Omniscience

Vigilante: Part Nine

I think, deep inside, I knew I was right. But I didn't want it to be true.
I can't move. I can't breathe. Everything has frozen, including me and the air. How. How could I let this happen? Now someone else was missing and it was my fault for not stopping it.
I dropped to the ground, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth in an attempt to muffle my crying. Jeez. Seems I'm a walking cryfest today.
Only it's not funny. Will anything ever be bright again? Will-
Wait. There's a way to stop this new nightmare. I can find him. It's only been a few days, right? That must mean it'll be easier to find him. I may just be deluding myself, but maybe- maybe I have a chance. Even a chance though seems too much to hope for.
Enough. I grip my head on both sides. Enough dawdling. I need to find him. Dead or alive.

I don't tell the Phantoms, but I access their databases. Scouring the files for clues, to start with I narrow it down to people with grudges against me in particular. There are three files. Two seems unlikely, minor villains that I caught one too many times. But the one in the middle... He's part of a trafficking ring. Zane had a pretty strong shadow manipulation superpower, no? Maybe they kidnapped him.
I spend the next few days tracking down the trafficker. It's a dead end. I go back to the databases, looking for any possible hint to where he is.
Finally, on the fifth day, I get the luckiest break I've ever gotten. An exact description of Zane, filed under possible victims of a trafficking ring that the other Phantoms have already tracked down.
I immediately leave the room, nearly bumping into Shard as he comes in. I have no memories of going to the storehouse, only ones when I was there. I put on my equipment in a flash, then head out.
I memorized where the hideout is, and air walk straight there.
District 13, we meet again.
I drop to the ground on the roof of an abandoned building, and start moving towards the hideout. But as I do, a thought strikes me. The files said there are a lot of criminals there... What if I don't come out of this? What if....
What if I die?
What scares me most, though, is that I don't care. I just don't care whether I live or die. I can't muster up anything at all that makes me want to stay on this earth any longer. Well, there's Millie, but...
Who says I'll ever find her again?
Who says she's even alive?
So yes, I am potentially suicidal. But... I hate the fact that if I die here, at the hands of criminals, no one will know.
And so, I pull out my flip phone and quickly send a couple of quick texts to Shard, simply because he's at the top of the contacts list.
Eli: Just going to shut down a trafficking ring.
Eli: And find Zane.
Then I put the flip phone back in my bag, hide the bag, and get ready for what might be the biggest fight of my life.
I mean, sure, I've done this before but in a team. The danger here is much, much more. And-
Enough overthinking this. Get in, crack some skulls, get out. Hopefully with Zane.
I sneak past the guards, which is hilariously easy, and slink through the hallways u til I get to the center.
There, in the very middle of the room, is a crowd of captives. From my perch, I can see that they're all tied up quite well. I can't find Zane yet.
I scan the crowd for purple hair, just need to find him and....
Found him.
He's in a straightjacket, slumped against the wall. His eyes are closed and for a heart stopped moment I think he's dead. But they wouldn't put a dead person in a straightjacket, right? Right?
"Ahem."
I turn.
A portly man is standing there, hands in his pockets. His next words make me freeze. "Are you the vigilante "Wind Walker"?"
He smirked when he sees my shocked expression. "Didn't think we, such small-time criminals, knew who you were?" He steps closer, leaning over me. "Didn't think we knew you'd come for your precious boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend." I say numbly. It's the only thing I can think of to say.
"Guards!" The portly man shouts suddenly. "Restrain this intruder!"
I settle into a fighting stance. So be it.
The portly man turned and left, casting a pair of parting words behind him. "Good luck."
Then the guards came.
I knocked out one of them with a well-aimed kick to the head, but another one grabbed my leg and broke it. I kept on kicking and punching anyway, but there were too many. I knocked out two more, but then they were on me, and I couldn't breathe, had to breathe, had to breathe-
Unconsciousness came for me.

When I wake up, for some strange reason I wasn't tied up. I blink. Were they that stupid? No, it wasn't possible. They must have thought I'd be out longer.
I start to sit up, but I get tangled in something. Had they tied me up after a- A spear of blinding pain shoots up my side.
Disgruntled, I lie back down. Right. I forgot about the broken leg. Fear shoots through me like pain did earlier. Was I trapped here? I should be dead already.
Someone clears his throat. My head whips to the side where it came from. Not that annoying bastard agai-
It was Shard. He was sitting on a white chair, choppy silver hair unkempt, but it usually was anyway. How had he come here? Had they.... Had they kidnapped him as well?
Dread rises up like it did before, when I had been going to the Delgado home. This time, however, I truly was drowning in it. Or had they punctured a lung in the struggle, and blood was-
Shard puts a hand on my writhing body. I freeze. Shard never touches anybody other than Watchdog. "Calm down." They say quietly. "I wasn't kidnapped. The other Phantoms came for you a couple minutes after you got knocked out."
Shard explains how, after seeing the files on Zane laid out on the table, and receiving my text, he immediately sent the Phantoms to save me.
I breathe heavily for a couple minutes. I just got insanely lucky. If Shard hadn't seen the files and recognized Zane, they might not have known what I was going to do. If I hadn't sent that text to Shard, if I'd sent it to anyone else, I'd probably be dead by now. Or tortured, that was a possibility too, you know.
I say, "All's well that ends well?"
Shard gives me a wry smile. "Yes. You're also in very big trouble for going off on your own."
I sigh. "I guess that was a given. I shouldn't have done that."
They let out a laugh. "Oh, you know it." Then they turn somber. "Eli."
"Yes?"
"Do you... Do you still want to be a part of the Phantoms? What's keeping you here, other than your sister?"
"Well, I want to help others. I want to clean out the city and actually make it a haven. A haven for good people, not bad. Even though that line might blur, even though sometimes you have to be bad to be good." I say. There's more I'd like to say, but it would seem sappy. But then, I nearly died. Who cares if it is sappy? "And... Cause I think of you as friends, even if I just treat you like tools."
A smile ghosts across Shard's face. "I think of you as a friend, too. But there's something I need to tell you."
Uh oh.
Shard exhales. It's the first time his delicate-featured face is so... Sad. "We know where your sister is."

Time ticks past. I don't frickin care. I need to come to terms with this. After four flipping years, they know where my sister is? What... Is that why they wanted to know what made me stay in the Phantoms?
"I'll stay." I blurt.
Shard looks up elegantly. "Don't you want to know where she is first?"
"Um, well. Sure." I say, swallowing. Is it really bad?
"She's a vigilante, too. Though she does do paid favours on the side."
"What's her vigilante name?" I hear myself ask.
"Jackrabbit." Shard grins. "She's developed a fighting style like yours."
Like mine. I think. We still have something connecting us.
I didn't know it was possible for something to be so painful and beautiful at the same time. I mean, on one hand, I'm glad beyond belief that there's something connecting us. But, I'm also... Worried. What if she doesn't even remember what I look like? What then? And how do I even... Approach her?
Shard sees my face. "Don't worry." They reassure me. "We know someone who knows her. They'll make sure you meet."
"They?" I say. "They're non-binary like you?"
"Weeelll." They say. "Not really. We don't know what they're gender is. They keep that a secret and use voice changers, masks, the whole shebang."
"Shebang?" I snort, but not cruelly.
"You'll see."