Athira lost track of exactly how much time she spent attempting to help Shift learn how to use the Black on top of the skyscraper.
They used the snack bars he'd packed to practice, and it wasn't long before he could reliably — if reliably slowly — make torso-sized shields to block any projectile snack bars she threw at him, lift said snack bar from the ground and into his hand, and then phase himself through it.
But as quickly as he picked it up, he also found his limits. His shields cracked. If he ran out of Black midway through phasing, he got stuck. If the tendrils became longer than his forearm, he struggled to control them, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't maintain the same steady, extended flight that she could.
They put it down to the difference in how much Black they had access to.
"Need more yet?" asked Athira.
He only ever shifted a little Black at a time, citing something to do with 'safety' in case of a Surge or some other emergency, which meant it didn't take him long to require more. Interestingly enough, Shift's Black didn't seem to crystallise when it ran out, instead vanishing into the air without a trace.
"Please," said Shift, jogging the few steps towards her. He took her offered hand, which Athira didn't entirely hate, and flashed her a smile some three seconds later. "Thank you!"
Athira once more folded her arms and watched as Shift engulfed the forearm guard of his suit in Black and used it to lift himself off the ground. Amusement tweaked the corner of her mouth as he hung awkwardly beneath it — a problem he solved by also engulfing his boot in Black and using that to steady himself.
If nothing else, she had to admit that he was creative with the little he had figured out.
"Shift? Athira? Can you both hear me, or has Athira fried hers already?"
Athira blinked at the sound of Kione's voice, clearer than if he'd been standing beside her. It took her a second to remember the headset — the small, semi-circular band with a strangely shaped piece at either end that hugged the back of her head beneath the hairline before sweeping up to fit her ears and the side of her jaw.
Shift tapped the side of his own headset. "From the startled look on her face, I'd say she can hear you. What's up? Did we find something at the Surge site?"
"No," said Kione. "We've got an alert two blocks from where you are. Robbery with hostages in progress. A witness disguised themselves as a chair and hid to call it in."
Shift's expression grew concerned. "What's the plan?"
"You and Athira will respond," said Raph over comms. "By sending Athira on the fake alert today, I've deemed her ready in Discord's eyes. If I don't send her in on an active alert she's right on top of, it'll be difficult to explain."
"Oh, like hues I'm leaving Shift to handle this alone with her around," said Talia. Something metallic rang out in the background. "I'm heading over."
"What about the Surge?" asked Athira, pressing a fingertip against the outline of Talon's amulet, concealed beneath her suit.
"If you start feeling it while you're fighting, use the code and we'll adapt as necessary," said Raph. "For now, get moving. Kione, you run the mission."
"Can do," said Kione. "Remember, comms are recorded during an active alert. Don't say anything you wouldn't want Discord to hear. I'll be in your ear the whole time helping you out, so any questions, just ask." There was a short 'ba-dum!' in her ear. "Recording now. Head south. You're looking for the indoor ice rink."
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.
"Ready," said Shift.
"Still refusing, are you?" said the Red on the ice below, a man with long, maroon hair braided into a messy chunk. Red glimmered in his hand, shaping into a wicked-looking knife that he tapped against her cheek. "If you won't use your hand to make a donation, I guess you don't need it."
"Go," replied Kione.
The Red shoved the woman onto the ground and stomped a foot onto her wrist, flattening it out on the ice.
"Last chance to change your mind," said the Red. "Your hand, or your pigment — and don't think I'll stop at one appendage if you continue being —"
The grand double doors that led from the foyer to the rink swung open.
"Hey, guys!" said Shift, strutting inside with the kind of cocky confidence that reminded Athira of a peacock. "I was in the area and thought I'd touch up on my ice-skating skills, and what do you know, there's no staff to be seen!" He reached the rink wall and leaned against it with an infuriating grin. "I don't suppose you know where they've gone? I don't wanna be a freeloader, and honestly, I always forget the size of my skates."
The result was immediate. The Red lost interest in the woman and whirled towards Shift, as did the other two closest to the entrance. The remaining three kept a wary eye on their surroundings, looking for the rest of Shift's team.
Unfortunately for them, none of them thought to look up, and the moment they stepped far enough away from the hostages, Athira dropped out of the ceiling.
The Black flooded out of her downward reaching hand, quickly spreading into a shield that comfortably surrounded the hostages. She landed on top of it, kneeling with her palm pressed flat against the shield as the Black coiled lazily around her fingers.
Staying linked to any Colour she used — that was the most important thing here. Even if a Surge struck unexpectedly, if she remained connected to the Black, she could control it.
The six noticed her quickly, and it was the Red who took the lead.
"Who the hues are you?" he growled.
Athira barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Apparently it didn't matter if she was wearing a cloak or a suit. It was the same damned question. "The person who's here to ruin your day." Then, to Kione, she asked, "What now? Do I just deal with them, or?"
The Red sneered, shaping a second knife to his other hand. "Deal with us?"
"You have to identify yourself," said Kione.
Athira scowled down at the Red but ignored his comment. "Why on Thols would I need to do that?"
"It's protocol."
"What, you think they can't figure it out from the suit and Shift's dramatic entrance, or are your expectations just that low?"
Kione chuckled. "Get used to it."
Athira huffed and stood up, remaining linked to her shield by a thin tendril of Black twined around her fingers.
"Hello," she said, already exhausted by the potential conversation. "I'm Athira. I'm Indigo's new Purple Keeper. You're all under arrest. Line up and let's make this quick."
"I'll make you apologise for those words in the next two minutes, newbie." The Red swung his knives — now secured by the hilt to his wrist with a Red-shaped chain — in a small circle either side of his body. "Screech, Zoomer, deal with the Green Keeper! Ele, break the shield! The rest of you — back me up!"
The two closest to Shift charged him, hints of Yellow and Green trailing them.
The rest came for Athira. The Purple pulled a blaster from his waistband, the Orange's drone detached itself from the wall with a steady, menacing beep, the Red advanced on her, knives swinging, and the sixth — the only one she was yet to see use any kind of Colour — melted the ice around the shield and began using the water to bash away at the Black.
Athira's scowl returned. An elemental.
She dug her shield further into the floor, content to let them exhaust themselves for nothing against the shield while she dealt with the others.
The knives came at her first.
Athira raised her free hand, Black pooled and ready to end this fight the instant it began by trapping this idiot in crystal when the sight of her Keeper suit — not the bare, runed arms she'd expected — made her stop.
She wasn't the Owl.
With the knives swinging for her, Athira pulled her arm back and instead tucked into an awkward roll that sent her off the side of her shield and onto the ice below.
Athira muttered a curse, one hand pressed to the shield behind her. She'd had a lengthy conversation with Raph about what might link her to the Owl, and the only thing they'd concluded with any kind of certainty was the Owl's signature of trapping her opponents in full-body crystal. She'd told him it'd be easy to avoid.
Five seconds into her first fight as a Keeper, and she'd almost blown it already.
The Red pulled his knives back to his hands, mistaking her hesitation for fear. "Not so confident now are we, little Keeper?" He jerked his head backwards, to where the Purple stood with the Colourformer in one hand, blaster in the other. "Tell you what, put your hand on my Colourformer and I'll let you go crawling back to your team in one piece."
Athira fixed the Red with a glare and floated back to her feet. "Hey, Kione?"
"Yeah?"
"How much force is 'too much' force, exactly?"
"Given he's trying his best to kill you right now, I'd say a punch to the face is bare minimum."
Athira allowed herself a thin smile. "Noted."
The Red sneered and swung again.
Athira dodged the first knife and ducked the second, but the third time a knife came sailing towards her head, Athira side stepped the blade, grabbed the chain, and pulled.
The Red lurched forward, stumbling on the ice. The moment he looked like he might regain his footing, Athira hooked her foot around his ankle and sent him crashing down in a groaning pile of limp, Red chains.
He wasn't quite out yet, but with the Red on the ground, the Purple had a clear shot with his energy blaster, as did the Orange with her drone buzzing overhead.
Athira solved that problem by coalescing a tendril to her second hand, engulfing the drone, and throwing it directly at the Purple who was shooting at her.
As the Orange girl at the other end of the rink gave an annoyed, if slightly confused shout, Kione chuckled.
"Oh boy, I recognise that sound. Your Colour just fried her drone's Frames."
The projectile drone didn't make contact. Halfway through the air, it looked like it'd been caught in slow-motion. Athira's attention flicked to the faint, Green aura surrounding the guy standing halfway between Athira and Shift.
Some kind of speed-altering ability — and if the absurdly fast movements of the Yellow attacking Shift were anything to go by, his Green was able to both speed and slow.
The Red staggered his way back to his feet.
"If you sit back down," Athira said, imitating his earlier tone, "I'll let you put the cuffs on all by yourself."
"You're forgetting I still control the Red inside your shield," snarled the Red. Inside the shield, the Red-shaped band squeezed. The hostages began to scream. "You can't stop the band from crushing them, and unless you back off, I'll —"
With an exasperated sigh, Athira reached a thin tendril of Black inside her shield and sliced through the band around the hostages.
The band fell limp.
The screams subsided.
Athira held the Red's stare. "Any other genius plans you'd like to bore me with?"
He backed up a few steps, one knife swinging by his side.
"Didn't think so."
The knives lashed out.
Athira ducked below them, using the Black to control her slide along the ice until she was directly in front of the Red. He had just enough time to stare down at her with a dumb, determined kind of look before she delivered a swift uppercut to his jaw, perfectly angled and packed with every speck of upward momentum she could muster as she kicked off the ice and launched herself upwards.
He keeled over backwards, out cold.
Athira targeted the Purple next. She dove towards him from the air, absorbing the last, few, desperate laser shots with Black before his gun was in her hand and slamming into the side of his head. He dropped, groaning on the ground. Not quite unconscious, but weaponless and dazed enough to be out of the fight.
She was reaching for a pair of binders on her waistband when over comms, Kione swore.
"Athira, get to the cafeteria," said Kione. "The elemental's after someone hiding in there."
Athira glanced at the distance between the cafeteria and her shield over the hostages in the centre of the rink. She could maintain her link from that distance — she'd done it before — but if a Surge hit, the closer she was to her Colour, the better.
"It's too far from the shield," she said, hoping they'd understand.
"Drop it," said Shift. He danced around on the ice, boots covered in Black to steady his movements as he played keep-away from the Green's rapid-fire fists, the Yellow in binders against the wall nearby. "The Orange ran and I've got this last guy handled. Go!"
With a shrug, Athira did as instructed, dropped the shield, and darted towards the ice-covered doorway of the cafeteria.
"Phase through the back wall near the bathrooms," said Kione. "The kid's disguised himself as a chair in the back corner."
Athira stayed angled for the entrance. "I can deal with the elemental before they know what hit them." She'd enjoy it, too. Fighting an elemental always gave her a flicker of satisfaction, precisely around the moment when they realised they were screwed.
"Doesn't matter," said Kione. "If we have an option to ensure the safety of a civvie, that's the option we take. Get to the back wall."
Athira reached the frozen doorway, and for a second, considered ignoring Kione's suggestion — the elemental couldn't threaten anyone if they were knocked out — but she had agreed to do this Indigo's way, at least when it came to various Keeper duties.
And so, somewhat reluctantly, Athira skirted around the outside of the cafeteria to the back wall.
Crouched low, Athira phased her upper body through near the corner. The elemental was methodically working her way through the furniture, smashing it piece by piece with a large, icy sledgehammer that shattered on every impact, only to melt, coalesce, and freeze again for the next hit.
With the elemental close enough to hear her if she spoke, Athira glanced at the four, identical chairs shoved into the corner. She could grab them all, but she had another idea. Her Black could phase her through almost everything — everything, that was, except for people.
Her hand passed through three of the chairs without issue, and when the fourth remained solid, she grabbed it, engulfed it in Black, and pulled it back through the wall.
The chair turned back into a screaming, gangly teenager on the other side of the wall, whose panicked thrashing sent them both careening back into the bathroom door.
"Will you calm down?" Pinned beneath him, Athira coiled a tendril of Black around his chest and lifted him into the air, where he continued flailing. "I'm trying to help you, idiot."
"Remember the proootocoool," Kione said in a sing-song voice.
"Really? Now?" said Athira, ducking beneath the long, metal pole the teen's arm had changed into as it swung for her head. She groaned. "Kid, I'm a Keeper! Indigo's Keeper — Purple — whatever it is!"
Kione chuckled. "Wow. You really nailed that."
"Oh, shut up," muttered Athira, but it seemed to have worked. The teen had stopped flailing, curled around her tendril with a death grip as he stared down at her with a mix of wariness and wonder.
"Are you really a Keeper?" he asked.
Athira bit back on her default sarcasm and managed to force a thin smile as she lowered him to the ground. "Technically, I'm still on probation."
She coiled the tendril back around her arm and was about to jump back through the cafeteria's walls to deal with the elemental when she heard something unexpected.
"Thank you!"
Athira glanced back over her shoulder at him.
"You're, um, welcome," she muttered, hesitating before she turned back to the cafeteria. Hand against the wall, she clicked her tongue, annoyed at herself for the question bugging her when there was an elemental she could be humiliating. "Kione, do I just leave him here, or?"
"He'll be fine," said Kione. "I need you to chase down the Orange and the Green that bolted when you released the civvies on the rink."
She should have just gone through the wall. "What about the elemental?"
"Shift's got the ele handled. What he doesn't have are super useful flight and phasing abilities perfect for chasing down two currently escaping criminals that I have eyes on." He whistled. "If you can even catch them, that is. This Green can really move."
Athira sighed and headed back towards the rink. "Just tell me where to go."
*+*+*+*
Some twenty minutes later after a slightly aggravating chase through half the district, Athira returned to the ice rink with a bad guy — sorry, suspect — in each hand to find chaos had claimed the area.
A large crowd had gathered outside the entrance, held at bay by a few official looking individuals. Three vehicles were parked nearby — two ambulances, and one of the Elite's prison transports, which explained where the crowd control had come from.
Despite that, it was the fancy looking cameras and the few, suspicious-looking individuals standing in front of them that had Athira concerned. The stories about journalists she'd been told by the rest of Indigo threatened to plague her nightmares.
"I don't suppose I can just drop these two in front of the transport vehicle and leave?" she muttered, observing the scene from the safety of the air.
"Nope," replied Kione. "In you go."
Athira huffed and drifted lower. "I did not sign up for this."
"Oh, but you did," said Kione. "Even if you didn't realise it at the time."
A few metres before her boots hit the ground, Athira knew she'd been spotted. Enthusiastic shouts rose up from the crowd, composed of everything from the tamer 'Is that Indigo's new Purple Keeper?' and 'Can I get an interview?', to the slightly more disturbing things she refused to believe she'd heard correctly.
Talon squawked inside her mindscape, the amulet warm from her use of the Black. Did... did that guy just say what I think he said?
Athira kept her gaze firmly ahead as she marched the two she'd been carrying inside. I don't want to know, Tal.
The ice rink's lobby was no less overwhelming than the chaos outside. The hostages were gathered on one side, with paramedics and a few other serious-looking individuals scattered between them. On the other side, the four arrested individuals were lined up and being prepared by the transport team.
On Kione's advice, Athira headed towards the transport team and handed over the Green and Orange she'd arrested. Someone — she assumed the transport team's lead — asked her a few basic questions about their abilities before dismissing her.
"Hey, Athira!"
Athira glanced in the direction of her name, finding Shift — and to her annoyance, Talia — standing across the room with a few civilians, waving his hand in the air.
Uncertain, Athira walked over, giving the room a wary glance. "What?"
Shift grinned at her, and gestured to the three teenagers in front of him, one of who she recognised as the kid she'd pulled through the cafeteria wall. "I just wanted to give your newest fans the chance to meet their hero."
Before Athira could reply, the teens launched into a bright-eyed barrage of gratitude. They tag-teamed their sentences, jumping from 'I just wanted to say thank you' into 'It was so cool how you just dodged that guy's knives' and 'Can you teach me how to throw a punch like that' without giving her a chance to reply, which was probably a good thing.
Tal, she thought, tuning out. Help.
Want my advice? replied Talon. Swoop 'em.
Athira was strongly considering that option when they began asking for selfies until Shift finally reined them in.
"Okay, okay," said Shift, clapping a hand on two of the boy's shoulders and pulling them back, causing the third to follow suit. "I promised you could meet her, but the deal was that you three would get checked over by the paramedics right after. Remember?"
Shift herded the three teens towards the paramedics, continuing with the smiles and the easy, casual banter — which left Athira alone with Talia glowering down at her.
"I came to make sure my team had backup, but it seems I wasn't needed," Talia said curtly. She put a hand on her hip. "I'm surprised you managed to catch the two runners."
Athira eyed her. "I just followed Kione's directions. He did all the work."
"I guess that Colour of yours has its uses," said Talia, heading out the door. "Just remember, one successful alert doesn't make you a Keeper."
"Good to know there's a number," muttered Athira, watching her go.
Shift returned a few moments later, having successfully passed off the boys to someone else. "Seems like we're all done here. Shall we go finish that 'building check' we were doing earlier before the reporters figure out how to get inside?"
"Please."
He grinned as he took her hand. "The Keeper suit looks good on you, y'know."
Athira glanced down at herself. It was still strange to see the purple and grey fabric with its various armoured pieces instead of the Owl outfit she'd become so familiar with. Strange to see crowds of people that ran towards her, not away.
"I still prefer my cloak," she grumbled, and flew them back to the top of the skyscraper to await the incoming Surge.
*+*+*+*
A/N - Our newbie Keeper has survived her first alert - but will she survive the media attention
Next week: A house call takes a turn