Shade: Unbound

“I must admit, I was starting to worry,” said the captain of the Junior Aces. “I wasn’t sure whether another opportunity like this would present itself. You have this awful habit of causing trouble behind my back.”

Trooper, unsurprisingly, didn’t answer. Despite his silence, however, there was a shift in posture that Finn recognized even through his hazy vision.

Wariness.

Nar flicked a wrist, and the glowing barrier pushed forward, forcing Trooper to back away. Seemingly satisfied with the distance, the hero lowered his arm and turned to Finn.

“I heard you put on an admirable performance,” he remarked, tilting his head with a jingle. “Don’t worry, I will take it from here.” He gestured for another platform of energy to spawn beneath Finn and carry him away, gently so as not to jostle the injuries.

Wait… Finn recognized this power. The color might have been different, this one having a yellow-gold hue, but the structure of these panels was the same. Was that what Nar had up his sleeve this time? That made sense, he supposed. After all, this guy’s toolkit was nothing if not variable.

As he floated away, Finn watched the jester’s form shift into that of an oversized, golden pangolin, like a lustrous duplicate of Scalestrike.

Nar dove forward, curling into a ball midair and hitting the road rolling. He rapidly picked up speed as Trooper tried to snag him with a bunch of different tools.

Just when that giant net the villain had used on Finn was about to cut off Nar’s path, a panel materialized upwards from nothing, causing Nar to bounce into the sky. But it didn’t stop there. Another panel appeared in his trajectory, then another. Soon, he was ping-ponging himself through the air to the point where Finn’s tired eyes could barely follow him anymore.

He knew calling Nar’s power rare would be an understatement. Having the ability to copy other powers was one thing, but to be able to copy, store, and rotate between multiple different abilities? That was unprecedented.

Granted, while the limitations of Nar’s ability had never been made public, people often speculated about them. Such as a maximum threshold of how powerful an ability could be for him to copy it, issues with control, or the highest number of powers he could use at once.

And Finn knew that number was not two.

He was proven right a moment later. Nar ended his impromptu pinball game to bear down on Trooper like a golden comet. Trooper’s blade flashed, and it looked like he was about to cut Nar in half, but before they made contact, a pair of swirling distortions appeared in the air. One, in the space between them.

The other, right behind Trooper.

Nar maintained his momentum when he traveled through the portal and caught Trooper in the back, ramming into the road. A giant dust cloud erupted, obscuring Finn’s view.

Once the dust cleared, Trooper was standing and visibly regenerating his torso. His pulverized torso.

As if that wasn’t enough, seeing the massive crater Nar had made drove the point home. Finn really had a long way to go. He hated being so helpless.

The fight continued, but Finn didn’t see the rest of it, as he rounded the corner then. A pair of medics awaited him.

They checked his vitals and moved him onto a stretcher, wheeling him into the large container of an otherwise nondescript cargo truck. He lacked the energy to resist.

Inside, it was so well furnished that the only indication he was even in a container was the rectangular shape of the room.

Even more startling than that stark contrast were its occupants. Aside from Moonflower, whom he’d known would be here, there were two that he certainly hadn’t.

Walking up to him was a man in green spandex. He put a hand on Finn’s arm, and it felt like that touch injected lightning into his veins, dulling his pain. He abruptly sat up, feeling more energized than he had in his entire life.

“Whoa there,” said the stranger. “You’re not healed, so don’t move around too much. I only gave you a little bit of juice.”

As Finn thought of a response, the other occupant spoke up. “I hope you can excuse my crude methods, but I am afraid my hand has been forced in this matter. I assure you, I am not doing this because I don’t respect your health.”

His head swiveled to the person speaking to him, and though they had met before, it had not been on more than one occasion. Without ever exchanging words.

Even seated on a luxurious sofa, Finn recognized that sculpted physique. Together with the blonde beard that had hints of gray in it, and his green eyes crinkling with his photogenic smile, it wasn’t hard to remember Cyrus Wardell at all.

“Why?” was the first word that came to mind.

The owner of the Wardell estate nodded at the medics and the green-suited man, who promptly excused themselves and left the three of them alone. The truck began to move. Finn had been wondering if he needed medical attention, but apparently not.

“Why did I go out of my way to rescue you? That question, I can provide with a simple answer: I was merely repaying a debt.”

“A debt? To me?”

Cyrus chuckled, his deep voice sounding smooth and relaxed. “You and your team managed to uncover a primebeast trafficking ring in one of my affiliate companies,” he explained. “So yes, I am grateful that you were able to bring that powder keg of an operation to my attention.”

No way. “...You weren’t aware of that?”

“I resent what you are implying,” said the billionaire. “Ah, or were you perhaps investigating me? If so, I am curious as to where you acquired your leads.”

Finn wasn’t going to grace that with a straight answer. If he told the truth that he’d found out by planting bugs at his daughter’s birthday party, his cover would be blown. And Finn suspected this person wouldn’t be happy to hear that either way.

“Calliope’s power is useful,” was what came out of Finn’s mouth. It was the most noncommittal thing he could think of.

At that, Cyrus gave an understanding nod. “The young Ms. Chen. Helping her out was a gamble, but I can’t say I am displeased with her results. But it did stand out to me that you two seem awfully cautious in how you associate with her outside of your Aegis work.”

Finn’s mind went blank. He knew Lyra’s real identity? But he didn’t know who Finn was. Wait, you two? People knew about Jack?

On second thought, he had known about Jack’s drones being discovered by Mistral, so there would have been some recorded intel about an additional member of their team. But for said intel to have reached the Wardell family head...

A second later, he connected the dots.

“You gave me that first assessment.” It was a statement. There was no question now, it had to be him. This man’s connections ran even deeper than Finn had originally thought, reaching well into the DHD. He must have been the one helping Lyra from the shadows too.

“That’s right,” Cyrus confirmed. “Initially, I was hesitant to commit any resources to that girl, but when you saved her life, the thought of leaving her to her fate left a bad taste in my mouth. I even considered taking her under my wing.” He exhaled. “But of course, I wanted to see what would become of you, as well. That was the entire point of those small, inconsequential tasks I distributed across the district. To scout for new talent like yourself.”

“What about the other missions after that, from anonymous clients?”

“Most of those came from me, yes,” Cyrus said. “You struck me as the independent type, so I deemed observation and patience to be the best course of action.”

Course of action for what? Was that the real reason Cyrus had gone to such lengths for him? To recruit him? That meant his entire career up until this point had been one big audition.

A small, petulant part of him wanted to lash out at the idea. The whole time, he had just been aiding the agenda of some powerful, hidden faction. Running around on the palm of someone else’s hand. It was just like he’d feared. Except Cyrus didn’t seem evil to him so far. Assuming he was telling the truth.

A big assumption, if he was being honest. He wasn’t quick to trust anyone, much less the leader of a… whatever this was.

“You want me to join you?” Finn wasn’t sure why that sounded so unbelievable right now.

“It’ll be fun! I can’t wait to work with you again,” Moonflower chimed in, reminding Finn that she was still in here with them.

Cyrus held up a hand. “Before I extend the offer, I would like to give you some context about what it is you are getting yourself into.”

Finn just listened.

“Ostensibly, Aegis as an organization is completely decentralized; it has no de facto leadership. This is true. Technically.” Finn’s mysterious benefactor put his elbows on his knees. “But as with every other route to power, there will always be people coveting it.”

Impulsively, Finn wanted to accuse the person in front of him of doing exactly that, but he remained silent.

“At this point in time, it may be accurate to say there exists a tenuous balance, of sorts, among these forces. My own organization is similar in how it extracts, synthesizes, and redistributes resources across the reaches of the network that Aegis truly is. But we differ in both our ends and our methods.

“Now, that is not to say there aren’t dominant factions controlling vast portions of the superhuman population. What I’m conveying to you is that this divide of power allows the possibility of outsiders coming out ahead.”

Finn thought he knew where this was going. “And you want to break the balance by becoming the most powerful.”

“That would be convenient, wouldn’t it? But no, that is not what I seek to accomplish,” Cyrus said, shaking his head. “Tell me, Shade, what do you know of the war against humanity?”

The war against humanity? “Are you talking about primebeasts at the border?” Wasn’t Moonflower using a primebeast now?

“In part, yes. It’s often misrepresented to the general populace, but we do face an existential threat as an expansionist civilization. In that respect, Homeland’s doctrine isn’t entirely without merit. From my perspective, it’s their code of conduct that’s flawed, despite the appeal it holds to the disadvantaged.”

“Homeland is one of the groups trying to take over Aegis?” That made sense to Finn. They were active beyond A23G. Bodkin was just their district leader, he wasn’t the boss of the entire movement.

“It is. As is the very government that’s been feeding you propaganda your whole life. You can group in the latter with the Apexian military. I consider them, if not the same, then at least closely related.”

“And that’s bad because Apexia isn't united,” Finn concluded.

Cyrus gave a slow nod. “Essentially. But not all the major influences on Aegis operate on this continent. Nor do they all solely focus on combating the primebeast threat. Take North America, for instance.”

North America had been at war with South America for decades now, ever since Seraphim, the strongest villain in the world, had decimated that place and built her army there.

“Then what are you going to do for humanity?” Finn asked plainly.

“Well, the aim is to help the human race survive the coming years. The threats that could spell our end are the perpetual intraspecies conflicts around the globe, and the war with primebeasts. I believe that we could save ourselves if either threat were eliminated, or if both were alleviated sufficiently. The issue is that both of these threats are escalating, while we are not necessarily growing stronger to compensate.”

“So you want to make humans stronger?” The only way Finn knew to make that happen for superhumans like himself was to unbind one’s power. And there was no recorded way to do that reliably.

“I’m moving the pieces into the correct positions, though promoting them certainly wouldn’t hurt,” the businessman smiled. “What I want you to know is that positioning is key to my worldview.”

It sounded ambitious, but Finn figured there had to be a trick to the magic. “How would you know where to place people? Is one of your employees all-knowing?”

“As of right now, I don’t employ any such people, but who knows what the future holds?”

“You do, presumably.”

“How astute of you,” Cyrus laughed again, louder and less controlled this time. “I do have my means. None that I’m willing to disclose, currently, but also nothing like what you are imagining.”

Moonflower held Finn’s gaze, but remained silent. How much did she know? Clearly a lot, seeing as she was allowed to sit in on this conversation.

“I have one more minor question before I do my pitch,” Cyrus picked the conversation back up. “Why Homeland? You were perfectly fine letting the government handle that alone, Shade. Did you perhaps have a personal stake in that assault?”

Finn said nothing.

“I will not press you for it. But I thought it would be prudent to ask since it leads into my reason for wanting to recruit you. Or rather, my reason for having waited until now before making an attempt.” He paused. “What I mean is, you have effectively cornered yourself.”

He couldn’t even deny it. Going in to save his mother had put him in the cross hairs of Homeland, while he had already stolen some item of untold value from the Venin for… He looked back and forth from Moonflower to Cyrus. Had they put him up to this, had this whole thing been their plan? Moonflower had forwarded the mission to him, he hadn’t forgotten that.

Regardless, they couldn’t have planned the Homeland thing, given they didn’t know his identity. And none of that changed the reality of the situation. He was, in fact, cornered. If he went out there with Lyra again, they’d more than likely be caught and killed. With everything he knew about the hidden workings of Aegis now, he had no doubt there was some kind of bounty on his head.

“What are you offering?” he replied, his tone even.

Cyrus sat up straight. “Many of my resources. Mentorship, missions, training facilities, medical care, et cetera. In exchange, I want you to lend me your capabilities in the pursuit of my goals. In time, I will elaborate in more detail on what it is that I plan to do in the long term. And, of course, you would be free to pursue your own agenda as well.”

“My agenda?”

“Did you think I had not deduced that? It is apparent that you have some reason not to join the Junior Ace program, and your methodology differs greatly from Ms. Chen’s. It has a clear direction, which she follows.”

It was true. He did indeed have a goal of his own, but he had never looked at it that way. Was his determination to succeed the real reason Lyra had been so inclined to follow him?

Beyond the effects his death would have on the people closest to him, he had hardly considered the implications of what it would mean for the people around Shade to have someone so motivated to get stronger in their midst. It wasn’t as if he made a deliberate effort to become the leader of his team. That sort of thing just happened naturally.

Was that because of his personality, or his power? He had become quite aware of his own general resistance to being controlled by others. But that could just be a contributing factor. As his control improved, he was coming to find out just how excellent of a tool for communication and direction his ability was. It was very well suited for ordering people around, which required working in a team setting.

Cyrus here seemed to be offering to expand his network, and give him more ways to nurture the power he held within himself.

Nevertheless, he realized that he couldn’t rely on anyone else to achieve his ultimate goal. This was all just part of his climb, not something he would use forever.

When it came down to it, he would be alone.

“And what if I say no?” he challenged.

“Then I would have your wounds treated and urge you to reconsider before you get killed.” Cyrus held up a finger. “I should remind you that there is no rush. You do not have your team members with you, so gather them at your convenience and talk over the terms with them.”

Was this what he needed? An actual support system away from the DHD that would let him do what he wanted? It sounded too good to be true, which meant he was going to have to do even more digging with Lyra and Jack to get to the bottom of this.

If they could verify these people, though, then the offer was seriously tempting. More than tempting. He would argue it was a necessary step.

“How long until we have to make a decision?” he asked.

“While there is no time limit, do consider that I am a busy man, so if you could give your answer by the end of the week, that would be fantastic.” Cyrus looked at his watch and stood. “Hm, we have arrived. It seems this is where we part ways, for now.”

The two medics held open the door for Casey’s father as he exited the container, followed by Moonflower. After they were gone, the medics walked in and started carrying Finn into a medical facility to begin his treatment.

Just like that, he was at a crossroads.

He had a decision to make.

[VOLUME 1: END]