Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 12 - Broken Silence

Some five minutes after Athira's shield had broken, Shift emerged from the half-built skyscraper with the kid held securely against his chest and Athira following close behind.

Athira didn't look good. Sweat coated her skin. A thin line of blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, and she trembled with every breath she took. The sleeves of the shirt she'd borrowed at base had burned away, leaving singed edges around the blazing, Blue runes that marked her exposed arms and shoulder blades.

Yet there was a glint in Athira's grey eyes that tracked every movement Zoe made, and after half a glance at his teammate, Shift understood what had brought the shield down.

It took a lot to make Zoe bleed. Even if her Yellow hadn't been able to focus light, she'd still have qualified for a Keeper. Her ability to self-regenerate was one of the strongest on record. Any injury she suffered healed almost instantly as long as she had the Colour to sustain it.

Despite that, Zoe's face was now streaked with her own still-drying blood.

Zoe, for her part, seemed entirely unconcerned. She'd gone ahead of Shift to escort Reader out, who she now placed in the holding cell contained in the rear of the Indigo rover parked just outside the building. Kione leaned against the rover's side, watching her as he said something Shift didn't quite catch.

Not far away, Raph and Talia were rounding up the last of Reader's thugs against the wall outside, ensuring each was handcuffed and awaiting pickup.

"Told you we'd make it out okay, bud," Shift said to the kid, booping him on the nose as he headed towards the rover. "And just think of the story you can tell everyone now! Kidnapped by a crazy villain, only to be saved by the coolest Indigo Keeper!"

The boy didn't say anything, which wasn't surprising. Aside from a few, pained whimpers while his legs had been trapped inside the shield, the kid hadn't uttered a single word.

He had, however, made Shift's goal of 'get out of the unstable building ASAP' rather difficult. After the shield had come down, all he'd wanted to do was scribble yellow crayon across the floor through the mess of Black shards — which given the situation, had been a weird coincidence. It wasn't until Shift had given the kid a safe-ish looking shard to scribble on directly that he'd allowed himself to be carried out.

"At least I know your legs still work," said Shift, a smile lingering as he gave the boy a small bounce.

The kid looked at him, tilted his head, and continued drawing on the shard.

Shift stopped beside Indigo's rover and glanced back towards Athira.

Her breathing seemed a little more even, and while her fingers didn't dig into her sides quite as much as they had before, Shift knew pain when he saw it.

With the kid still safe in his arms, Shift sidled a few steps closer towards Athira. "You doing okay?"

She drew in a long breath through her nose before she said a single word through gritted teeth. "Super."

Shift glanced around, checking to make sure his team was still otherwise occupied. "Did an unwanted guest return ahead of schedule?"

Athira exhaled loudly. "What?"

"I heard your last one was kicked out by a turtle," said Shift casually as understanding dissolved her annoyance into guilt. "Did he come back?"

"There was no... guest," muttered Athira, wrapping her arms tighter around her stomach. "It was just me."

Shift hesitated. "That wasn't him? At all?"

"No," said Athira, a little pricklier than before. "I told you to stay away from me, Shift, and it wasn't just because of an unwanted guest."