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The Shadow Knows! (Final Update 6/3/04)
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<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 1375369" data-attributes="member: 16760"><p>As long as he was in Juan's room, the Shadow decided he might as well go through the lad's effects. There wasn't much - clothing in gang colors (though no distinctive hat or bandannas) and a wallet with 50 or so dollars in cash, an expired credit card, and a driver's license. He passed the number on to Carlos before leaving.</p><p></p><p>"Carlos, in the morning I want you to... Sorry. I know I've been loading you down lately." "It's OK, sir," Carlos responded with cheery sarcasm, "What do you want me to do in my copious spare time?" "Get in touch with Lance and have him arrange to have the Penumbra Foundation pick up Juan's medical bills." "Will do." "Tell him to use a dummy name - 'Uninsured Accident Victims' Fund' or something." "Gotcha. Anything else?"</p><p></p><p>The Shadow pondered. "Have flowers sent. Perhaps with the Foundation motto - 'Out of the shadows, into the light.' He's a smart kid, he'll figure it out." Carlos predicted, "He'll panic, throw the flowers away, and try to escape." "You really think so?" "<em>You</em> would."</p><p></p><p>That was so true that the cloaked crusader let out an honest laugh for the first time in weeks. When he was able to breathe again, he said, "You know me too well, Carlos!" "Well, you would! You'd figure they were poisoned or bugged or something." "All right, all right. Send a plain card with the flowers, then. We don't want to give him a heart attack." "Check. What now, sir?"</p><p></p><p>The Shadow considered. "Has the crackhouse on 18th cooled down yet?" "I don't know, but it should have." "Then I think we will have to pay a visit there together. I am very interested in what you might pick up, given the bodies I saw... Dead ones, I mean." Carlos said, "Good idea, sir," but his voice betrayed a slight edge of nervousness. [Carlos is uncomfortable with his visions of death and murder, and who can blame him?]</p><p></p><p>Speeding back to the base, the Shadow picked up Carlos, cloaking him in invisibility as he jogged below the cycle. (They'd set the comm panel at the base to patch through their commlinks to each other, so they could still communicate.) The crackhouse turned out to be half-burned, and surrounded with police tape - evidently the corpses had set off an official investigation.</p><p></p><p>Together they entered the building, the Shadow pointing out the room where he'd seen the bodies. Carlos paced around it several times, apparently futilely... then he abruptly stood stock still as his face went white with shock. As the Shadow waited patiently for the vision to play itself out, the young man's head suddenly jerked to the left. "We've got to get out of here, sir! It's HERE!" The dark avenger drew his gun. "It?" "Legion! It's gotta be! We've got to go!"</p><p></p><p>"Right." They moved for the exit, only to find a Legion-body awaiting them outside - a young man, formerly a Red Shiv. Putting Carlos behind him, the Shadow snapped off a shot, missing. Legion casually informed him, "You will die now," as it cut loose with a titanic blast of mental force, which the Shadow managed to adroitly "sidestep", preventing it from attuning to his mental signature. My word! he thought. I've never seen such strength, even in Grace!</p><p></p><p>He subvocalized into the commlink, "Carlos, run. Call the cycle and get out of here. NOW!" "Yessir," the boy replied, suiting actions to words but adding, "And watch out, there's more on the other side of the house!" The Shadow backpedaled from the house, buying Carlos time to get away, and also getting the Legion-body between him and the house to avoid a potential crossfire.</p><p></p><p>It made no move to follow, save with its eyes. The Shadow snapped off a couple more shots, missing but managing to evade its mental thunderbolts as well. Then one of them got past his guard, staggering him for a moment with the sheer ravening HATE it projected into his soul. Worse, he could tell it now had his number, as it were, and could continue to pummel him without any need for further targeting.</p><p></p><p>Getting desperate, the dark avenger deliberately calmed himself and stood his ground. He drew a bead on the thing's torso, exhaling and choosing his moment with care. The next mental blow broke his concentration, but he still managed a solid hit. As it crumpled to the ground, the Shadow rushed it, applying his boot to its head with vicious force. [Incidentally drawing a "Tae Kwon Leep" joke from SP, if you've heard that skit. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />] The body's lights went out, quite thoroughly.</p><p></p><p>He hurriedly ordered Carlos to circle around, meanwhile reaching for a pair of handcuffs - a Legion-body, prisoner, could be invaluable. But when Carlos called urgently, "You have to get out of there, sir! There's too many!" he cursed. After only a half-moment's thought, he coldly put a bullet in the thing's brain and rushed to where Carlos was landing, rather clumsily. "Two down, thirteen to go."</p><p></p><p>Taking the driver's seat from Carlos, the Shadow lifted a bit cautiously, not used to flying with the weight of two. Then he went home by a very circuitous route, using buildings for maximum cover. When Carlos confirmed he sensed no sign of Legion nearby, he finally landed at the base.</p><p></p><p>Once safely inside, he turned to Carlos and gripped his shoulder hard. "Are you OK?" The young man looked a bit shaken, but his "I'm fine, sir," seemed sincere enough. "What did you sense in the house?" Carlos shivered. "He - the guy you described, Christophilous - had some way of forcing people to stand still. While they stood there helpless, watching, he shot them in the head." Determination leavened with utter loathing filled the young man's voice as he continued softly, "That THING has to die, sir." "I couldn't agree more. Legion seems to have that effect on people who've met it, I've noticed. ... Tell me, did you notice it there at first as a danger-warning, or in itself as an unusual psychic trace?" Carlos shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure. Things were happening fast." "So they were."</p><p></p><p>The dark avenger thought out loud, trying to understand what had just happened. "Why was it waiting there at the crackhouse? Was it expecting me to return? Or is there some other reason?" The two of them bandied theories about to no avail - there simply wasn't enough data. "Well, in any case, I'd best inform OmniMetal of developments."</p><p></p><p>Carlos nodded brusquely and sat at the computer, putting on his headset. "Putting you through on the 'hotline' phone, sir." The Shadow picked up the phone, and told the secretary who answered, "Put me through to Mr. Torrance. Tell him it's Van Helsing."</p><p></p><p>A neutral male voice shortly came on the line: "Good evening, Mr. Van Helsing. Or do you prefer to be called 'Doctor'?" The Shadow said impatiently, "It doesn't matter. I have had another encounter with Legion." Torrance abruptly became all business. "Tell me everything you can."</p><p></p><p>"It was at the same place it was 'born'..." "Do you believe it regards that place as its lair?" "I do not know. It may simply have been anticipating my return for further investigation." "I see." The Shadow pictured the man taking notes efficiently on a pad - the pauses were about right. "Another of its bodies is dead." "How many does that leave?" "Thirteen, give or take one - I did not have time for an accurate count that first night. And I am assuming that it has not added anyone in the last few days."</p><p></p><p>"More importantly, I discovered it has a mental attack of a power unlike anything I have ever seen before. It nearly took me down... and," he added bluntly, "if it can take ME down, it can definitely take down anything of yours that I've seen." Torrance grunted in reply, then asked a series of probing questions about Legion's behavior and tactics. The Shadow found himself forced to appreciate the man's ability to get to the meat of the situation as he answered them to the best of his ability - though of course saying nothing of Carlos or his own abilities.</p><p></p><p>"So to sum up, would you conclude that it does not seem to be creative in its use of tactics?" The Shadow thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes, I would. At any rate, if I had fourteen people with psychic powers to deploy as I chose, I would definitely have done things differently. It also seems to be rather single-minded, trying the same thing over and over without adjusting much to events." A longer pause, then Torrance responded, "I will inform my superiors."</p><p></p><p>"There is something else. I do not believe you - OmniMetal - is taking Legion seriously enough. What it lacks in creativity, it makes up for in sheer power and numbers. If I were you, I would destroy my stock of group-mind chemicals and hide those with the knowledge to make them somewhere that Legion can't find them." "I will relay your suggestions to those with the authority to act on them."</p><p></p><p>"I will be sending a courier for your 'screamers' and gas at 8 sharp in the morning." "Very well. Do you have a description of the courier?" "Not yet. I will call to authorize him or her in the morning." "Understood. Is there anything else?" "No." "Good night, then." Click.</p><p></p><p>Carlos said thoughtfully, "That guy was different from Johnson - blunter, more matter-of-fact." "Indeed, very business-like. Perhaps he has military training... at any rate, I HOPE someone over there does!"</p><p></p><p>[Most interesting, no? I found myself liking Torrance more than Johnson, even though I suspect he knows more than Johnson does. Weird, eh? Probably because he shares the Shadow's proclivity for getting the important stuff out of the way without excessive formalities. Alex feels no need to get all buddy-buddy with OmniMetal. Plus, he seems to take Legion seriously, which Johnson did not.]</p><p></p><p>[Just thought I'd share a suspicion that has been developing in me over the last few weeks. Notice:</p><p></p><p><strong>O</strong>mni<strong>M</strong>etal <strong>I</strong>nc. Which is a subsidiary of:</p><p></p><p><strong>O</strong>rganized <strong>M</strong>ultinational <strong>I</strong>nvestment Group. Perhaps these initials are significant, referring to something like:</p><p></p><p><strong>O</strong>ver<strong>M</strong>ind <strong>I</strong>nstitute? At any rate, it's interesting... All I can say is, "Oh, my." <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 1375369, member: 16760"] As long as he was in Juan's room, the Shadow decided he might as well go through the lad's effects. There wasn't much - clothing in gang colors (though no distinctive hat or bandannas) and a wallet with 50 or so dollars in cash, an expired credit card, and a driver's license. He passed the number on to Carlos before leaving. "Carlos, in the morning I want you to... Sorry. I know I've been loading you down lately." "It's OK, sir," Carlos responded with cheery sarcasm, "What do you want me to do in my copious spare time?" "Get in touch with Lance and have him arrange to have the Penumbra Foundation pick up Juan's medical bills." "Will do." "Tell him to use a dummy name - 'Uninsured Accident Victims' Fund' or something." "Gotcha. Anything else?" The Shadow pondered. "Have flowers sent. Perhaps with the Foundation motto - 'Out of the shadows, into the light.' He's a smart kid, he'll figure it out." Carlos predicted, "He'll panic, throw the flowers away, and try to escape." "You really think so?" "[i]You[/i] would." That was so true that the cloaked crusader let out an honest laugh for the first time in weeks. When he was able to breathe again, he said, "You know me too well, Carlos!" "Well, you would! You'd figure they were poisoned or bugged or something." "All right, all right. Send a plain card with the flowers, then. We don't want to give him a heart attack." "Check. What now, sir?" The Shadow considered. "Has the crackhouse on 18th cooled down yet?" "I don't know, but it should have." "Then I think we will have to pay a visit there together. I am very interested in what you might pick up, given the bodies I saw... Dead ones, I mean." Carlos said, "Good idea, sir," but his voice betrayed a slight edge of nervousness. [Carlos is uncomfortable with his visions of death and murder, and who can blame him?] Speeding back to the base, the Shadow picked up Carlos, cloaking him in invisibility as he jogged below the cycle. (They'd set the comm panel at the base to patch through their commlinks to each other, so they could still communicate.) The crackhouse turned out to be half-burned, and surrounded with police tape - evidently the corpses had set off an official investigation. Together they entered the building, the Shadow pointing out the room where he'd seen the bodies. Carlos paced around it several times, apparently futilely... then he abruptly stood stock still as his face went white with shock. As the Shadow waited patiently for the vision to play itself out, the young man's head suddenly jerked to the left. "We've got to get out of here, sir! It's HERE!" The dark avenger drew his gun. "It?" "Legion! It's gotta be! We've got to go!" "Right." They moved for the exit, only to find a Legion-body awaiting them outside - a young man, formerly a Red Shiv. Putting Carlos behind him, the Shadow snapped off a shot, missing. Legion casually informed him, "You will die now," as it cut loose with a titanic blast of mental force, which the Shadow managed to adroitly "sidestep", preventing it from attuning to his mental signature. My word! he thought. I've never seen such strength, even in Grace! He subvocalized into the commlink, "Carlos, run. Call the cycle and get out of here. NOW!" "Yessir," the boy replied, suiting actions to words but adding, "And watch out, there's more on the other side of the house!" The Shadow backpedaled from the house, buying Carlos time to get away, and also getting the Legion-body between him and the house to avoid a potential crossfire. It made no move to follow, save with its eyes. The Shadow snapped off a couple more shots, missing but managing to evade its mental thunderbolts as well. Then one of them got past his guard, staggering him for a moment with the sheer ravening HATE it projected into his soul. Worse, he could tell it now had his number, as it were, and could continue to pummel him without any need for further targeting. Getting desperate, the dark avenger deliberately calmed himself and stood his ground. He drew a bead on the thing's torso, exhaling and choosing his moment with care. The next mental blow broke his concentration, but he still managed a solid hit. As it crumpled to the ground, the Shadow rushed it, applying his boot to its head with vicious force. [Incidentally drawing a "Tae Kwon Leep" joke from SP, if you've heard that skit. :)] The body's lights went out, quite thoroughly. He hurriedly ordered Carlos to circle around, meanwhile reaching for a pair of handcuffs - a Legion-body, prisoner, could be invaluable. But when Carlos called urgently, "You have to get out of there, sir! There's too many!" he cursed. After only a half-moment's thought, he coldly put a bullet in the thing's brain and rushed to where Carlos was landing, rather clumsily. "Two down, thirteen to go." Taking the driver's seat from Carlos, the Shadow lifted a bit cautiously, not used to flying with the weight of two. Then he went home by a very circuitous route, using buildings for maximum cover. When Carlos confirmed he sensed no sign of Legion nearby, he finally landed at the base. Once safely inside, he turned to Carlos and gripped his shoulder hard. "Are you OK?" The young man looked a bit shaken, but his "I'm fine, sir," seemed sincere enough. "What did you sense in the house?" Carlos shivered. "He - the guy you described, Christophilous - had some way of forcing people to stand still. While they stood there helpless, watching, he shot them in the head." Determination leavened with utter loathing filled the young man's voice as he continued softly, "That THING has to die, sir." "I couldn't agree more. Legion seems to have that effect on people who've met it, I've noticed. ... Tell me, did you notice it there at first as a danger-warning, or in itself as an unusual psychic trace?" Carlos shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure. Things were happening fast." "So they were." The dark avenger thought out loud, trying to understand what had just happened. "Why was it waiting there at the crackhouse? Was it expecting me to return? Or is there some other reason?" The two of them bandied theories about to no avail - there simply wasn't enough data. "Well, in any case, I'd best inform OmniMetal of developments." Carlos nodded brusquely and sat at the computer, putting on his headset. "Putting you through on the 'hotline' phone, sir." The Shadow picked up the phone, and told the secretary who answered, "Put me through to Mr. Torrance. Tell him it's Van Helsing." A neutral male voice shortly came on the line: "Good evening, Mr. Van Helsing. Or do you prefer to be called 'Doctor'?" The Shadow said impatiently, "It doesn't matter. I have had another encounter with Legion." Torrance abruptly became all business. "Tell me everything you can." "It was at the same place it was 'born'..." "Do you believe it regards that place as its lair?" "I do not know. It may simply have been anticipating my return for further investigation." "I see." The Shadow pictured the man taking notes efficiently on a pad - the pauses were about right. "Another of its bodies is dead." "How many does that leave?" "Thirteen, give or take one - I did not have time for an accurate count that first night. And I am assuming that it has not added anyone in the last few days." "More importantly, I discovered it has a mental attack of a power unlike anything I have ever seen before. It nearly took me down... and," he added bluntly, "if it can take ME down, it can definitely take down anything of yours that I've seen." Torrance grunted in reply, then asked a series of probing questions about Legion's behavior and tactics. The Shadow found himself forced to appreciate the man's ability to get to the meat of the situation as he answered them to the best of his ability - though of course saying nothing of Carlos or his own abilities. "So to sum up, would you conclude that it does not seem to be creative in its use of tactics?" The Shadow thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes, I would. At any rate, if I had fourteen people with psychic powers to deploy as I chose, I would definitely have done things differently. It also seems to be rather single-minded, trying the same thing over and over without adjusting much to events." A longer pause, then Torrance responded, "I will inform my superiors." "There is something else. I do not believe you - OmniMetal - is taking Legion seriously enough. What it lacks in creativity, it makes up for in sheer power and numbers. If I were you, I would destroy my stock of group-mind chemicals and hide those with the knowledge to make them somewhere that Legion can't find them." "I will relay your suggestions to those with the authority to act on them." "I will be sending a courier for your 'screamers' and gas at 8 sharp in the morning." "Very well. Do you have a description of the courier?" "Not yet. I will call to authorize him or her in the morning." "Understood. Is there anything else?" "No." "Good night, then." Click. Carlos said thoughtfully, "That guy was different from Johnson - blunter, more matter-of-fact." "Indeed, very business-like. Perhaps he has military training... at any rate, I HOPE someone over there does!" [Most interesting, no? I found myself liking Torrance more than Johnson, even though I suspect he knows more than Johnson does. Weird, eh? Probably because he shares the Shadow's proclivity for getting the important stuff out of the way without excessive formalities. Alex feels no need to get all buddy-buddy with OmniMetal. Plus, he seems to take Legion seriously, which Johnson did not.] [Just thought I'd share a suspicion that has been developing in me over the last few weeks. Notice: [b]O[/b]mni[b]M[/b]etal [b]I[/b]nc. Which is a subsidiary of: [b]O[/b]rganized [b]M[/b]ultinational [b]I[/b]nvestment Group. Perhaps these initials are significant, referring to something like: [b]O[/b]ver[b]M[/b]ind [b]I[/b]nstitute? At any rate, it's interesting... All I can say is, "Oh, my." ;)] [/QUOTE]
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