor Blithe asks.
"Uses magic," Danger corrects. "and it helps because it means we have ways to pursue to stop him. Magic is something we can fight… somehow."
"Great! Finally!" Officer Lacy cheers bitterly. "How?"
"I'm going to have to contact people who know more about it than me," Danger says.
"Okay, that's good," Chief Stalwart says genuinely. "But what can we do from here?"
"Not much," Danger says, "at least for now. Until Shadow Man makes another appearance, there's nothing we can do to find him."
February 26, 2022
"… oh my god. Sometimes you make me really glad I came to Harvard where all I have to deal with is massive tests and not being in the thick of all the dark crap you get yourself into," Charlotte tells Henry over the phone. She having finally called him back in response to his 87 messages from the last several days.
"Yeah, ha ha. But I am in the thick of it and I could really use some help," He whines back at her.
"What do you want from me?" she asks and he can feel the impertinent expression she's making. "I listened to the advice we were given and stayed away from magic. You're the one who kept messing with it. You should know more than me."
"But I don't," he grumbles. "You're the smart one and are so much better at remembering all the facts about everything."
"True," she hums pleased. "But I'm no expert."
"Well, I'm entirely lost. I know it's magic but that doesn't help me stop it," Henry laments. "I have no idea what to do. We've got an answer, or at least the start of it, but I don't know what to do with it. Most of my experience with magic is getting too close then running as far and fast as I can from it. How can I actually fight it? I can't run away this time or he'll destroy everyone in Swellview."
"Yeah, you can't run. You've got to stay and deal with this mess. But, Henry, I don't have any answers for you on this one. I genuinely do not know how to fight magic." She phrases it as an apology with real regret.
Henry slumps into the couch, miserably. "All the magic-meddling I did in Dystopia finally caught up to me. And it's going to get everyone I care about killed in the worst possible way. Isn't there anything I can do to stop it?" he begs.
She sighs morosely on the other end of the phone line and takes a long minute to respond. "I really don't know. You need to talk to someone who does. Ask the Dark Angels, take a trip to Dystopia and get their advice on the issue."
"I can't go back to Dystopia!" Henry shrills frightfully.
"Sure you can," she encourages, "and you may well need to. The Dark Angels know more about magic than just about anyone on the planet."
"I can't go see the Dark Angels!" he insists vehemently. "If Gemma gets her hands on me, I will never be seen by anyone else ever again!"
"You need their help. And Gemma would never hurt you, she's head over heels for you," Charlotte persuades with a note of teasing.
"And I don't want to end up locked in her basement for eternity because of that crush," Henry says.
"You used to like her attentions," Charlotte teases. More seriously she goes on, "If she knows you're under a very real and devastating threat of magic, she will do anything to help you. And right now, you need any help you can get, regardless of where the help comes from. Gemma would be a great ally against Shadow Man, even if you don't fully trust her."
Henry groans long and low, quite put out that she is, as always, making good points that he doesn't want to hear.
She goes on talking when that is all the response she gets from him. "You asked for my help. That's my advice. Take it or leave it, don't blame me for the consequences. Anything else I can help you with?" she finishes with a far sweeter tone in teasing.
"You need to stop being right about everything," he grumbles. With a quick after thought, adding, "And I need you to tell Schwoz about magic because he refuses to believe me that it even exists."
She laughs. "Alright, I suppose I can do that. You, go get ready for your trip."
He groans again. The conversation ends.
(Commercial Break)
March 1, 2022
The mess in Penury Square is a big one when the heroes arrive on scene. Buildings burned and covered with pockmarks. People flee down every street for their lives. Black magic flies in every direction as Shadow Man and Nurse Cohort send attacks at each other.
Lil' Dynomite dodges one narrowly and drops to the ground to find some cover. Danger deflects two more stray shots off his forcefield.
Shadow Man limps around, his left leg dragging across the street. "I left you alive, you weren't worth what your boyfriend was. But I'll take your menial flavor of righteous fury if it means getting you out of my way!" Shadow Man growls at her.
"Shut up" Nurse Cohort commands tersely.
She sends blast after blast at him, which he seems to struggle to dodge. She uses her yellow gun to change location every few seconds, making her attacks even more effective as he can't predict where she will be. This goes on for only a few moments that the heroes can see. Then Shadow Man takes a shot in the back and collapses to his hands and knees. Nurse Cohort hits him once more before ceasing her fire and watching for a moment, trying to decide the reality of the situation.
"Did she just take him down?" AWOL asks with wide eyes.
Shadow Man curls into himself on the concrete and doesn't move. "Um…" Danger utters entirely unsure. He cautiously creeps towards the villains, signaling for his sidekicks to stay back. Not paying him any mind, Nurse Cohort likewise approaches the downed Shadow Man.
He's not dead, they can clearly see his body heaving with breath and attempting to get back up. Only faint traces of darkness whisp off of his worn cloak.
Nurse Cohort keeps her orange gun raise and pulls out the blue one. Shooting him with the new weapon means Shadow Man suddenly finds himself floating several feet off the ground and squirming frustratedly about it. She snorts, not amused but with a kind of dark victorious humor at him. She hits him with the orange plasma blast.
Shadow Man is sent flying across the square and crashes bodily into the dry fountain in the center, tumbling to the ground. He writhes in the basin. Nurse Cohort approaches rapidly with the gun still pointed at him, ready to take every shot she needs to kill him. Danger speeds up to meet her there. Danger Force and Lil' Dynomite take it as the clear for them to get closer too.
Nurse Cohort and Danger reach the edge of the pool and stare down at Shadow Man's pitiful position. She takes aim at him.
"Don't," Shadow Man growls at her in warning.
"Wait!" Brainstorm calls, sounding unexpectedly alarmed.
She pulls the trigger and everything seems to happen in slow motion. Danger glances at Brainstorm, who has frozen in his place with a confused and scared look directed at Shadow Man. The moment the blast from Nurse Cohort's orange gun hits him, Shadow Man explodes. Solid darkness bursts in every direction, obliterating everything in it's path. Without enough time to react, Danger and Nurse Cohort take a serious hit. He dives toward her activating his forcefield even as his entire body burns. They hit the floor, safe under his power. The darkness continues to roll over them.
He painfully rolls to look towards where his team had been. None of them are in sight. He strains to crawl on his stomach to find them and bring them into his shield. He encourages Nurse Cohort to come with him. "We've got to get away from here."
"What is happening? I had him beat!" She screams furious and in serious pain.
"Come on," he repeats.
They worm slowly away from the center of the maelstrom until they find the small, horribly burned and shivering form of Lil' Dynomite laying on the road. "Lil' D!" Danger calls alarmed. He gets to his knees and rolls the kid over, trying to get a response. Lil' Dynomite just groans weakly.
Danger cradles him and looks around for any of the others. His vision limited entirely to the inside of the forcefield bubble and lit only by the green glow of it. With effort he forces it to expand against the roiling darkness. The two powers chafe violently against each other. He gets it wide enough to find AWOL and Volt prostrate on the ground in the same condition as Lil' Dynomite. "No, guys, come on…" he mutters, failing to rouse them too.
"They're going to die," Nurse Cohort says.
Danger rejects her immediately. "No!"
"We're all going to die," she expounds mercilessly. "This is the end of Swellview."
"We're not going to die," he argues with a glare.
Without warning the darkness breaks and the afternoon sunlight hits them with blinding intensity. Color and sound assault their senses as the darkness retracts back into the strained and screaming and shockingly not dead Shadow Man.
"You fool!" Shadow Man shouts at Nurse Cohort as he absorbs the magic back into himself with great difficulty. "You should have quit while you were ahead! You nearly wrecked everything. You will have that disservice returned tenfold upon your head."
She, never one to give up, rises to her knees with weapons raised to take a fresh try at killing him. "Don't!" Danger orders, wrenching her hands down.
She kicks at and fights him for them. "Get off!"
"Do you want to cause another blast like that?" he demands furiously. "You're going to get us all killed!"
"So long as I take him with us, I'm fine with that!" she shouts back.
They struggle to overcome one another. Shadow Man wrestles with the darkness, pulling at streaks that burst back out of the ball he is condensing them into. Danger Force rouse and gather quickly to Danger and Nurse Cohort. She looses any chance she had to shoot Shadow Man.
Danger looks over the kids, all ruffled and bearing burns. Lil' Dynomite, AWOL and Volt are awake and don't look nearly as bad as they had under the forcefield's dome. "You guys are okay?" he asks hopefully.
"Ow." Is all Volt says in response, very dryly as she checks her own burns.
"We're in a lot better condition than you," Lil' Dynomite says, seeing that the right half of Danger's entire body seems to have become one large burn.
Danger knows it must look bad; it feels terrible. He'd even say that he can feel the magic that did it still seeping through his skin, negating any chance of it ever getting better. Thinking about the pain gives it free reign to start aching an infinite amount more that previously. He slumps down, Nurse Cohort doing likewise beside him under the stress of her matching burns.
Back in the fountain, Shadow Man shouts in agonized effort as he takes all the darkness back into his control. A shockwave bursts from him as he does that splits the ground and sends all of them tumbling down into a huge crater.
At the bottom, they all lay dazed and hurt from their variety of injuries. Save Shadow Man, who is able to rise with a little effort. The heroes try to rise to meet him but in quick succession he walks around and knocks each of them out. Last of all, coming to Danger's side.
Danger lays limp, much to his own fury, unable to move or defend himself as Shadow Man lays hands on him. the hands in his burn become points of a far more acute pain. Nonsensical complaints escape his lips as he feels Shadow Man's dark magic pulling through him into the villain's hands. "Shh," the villain hushes in a gentle way that is more disturbing than if he'd been trying to sound evil. "It'll be over soon. But I must undo the damage that spiteful little nurse wrought upon you. You are to die at my hand, when the time is right, not by her foolish meddling."
"Ah…" Danger squeaks, unable to make more sound than this without air in his lungs. The feeling gets only worse, the magic now pulling at something within him. A pain beyond any other, coming from something beyond his physical body.
Shadow Man gasps in euphoric pleasure. Danger's vision swirls, rapidly fading. Shadow Man lets, go. "You are everything I'd hoped," he breathes. "But I must leave you now. When the time is right, very soon, I will have all of you."
Shadow Man moves away and disappears into darkness as Danger's vision collapses entirely around him. Sirens wail from the rim of the crater and people call out. But he cannot respond as all his awareness follows his vision into oblivion.
Oblivion must only last a few minutes. Henry becomes aware of hands on him, tugging at his clothes, holding his wrists, probing at his neck. The pain from before is gone. He snaps awake and away from the hands. The people who'd been on him startle and exclaim as he moves, while he groans and lays back down. Okay, maybe it's not entirely gone.
He opens his eyes, blinking in the light at the police and paramedics surrounding him and shouting, "He's alive!" with relief and delight to other's all around the crater that used to be Penury Square.
The officers' cars and several ambulances line the edge of the hole. They've set up a rig to lower themselves into the crater and lift everyone back out again. Nurse Cohort is riding up with an EMT right now and only Lil' Dynomite is left in the crater with Danger.
The young sidekick pushes through the paramedics to wrap Danger in a hug once he's seen his mentor awake and alive. "Danger!"
Danger hugs the kid back, checking over his injuries. "Are you okay? Is everyone else?" he asks.
Lil' Dynomite nods. "They're up top, getting taken care of. We're all okay, just some little burns. AWOL is mad about his hair getting even more messed up. …We thought you were dead," he says with tearful eyes.
"So did I," Danger admits, standing up. "But he wasn't trying to kill me. Not yet at least. I'm surprised he didn't go after any of you."
"We're all okay," Lil' D assures, getting up beside him, unnecessarily assisting him in standing. "He was gone before any of us were woken up."
"I watched him go," Danger says. "And I'm okay. Let's go check on the others."
"You're covered in burns still," Lil' Dynomite says. Indeed, the right side of his uniform is trashed, the skin of his hand and face are still red and marred but the pain isn't there. Not even in his fingers which have had a constant twinge since June when he touched the first magic shadow mark.
"I'm okay," he says, confused about it himself. "I can't feel any of it, right now."
"You can't feel it?" an EMT asks. "That's not good at all. That's worse than bad. You shouldn't be moving until we get those burns looked at."
Danger shakes his head and says, "Shadow Man did something to me. Said he was 'undoing the damage'. I'm okay. What I need to is figure out what he's up to. He's saved me twice now, and I don't know why. What does he want with me?"
"He saved you to be part of some evil plan or something?" Lil' Dynomite asks as they move onto the lift. Danger shrugs and nods. "That's really creepy."
"Yeah," Danger agrees. Danger Force meet them at the top and he's smothered by four more hugs and exclamations of concern and shock. He looks over each of them with equal worry. They all seem okay, not too affected by their burns; though AWOL is visibly upset that his hair has once again taken a severe hit.
Only Nurse Cohort is really injured, and is very angered by the result of the day. She protests against the paramedics helping her and grabs her black gun from it's holster beneath her lab coat. "Let me go!" she threatens.
"Woah! Stop!" Danger says, rushing over and putting himself in the line of fire. "Don't hurt them, they're trying to help you."
She glares at him more spitefully and says, "I wouldn't need help if you'd let me kill him! He got away because of you. I should kill you and be done with it."
"You want to shoot me again? How's that supposed to help anything?" Danger demands.
"I'd be rid of you and he couldn't fulfil the plans he has for you," she sneers. "I heard what he said too. He want's you alive. It would be better for everyone if I just killed you!"
He frowns, wondering if she's right. With a breath he says, "Do it then. You're not one to hesitate. If you really think killing me will stop him, then do it."
She glares, trigger finger twitching, but she hesitates to fire.
Danger nods at the understanding they have. "You can't face him alone and neither can we. We all want revenge here, and we might even be able to get it if we help each other out."
"You can't stop him, you've failed to for months. Why would I help you?" she spits.
"Because, now that I know it's magic, we have a real lead. A real chance." He persuades. "But not if you go getting the city blown up in failed attempts to stop him!"
She looks fiercely into his eyes to find his conviction. With a slow hand, she holsters the gun. "What's your brilliant plan then?"
Next Episode: S1E25: Dangers in Dystopia