Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 18 - Newbie

Athira exhaled, grabbed Shift by the arm, and dove off the skyscraper.

"From the descriptions of the witness inside, it's a group of six suspects," Kione said as she flew. "They have at least fifty hostages tied up in the centre of the rink and are doing the usual pigment theft routine. Given they picked a low-security building at the edge of our territory, it's likely they planned to be in and out before anyone arrives and won't have any serious combat abilities, but assume they will anyway."

Athira found the ice rink and remained hovering some thirty metres above the entrance. "How do you want me to handle this?"

The sound of Kione's keyboard, followed by a satisfied ah-ha! came through the headset.

"I've accessed the rink's camera system," said Kione. "Details of the situation match up. Shift, on my signal, you'll make an entrance from the lobby and when you've got their attention, Athira will drop in from the ceiling and shield the hostages."

Athira did as instructed, phasing Shift and herself through the front wall. She dropped him in the lobby, and after allowing him to shift additional Black, she flew up through the building.

"Chroma, that's useful," muttered Kione.

Upon reaching a space with several, large air duct pipes that she assumed was above the ceiling of the rink, Athira crouched down and peeked her head through the roof, welcoming the cold air against her skin.

As Kione had said, she counted six individuals unlucky enough to have picked this time and place to round up some fifty-odd civilians in the centre of the rink with the intent to steal their pigment. The hostages were bound back-to-back in a long row with a thick, elastic Red-shaped band across their torsos that tightened a little further every time someone struggled.

While four of the bad guys kept watch on the various entrances to the rink, the other two — the Red and what looked like a Purple — went from one hostage to the next, holding out a handheld Colourformer device attached to an epicore.

It was an all-too-common crime in Sirah's region. Once Sirah's infrastructure became dependent on the Colourformer system — a process that turned raw pigment into an all-purpose kind of energy — pigment had also replaced any kind of physical currency. Most people generated just enough pigment to cover the basic cost of living, but many chose to supplement that with a part time job.

Of course, others — like these six — preferred to steal it off other people. They'd force someone to use a Colourformer that'd been altered to siphon as much pigment as it could from the user without killing them, and with the pigment transferred into an epicore, it was completely untraceable.

The pair operating the Colourformer moved onto the next hostage — a teenage boy. They held out the Colourformer, and after some encouragement from the Purple, the teen placed his hand on the pad. A few seconds passed. The woman beside the teen said something inaudible, but whatever it was, the Red didn't appreciate it. He snapped at her to shut up and shoved the Colourformer in the teen's face, demanding he use it properly.

"Athira, are you in position?"

Athira pulled her head back from the ceiling before she replied. "I'm above the hostages."

"Shift?"

"Almost," said Shift. "Door's blocked."

"Hurry up."

Athira phased her head back through the roof to keep an eye on the situation and found it'd devolved into violence.

The Red-shaped elastic had constricted further, eliciting several, panicked cries from those within it. The hostage woman who'd spoken out had been removed from the elastic, the ice where she'd been sitting no longer flat but covered in thin, spindly spikes pointing outwards. The Red held her by the throat, demanding she use the Colourformer.