The dream Adriana had before waking replayed in her mind as she walked down the street. The sweet little boy looking up and her and hugging her around the hips, before turning to accept a bowl of ice cream from her sister Harri. The dream was new, and made Adriana so happy. It felt like her life was calm and blissful, free of worry.. this was a vision of her future. She knew it.

Her gift was changing and visions of the child she would one day know brought her more joy than she could imagine.

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"A friend of mine told me about you," Adriana told the woman with long curly silver hair and blue eyes the same pale shade as her own.

She had gone to the woman Aymara had thought of to help her. Adriana knew she could be a better vigilante if there was a way she couldn't be surprised or attacked without warning. She knew it came with the territory of being a vigilante but her life of always knowing everything going on around her had not prepared her for this. She needed her gift to be just a bit stronger.

"Name?" the woman said. Her place of business was nothing like Sidi's. It was a shop with walls lined with various glass bottles. It appeared to be walls of potions, the bottles were all different shapes and sizes and contained liquids of various colors.

"Umm.. I can't remember," Adriana said. She wasn't sure if this woman knew Sidi and Aymara's names.

"Mhm.." the woman said. "You can call me Madame Twyla. What do you need?"

"Well," Adriana thought of how to word it before speaking. "Something to enhance help me...percieve more around me. Like...people's thoughts and-"

"I can't help you," Madame Twyla said coldly, looking Adriana up and down. "Nothing I can offer will give you psychic powers."

"It's not that," Adriana said. "I don't need to be given any powers. I have...abilities. I always have. I can hear people's thought and I can see their memories. I know it sounds crazy but it's true."

Madame Twyla looked her up and down.

"Then why do you need anything from me?" she asked.

The woman was cold and rather rude, Adriana thought.

"I went to someone else to help me my abilities because they have been pretty overbearing all of my life and she did help me," Adriana explained. "She gave me something that cut down on how much of other's thoughts I hear...but now it's a bit too muted..I just want to enhance it a bit more."

"Who?" Madame Twyla asked. "Cutting down on how much you hear?"

"Her name is Sidi-"

"Ahh," the woman laughed. "Even Sidi wouldn't do such a thing. Are you sure it was her?"

"I'm positive," Adriana said. "What do you mean she wouldn't do such a thing?"

"There is no such thing as reducing a gift. It is removed or it is left alone," she answered. "If it is altered and reduced it will backfire. You will suffer greatly."

"Yes," Adriana said. "She told me that."

"And?" Madame Twyla said. "Why would you let her do something to hurt you?"

"Well..I didn't follow her instructions when she was performing the procedure," Adriana explained. "So it wasn't her intention to just alter my gift. She wanted to remove it. Now she says she can't fully remove it because it's risky so we have to wait some time-"

"She doesn't want to poison you," Madame Twyla interrupted.

"Yeah," Adriana said.

"Have you had side effects?" she asked and tilted her head, silver curls falling over her shoulder.

"No..I mean my eyes were changing colors a lot in the beginning.." Adriana said. "And I have been having dreams that feel like visions of the future. But other than that everything is good. I just want to be able to hear and see more..reach further and not have people be able to surprise me."

"You don't seem worried," the woman said and squinted her icy eyes. "About...the eventual degradation of your gift. How it will hurt you."

"I feel great," Adriana said. "Better than ever-"

"Mhm," she said. "Well I could give you something. Very rare..and not exactly designed for this circumstance but it would help you with your gift. And it's not safe, but you sound desperate."

"Not safe?" Adriana said.

"I said what I said," the woman said and turned to leave the room. "Do you want it or not?"

"I um..." Adriana didn't know what to say. This woman was harsh and direct. "I guess so."

"I'll be back," Madame Twyla said.

When she returned she was holding a bottle that looked like along wide tube filled with deep blue liquid. Adriana could see something floating around inside..it almost looked like a cherry.

"Sign this," the woman said and pushed a sheet of paper to Adriana.

"What is it?" Adriana asked.

"If anything happens to you, I am not liable," Madame Twyla said. "Sign."

"Okay.." Adriana said and signed the paper quickly.

"Alright," Madame Twyla said and snatched the paper away quickly after Adriana had signed it. "This bottle is enough for twenty doses. You will be able to use it twenty times."

"Wait..I can't just take it once and be back to almost normal? I have to keep taking it?" Adriana asked.

"Take it or leave it," Madame Twyla said, her voice like ice. "It's all I have for you. Take it when you need."

"Okay," Adriana said apologetically. "Twenty doses. How much is it?"

"Hm..." Madame Twyla said, looking Adriana up and down again. "That is a nice watch."

"You want my watch?" Adriana said quickly and looked down at the watch Bruce had just given her. "I can pay cash or a check, however much you want."

"I want the watch," she said.

"But this was a gift..I just got it," Adriana said. "Seriously..I would be more that happy to write a check-"

"Watch," Madame Twyla said again. "Or no potion."

Adriana paused for a long moment before slowly removing the watch from her wrist. Desperation told her that she could just go online and find it again..order a new one. But this potion was not something she would be able to find again. If it actually worked.

"Here," Madame Twyla handed her the bottle.

"Okay...so are there any instructions?" Adriana asked.

"Take three tablespoons," she said. "It will work for two hours. I have never given this solution to anyone in your predicament. Only people with their natural born unaltered gift that they wanted temporarily enhanced. This substance is rare. Do not squander it. I do not know what will happen to you. Some experience black outs...acting out of character...doing things and forgetting...illness. But generally the solution works. Do not take more than three tablespoons in 48 hours. One dose every two days. Do not exceed."

"Okay," Adriana said and held on to the bottle.

Twyla looked at her new watch.

"Very nice," she said with a smile.

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Adriana stared at the bottle on her counter that evening at home. She was both excited and afraid to try the potion. It sat on her counter top the entire day. She didn't know what would happen once she took it.

She glanced back to her laptop screen. Thirty-four thousand dollars. That was how much the watch had cost. As she placed an order with express shipping from Switzerland. She would never let Bruce know she had given the watch away. She would just replace it.

She looked back at the bottle, unable to wait any longer. Adriana only wanted to test it out. Twenty doses didn't sound like it would go a long way, but thanks to her pay from Bruce when he initially hired her, she was a millionaire and could afford more.

Quickly, she grabbed a measuring spoon and measured out the first tablespoon and poured it into a glass. The color of the liquid was absolutely mesmerizing. It almost looked like blue dye...deep royal blue. The cherry, or whatever was floating in the bottle bobbed around as she poured the second tablespoon into the measuring spoon and into her glass.

After a deep breath she raised to glass to her lips. The liquid felt thick and soft...almost like jello, even though it poured like water. It was completely tasteless as she swallowed it. She shut her eyes and took a few more deep breaths, waiting for something to happen. Everything felt normal..the same...quiet. She waited a few more minutes. Nothing.

A bit of disappointment washed over her as she sat the glass down and looked at the confirmation number on her laptop screen for the new watch that she had just ordered. She shut the computer and walked over to her desk, almost wanting to cry from the let down. Her hopes had been high.

Her laptop made a loud sound as she dropped it down a bit angrily before she walked over to her couch. She flopped down and stared at the ceiling.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad..So far her gift hadn't let her down. She would still be able to be Shade. She would just have to learn to deal with her limitations. Adapt to them.

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"Bravo," the Batman said to Shade.

Shade looked around and felt the suit clinging to her skin. She was out in the city...as Shade. She didn't remember how she had gotten here.

"What?" Shade said disguising her voice.

"Good job," the Batman went on.

"Wha-" Shade couldn't remember anything. She didn't remember leaving the house. She didn't know what she was being congratulated for and then in an instant, without trying she could hear both his and the police officer's thoughts.

The thoughts of the four criminals who were now in handcuffs came in loud and clear. The thoughts of the bus driver and the eighteen passengers en route as the bus flew by. She had just stopped a robbery at the Museum. There was an attempt being made to steal the Pine Diamond, which was worth millions. She had stopped and subdued all four robbers on her own before the Batman had even arrive. Her own memories came in even clearer. She heard from her own home, miles away, the thoughts of the robbers and they began to execute their plan.

She and the Batman were on the roof of a building across the street.

"Thank you," Adriana said to the Batman.

"Impressive how quickly you made it to the scene," the Batman said somewhat suspiciously.

"I like to be quick," she said.

"It seems so," the Batman said in his husky growl, somewhat tentatively. "You are skilled."

"Oh," Shade smiled innocently. "What are you saying? You want to be my sidekick?"

"No," he said. "I just meant that I am not opposed to the thought of working together when needed."

"You think you'll need my help?" she smiled more.

"No," he said again. "But perhaps you'll need mine."

"Right," she rolled her eyes in a friendly way.

"We could meet here," he said strategically. "This alley. If we both happen to get the same information about an incident at the same time."

"That could really slow me down," she said politely. "Having to rendezvous with you."

"You're assuming I will be late," he said dryly.

"Welllll," she said trying to sound unassuming. "You kinda were tonight."

"No," he said. "You were early. They didn't even get to hack the security system to enter the building before you arrived based on the footage here. Which again makes me wonder how you knew-"

"What can I say?" she said and flipped the long black hair she was wearing. "I'm quick. You know.." she went on, trying to change the subject. "If you have a way for me to contact you..I could let you know when I get a lead. If you want to work together.."

"You assume you'll get the leads first," he said.

"Of course," she said sweetly. "But maybe you will too, sometimes. Anyways..the only way I can see to get in touch with you is the sky light. You know...the one the police use? The one that makes a bat in the sky?"

"Here," he said and pulled out what looked like a blank card. She couldn't even see where it had appeared from. He had no pockets. "Use a blue UV light."

"Thanks," she said. "Looking forward to working together."

"Likewise," he said and left quickly.

She look a long inhale after he was gone. Suddenly she felt overly confident..her gift had expanded beyond her wildest dreams. She had been able to focus in on exactly what she was looking for-crime. And all the way across the city!

The downside was that she could barely remember what happened. The police had pulled off with the criminals and she could still hear their thoughts even though they were getting further away. A woman in a building four blocks away was checking her phone...Adriana could see the time. It was about an hour and fifty one minutes after she had taken the potion that Madame Twyla had told her would last for two hours. The thoughts of the robber who was now over a mile away were still clear. It had taken her less than ten minutes to defeat all four men. She knew that it would not have taken her more than half an hour to arrive on the scene. Over an hour's worth of time was totally lost to her...

Then she saw a flash of it. She was on her living room floor, curled up in a ball, her eyes shut tightly. The sounds of thoughts from all directions..cries, screams, moans, laughter, arguments, singing, debating, lullabies, parents reprimanding children, seductive whispers, calm conversations, heated disagreements, people talking to their pets, thoughts and active voices. It was overbearing. Like her life before she went into psychiatric hospitals but a million times worse.

It only lasted a few minutes before she saw the thoughts of the robbers, miles way from her home. She focused in on them and the other thoughts seemed to quiet. Shade was needed and strength took over as she silenced the other intrusive thoughts and sounds.

She could barely remember dressing and making her way across the city to the museum. The details of what had happened were almost lost to her. She decided to try to search her own memories..something she had not had to do since college when she went through a period of drinking excessively. Her memories were choppy but she could remember enough to satisfy her curiosity. She felt in control, at last.

The Batman left quickly after giving her the card. She knew he wanted her to contact him because he wanted to track her down. He wanted to identify her. And giving her a phone number to call could help with that. There was no tracking device in the card itself, thankfully. Shade smiled at the card and tucked it away.