Blue Shadow Part 2

 Tyler had headed out as The Mirage just after Mark headed out Blue Shadow, watching what detection he was going using the city temperature sensors.  Susie set Serene to monitor his location while Tyler followed up on leads on The Order.  He was checking out abandoned buildings in the Lower East Side but wasn’t finding anything.  As he got on the roof, he heard Susie shift in her chair.

“Everything okay Soothsayer?” he asked, walking along the roof.

“Sorry, the police scanner caught my attention.  I think this is something you’ll want to hear.” Susie said, typing away at her computer.

She patched the dispatch radio to his helmet as the dispatcher said “I repeat, reports of a disturbance in Greenwich Village involving strange gunfire.  It’s on the waterfront and might be connected to the weapons bust operations.  Send word to ECU.”

“I’ve already checked taken the liberty of checking on the location of Blue Shadow.  He is located at Old Pier 48, along the waterfront in Greenwich Village.” Serene said.

The A.I. barely stopped talking before Tyler had taken off the roof.  It wasn’t that far a journey but he felt the seconds pass as he flew; Marks safety possibly hanging in the balance.  Old Pier 48 quickly came into view and he saw Mark fighting off four Order agents at once, only barely staying alive.  It was also when Tyler noticed the Matriarch standing a little way off, just observing the whole scene.

He landed, visible, by the woman as Mark froze the ground around the agents, making them fall.  Pointing an energy blaster at her she looked at him and smiled; making a tutting sound she said “That lad is doing well for himself.  All the same, you might want to help him out and not worry about me.  I just don’t know how much longer he can keep this up.”

From the side of the road, another agent started firing at them.  Tyler quickly put himself in between the agent and Mark and fired back.  The agent took a few hits as a large spike of ice appeared from the ground and rammed into his back.  It hit them just as the four agents stood back up, the ice on the ground gone.  Tyler looked back at Mark and saw him size up his opponents, something the agents also noticed.

As Mark made a sword in his right hand, an agent rushed toward him.  When he was in arms reach, Mark swung the sword into the agent; shattering the weapon and knocking out the agent.  At the same time, Tyler kicked one agent into another while landing an electrified grapplehook line into a third.  They fell to the ground as Mark ran toward the last agent with his fist completely covered in ice.  Landing the punch squarely in their chest they fell to the ground as ice encased his upper body.

Tyler turned Marks attention to The Matriarch and said “Freeze her legs or something.  Don’t let her escape.”

Mark raised his hand forward and ice quickly spread across the ground.  However, before it could reach her legs, she raised her gun and started firing at them.  Tyler tackled Mark to the ground as the energy blasts flew by; before any could land their mark a wall of ice appeared in front of them.  Mark gave a little nod as he squeezed his fist fighter, the ice wall visibly thickening.

“There’s police on their way already.  If we can keep her busy until they arrive, she’s as good as captured.” Tyler said just as the other side of the wall got quiet.

They looked at each other for a moment as another set of footsteps ran down the paved walkway.  They both looked over the wall as The Matriarch said “Well boys it was fun but I must dash.  I’m more than happy to let Detective Lin interrogate these lot.”

From behind her someone dressed like The Agent appeared, though it was obvious it wasn’t her.  The person stopped and assessed the situation, going to take a step forward before The Matriarch said “Don’t worry about them, just get me out of here.  We’ll need to inform the others what happened.”

They were just about to follow when the screech of police cars was around the corner.  As they were about to leave Detective Lin walked across the grass saying “Thought I should arrive before the rest of the boys.  Do I need to know anything before you two take off?”

“Detective Lin, this is Blue Shadow and you have him to thank for all those cold wrists the other night.  If these guys have anything interesting to say let me know.” Tyler said and threw a smoke bomb down.

Tyler and Mark took off in the same direction as The Matriarch but didn’t find any sign of them.  However, Tyler couldn’t be sure that they weren’t being watched so they skulled around the back allies for a while.  Finally, they found a safe place to hang out as it was still obvious Mark was shaken up from the ordeal.  Finding an abandoned building in Chelsea, and going up a few flights, Tyler made sure the coast was clear before they settled in.

Mark paced around a room while Tyler looked out a window.  Tyler turned to his friend and said “That was The Order.  The one part of NYC I was hoping you wouldn’t encounter.”

Making a block of ice to sit on, Mark said “I’ve been reading about a weapons dealing group.  I guess that woman has something to do with them.”

Tyler tried to act like he didn’t even notice the ice block as he opened his helmet.  He leaned against the wall as he said “As far as Detective Lin and I have figured out she’s their leader.  Hopefully some of those guys talks, the more information the better.”

“I see why you tried to have me freeze her legs.  If she got captured their whole organization could go under.”

“That is, broadly, the idea.  I have personal reasons, of course, but I try and keep them in check.” Tyler glanced outside and saw the street was completely quiet; turning back he said “Coast looks clear; I doubt we’ll see them much more tonight.  The safety of the Matriarch comes first.”

Mark looked out the window and agreed.  Looking back at Tyler, he said “So where does that put us?”

Tyler put down the front of his helmet as he said “I figured that we would go our separate ways.  Tomorrow’s your last day in the city and I doubt you’ll head out tomorrow night.”

With that Mark pulled his hood up and headed out of the building; Tyler watched him for a few more minutes.  Not that much more happened that night, at least for Tyler; Mark ran into a couple street crimes and stopped them, an easy feat compared to fighting the Order.  Both boys got back to the house just after one in the morning and got to sleep.

The next day Mr. Smith suggested that they all spend some time at the Lab so their visitors could see where they work.  They arrived just after nine in the morning and were greeted by several of the scientists working there.  Sam approached the three teens and handed Tyler her tablet to look over as she greeted the other two.

Mr. Smith turned and saw her talking with the three and said “That’s Sam Brown.  One of our youngest researchers and the person who works with Tyler.”

“They seem comfortable with each other.  What is it they research?” Mr. Madison asked.

“Really whatever they want to.  On paper, they’re working on practical applications of new technology.  They recently had a fabricator permanently moved into their workspace.”

Tyler walked up to the two and said “The three of us are going to head down to the lab; thought I’d get Marks option on our work.”

“Alright, if you guys head out before us let me know.” Mr. Smith said as the group walked toward the elevator.

He flashed a thumbs-up as the elevator doors closed.  As it started to descend, he said “Just so everyone is on the same page here; everybody in this elevator knows my secret and we’re here to study Marks.”

Exiting the elevator, and crossing the floor, Sam said “Tyler called me this morning and gave me a brief rundown on what you can do Mr. Madison.  I’m very curious what the second-floor scanners will think of you.”

They entered lab 3 and Mark looked around.  He wasn’t sure what he expected but this seemed,, right; except for the big cylindrical machine along the right wall.  The machine buzzed as an indicator panel read out ‘57% complete’.  Finally, turning back to the group, he said “This looks about right.  A little more space than I would’ve guessed a high school student would get.”

Tyler and Sam showed him what everything did and what they were working on, both legitimate and hero related; all except for the Fabricator.  A little later they went to the second floor to see the Scanner Department.  There were a couple different areas in this department, ranging from small to full body scanners.  They had access to the largest of the scanners, The Body/Motion Tracker, to get some data on Marks abilities.

As they were about to enter Brenda called down from the end of the hall.  Walking over to them she asked “Hay Tyler, got a minute?”

“Sure, just the one though.  By the way, this is Mark; we’re giving a tour of the place.” Tyler said and the two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.  The three went into the room and Tyler asked “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to let you know I’ve made some real headway on the projection mapping.  I was wondering if you could look at it; you know, get your option.” She said, turning over her tablet to him.

Looking it over he said “This is promising work.  Looks like you’re testing known projection points with live movement; are you any closer to volumetric displays?”

“Not there yet, the computer simulations have problems with visual consistency. I’ll set up a demonstration of what I have done for you though.”  Brenda said and started walking away.  Turning back, she said “I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

Tyler smiled to himself and entered the scanner room.  The room was split into two sides, an observation side, and a sensor side.  The sensor side had various cameras and sensors to measure the subject on that side.  The observation side, had machines to measure all the possible measurements the sensor side could measure.  The sides of the room were separated by an opaque wall and metal door.  Mark stood inside the scanner side as Susie and Sam prepped the various readout machines.  The two ladies noticed him as the last of the machines came to life.

“Is everything signed in as HezorisZid?” Tyler asked looking over the temperature readout.

Sam was hunched over another machine while saying “As well as Serene already active in the room.”  She looked at Mark, tapping a mic, and said “We’re ready whenever you are Mr. Madison.”

They spent the next hour having Mark exercise his abilities: making various ice objects, ice mist, and different ways he uses his powers to move around.  After getting out of the large scanner he noticed that Tyler wasn’t with them.  Before he could ask about that Serene said “Me. Smith had to run and get something Mr. Madison.  I would suggest meeting him back in Lab 3.”

“Her A.I. is constantly learning and picking up on social cues.  You must’ve looked confused to her.” Sam said, typing away at a computer terminal.  She looked at Susie and said “You two can head up before me; I’ll finish up down here.”

The two teens got back to Lab 3 and saw Tyler sitting at a table with a pair of goggles in front of him.  They had thick round frames with light blue lenses; the outside of the frame looked like it could move and had a thick band around the back.  Tyler got up, grabbed the eyewear, and said “I was going to give you these tonight but it’s more private here.  When we fought those Order agents, they used your eyes to figure out what you were thinking.  I don’t know how much of a problem that is back home so I made you these.”

Taking the goggles, and putting them on, Mark said “That’s really nice of you but you could’ve just bought me goggles.”

“Made them special, just for you.  They’re fog resistant, can handle temperatures as low as ten degrees, and have night vision.  Just the basics really.” Tyler said, just a little proud of himself.

Marked tried  out the night vision while saying “I don’t know what to say; thanks, I guess.”

Not much later Sam got back to Lab 3 and joined their conversation.  After a while, the three teens met up with their dads and headed back home.  They didn’t do much rest of the day; mostly talked about their trip to the city and what they were going to do tomorrow onward.  The whole group watched a classic universal monster movie that night and didn’t stay up much later than that.  Mark got a full night of sleep that night but not before trying out the goggles in the Smith house.

Morning came, and everybody got up early to see the Madisons off.  The fathers exchanged farewells while the three teens said goodbye.  Holding onto his backpack, Mark said “It was a real pleasure guys.  Thanks again for the goggles.”

“Not a problem man.  Don’t be a stranger and let’s talk sometime.  We’re here if you need anything.” Tyler said, giving a half hug to Mark.

Susie repeated the action and said “Seriously though, call us sometime; either for business or pleasure.”

Mark said his final goodbyes and got in the back seat of the car.  The drive home felt shorter than the way up; his thoughts on his new friends and their double lives.  It wasn’t a connection he thought he would make but glad he did.  They got back to Eldensite and had a warm reception when got home.  They talked about their trip and showed off photos from the various places they visited.

That night, Mark snuck out his window as Blue Shadow with his new piece of equipment.  He hit the familiar streets and thought how funny it must feel for New York City to only have one superhero running around her streets.  He was happy to be home though; he missed his sister and missed protecting his own backward.  New York City was fine, Eldensite is where he was really needed.