Monday 31 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Fourteen (catch up post 2/13)

"There's something else," Sienna said. "When I touch Ryan it blocks the telepathic noise he's been having issues with. I'm not sure what to make of that."

"And I can still hear people if I listen for them," Ryan said. "But we only hear each other if we try. It's almost like our mental abilities are mirror images." He rubbed his head. "And now she's not holding my hand the noise is back though it's not as bad here."

"More likely she's extending her own mental shield around you subconsciously," Martin said. "She must have put it up instinctively so doesn't know how to get past it. I bet you can teach each other. Shall we try?"

"First we need some ice for Sienna's shoulder," he father said. "And then I want to take a look at Ryan. At least I assume he's having neurological issues like the other targets seem to have been? I've got a couple of cases at the hospital - those people have avoided attacking there for now - and I've been looking in to how to help them."

"Have you found anything?" Martin asked.

"Well it was a fair bet that the mist was involved so I reached out to colleagues at hospitals near some of the other affected areas and found out they've had similar cases. They are nervous about talking about the poltergeist activity around said patients but they have found that adapting post-stroke rehabilitation therapy works to a degree."

"You researched this?" Martin looked alarmed. "They'll be able to track that."

Her father snorted. "I'm sure they know the men I'm treating are at the hospital and a neurologist looking for similar cases won't provoke comment."

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Thirteen

 Chapter Six
Tests and Theories

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Wendy asked when Sienna led her father, Charlotte and Ryan into the den area.

"My shoulder is a bit sore," Sienna said as she pulled off her mask. "But we're fine." She looked over at Ryan who was still clinging to her hand. "Well maybe not exactly fine but we're alive."

"Let's have a look at your shoulder," Robert said.

Sienna gently extricated her hand from Ryan's and pulled off her top, wincing as the movement made her shoulder twinge. Her father frowned and gently probed the bruised skin making her hiss.

"Well nothing is broken," he said. "Is that where the bullet hit you?"

"Yeah," Sienna said. "It felt like being hit with a bat."

"Interesting," Robert said. "It seems that your invulnerability is about as good as a good quality bullet proof vest with rifle plates. These powers? I take it that it was the mist?"

"Yes," she said. "I appear to have developed psychokinetic and broadcasting telepathic powers." She looked over at Martin when she remembered what had happened when she had given Charlotte a boost. "Oh, the psycokinesis seems to be enhancing my strength as well."

"You can say that again," Charlotte said. "She all but threw me through the loft hatch."

"Hmm... so you can lift heavier weights when you touch them and deflect more powerful attacks closer to your skin? I wonder if it's two different but similar powers or if your psychokinesis declines with distance."

Friday 28 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Twelve

"Ah," Sienna said. "What should we do?"

"Have your dad bring you to the base for now," he said. "We'll figure out what to do from there."

"Okay," Sienna said. "Let me get my bearings." She looked out of the car window and tried to figure out where they were."

"Where are we going?" her father asked.

"It's an old abandoned factory near the railway tracks," Sienna said. "It's not too far from home."

"Hmm... There's a couple it could be. But I assume you'll know the way once we get nearby."

"Yeah," Sienna said. "I will. Can I take the mask off yet?"

"No!" Robert and Martin said simultaneously.

"Okay," Sienna said.

"Ring off now," Martin said. "We don't want to be traced. See you soon."

Sienna rang off and looked out of the car window. Someting had been bothering her since they had left James' carlot. "Dad, am I supposed to think it was a coincidence you happened to stop at a carlot where the owner is a Martial Arts trainer?"

Robert gave a chuckle. "It wasn't exactly a coincidence but it wasn't planned either. James is an aquaintance. I met him in Afganistan when I was there with Médecins Sans Frontières and he was in the Royal Marines. When your mother called me I realised I was near his place and thought he might help. I wasn't expecting him to offer to train you but it is a good idea if you're determined to do this."

"I see," Sienna said. "You're taking this well, dad."

"Somehow I have a superpowered daughter," he said clinically. "I think I'm in shock and as soon as the adrenalin wears off I'll pitch a fit."

Thursday 27 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Eleven

"Hmm... MMA is a good sport but not the best for real world self-defence," James said. "Krav Maga might serve you better."

"And where would she learn those?" Robert said. "The authorities will be analysing her style and looking at places those are taught to try and find her."

"I could teach her." James gave a wry smile. "I am a licensed instructor. I'd like to help."

"We'll consider it," Robert said. "For now we need to get going. The police will still be looking for us."

James nodded and pushed a flyer into Sienna's hand. "You know where to find me. Good luck."

"Thank you," Sienna said as her father ushered her into the car. As they drove away she grabbed her phone again and called Martin.

"Martin, we're okay!" she said.

"Thank God!" he said. "We were watching. I had to stop Wendy suiting up and rushing over. It's not tested yet. How did you escape?"

"You aren't going to believe this," she said. "My dad came to get us. I have no idea how he recognised us."

"I knew you'd gone to Charlotte's," Robert said. "I was already on my way when your mother called and told me. She recognised your build and way of moving, and remembered the mask from last Halloween. I doubt anyone else would have."

"Ah!" Sienna said. "Did you hear that?"

"I did," Martin said. "I guess it was inevitable your parents would figure it out." He paused. "We're going to have to hide Ryan and Charlotte until things calm down. The police are looking for them because they think they'll know who you are."

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Ten

"Don't worry," James said. "I'll never willingly tell anyone that you were here."

"But you're worried you could be forced to?" Robert asked.

"I'm tough. I have reason to know just how tough I am, but anyone can break." He shuddered suddenly. "I have reason to know that as well." He looked over at Sienna. "You stopped those men from shooting you, didn't you?" he asked.

"I did," she conceded.

"Do you think you could make me not able to talk about this?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sienna admitted. "I don't know how long an ongoing command would last and I don't like doing it anyway."

"Good!" he said. "You shouldn't like it, but it shouldn't present an ethical dillema if I volunteer should it."

He's telling the truth, Ryan said. He's afraid of being tortured into betraying you and wants you to make it impossible.

Sienna just humed non-commitedly and turned her attention to James question.

"I'm not sure it does remove the ethical dilemma completely," she said. "But right now I'm not seeing an altenative. Are you sure about this?"

"I am," he said.

"Okay." Sienna bit her lip in concentration. Don't tell anyone about us being here.

"Woah!" James rocked back on his heels and stared at her. "But it's good that you're thinking about ethics. But more importantly can you fight?"

"No," she admitted.

"So that's why you were avoiding conflict," he said. "It's a good plan but you won't always be able to."

"I know," she said. "I have a friend who does Mixed Martian Arts, He says that he'll help."

Monday 24 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Nine (catch-up post #1/11)

"Huh." Sienna stared at the man. She should probably thank him but words wouldn't come out and she was pretty sure that she was bright red under the mask. "I... Thank you!" she managed finally.

"You can't tell anyone about this," Robert said as he pulled out his wallet.

"No need," the man said. "We'll just check it over and if it's okay, put the plates back on and put it back on sale."

Sienna blinked at that and looked over at the white car. It was indeed lacking number plates.

"That was Mr Hanson's idea," her father said. "When I pulled in and asked if I could borrow a car to go and help incognito he said yes and took the plates off. I hadn't even thought of that."

"Call me James, please," he said. "And I just didn't want the car traced back to me if possible."

"You could have said no," Robert said.

"No," he said. "I couldn't. Not when everyone else is doing everything they can."

"Thank you..." Sienna paused as heard her phone ringing from the bag Charlotte was holding. "I'd better get that." Charlotte tossed her the phone and she answered it. "Hello?"

"Sienna!" Martin said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine but I can't talk right now. Give me five minutes and I'll call you back." She rang off and looked back at James. "Please don't tell anyone we were here." She knew that she could order him not to, but she still wasn't sure how persistant her orders were, and anyway it would be wrong.

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Eight

"Please, stop!" Sienna said. "We have to stop them opening fire on the crowd!"

"That's not a good idea, sweetpea," her father said. "You being there would just make it more likely that they'll open fire."

"But..." Sienna twisted and looked out the rear window. She chewed her lip and as she strained to hear what was going on behind them. Those men had so little patience she was certain that she would hear the sound of gunfire soon. Instead she heard sirens.

"It's okay." Ryan was still clinging to her arm. "The police have arrived and those guys scarpered when faced by trained marksmen." He hesitated as Sienna sighed in relief. "But the police are after you as well." He sounded offended. "They're saying it's because you're a vigilante but you didn't do anything... and I think someone has told them too."

"Another reason not to go back," her father said. "If you're going to this you're probably going to have to persuade the government to leave you alone." He swang the car through a few more turns. "There that should throw anyone off. Thank goodness there's no cameras in the suburbs yet." He pulled into a cheap looking used car dealership. A man came out of one of the portacabins and pointed into the garage.

"I borrowed the car from here," Robert said. "We'll swap over now."

Sure enough their family car was inside the garage. As they piled out the man who had waved them in rushed over and began pumping Sienna's hand.

"I saw you!" He nodded to a TV in the corner. "You were amazing!"

Saturday 22 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Seven

"Don't take your mask off, sweetpea," Robert cautioned as they sped down the road. "Not until we're sure it's safe."

Sienna wanted to ask how he'd known it was her but decided that could wait until they were safe. Instead she twisted in her seat and looked out the car's rear window at their pursuers. They weren't far behind and the guy was still leaning right out of the passenger window and aiming at them.

"Shit!" she said.

Her father looked in the rear view mirror. "Damn, they are pesistant aren't they? Do you think you can take out their tyres?"

"I-" Sienna stared at the sedan following them. "The range and weight is a lot beyond what I've tried before but I'll try." She took a breath then concentrated on the the right front wheel, imaging tearing it away from the car. Nothing seemed to happen but then the sedan swerved a little as if the driver was having trouble steering. "I think it's doing something." She tried to focus all her fear into her psychokinesis to see if that helped. Seeing someone aiming a gun at you certainly helped with the fear thing.

The tyre didn't blow out or come off like she'd hoped but the sedan's driving became increasingly erratic and after a moment she realised that the wheel was twisted oddly. "I think I damaged the steering."

"Good enough," her father said. "They won't be able to shoot or keep up like that." He paused as half a brick struck the man aiming at them as the street's residents came out to block them just like they had at Charlotte's. Some of them were armed with cricket and baseball bats but that was no match for a gun.

"Uh..." Sienna said.

"That will help as well," her father said. "I just hope the police aren't far behind." He spun the car around another corner and sped away.

Thursday 20 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Six

Sienna risked a glance over her shoulder as they ran just as the gunmen's car turn into the street and speed towards them. She swore to herself and started pulling the empty wheely bins from in front of the houses and blocking the road with them. Thank goodness the bin's had been emptied. Full ones might have been beyond her.

"That should at least slow them down." She looked back at the car and saw that one of the men was leaning out of the open window, holding some sort of large caliber gun. It was bigger than the other rifles she'd seen and certainly looked like it might do some damage to her. Fortunately the driver was swerving the sedan to avoid the bins so he couldn't aim properly.

"If we can get to the park we'll have a better chance," Charlotte said. "They'll have to abandon their vehicle to follow us."

"Good idea." Sienna nodded and fixed her eyes on the railings several hundred yards ahead. She sped up a little and tried to ignore the fact that she could hear their pursuers gaining on them in spite of her efforts. As soon as they got clear of the bins the guy with the gun would be able to aim.

"I don't think we'll make it," Ryan said. "Can't you think of anything else?"

Sienna opened her mouth to say no when a white hatchback car screeched into the road just ahead of them and stopped. The door flew open and her father looked out at her, Charlotte and Ryan.

"Get in!"

Sienna was glad the halloween mask stopped him seeing her mouth drop open as she bundled Charlotte and Ryan into the car before climbing in herself. As soon as she slammed the door her father span the car around and took off the way he'd come.

Saturday 15 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Five

"We need somewhere for you to get changed back into your normal clothes," Charlotte said as they ran around the corner out of sight of the police. You're a bit conspicuous wearing that.

"Not yet," Ryan said. "I can hear a third group of gunmen out there."

Sienna stopped running at that and scowled. "Where?"

Ryan's face contorted in concentration. "Just ahead of us and heading this way."

"You can hear them even though I'm holding your hand?" Sienna asked as she looked around for a hiding place. "I thought that blocked you."

"It does," he said. "But apparently I can still hear people if I'm actively listening for them. It's actually easier to make them out."

"Just how many people did they send after you?" Charlotte said.

"Good question." Ryan obviously listened some more because his already pale skin when the colour of porridge. "This group weren't after me they'd just finished their own mission when they heard this group was in trouble and came to help." He bit his lip. "And they've got some sort of bigger gun which they think might work against Sienna."

Sienna flinched. Given the way her shoulder was still aching that seemed very possible and she couldn't be sure she could control them into not shooting. It was hard work. In some ways harder than lifting things.

"I really don't want to test that. What's the best route away from them?"

Ryan tilted his head before pointing to the left. "But they are in a vehicle. I don't think we can outrun them."

"No but we can try," she said.

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Four

She was somewhat flummoxed when the crowd in the street burst into cheers and applause when she emerged.

"You showed them, honey!" One of the men in the crowd yelled. "I don't think we could have held them much longer."

She stood there blinking in surprise for a moment. Usually being called 'honey' by some random guy would have got her back up, but that seemed a bit churlish when he was praising her for doing something he couldn't. The blonde woman standing next to him clearly thought otherwise because she hit her forehead with the heel of her hand  before stepping on his toes hard.

"I'm sorry about my brother, miss," she said. "Apparently he can't avoid being sexist even when he's trying to thank someone for saving us." She smiled warmly. "But I think he's right it was about to turn into a bloodbath before you appeared. Thank you. Do you have a name?"

Sienna froze. She didn't have a voice changer yet but the question required a response.

You can call me Indigo Shadow. She willed her mental voice to reach the whole crowd. And you are very welcome. She looked up the street as the police cars finally turned the corner. The blonde woman turned and looked as well.

"You had better get going, Miss Shadow," she said. "I doubt the police will take kindly to a superhero outdoing them." She choked slightly. "I can't believe I just said that unironically." She eyed Sienna thoughtfully. "But why Indigo? You're wearing black."

You'll know when you see my final costume. Sienna grabbed onto Ryan and Chalotte's hands and rushed off, away from the approaching police.

Thursday 13 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Three

Ryan's head jerked up and he looked at her, before climbing to his feet.

"That's a scary trick," he said even as he headed for the front door.

"I know," Sienna said. "And I am sorry but I am not letting you die here--" She broke off as the door from the dining room to the lounger began to open. Damn! They must have heard them talking or they would be going up the stairs right now. She placed herself between Charlotte and Ryan and whoever was coming in.

A moment later the door burst open and a raven haired gunman with a rifle bust in.

"Hey!" he yelled. "They're in here."

Sienna grabbed at the gun mentally pushing it up towards the ceiling.

Put the gun down! she ordered.

Her opponent froze, blinking his pale blue eyes several times as he tried to fight off her order but in the end he did what she said. Why hadn't she thought of this earlier? It was much safer than having bullets flying around. Vaguely she was aware that she would have to consider the ethics later but for now she was focussed on keeping everyone alive.

"Char grab the gun and don't point it anyone. Take it and Ryan outside," she said. She could hear at least two other people running down the stairs. Don't shoot! Don't shoot! she repeated the mantra until she was sure they were obeying. She could hear police sirens approaching - about time. Stay here and surrender to the police. She pushed that order super hard in the hope it would stick, and repeated it several times as she raced out the door.

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-Two

No one had found Ryan and Charlotte yet, much to Sienna's relief, but as she headed in the broken door she saw them crouching down, hiding. She reached out and tapped Ryan's mind with her own.

He looked around at her and made a 'get down' gesture.

They're just outside, he said in her head. They don't realise we're in here but they've realised there's a way into our house via this one.

Do they others have run away? Sienna asked.

I don't know. Let me see if I can hear. He cocked his head as if listening before nodding. Yes, they know. But they also know you aren't the primary target and... he gasped audibly and broke down sobbing.

"Ryan? What's wrong?" Charlotte rubbed his shoulders gently. She looked over at Sienna. "What happened? I know he was talking to you."

"I don't know," Sienna said.

"T-they didn't learn about me from their usual source," he said between sobs. "M-mum found their website and contacted them. Even sent them photos." He turned slightly and broke down cying in Charlotte's arms.

Sienna was trying to think of something to say when she heard the back door creak.

"Come on," she said. "We have to go."

Charlotte nodded and tried to pull Ryan to his feet but he just kept weeping. She bit her lip and looked over at Sienna.

"I think you'll have to push him," she said. "He won't budge."

If the situation hadn't been so dire Sienna might have said something snippy to that. Instead she focussed all her attention on Ryan, hoping his powers didn't make him immune.

Come on! Move!

Monday 10 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred-and-One

There's not really anyway to dodge a bullet. Sienna knew that and for all Martin had said that he thought it might be possible for her to develop some sort of superspeed using her psychokinesis she didn't really believe it.

She didn't even have time to to get her shield up - not that it could have stopped this - before the bullet impacted her shoulder... or didn't. Just like the tennis balls the day before the projectile stopped dead and deformed violently less than a millimeter from her skin. Unlike the tennis balls she felt more than a tickle. It felt like someone had hit her shoulder with a baseball bat and knocked the wind out of her. She might not have a bullet hole in her but she rather thought that she was going to have a some nasty bruising.

It took all of her willpower not to sink to her knees with the pain but she couldn't show weakness. Not here.

It took her a moment to regain her composure then she looked up at the man who had shot her. He was backing away, his expression terrified.

"Retreat!" he ordered. "This one is too powerful already. We need to consult with Dodona!"

He leapt into the van and his companions followed suit. The last one had barely got his door shut before the driver hit the accelator and barrelled towards the crowd forcing them to flee.

Sienna waited until they were out of sight then raced towards the empty house at the end of the row to check on Charlotte and Ryan. It wasn't safe yet. Ryan had said there was another group of gunmen at the back and having been abandoned by their compatriots they would be desperate and all the more dangerous.

Sunday 9 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page One Hundred

There were six of them this time but only three had rifles. The others were packing hand guns but still had them hostered. They seemed to be trying to negotiate their way through the crowd. It wasn't working.

If only this hadn't happened before Martin had been able to get the schematics. She had a feeling that the lever she could see on the right side was the safety, and she could probably move it, but she didn't want to set the gun off if she was wrong.

The hand guns were easier. She hid behind a post box and concentrated. The guns slid from their holsters and floated away from the men to the other side of the crowd. Sienna tensed with concentration and laid them gently on the ground.

Of course concentrating on that meant her instruction not to notice her and what she was doing slipped and both gunmen and crowd began looking around wildly trying to find who was behind it.

"He's got to be in the crowd," one of them said. "They're protecting him. They're all traitors." He shifted slightly, clearly about to fire.

Sienna dived out from her hiding place and leapt in front of him, concentrating on holding the trigger and pushing the barrel up so it wasn't pointing at anyone. Then she pulled on it with her mind. It was heavier than than anything she had tried to lift previously and he was holding on to it desperately, still trying to fire.

Sienna was so distracted by the struggle that she didn't realise her mistake until one of the others spoke.

"A girl? That's odd. I'll have to tell Dodona about this."

Sienna whipped around to look at the speaker, but didn't have time to take hold of his trigger before his finger tightened on it and he fired.

Saturday 8 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Nine

Sienna waited until the creaking above her confirmed that Charlotte and Ryan were moving then cautiously looked out of the window again. The standoff was still continuing. Though the crowd was a little smaller. Some must have run when the men fired over their heads. Sienna didn't blame them.

She chewed on her lip. Ryan had said the men were about to start shooting and she believed him. She knew she could distract them but first she had to get out there unseen and she wasn't sure how she was going to pull that off. Unless...

She tilted her head as an idea occured to her. She hurried down the stairs to the front door and concentrated on sending a blast of thought at everyone in the street.

Do not notice me!


She'd never tried to influence more than one person at a time and she had no idea if it would work even if she could. She might be doing the mental equivalent of yelling at people not to look at her for all she knew. Still it was her only chance.

She cracked the front door open cautiously and peeked out. No one reacted. She slowly opened it a bit more, just enough to slip outside then closed it behind her. Still nothing. It seemed to be working.

She kept pushing the instruction not to notice her at everyone as she worked he way around the edge of the crowd so she could get a view of the men and their guns.

Thursday 6 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Eight

Charlotte just stood there, ghost pale and staring at Sienna.

"B-but they'll shoot you," she said. "Come with us."

"Someone has to stop them shooting you neighbours," Sienna said, trying to persuade herself she wasn't just as terrified as Charlotte.

"But it doesn't have to be you," Charlotte said.

"Who else--" Sienna broke off as another shoot rang out outside. "Damn it, Char, get going!"

"B-but..."

"Don't make me push you, Char," Sienna said.

"Come on, Char," Ryan said. "We don't have long."

Charlotte visibly shook herself and tried to climb up after him, but she'd never been the most athletic of her friends and failed miserably. Sienna sighed to herself.

"Come on, I'll give you a boost." She linked her hands so Char could use them as a step. As she lifted her hands to try and boost Char up she discovered that her friend seemed to weigh virtually nothing and Charlotte shot up through the hatch and ended up in a heap with Ryan. Sienna was so startled that she jumped back and stared at her hands in confusion. She didn't have super-strength and Charlotte weighed a lot more than the two kilograms she could lift psychokinetically, so what just happened.

"Worry about it later!" Ryan snapped. "They're about to start shooting people you have to move. "And try not to die."

"I certainly intend not to," she said. "Good luck!"

"It's odd," Ryan said softly. "When I concentrate on hearing a few people everyone else fades out. I wish I'd realised that earlier." He pulled the hatch closed behind him and Charlotte.

Wednesday 5 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Seven

"What are we going to do?" Charlotte collapsed onto her bed, hugging herself.

Sienna took a breath and looked up at the lost panel in the corner of the ceiling. She gritted her teeth and pushed it up with her mind. "You can still get from house to house right up there right?"

"Yeah." Charlotte's eyes widened. "Wait you want us to escape through the loft?"

Sienna nodded. "Well, you and Ryan anyway." She started pulling her temporary costume out of her bag. "You can sneak out through the empty house at the end of the row."

"What about you?" Charlotte asked frantically. "You're not thinking of taking them on, are you?"

"I'm going to distract them." Sienna started pulling off her jeans. Ryan turned away and faced the wall, flushing red. "Sorry, no time for decorum." She pulled on the leggings on and quickly changed her top. She was just grabbing the ridiculous mask when a shot rang out from outside. "Damn! They've started shooting--" She broke off as she realised that instead of screaming there was only a deathly silence.

"They fired over the crowd's head to try and get them to scatter." Ryan's eyes were unfocused. "It didn't work. The crowd isn't shifting. I don't think their restraint will last much longer. We should move out quickly."

"Good idea." Sienna nodded. "And will you be able to listen for them and avoid them, or is the mental noise too much."

"I should be able to manage that," he said. "But it will give me an awful headache." He clambered up on a chair and through the loft panel. "Come on, Char."

Tuesday 4 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Six

"Here they are!" Charlotte pulled a pair of white cotton gloves from dressing table drawer. "I have no idea why mum bought me these. They don't even fit. Probably her idea of a joke."

"Thanks!" Sienna took the gloves and tried them on. They fitted her perfectly. "These are great! Thanks again."

Charlotte grinned at that. "You're welcome."

Sienna smiled back and sat down on the corner of Charlotte's bed while they waited for Ryan. After a moment Sienna sighed and gave Charlotte a serious look.

"Ryan's in a much worse state than I imagined from that video and your description."

Charlotte nodded unhappily. "He's falling apar--" She broke off at the sound of a heavy car door slamming. Sienna tensed and saw Charlotte do the same. Apparently that weren't the only ones because within seconds they could hear a massive row going on outside even though the street had been empty when they arrived.

Charlotte snuck across to the window and peeked out before swearing violently.

"We have to get you and Ryan out of here now!"

Well that didn't soound good. Sienna joined her at the window abd saw that a group of the gunmen were trying to reach Charlotte's front door but were being held back by a crowd of the neighbours who were risking being shot themselves to try and stop them.

"We can sneak out the back way," Charlotte said. "Thank goodness for the neighbours."

"We can't," Ryan said. "They're coming that way as well. I can hear them."

Sunday 2 October 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Five

"It's new for anyone to be able to hear me too," Ryan said. "It must be a telepath thing. Do you really think you can help me?"

"I don't know," Sienna said. "But I know I can try." She reached out and touched his hand. "Will you let me--" She broke off as Ryan gave another shocked gasp and pulled her hand back. "Sorry, did you want me not to touch you?"

"No!" He grabbed her hand. "Quite the opposite. When you touched me the voices stopped. It's the first time since that day that I've had quiet in my head."

"And they came back when I removed me hand?"

He nodded. "I know you can't hold my hand forever but please hold it for a while." He gave a pathetically pleading look.

"Of course I will." Sienna's mind raced. Why would her touch block Ryan's telepathy? Martin was going to have a field day with this one. "I have a friend who has been helping me get control would you come with us to see if he can help you too?"

"A friend?" he asked.

"His name's Martin," Charlotte said. "He's Wendy's brother."

"The robot guy!" Ryan said. "He's cool. I'm not sure how he can help but I'll come and see him as long as Sienna will hang around long enough for me to get some sleep afterwards." His expression was conflicted like he was trying not to get his hopes up of escaping his situation.

"Of course," Sienna said. "You need to get out of your pyjamas so I'll have to let go of your hand."

Ryan nodded reluctantly.

Sienna looked over at Charlotte. "Why don't you find me those gloves while Ryan is getting dressed?"

Friday 30 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Four

"I don't know," Sienna said. "It might be something to do with what I can do. Can we come in?"

Ryan sighed and stood aside. From the look on his face he still mostly wanted to be left alone but his curiousity was getting the better of him.

Inside his room it was dim because the curtains were still shut tight but Sienna could make out the bed and it looked like he'd been curled up in it with his pillow over his head very recently. Probably trying to shut the noise out.

He looked awful as well, pale and drawn with terrible dark circles under his eyes. Sienna bit her lip at the sight.

"Has the noise been stopping you sleeping?" she asked sympathetically.

Ryan nodded miserably. "Yeah. Char told you?"

"She did," Sienna said. "She thought I might be able to help."

"I don't think anyone can help with this," he said bitterly. "Mum's right. I am a freak."

"No, you aren't!" Charlotte said. "Don't call yourself that."

Sienna just sat down beside him on the bed. "If you're a freak then so am I." She looked around the room then grabbed a couple of books from one of the boxes and floated them over to him. "That stupid mist got me too."

Ryan's head jerked up and he stared at her for a moment. "Can you hear everyone as well?" he asked finally. "How do you cope?"

"No," Sienna said. But people can hear me when I want them to.

"But not when you don't?" He tilted his head. Can you hear me?

Sienna nearly fell off the bed in surprise. "Yes! Yes, I can. That's new."

Thursday 29 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Three

The next morning Sienna pushed her makeshift costume into a small bag and headed out with Charlotte to talk to Ryan.

Charlotte's family lived in a three-bedroomed Victorian terraced house on the other side of Castleham. Sienna had always felt that it had more character than her family's modern build especially since it had renovated sympathetically. Her stomach had never roiled with nerves before and she found herself looking up and down the street for any sign that the men with guns had found out about Ryan yet.

Charlotte was just as twitchy as she unlocked the front door and ushered Sienna inside.

"Wait here. I'll check mum and dad are out before we go upstairs."

"Okay," Sienna said.

Charlotte was gone for only a few moments before returning and gesturing at Sienna to come upstairs.

Sienna followed her and Charlotte raised her hand to rap on the door of the spare room.

"Go away, Char," Ryan said from beyond the door before her fist connected.

"Come on, Ryan," Charlotte said in a wheedling tone. "We need to talk."

"I don't wan..." There was a long pause. "Char, why are you thinking someone is with you? No one is with you."

Charlotte and Sienna stared at each other for a moment and Charlotte mouthed 'he can't hear you?' silently.

"Who can't I hear?" Ryan actually sounded curious now.

"Ryan, let us in, please," Sienna said. "We think we can help you."

There was a startled gasp and Ryan opened the door a crack and peeked out. "Sienna! Why can't I hear you?"

Wednesday 28 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-Two

"Speaking of costumes I think you should consider some sort of temporary costume if you are going to do this," Martin said.

"This?" Sienna asked. "You mean helping Ryan?"

Martin shook his head. "No, at least not just him. I know you, Sienna. Now the idea has been put in your head you'll decide to go looking for others even if you haven't thought of it yet."

Sienna hadn't. She'd been too focused on how to help Ryan but the moment Martin said it she knew he was right. She would have thought of the idea soon enough.

"Oh," she said. "You're probably right, but why a temporary costume."

"Something you can use to quickly conceal your identity if you come up against those men in the course of your search."

Sienna shuddered at the thought of such an encounter but it was a fair point. She swallowed back her fear and went and looked though her drawers before pulling out a black polo neck jumper and a pair of legging. "I-I'll need some sort of mask and some gloves."

"I have some gloves," Charlotte said. "I'll lend them to you tomorrow. The mask might be a bit more challenging. I suppose you could wear a balaclava."

"I'm not trying to look like a thug or a terrorist," Sienna said dryly.

"What about a halloween mask," Wendy said. "Do you still have that ghostly white one you wore last year?"

"That... that would work. And I think I do." She opened the bottom drawer of her chest of drawers and pulled out the white mask. It was a full head latex type with long white hair. "Not ideal, but it will do the job. I'll stick it all in a bag I can carry around though changing quickly might be a task."

Tuesday 27 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety-One

"Thank you," Charlotte flopped back on the bed. "I still can't get used to this. How can people do what Ryan and Sienna can?"

"I don't know," Martin said. "But I'm pretty sure it's not because they are aliens."

"Hmm?" Charlotte gave him a curious look.

"Those guys with guns apparently think people like us are alien invaders," Sienna said. "That's why they are on this rampage."

"Oh!" Charlotte chewed her lip. "That's... Ryan's not an alien. Mum was there when he was born."

"I didn't think he was," Martin said. "But they do."

"I know," Charlotte said. "I hope it's not too late." She sat in silence for a few moments before looking at Lucy. "Could I see the designs for Sienna's costume please?"

Lucy laughed and pulled her designs out. "Initially I was going to try something like this." She showed Charlotte the original sketch that she had done. "But I decided that wasn't really as good as looked in the drawing when I mocked up the pattern so I decided to go with something that at least nods to fictional superheroes without making her look like an acrobat." She passed Charlotte another, better done sketch of a tailored but not skintight jumpsuit in the same black and indogo of the original design. It also had a short cape attached at the shoulders. Sienna had worried when Lucy first showed her that but apparently the cape would be attached with snap fasteners so it would come off if pulled, and she had to admit it looked cool in the drawing.

"I like the second design better," Sienna agreed. "The first looked a bit like a Star Trek uniform."

Monday 26 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Ninety

Martin arrived within half-an-hour of Wendy calling him even though she'd been very cryptic over the phone. He sat on the corner of Sienna's bed and watched Charlotte's video a couple of times. Then he sat there and frowned, chewing his lip.

"You say he can hear everyone's thoughts all the time?" he said.

Charlotte nodded. "That's what he says anyway and he could certainly hear our thoughts. He reacted quite badly when Dad wondered if the voices he was hearing were real or schizophrenia. Can you help him?"

"Possibly," he said. "If I can remember what mum told me she used to do do stop herself feeling everyone in a room. I know she used to meditate but I think she did something else as well."

"I don't think he could meditate in his current state," Charlotte said. "He can barely focus and it's getting worse."

Martin flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "He needs to be somewhere with less people. He's an introvert from what I remember so if I had to guess this is overstimulating him."

"I think hearing everyone at once would overstimulate an extravert as well," Sienna said dryly.

Martin nodded solemnly. "Yes, but likely not as badly." He watched the video again. "Poor kid. Maybe I should delay getting the dongles and have you bring him over tomorrow instead of waiting."

"I can get the dongles," Wendy said. "You try and help Ryan."

"Thanks, Wendy," he said, before squeezing Charlotte's hands. "I'm not going to swear everything will be okay when I don't know for sure but I do promise to try."

Sunday 25 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Nine

"Hey, girls!" Margaret popped her head around the doot and smiled at them. "Just wanted to check who's staying tonight."

"Not me," Wendy said. "I'll stay for dinner if that's alright but then Martin's coming to walk me home. We're still trying to stop mum letting Keith back in. He's constantly coming around and begging and she's wavering."

"Would you like me to talk to Helen?" Margaret asked. "And why don't you invite Martin to join us for dinner? I'm sure Sienna would like that."

Sienna groaned at her mother's cackhanded attempts at matchmaking then stared at Wendy as she nodded.

"That's a good idea," she said. "I'll call him and see if he's free."

"Okay," Margaret said. "Tell him I'm going to aim to have dinner ready for seven. I'm going to be doing some weeding first. Do you need anything first?"

Sienna shook her head. "No thanks, mum. Where's dad?"

"In the lounge watching the news," she said. "They still haven't caught those men and its been weeks."

"At least no one has been murdered this week," Wendy said. "Have they?"

"No," Margaret said. "Thank goodness. See you later."

After she'd gone Sienna turned and threw a pillow at Wendy. "Why did you say yes! She's trying to set me up with him you know?"

Wendy laughed. "I know, and your not interested, but it's a good idea for him to be here. That way he can talk to Charlotte instead of me acting as a go between. Less chance for confusion."

Saturday 24 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Eight

"You think a little something like not having powers would stop Wendy?" Sienna asked.

Charlotte turned and looked at Wendy curiously. "What did you do? I mean you've obviously done something to make Lu and Sienna laugh like that."

Wendy smirked. "I've been working on a suit of power armor," she said. "It's nearly done. You'll see it when you bring Ryan over."

"It's made from junk and pretty damn neat," Lucy said. "Though it needs painting. We're working together to design a jumpsuit to go underneath it that will have monitoring stuff built in."

"Power armor?" Charlotte shook her head in disbelief. "From junk? And it actually works?"

"She says it does," Sienna said. "But I haven't actually seen her using it yet."

"I'll show you next time," Wendy said. "Martin has finally got the last software glitch ironed out and I've tweaked the things I needed to, so we're ready to do some more testing." Her lips twitched. "I can't wait to show you my deadlift."

"If it's got electrics then I'm not sure using it around Ryan is a good idea at the moment," Charlotte said. "But building a power suit... only you could think this is a good idea, Wendy."

"Yes, keeping him away from it may be wise," Wendy said. "Except if electrokinetics can mess with it I want to know and it's better to find out now than later."

"Electrokinetic?" Charlotte said. "Yes, I guess that fits what Ryan can do--" She stopped as she heard the front door slam. "Sounds like you parents are back. We'd better shut up now."

Friday 23 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Seven

Charlotte looked at her feet and nodded. "We are," she said. "I'm still a bit scared, but you're a friend. I have to trust you, and you were only trying to help Lucy when you pushed me."

"Thank you," Sienna said.

"How's your practice going?" she asked then yelped in surprise as Sienna psychokinetically lifted several stuffed toys from her dresser and sent them into orbit around Charlotte's head. "Woah, that's actually cool!" She seemed to have relaxed now she knew they would try and help Ryan. "And it doesn't get away from you at all?"

"No," Sienna said. "Not even when I witnessed that shooting." She shuddered at the memory.

"I heard about that," Charlotte said. "And I'm sure those guys are still out there. I hope someone stops them."

"I'm sure they are too." Sienna asked. "Has Wendy told you her plans?"

"No," Charlotte said. "But she's been dropping hints, and knowing Wendy's taste in movies I think it involves putting you in a ridiculous outfit and sending you out to be a superhero."

"I'm that transparent?" Wendy asked. "I thought I was being subtle."

"There's nothing ridiculous about the outfit," Lucy said simultaneously. "I don't design ridiculous things."

Charlotte snorted. "I might have known she'd rope you into it too. It's a good job she's not the one with powers or she'd already be on the streets trying to stop those men. But seriously, Sienna, I'm not sure you should be going--" She broke off as Lucy and Sienna began laughing. "What?"

Thursday 22 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Six (Catch-up Post)

"I'm not sure where we would even start with that," Sienna said. "I hope we can sort it out because constantly hearing everyone's thoughts sounds dreadful."

"It does," Wendy agreed. "Do you think you can coax him out of his room, Charlotte? We could do with getting him to the base to see if we can help."

"Plus it's a bit out of the way so hopefully it'll be quieter there for him," Lucy said.

"I was hoping Sienna would come over and talk to him," Charlotte said. "I thought maybe if she showed him her powers he'd be more willing to talk to her." She frowned. "What base?"

"It's the cellar of an old factory where Martin and Wendy build their robots," Sienna said. "I've been practising there."

"Oh," Charlotte said. "So will you come and talk to Ryan? Try and get him to let you take him there?"

"Sure," Sienna said. "Will your parents be out tomorrow?"

Charlotte nodded. "They both have work. Dad only works mornings so we'll need to go fairly early to avoid him."

"I won't stay the night after all," Wendy said. "I want to talk to Martin about this. He said his mother could sense emotions. She must have had a way to filter them and maybe he can remember something about it. See if you can get Ryan to come to the warehouse the day after tomorrow."

"I hope this works," Sienna said.

"Thank you for trying," Charlotte said. "I'm sorry I was such a berk when all this started."

"Pfft!" Sienna waved that aside. "You were scared. I don't blame you. Are we good now?"

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Five

"I wouldn't be surprised," Wendy said. "Though I'm not sure how we'd test it. For now let's deal with the immediate problems. We need to figure out how to help Ryan gain control and how to stop those men finding him. Was he exposed to the mist as well?"

Charlotte nodded. "He was at the park with some friends and went all wonky and started screaming about the noise. They got him home to Aunt Louise and Uncle Terrence but a couple of hours later this stuff with the electrics started." There was a deadly flatness in Charlotte's tone when she mentioned her aunt and uncle and Sienna had never known her call them anything but 'Aunty Lou' and 'Uncle Terry' before.

"Louise and Terrance?" she asked. “Sounds like you aren't happy with them?”

Charlotte's face tightened. "They freaked. Worse than I did about you. They dumped Ryan on the streets and skipped town with their other two kids. Aunt Louise called Ryan a freak to his face and said that she hoped those men shot him. It's lucky he wasn't quite as strung out then and had the presence of mind to come to Mum and Dad."

Sienna opened her mouth then closed it again. There really wasn't anything much you could say to that.

"Well," Wendy said awkwardly after a few moments. "We need to talk to Ryan first. Hopefully if we can help him figure out how to block out the noise he'll be able to learn to control the rest of it. I'm sure it's that that's making him so volatile."

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Four

"Okay." Wendy pulled her phone out. "We'll try. Can you bluetooth me that video, please?"

Charlotte hesitated visibly. "You won't put it on Youtube will you? I don't want those men with guns finding him."

"Of course not!" Wendy said. "How can you think that! I want to show it to Martin later. He's been helping Sienna get a handle on her powers and might have some thoughts."

"Oh, yes!" Charlotte looked over at Sienna as she held her phone up to Wendy's to transfer the video. "Can you help him get control? Wendy says you're doing very well."

"I'll try," Sienna said. "But I was never that out of control?" She chewed on her lip. "If he's receiving a bunch of telepathic noise could that be why?"

"It's a reasonable hypothesis anyway," Wendy said. "He never had a temper like that before, and he's just a kid. How old is he anyway?"

"Fifteen," Charlotte said. "Though he's so short he looks about twelve, and no, he's always been the quiet and practical one."

"Can he project thoughts as well as hear them?" Lucy asked.

Charlotte shook her head. "Not as far as I can tell, but he can hear what everyone is thinking - which is creepy - and he's constantly complaining that his head hurts."

"And he can't stop," Sienna said. "I'm really glad that Martin is wrong about me being a receiving telepath." She frowned thoughtfully. "My head was hurting just before I threw that guy. It stopped as soon as I did. I wonder if there's a connection?"

Tuesday 20 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Three


Chapter Five
Ryan's Problem

A couple of hours later Sienna was sat on Sienna's bed holding her knees and not saying anything. Sienna and the others were waiting patiently for her to be ready to talk but she was just staring in to space.

"I'm glad I have a large bedroom," Sienna said dryly. "Because it would suck to try and host an impromptu slumber party if I didn't."

Wendy just snorted and sat down on the bed next to Charlotte. "Come on, Charlotte," she said. "You said you needed help but you need to tell us what's going on if we're to do that."

"I-I-" Charlotte fumbled in her bag for her telephone, thumbed through her videos and put one to play. "Watch this."

The girls crowded around her and watched the small screen. It showed her cousin Ryan, who was indeed the short, brown haired one though in the video he was anything but quiet. He was seated at the dining table at Charlotte's house and Charlotte's mother was trying to get him to eat. The sound was poor but they could make out him swearing loudly at her before tossing the plate across the room. As it hit the wall the light bulb above his head shatterred and electrical sparks flew from from every socket in the room forcing Charlotte - who was appaently the one filming - and her mother to retreat to the kitchen.

A moment later broke down sobbing before fleeing up the stairs.

"He's flying off the handle at a drop of a bat and that sort of thing happens whenever he does." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And he can hear what everyone is thinking as well. He's refusing to eat say he can't stand the noise and wants to die. Please help."

Monday 19 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty-Two

“Sienna!” Charlotte sounded somewhere between stress and panic. “You have to help me, please! I don't know who else to ask.”

“Breathe, Char,” Sienna said soothingly. “What's wrong.”

“It's Ryan… my cousin. He's like you. Well not exactly like you… Oh! I don't now how to explain this.”

“Char, you're not making much sense but this doesn't sound like something we should talk about on the phone,” Sienna said. “Can you come over to my place this evening or would you prefer to meet somewhere more neutral.”

“N-no, we shouldn't talk on the phone, should we?” Charlotte sounded like she had finally remembered to breathe but was still on the verge of tears. “Can I stay over? I'm too scared to be at home right now.”

Sienna stared at her phone. Obviously whatever was going on with Charlotte's cousin scared her more than Sienna did at the moment. “I'm sure mum and dad won't mind,” Sienna said. “Lu's already staying over. I'll call them to check and then call you back.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte said. “I'll see you later.” She hung up.

“Charlotte wants to come over and visit you?” Wendy said. “That's quite the turn around. She was still terrified of you last time we spoke.”

“I think she still is,” Sienna said. “But it seems something else is scaring her more.” She told them what Charlotte had said before adding, “she sounded panicked.”

“Ryan? Is that the ginger one?” Lucy asked. Charlotte had a lot of cousins.

“I don't think so,” Sienna said. “I think Ryan has brown hair.”

“He does,” Wendy said. “He's the short, quiet one. I wonder what she meant by 'like you'? Do you suppose he has powers too?”

"Seems quite likely," Sienna said. "I guess we'll find out this evening."

End of Chapter Four
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Sunday 18 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Part Eighty-One

"You did," Martin said. "So now let's see what the maximum you can lift and hold today is."

"Okay!" Sienna said.

Martin weighed another twenty-five grams of nuts and bolts and added them to the pile. "Try that."

Sienna concentrated for a moment and lifted them easily. They continued in the vein and she topped out at just over her two kilogram target. She grinned in delight when he announced that she has lifted two thousand and twenty-five grams.

"I told you I could do it today!" she said.

"You did," he agreed. "Do you think you could go higher?"

Sienna considered the question and checked her watch. "I think I could," she said. "But we're out of time. I need to get home. When shall we meet again?"

"I should be able to do your first fitting in a few days," Lucy said. "And it won't be long after that that I'll have the costume ready."

"I want to get at least two more training sessions in before then," Martin said. "I'd prefer to do them daily but I need to go into town tomorrow to buy dongles, so shall we say the day after and you promise to practice if you can do it safely." He looked over at Wendy. "And we need to do some suit checks before declaring it street ready. Shall we walk Sienna and Lucy home before coming back to do those."

"Of course I'll practice," Sienna said. "Shall we go?"

As they headed up the stairs towards daylight Sienna's phone started ringing. She looked at it and blinked in surprise. "Huh, it's Charlotte." She hesitated a moment before answering. "Hi, Char!"

Friday 16 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Eighty


"And you'd know that how?" Sienna asked mildly but she took the advice and tried to relax.

"Logic," Lucy said. "Tensing up rarely helps. When I was first learning to sew I would get all stressed and tense thinking I couldn't do it. Then the thread would get all tanlgled and everything would ruck up and I'd ruin what I was working on. Not good. Once I learned to relax and do everything smoothly it all worked.

"It does make sense," Martin said. "I can see your shoulders drawing in whenever you try this."

"I suppose it does." Sienna took few more cleansing breaths. "Okay, let's try this again." She lifted up the metal bits and began psychokinetically arranging them into a flower again. Except this time whenever she began to feel she was losing control she would stop and breathe until the stressed certainty she was about to drop them faded before continuing. It took longer but she was definitely getting further.

"Looking good," Martin said. "Halfway there."

Sienna paused and took another breath. "It's slow this way, but it is easier. Why is fine control harder?"  She went back to her task.

"I'm not sure," Martin said.

"It could be because it's more mentally sapping," Wendy said. "And since this is a task you're already using your already using your brain for it makes it harder."

"Makes sense," Sienna said as she put the last few bolts in the petals down and then placed the rest in the middle to make the centre of the daisy. "I did it!"

Thursday 15 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Nine

"Okay." Sienna concentrate and imagined scooping them up and holding them at eye level. It was only a few second before the bits of metal lifted off the floor and hover in front of her.

"Good!" Martin said. "Now lets see how your fine control is coming on. Float them over to table and put them down one at a time in the shape of a flower."

Sienna chewed on he lip in concentration. This was the difficult bit. She moved them over to the table with no trouble but she had only shaped a couple of petals on her flower before the rest slipped from her grip and clattered to the table. She gave a heavy sigh. "I hate this game!" she muttered.

"Don't look so disheartened," Martin said.

"I am disheartened," she said. "I can't seem to do this."

"You're getting better," he said reassuringly. "When you first tried this you could barely get to half a petal before dropping the rest."

Which was true in so far as it went but it was still the hardest of the exercises Martin had come up with for her.

Lucy walked over and looked at the half-created flower. "Try again," she suggested. "Repition is the key to success."

"I know," Sienna said. "It's just hard." She gathered up the nuts and bolts and started dropping them into the flower pattern.

"Breathe," Lucy suggested. "You're holding your breathe and you are so tense. I bet this would work better when you are relaxed."

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Eight

Sienna checked her watch as she considered the question.

"Let's leave it," she said. "We've really only got time to see how my general strength and range are coming along before I have to go home, and I really want to see if it's improved again."

"That's fair," Martin said. "Well it's fairly safe to say that your pull and push strength is okay. Since you were pulling and pushing the nerf gun against Wendy's resistance, but it's not quite as heavy as you were dragging yesterday so we'll do a measured run in a bit and start with lifting. Let me fetch the stuff." He an into the other room and returned with two large bags of nuts and bolts and a set of scales. "Remind me how much you lifted yesterday?"

Sienna rolled her eyes at that. Martin knew exactly how much she had lifted yesterday. He'd been keeping notes and graphing her improvement to encourage her. "It was just over a kilo and a half," she said.

"It was fifteen hundred and twenty-five grams exactly," he said. "So let's aim to get over sixteen hundred grams today."

"Is that all?" Sienna said. "I'd like to try and reach two kilos today."

"Ambition is good," he replied. "But be careful. We don't know your limits yet and we don't want to overstress you."

"I'll be careful," Sienna promised.

"Good." Martin opened one of the negs of nuts and bolts and poured them on to the scale until the dispay read sixteen hundred grams. He dumped them on the floor in front of her. "Try lifting them for a start."

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy Seven

“I know it will,” Martin said. “But I'm sure you will manage it. I have faith in you.”

“Wouldn't it be better for her to put the safety on rather than try and hold the trigger against someone trying to use it?” Lucy asked from where she was perched on the exercise bike.

“Possibly,” Martin said. “But all guns are different and she'd need to know where the safety was on the gun she was facing. I'm looking into it but teaching her that would be difficult.”

“Well the guys we're most worried about are carrying AK-47s,” Lucy said.

Martin stared at her. “Are you sure?”

Lucy just shrugged. “Pretty much. That's the consensus anyway. Don't you read Youtube comments?”

“Not if I can help it,” Martin said. “Youtube comments are a wretched hive of scum and villany.”

Lucy chuckled at that. “Yes, but sometimes you find a really good ship there, or at least pertinent information.”

“So you think the comments are correct?” Wendy asked.

“Wikipedia says it's the most popular assault rifle and it looks right.”

“You googled it?” Martin asked sharply.

“Chill, Martin,” Lucy said. “I reckon half the town probably did, so it won't have attracted attention. But no, I didn't. My mum did. She can be a bit morbid sometimes and said that she wanted to know what might kill us.”

Sienna shuddered slightly at that. “So if it is an AK-47 can you get the schematics?”

Once we're back online, yes,” Martin said. “Now do you want to attempt stopping Wendy from pulling the trigger? Or shall we leave that until tomorrow?”

Monday 12 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Six

"Cricket balls!" Lucy said suddenly.

"Hmm?" Martin looked over at her with a puzzled frown. “Cricket balls?”

"We should upgrade to using cricket balls, both for her normal shield and this new thing. They'll hit with more force but still won't do too much damage if the shield fails. If she can stop those we can move on to even more forceful attack in gradual increments."

"That's a good idea," Martin said. "But we'll still need to be careful and avoid lethal force because if it turns out the shield gives all at once rather than stopping most of the force of an attack that could be fatal."

"The principal is good though," Wendy said. "We'll get some cricket balls before the next session." She hefted the Nerf gun. "For now lets move on with the next part of this session."

Trying to stop Wendy firing the Nerf gun at her was more fun than Sienna had anticipated, and by the time Wendy ran out of ammunition she had managed to knock the gun muzzle away from her on most occasions and even pull the gun from Wendy's hands a couple of times before the ammunition ran out.

"That went well," she said before realising that Martin was shaking his head. "What?"

"You need to actually stop her firing," he said. "If you knock a gun aside or grab it there's too much chance of it going off and hitting someone else. The whole idea is to stop the bullets flying around. You need to try and hold the trigger against her so she can't fire."

"I see." Sienna tutted at the ceiling. "That will be harder, but I'll try."

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Five

"You want me to hit you?" Martin tilted his head at her. "I do Mixed Martial Arts you know. Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Sienna said. "It's the only way I can think of to test it. Just be careful with the force. I'd rather neither of us be hurt."

"I will be." He punched her arm. Sienna wasn't much of a judge but it certainly didn't look like a strong punch, more like a friendly punch someone might aim at a friend's shoulder. However hard it was she felt nothing.

"Ow!" Martin rubbed at his hand. "That was like hitting a rock. I'm glad I didn't hit you any harder." He eyed her speculatively. "I think this is a manifestation of your psychokinesis as well. It's some sort of a shield that is right next to your skin."

"Can I turn it off?" Sienna asked. "This could be really awkward when I need a hair cut or if I ever have to have surgery."

"We'll look into that." Martin looked down at his hand. "But carefully."

"Why didn't the balls bounce." Lucy asked. "I mean they just stopped dead."

"It made my entire arm vibrate when I punched her," Martin said. "I think this shield is somehow reflecting the kinetic energy of whatever hits it back into the object. That's why the balls were damaged."

"I'm glad you didn't hit me harder then." Sienna frowned at the bruise starting to appear on his knuckles. "It could have broken your hand."

"Or worse," he agreed. "We'll figure it out. I just wish we could figure out a way to test the upper ranges of it safely."

Saturday 10 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Four

Another ten minutes of more controlled tennis ball throwing and they were certain that it wasn't just a fluke. Each ball they tossed at her stopped less than a millimetre from her skin before dropping to the ground. Martin picked up one of the balls. This one was only dented rather then destroyed.

“Interesting,” he said. “It looks like the damage is proportional to the force the object is thrown.”  He frowned for a moment. “But you can still touch things.” He laid the ball on the table top. “Hit it.”

Sienna looked at him for a moment then slammed her hand down on the ball hard.  “Ow!” She rubbed her hand. “What did that prove?”

“That your conscious shield only works against things moving towards you not if you are the one moving.”

“So she can't be stabbed but she can be impaled?” Lucy asked.

“Let's not test that,” Sienna said.

“No, that wouldn't be safe but there are few things I'd like to check before we carry on.” Martin flicked some water at her. It hit her skin with a splat.

“Hey!”

“Well it doesn't appear to stop liquids,” Martin said. “And since you can still hear and breathe it probably doesn't stop gases either. Pardon me.” He reached out and touched Sienna's arm briefly. “It doesn't seem to interfere with touch. This is very curious.”

“Try and hit me,” Sienna said. “Not too hard obviously but a little punch so we can see if it stops that.”

Friday 9 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Three

Much to Sienna's delight she managed to stop all the tennis balls before they hit her. It was only the second time that she had managed that. Once Martin called a halt she gathered up the balls with her psychokinesis and floated them to the table next to Wendy before turning back to Martin who was grinning. “That went well--” She broke off as she felt a gentle breeze ruffle her hair when there was no wind in here. A split second later there was a dull thwap as something dropped to the floor.  Sienna turned and looked down to see the deformed remains of a tennis ball lying there. It looked like it had been squashed until it gave. She looked up at Wendy who was staring at it open mouthed. “What just happened?”

“I don't know,” Wendy said. “I wanted to see if I could sneak at least one past you but… well… did it even hit you?”

“I don't think so. It might have touched my hair.” Sienna picked up the remains of the ball and examined them. “Well this is new. It got closer than the ones I stop consciously but I've never stopped one unconsciously before and stopping them doesn't destroy them.”

“I'd guess pelting you with tennis balls every day has extended your ability.” Martin said. “Do you mind if we throw a couple more and you not try to stop them so we can test this?”

“I think we'd better. I want to know what's going on,” Sienna said.

Thursday 8 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-Two

“Hah! Yes!” Wendy sounded entirely too enthusiastic about that idea in Sienna's opinion. “Let's do this!”

“We should start with a warm up with the tennis balls first,” Sienna said.

“You just want to show off for Lucy,” Martin said. “But it's not a bad idea to check you've got that fully bedded in before moving on.” He ran back into the other room and returned with two new tubes of tennis balls which he opened before tossing a couple of balls to Wendy and Lucy.

“What do we do with these?” Lucy asked.

“Throw them at Sienna as hard as you can, of course.” Wendy said. “If it hits her we get a point if she stops it she does.” She threw one of her balls hard without warning obviously trying to catch Sienna off guard.”

“Nice try!” Sienna stopped the ball about half an inch from her nose. She pushed it back to Wendy with a thought. “You might have managed to surprise me if you hadn't thrown it at me when I was looking at you.”

Lucy gave a low whistle. “That's pretty impressive!” She threw one of her tennis balls and grinned as Sienna stopped that as well and sent it back to orbit Lucy's head like a miniature moon until the other girl grabbed it out of the air. “Cool!”

“Your control is improving,” Martin said. “Five minutes of this, I think. Then we can move on.” He set the stopwatch on his phone. “I'll keep score.”

Wednesday 7 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy-One

“Yes, I'm thinking about a solution for that issue as well,” Martin said. “But for now this is what we've got. Shall we adjourn to the gym and try it.”

“You have a gym down here as well?”  Lucy asked incredulously.

“We have a third room with some weights and an exercise bike we've scavenged and fixed so we didn't have to buy it,” Wendy said. “But it's hyperbole to call it a gym.”

Lucy's eyes lit up. “I want to see. Improving a gym set up is something else I can help with.”

“Okay, it's not like we can buy more equipment,” Wendy said. “We don't want to do anything that might look like we're training in case it attracts attention.”

“Aren't you forgetting something?” Lucy's lips twitched. When Wendy just looked at her blankly she actually chuckled. “Athlete training for the national trials remember – once my lungs get better anyway. No one will bat an eyelid if I buy fitness stuff. Heck I have some old stuff in the attic that I can probably give you if you need it. You may not need as much as you think.”

“Oh!” Wendy said. “I never thought of that. Come on then.” She headed back to the second room and pulled aside another wall hanging to reveal a third room.

Lucy paused in the doorway checking the wall and the doorframe. “Okay, this looks sturdy. You could easily put a pull-up bar here. That would be a good start.” She surveyed the room. “Okay so you have an exercise bike and some free weights. This is pretty good. I'll bring you books on bodyweight exercise and suggested  plans over next time. For now shouldn't you be trying to shoot Sienna?”

Tuesday 6 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Seventy

“Okay, that makes sense,” Wendy said. “But it doesn't work much like a real gun either.”

“Yes, I'm working on that bit,” he said. “But the main idea with this is to stop Sienna freezing if someone points a gun at her. She needs to react faster than they can pull the trigger because I really doubt she's faster than a bullet unless she can wangle superspeed out of her psychokinesis somehow but she can probably be faster than a finger.” He paused thoughtfully. “Actually some sort of psychokinetic superspeed might be possible, let me think about it.”

“Let me get a handle on the powers I already have before trying to add more, Martin,” Sienna said dryly.  “And that thing is bright orange. I'm not going to freeze having a toy gun that shoots foam bullets pointed at me.”

“Fair comment, that's why once you've got the hang of it we'll paint it black to look more like a real gun.”

“Yes, but I'll still know it's a toy.”

“You will,” he agreed. “But the idea is to train your responses to kick in even if your brain freezes. It's more about not thinking about it being real, acting in that moment before you realise and freeze.”

“I see,” Sienna said dubiously. “I see where you are coming from but I don't think it will work.”

“It does sound a bit wacky,” Lucy said.

“I suppose it does,” Martin said. “But it can't do any harm can it?”

Sienna considered the question for a moment then shook her head. “No, the worst it will do is be a fun way to refine my powers. But we'll need something else as well – these aren't as heavy as real guns are they?”

Monday 5 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Nine

Martin hummed thoughtfully to himself. “Tomorrow at the earliest. I need to check the computer for any kind of malware that might have infected us and passed on the information they needed to locate us. Then I need to get a new dongle or two cash.”

“Leave that bit to me,” Wendy said. “This month's stipend from the trust fund just hit so I'm flush. For now we should get on with Sienna's training.”

“That's a good idea.” Martin said and reached under the desk. Sienna expected him to bring up the tennis balls they had been throwing at her in order to train her to shield but instead he produced a nerf gun and tossed it to Wendy. “Use that.”

Wendy looked from the lurid orange toy to Martin and back again before raising an eyebrow. “What do you want me to do with this?”

Martin chuckled. “Well we can't shoot a real gun at her. We don't have one and can't get one and anyway I'm not convinced her psychokinesis will stop a bullet. Not yet at least though her strength is increasing quickly.”

“So this is a stand in for a real gun?” Wendy still looked as confused as Sienna felt. “But since she probably can't stop bullets what do you want me to do with it?”

“I want you to try and shoot her with it and I want Sienna to stop you firing it,” he said. “Even if it turns out she can stop bullets it's still safer not to have them flying around in the first place.”

Sunday 4 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Eight

“DC? Specifically?” Wendy looked over Lucy's shoulder at the pictures. “Oh, you mean Poison Ivy? I don't think it's that close but I see what you mean – the colours are right and she does have a vegetation motif going on doesn't she?”

“And she's painting her skin green,” Lucy said. “At least I really hope that's body paint.”

“It certainly doesn't scream healer to me,” Sienna said.

“Nor does her name,” Lucy said. “What does a cornucopia have to do with healing? Surely that suggests feeding people. Maybe there's more to her powers.”

“She could be biokinetic,” Martin suggested. “That would fit with the healing and the possibility of other stuff. I'll look into it.”

“You said she had a Facebook page, right?” Wendy said. “Perhaps we should see if she's got contact details and risk sending her an email?”

“Risky,” Martin said. “But it may be worth the risk.”

“Ooh! If you are going to email her tell me before you do,” Lucy said. “I'll sketch up some better costume designs for her build, colour scheme and theme for you to send to her.

Martin chuckled. “Okay, Luce, I'll do that. Are you angling to be Super Lucy Fashion designer to superheroes? Speaking of which shouldn't you unpin the pattern from Sienna soon?”

“Damn!” Lucy bustled over to Sienna and began removing the pattern. “I forgot with all the excitement.”

“Don't worry about it,” Sienna said. “I did the same thing and I'm the one it's pinned to.”

“So when do you think we can have the internet back up and running? Wendy asked.

Saturday 3 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Seven

“And the Star made the connection?”  Wendy asked.

Martin shook his head. “It was very much a fluff piece about how this small place with a low crime rate had a costumed defender who seems to have real powers. It didn't even mention the avalanche let alone the mist. But like I said I recognised the name of the place so I poked around and discovered that it was the same place. She definitely exists, she even has her own Facebook page though she doesn't mention having real powers on it.”

“So the only question is if she has real powers or the Star was embroidering the story to entertain its readers?” Wendy said. “What do you think?”

“My gut says she's got real powers,” Martin said. “Once we're back online I'm going to search the tabloids correlating stories that might be about people like Sienna with magenta mist incidents. That should help clarify things.” He grabbed some paper from the printer. “I managed to print the article about Cornucopia before I had to disconnect.”

“Her costume is absolutely awful.” Lucy was staring at the artists impression and blurry photographs accompanying the article. “She's actually doing the dress like an acrobat thing.”

“It looks easy to move in,” Wendy said.

“Oh it would be,” Lucy said. “But it's so ugly and less than practical. Where do you put your stuff when wearing skintight spandex.” She shook her head. “And that colour scheme and styling… is she trying to look like a DC supervillian?”

Friday 2 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Six

“We'll find out,” Wendy said. “For now stay offline until you're sure we're secure.”

“Of course,” he said.

“Did you find anything else interesting before you had to shut down?” Sienna asked.

“Actually yes,” he said. “Given the source it's probably nothing but I think it's worth mentioning. You may not be the only person with powers under their control.”

“Hmm?” Sienna tilted her head at him curiously.

“Well you know how there's kind of a trend for people to dress up as superheroes and fight crime?”

“Yeah,” Wendy said. “Like that ninja guy with the foam sword. I wouldn't call it a trend but there's certainly more than a few – especially over the Pond.”

“Well I found an article about how one of these people in America seems to have real powers. It says she's a healer and goes by the name of Cornucopia if it's to be believed but as I said the source is dubious.”

“Dubious?” Sienna said. “It isn't the Onion is it?”

Martin chuckled briefly and shook his head. “No, this source does claim to be true. Claim being the operative word. It was the Star.”

“Ah, definitely not a reliable source,” Wendy said. “But you think it might be true?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because it named her as being from a remote town in the Rocky Mountains that was all but destroyed in an avalanche a couple of winters back and I recognised the name. It's the same town my research pegged as the first magenta fog incident.”

Thursday 1 September 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Five

“Just don’t make it black, you’ll look like Darth Vader,” Lucy said.

Wendy stared at her for a moment before hitting her own forehead again. “Darth Vader! Of course!”

“Huh?” Lucy was clearly baffled and Sienna felt much the same.

“Oh sorry, you just reminded me that Sienna and I will both need some sort of voice changer as well,” Wendy said. “Otherwise we could be identified that way.”

“That’s a good point,” Lucy said as she pulled her drafted pattern for Sienna’s costume and some pins from her bag. “But we’d best get on with this.”

She’d just finished adjusting the pattern to Sienna’s body when they heard a yell from Martin in the next room.

“What the hell!” The exclamation was followed by the sound of him smashing something.

“What's happened?” Wendy asked as they ran into the other room. Martin's computer was switched off and the dongle he'd been using was lying on the desk next to him. It had been smashed open and the sim card removed.

“Someone was trying to trace us.” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you think that they located us?” Wendy asked. “It'd be a pain but we can move to one of the back up dens if we need to.”

Martin shook his head. “No, I realised in time.”

“You're sure they don't know where we are?” Wendy asked.

“Well they were trying to triangulate the dongle so they know we're in Castleham,” he said. “But that's not exactly a stretch to figure out. They didn't have time to pinpoint us. I think we need more dongles and only to use them in short bursts until I come up with something better.” He scowled. “What worries me more is that they knew which number they were looking for.”

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Four (August Patreon Bonus Page)

“Okay,” Wendy said as she led them into the other room. She paused then leaned back into the first room. “And eat your sandwich.”

“I will,” he replied.

“Good!” she shut the door and turned back to Lucy and Sienna. “Right, first the armour.” She pulled aside the curtain to reveal it in its alcove. It had changed somewhat since Sienna had seen it – especially the helmet which now had extra pieces added to it to conceal what little of her skin and hair would have been showing previously. Well except for one glaring exception.

“What about your face?” Sienna asked. “That’s still exposed.”

“Oh right, I haven’t shown you that yet,” Wendy said. She reached into a draw and brought out what appeared to be a respirator of some kind and a pair of mirrored ski goggles with some odd technical add ons. “These should do the job.”

“Are you going to keep the mismatched scrapyard look?” Lucy asked. “And would you like me to work with you on a jumpsuit to wear under it.”

“I was planning to spray paint it a single colour but I haven’t decided what yet and it needs some final testing first.” Wendy hummed thoughtfully to herself. “And the jumpsuit idea is great. Could you work some systems into it if I designed them?”

“I think so, yes,” Lucy said. “Though I can’t swear to it. That’s why I asked if you’d work on it with me. I’ve never made wearable technology before but the idea of it intrigues me.”

“You’ll make it great I’m sure,” Wendy said.

“I think you should go with a silvery blue for the paint,” Lucy said. “A metallic one.”

“Metallic is good,” Wendy said. “But I was thinking red or green.”

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Three

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” she said.

“Glad to hear it,” he said. “Now what I think is this gas is being created by someone human and I’m not sure what they want. The powers maybe but given that no one except you has shown conscious powers yet that’s a hell of a lot of collateral damage. Even if there’s one or two a town and they are just keeping their heads down like you that’s still a hell of a lot of collateral damage. I do not like either of these groups.”

“Me neither,” Sienna said.

“Are the lung conditions reported as well,” Lucy asked.

He nodded. “They are.”

“Do the victims who survive make a full recovery?” she asked urgently.

“They seem to, at least the ones from the first incident have,” he said. “It does take a long time I’m afraid.” He looked down sadly. “Of course there’s not many survivors among those it effects that way. You were really lucky.”

“I know I was,” Lucy replied. “If Sienna hadn’t got that wheelchair, if I hadn’t got that oxygen for a few minutes at the Primary Care centre…” she trailed off. “I’m so glad I’m alive.”

There was a brief silence after that but then Wendy cleared her throat.

“So Luce wants to see my armour,” she said. “And then she’s doing the pattern fitting for Sienna’s costume.”

“Oh, I’ll stay in here then,” Martin said. “Give you some privacy. There’s a few more things I want to check anyway.”

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-Two

“Let your gran deal with it,” Martin said. “Now let me tell you what I found.”

“Yeah, that’s important,” Wendy agreed. “What?”

“You were right, it wasn’t the first incident of Magenta fog. It’s been going on for a couple of years at least. So far I’ve found nine incidents including Castleham and the one in America. All over the world, always in obscure places and always in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Castleham breaks the pattern because while we’re on the small side Britain is just too crowded for anywhere to be isolated. Which makes me think whoever is doing this either didn’t intend it or picked here for some specific reason. The fact that the two incidents are so close together indicates that as well. Also descriptions of paranormal events and brain damaged people surround all the areas.”

“What about these paramilitary killers?” Lucy asked.

“Oh, I found them as well,” he said. “They pop up for the first time about nine months, initially it was taking them two or three days to appear at fog sites and they were much less organised but they seem to have gotten better as time went on.” He paused then added. “I found a website for them hidden on the darknet. They think we’re being invaded by aliens and the people they kill are alien interlopers.” He grinned at Sienna. “So are you an alien, Sienna?” His tone made it obvious he was joking.

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” she said.

Monday 29 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty-One

They left the shop laden with fabric and accessories and headed back to Lucy’s house and her attic studio. Lucy was definitely getting better because while she was still slow climbing the stairs she was only slightly out of breath when they reached the attic rather than gasping like a few days ago.

“We’ll do the dress pattern fitting here,” she said. “And then after lunch we can go out to do the other. Too much risk of Mum walking in here.”

“Okay,” Sienna said.

The pattern fitting for the dress didn’t take long. Lucy had made dresses for Sienna before and had a good idea of her proportions and after that they raided the kitchen and made cheese and Branston sandwiches for lunch before heading out to visit Wendy and Martin’s secret workshop.

“Wow! What a fantastic space,” Lucy said when they entered the factory. “So large.”

“It is,” Wendy agreed as she put down another carrier full of food. “We just use the cellars but it’s got a lot of potential.”

They headed down the stairs and found Martin already working on something.

“Hey, Girls,” he said. “I think I have something.” He grinned as Wendy put a cheese sandwich and can of coke on the desk. “Thanks. I think I should warn you Dad called around at the house again after you left,” he added. “Helen threw him out again but I think she’s wavering.”

“I’ll call gran,” Wendy said. “Give me a few minutes then you can tell us what you’ve found.” She pulled out her phone and slipped into the next room. When she returned she was frowning. “Gran’s going to talk to her but she’s worried as well.” She flopped onto one of the seats. “I don’t know what to do.”

Sunday 28 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Sixty

“Yes,” Wendy said. “That’s a good idea as well.”

“And you two will have to help me carry it,” she said. “I’m still getting breathless at the drop of a hat.”

“It is getting better though?” Sienna asked anxiously.

“Oh yes,” Lucy inspected a deep red satin. “For one thing I can laugh without coughing now. Well mostly.”

“What did your coach say?” Wendy asked.

“That I’m to follow the specialist’s instructions to the letter and that he is consulting with her to come up with an exercise regime to help my rehabilitation. He says to treat it like any injury and take it carefully.”

“Sounds like wise advice,” Wendy said. “But it sounds like you’re getting better.”

“I’m just worried I won’t get all the way better,” Lucy said. “I really like hurdling and I was going to the UK trials next year. Coach says that a lung condition won’t necessarily stop me competing if it comes to it but I don’t know.”

Wendy patted her arm, “Trust your coach and your specialist, Luce,” she said. “They know what they are doing. And if you can’t become a world famous athlete you can become a world famous fashion designer.”

“Yeah,” Lucy said. “But I want to do both.”

“Heh,” Wendy said. “You’re ambitious, Luce. Most people would be happy to have the skills to excel in one field.”

“Yeah, well it’s not like an athletics career lasts too long,” Lucy said. “I want something for after and if I’m going to do something I want to be the best and not just a name attached to a fashion line for publicity purposes. Plus I enjoy both so why wouldn’t I want to excel at both?”

“Ah, when you put it that way it seems more reasonable,” Wendy said.

Saturday 27 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Nine

“How is she?” Sienna asked as she examined the fabric. Lucy was holding it over her arm to show her the drape.

“She’s doing okay.” Wendy looked around to check no one was in earshot. “She’s worried about the possibility that those men might attack you but she’s still scared as well. She’s not ready to see you yet though.”

“I can’t blame her,” Sienna said. “Not after I pushed her that way.” She turned her attention back to the cloth, feeling the soft weave between her fingers. It wasn’t quite the same blue as the dress she’d been admiring what seemed like an age ago now but beautifully vivid and had the right softness. Sienna nodded to herself. It was close enough. “I like that.”

“Good,” Lucy said. “And don’t mind Charlotte, she’s always been extremely nervous of anything different. Just give her time to get her head around what happened and she’ll be fine. Wendy and I will keep working on her.”

“Thanks,” Sienna said.

“No problem.” Lucy walked over and looked at some harder wearing fabrics. “Natural fibres I think to allow your skin to breathe so you don’t get too hot.” She selected a heavy, undyed cotton. “This looks good.

“It’s the wrong colour,” Wendy said.

“Oh, I’m going to dye it myself,” Lucy said. “Even if they had something the right colour – which they don’t – someone might remember us buying fabric that matched Indigo Shadow’s costume.”

“That’s a good point,” Wendy said.

“I know.” Lucy gave a smirk. “You’re not the only one who can think of operational security. And on that note I want to buy a bunch of other fabric as well to conceal this more.”

Friday 26 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Eight

Chapter Four
Training Session

A few days passed and the killings had died down though the police still seemed unable to track the shootings. The centre of Castleham had been reopened to the public and most of the shops were open again – albeit with scaffolding and boarded up windows in many cases and unnervingly armed police were on patrol – something Sienna had never thought to see. Sienna went with Wendy and Lucy to choose fabrics for her dress and her costume. She was still wondering why she had let Wendy talk her into this, but if she was honest with herself it felt like a perfectly natural thing to do with her new powers. Perhaps she had watched too many superhero movies and they’d gone to her head.

She had been practising with her new powers as well. She could still only lift light things and push slightly heavier things – nothing like that guy she had somehow thrown – but she no longer had to make herself feel stressed to do it and the weight she could move was steadily improving. Hopefully she would be able to move a useful amount of weight by the time her costume was made. More importantly her practice with her other power had got to the point where she could project a thought into a person’s mind without also forcing them to do it which made her feel better about it. And it would come in very useful. Martin was sure she should be able to hear thoughts as well but so far she had not been able to.

“I spoke to Charlotte,” Wendy said quietly as Lucy held up a bright blue silk that was obviously her suggestion for the dress.

Thursday 25 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Seven

 Lucy waved off her apology. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “And of course not spandex. That would look ridiculous. I’m thinking some sort tough and breathable fabric like you’d use for hiking or climbing.”

“If we could somehow get hold of any without leaving an online trail I’d suggest something stab proof,” Wendy said.

“Yeah,” Lucy said. “There’s a few good stab and slash resistant fabrics out there, but like you say they’re hard to get hold of offline. They're probably too expensive for my budget as well. A good hard use fabric will have to do. I have a few ideas.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Sienna said. “You always make nice clothes.” She paused then added. “Are you still going to make that dress for me?”

“Of course I am,” Lucy said. “I’ve been working on a design for you while I was in hospital. I’ll need to do a pattern fitting for both once I have drafted them. We can do the dress here but the costume…” she trailed off meaningfully.

“We’ll do that at the secret base,” Wendy said. “Hopefully you’ll be a bit better by the time the pattern done.”

“I really hope so,” Lucy said. “Now how do you intend to track down these gunman and stop them killing anyone else?”

“That’s a good question,” Sienna said. “I really have no idea.”

“Martin is working on it,” Wendy said. “But we will have to think about it and make a plan. But Sienna needs to train more first.”

---
End of Chapter Three
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Wednesday 24 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Six

“I think that the killers must have some unusual resources,” Sienna said. “Whoever is behind the gas certainly does… and I don’t think they are the same people.”

“No,” Sienna’s father agreed. “I think they are working against each other, but I think both groups are bad people.”

“Can we talk about something else,” Sienna’s mother said. “We can’t do anything about this and it scares me.”

“Of course,” Sienna’s father said. “Though I think it’s natural to speculate in such a strange situation.” He turned the television off again and looked over at Lucy. “So what time is your mother coming to pick you up, Lucy?”

Lucy checked her watch. “About ten I think. I’ll call her and ask if you want.”

“Please do,” he said.

Lucy pulled out her phone and spoke with her mother briefly.

“Yes, ten o’clock,” she said.

“Ooh, we’ve got time to watch a movie after dinner then,” Sienna said. “That will take our mind off things.”

“That’s a good idea,” Sienna’s father said. “You’re all naturally tense.”

“Yes,” Sienna said and turned her attention back to her meatballs and spaghetti.


*


After dinner the three girls did return to Sienna’s room and put on a movie but only half watched it because Lucy immediately picked up her sketch again began refining it.

“I need to decide what fabric to use for the costume.”

“Not spandex,” Sienna said quickly. That provoked another attempt to laugh that became a coughing fit from Lucy, which made Sienna feel like jerk. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to happen.”

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Five

“Is there any more news from that town in California?” Sienna asked as they ate dinner. “Because it’s not a coincidence is it?”

“I don’t think it can be,” Sienna’s father said. “For one thing there’s video on the internet that shows the fog bubbling up from cracks in the ground and drains but there’s a pattern to it that looks artificial.”

“But how would someone know an earthquake was going to happen there or that meteorite was going explode here?”

“I don’t know,” Sienna’s father said. He curled and uncurled the spaghetti on his fork without eating it. “I wish I did.” He shook his head. “Not that it’s any of our problem. I’m sure the authorities will sort it out.”

“Excuse me, but what town are we talking about?” Lucy asked.

“Oh! You probably haven’t heard because you were in hospital until a couple of hours ago,” Sienna’s father said. “There’s another magenta fog incident. This time in America.” He twisted around in his seat to grab the remote control from the sideboard and flicked on the TV turning to the BBC news channel where news of the earthquake and fog was the top story.

Lucy frowned at the television as she watched the story unfolding. “Yes,” she said. “That’s certainly not a coincidence. Is anyone looking for similar incidents that might have flown under the radar?”

“I would imagine so,” Sienna’s father said. “But as I said, let’s leave it to the authorities. There’s not much we can do–” He paused as the news turned to the shootings in Castletham. “More? What the hell are the police doing? People shouldn’t be able to walk around in broad daylight killing people.” He shook his head angrily. “Is this incompetence what I pay for with my taxes?”

Monday 22 August 2016

Indigo Shadow: Page Fifty-Four

“That’s not a bad idea,” Wendy said. “Though Sienna’s figure is reasonably average.”

“Hey!” Sienna said.

“I didn’t mean that badly,” Wendy said. “I just mean it’s not distinctive enough to identify you from. Subtle changes should actually throw people.”

“Just don’t make me wear a fat suit,” Sienna said.

“No fat suits,” Lucy said. “Far too hot to run in. No high heels either.” She hummed to herself. “You need to think of a name.”

“I thought you thought this was a bad idea,” Sienna said.

“I do,” Lucy said. “But it’s also so much fun I can’t help getting into it. Now name.”

Sienna put her hand over her eyes and shook her head. “I’m surrounded by crazy people,” she muttered. “I really don’t know.”

“What about Push,” Wendy said.

“Boring,” Lucy said. “I think something like Psychic Avenger would be cool.”

“Ugh, no,” Sienna said. “That’s tacky.” She stared at the picture. “What about Sapphire?”

“It’s the wrong shade of blue,” Lucy said. “At least to what I imagine – I just used the closest pencil. I’m thinking more of an indigo colour.”

“Ooh! It's indigo and black!” Wendy said. “Indigo Shadow would be a good name.”

Sienna considered this and then nodded. “I like that. Descriptive of the costume and not tacky.”

“Indigo Shadow it is then,” Wendy said.

“And what are we going to call you?” Lucy asked. “Scrap knight? Junkyard girl?”

“I haven't decided on a name yet, but neither of those,” Wendy said.

“We'll work on it,” Lucy said. “Now what fabric should I u–” She broke off as they all heard someone coming up the stairs. Sure enough a moment later there was a knock on the door.

“Dinner's ready, girls,” Sienna’s mother said.

“We’ll be right down, mum,” Sienna said.