(January 6th, 2030)

  The Shining Darkness and Dannie Dynamite had arrived at Fate’s secret shop in a forgotten corner of Miracle City. However, with all the tourists looking to spot the Shining Darkness that the Masks had to avoid, how long this corner would stay hidden was up in the air. Not to mention all the small businesses opening to cater to the tourism influx, such as restaurants, street vendors, and construction projects.

  Despite all that, Shine’s speed and jump travel allowed them to reach Fate’s shop relatively fast. Unfortunately, having to carry Dannie slowed Shine enough that they were spotted five blocks away from the shop, forcing them to circle back.

  Once inside the alleyway door, the Masks had crossed the threshold of what looked like an abandoned crack den with a single flickering lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. While Dannie took off her helmet and looked at her reflection in a cracked mirror, Shine moved a sofa that was hiding a stairwell.

  When Shine told Dannie to follow him down the stairs, she practically had to pull herself away from the mirror. Admittedly, she was doing better than she had at the warehouse, where she couldn’t stop staring into every reflective surface in reach. Who could blame her, though? After years of being disfigured, only to be healed in an hour, it's expected that one would be obsessed with staring at themself.

  Indeed, Conner’s flames had done a better job than he’d expected, although there were still some faint scars around her right eye. However, she was still bald on her right half.

  Shine and his happy ally walked down the steps, with Shine hearing Fate and Lana discussing Lana getting to buy a body suit. Oddly, this information made him pick up his pace.

  Once Conner reached the bottom step, with Dannie a few paces behind him, he was glad he was wearing a mask. The sight of Lana bent over in a green bodysuit had him blushing even more fiercely than when he saw Dannie Dynamite’s face.

  Oh my God, I love you. Conner desperately wanted to blurt out, but managed to gather the willpower to keep them in his head.

  Clearing his throat as Lana picked her head up and stood up, Conner said, “Hey, Lana. Glad to see things are going well. I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

  Lana blushed a bit back at Conner before she focused on the woman behind him.

  “Whoa! Uh, um… Should I have had a mask on? Wait! Didn’t you tell me not to use real names?” Lana asked, a touch panicked as Fate fumbled with the materials in her hands.

  Gesturing at Dannie, Conner answered with a bit of defeat, “Eh, she already knows who you are. You remember that Dhampire and Bowstring duo I told you about?” Conner then caught Lana up on the reinforcements that had shown up that night. The whole time, Fate stayed quiet and jittered with her supplies while Dannie looked at her with concern.

  Her fear replaced with awe, Lana stared at Dannie and asked, “You’re really the Dannie Dynamite? You’re gonna teach me?”

  Winking with her restored eye, Dynamite replied eagerly, “That’s the plan for now, kiddo. I’m really excited to see this magic stuff.”

  “Uh… Do you have a plant on you? I left my magic staff at home,” Lana explained quickly.

  “Magic staff? This just keeps getting better!” Dannie remarked with an explosive smile. She then looked past Lana and said, “First things, though: You okay, Fate? You’ve been shaking since we got here.”

  Fumbling with her notepad, Fate flinched and struggled to speak. Even with her veil, it was obvious to Conner that Fate was hiding something.

  As he did his best to ignore Lana’s body, Conner thought back to when he dropped Lana off. Fate seemed shaken when they came inside, but he’d chalked it up to him bringing someone new to her doorstep unannounced.

  Most notably, Conner remembered that she’d asked more than once if he’d had any problems with his size-changing suit.

  “Ms. Fate? Are you okay?” Lana asked as Fate froze.

  As Lana tightened her fists anxiously and reached for the discarded jacket that Conner knew she kept her switchblade and mace in, the young man started moving erratically. He was almost as awkward as when he and Lana had danced at the New Year’s party.

  “You, uh, having a stroke, Shine?” Dynamite asked as she stepped away from him.

  Just then, Conner felt a faint itch on his back and said, “Hold on a sec. I think I just figured something out.”

  With his steel-trap mind, Conner looked over his memories of how his original Shining Darkness costume felt while wearing it. Now that he was focusing on it, he felt a slight prick on his left shoulder blade, similar to having dirt in one's shoe.

  After detaching his cape, Shine used flexibility that common sense said should be impossible for anyone as large as him. He reached across his back, pinched a piece of his costume, and tore the fabric off. Then, in his white glove, he looked deeply at the scrap of gray/black cloth until he noticed a slight discoloration. Peeling the rest of the fabric away as he heard Fate’s knees knocking, Shine found a small plastic device, smaller than the tip of his pinky finger.

  Looks a little similar to the trackers John made for me and Death Head.

  Once Shine realized what he was holding, he glared at Fate as Dannie and Lana looked confused, and demanded, “Why did you put this tracking device on me?”

  In that moment, Shine had expected Fate to yell, or perhaps even futilely pull out a gun. She had always been such a strong-willed person, after all. Instead, she dropped her pen and paper, fell to the floor, tore her veil from her wrinkled face, and sobbed.

  “Please! Puh- Please help me!” Fate wailed in despair.

  His empathy won out in that moment, as Shine asked, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  Scrunching her hands over her face, Fate let out a muffled scream, “They’ll kill me! They’re watching!”

  While Lana was still lost, Shine and Dannie both showed immediate understanding.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “The Ravagers! They’ve got this place wired!” Dannie called out.

  At once, the Shining Darkness ignited his flames.

  He couldn’t see anything, but he focused his intention regardless and hoped it would work. Wiretaps. Hidden cameras. Burn them all!

  As Shine roared internally, the first thing to go was the tracker in his palm. Next, a firecracker went off on Lana’s shoulder. Although she yellped, it was evident she was more startled than hurt.

  Then Shine and everyone else watched as dozens of small fireworks throughout the workshop went off. Small patches of white fire burned for a minute straight. Although Fate yelled about her workshop lighting up, nothing but the hidden spyware caught ablaze.

  Although elated by the application of his powers, Shine took a lap around the workshop and stayed focused on what he wanted destroyed. Fruitfully, this reduced another five pieces of spyware to ash.

  Once he was confident he’d gotten everything, Shine stopped in front of Fate, offered her a hand, and said, “They won’t be able to see or hear us now. And they'll have to go through me to hurt you again. Tell me what happened, Fate.”

  As the smoke from the burning equipment vanished, Fate took Shine's hand, entranced by his flames, and asked, “How… did you do that?”

  With the hint of a smile, Shine answered, “It’s a trick that would take a bit to explain. But you’re going to answer my questions first.” Dusting Fate off quickly, Shine said, “Now, I’ll ask again. Why did you put a tracker on me?”

  “Hey! Did you put a tracker in this suit, too?!” Lana yelled as she rubbed her shoulder. She quickly stopped, though, as Conner inferred his flames must have healed whatever bit of pain he’d caused.

  Before Fate could answer, Dynamite put a hand on Lana’s head and told her, “Yes, kiddo, she did. Now, please leave the interrogation to us. We might need to get out of here fast.”

  Despite Dannie’s tone, Lana seemed to take it in stride as she just frowned, grumbled, and glared at the floor.

  Fate shuttered briefly as she looked to contemplate her answer.

  Eventually, her expression resolved and explained, “When I was working on your new costume, I was kidnapped by some criminals. They brought me to Disaster Prison and had some t-terrible, bald a-albino waterb-board me.”

  Between her stutters, Shine contemplated what he was told. Benna didn’t mention anything about that. And a bald albino at Disaster? The only one there who fits that description could be Viper. But…

  Irritated, Shine scowled and asked, “He waterboarded you?”

  Shaken by Shine’s anger, Fate looked away as she answered, “Y-Yes… He made me tell him everything I know about you.”

  “If that’s the case, then they probably got to Gertrude, too,” Shine remarked as he rested his fists on his waist. “That’d explain why she acted so weird at the Jessie Gray show.”

  “For all we know, Miracle City’s whole Mask support system could be compromised,” Dannie interjected anxiously.

  Gritting his teeth, Shine replied, “Crap! That’s true.”

  “I…” Fate started, grabbing Shine’s attention back. “I’m sorry. I was weak and-.”

  Incensed, Shine snapped, “You’re sorry…?! What are you apologizing for?!”

  As the Shining Darkness yelled, Fate was clearly shocked when it became clear his anger wasn’t directed at her.

  “You got tortured. Anyone breaks when they get waterboarded. Nobody can tough out something like that.” Shine then offered Fate his hand once more. “Come with us. We’ll take you to our base for safety. Then I’ll dash back here to get your supplies for you. You can keep working in peace there.” When he noticed Fate hesitating, Shine smirked and sweetened the deal, “Of course, you’ll still get paid.”

  A glint came to Fate’s eyes at that offer, so she gently clasped her hands over Shine’s and said, “Oh. Going out of your way to take care of me. You really are such a sweetheart, aren’t you?”

  As Fate shook Shine’s hand like a loving granny, Lana annoyed her as she added sternly, “Just to be clear, I’m keeping this bodysuit and not paying.”

  |X|

  (January 7th, 2030)

  The black void that was the virtual realm the Shadow Council met in currently had three of them in it: Austin Majors, the head of global crime, a sharply handsome and well-dressed black man who was well-built and had claimed the position as the Shadow Council’s unofficial leader through his sharp mind. He also often went by the codename, ‘Mr. Ravage.’

  Sandra Cast, the head of media; a Caucasian woman who wore business professional suits at all times, alongside her angry and insecure expressions.

  Finally, Andrew Author, the head of global law enforcement; a white man with a cocky yet charming face, accentuated by his ever-adorned sunglasses and long coat.

  Austin sat in the air of the void and tapped his fingers together as he asked, “So, I’m glad Cast was able to get the video out fast enough to frame Shining Darkness, but what should we actually do about this Chaos boy’s escape? Do you two think we could still capture him and make him work for us?”

  Immediately, Author shook his head and answered, “No way. You haven’t seen the footage of his escape, but that’s no kid. He’s a monster, even by our standards. I’m going to send Bulwark out to track him down and make a plan based on his movements. I’m also pooling resources with Irons and Diego.”

  “Good initiative, Author,” Austin complimented. “Shame about losing his brilliant mind, but I suppose that’s life.”

  “Honestly, Irons is chomping at the bit to just nuke Chaos once we find him,” Author admitted derisively.

  “What?” Cast gulped.

  Rubbing his scalp, Austin stated, “Do not let him do that. I already had to stop him from blowing up Miracle City. I mean, for fuck’s sake, we may as well just admit to the whole world that Shine’s accusations of our existence are true.”

  “Uh, speaking of the Super Mask,” Cast started.

  “Right,” Austin replied firmly. “He discovered we’ve been tracking him and has destroyed all the equipment he had tailing him. As soon as Project Alpha Flight is ready, and the Master Magician returns with information, we need to make our move.”

  “Not to mention all the other Masks who’ve flocked to his banner. He practically has his own special forces squad now,” Author complained.

  Annoyed, Cast raised her hand and said, “Actually, we have another problem with him.” Once she was sure she had her partners’ attention, Cast went on, “Shine or one of his lackeys released footage of him at Disaster Prison at the exact same time we claimed he was at Gehenna. And to make my headache worse, they’ve apparently figured out how to detect the deep-fake software I’ve been using and released breakdowns of how my videos are fake.”

  Instantly, Austin marched over to Cast, grabbed her by her shirt collar, and lifted her one-handed. “How could you let this happen?!”

  Evidently a touch dead inside, and not too worried by the digital world’s lack of pain, Cast answered, “I don’t know. I didn’t think anyone could figure out my tech so quickly. I thought it would’ve taken years. And now the mob I was stirring up against him is barely a simmer.”

  Let down by Cast’s attitude, Austin dropped her, turned, rubbed his temples, and delegated, “Okay… Shine needs to be delayed. Run a counter-smear campaign to make the breakdown videos seem like baseless conspiracy theories while I organize things in the criminal world. Author, get your new mutant toy ready asap, and split Bulwark between hunting for Chaos and being ready to act against the Super Mask.”

  While Cast curled up into a still ball on the ground, Author gave a thumbs up and said, “You can count on me.”

  “Also, make sure Death Saw’s mission is going smoothly.”

  Author’s cool composure faltered at that, as he groaned, “I gotta talk with Neil...? Just great.”