Once Tyrone had fully explained all the features of Tandy's suit, she quickly put the ring on, the suit disappearing into the rink as they returned to the Central Operation System, looking at the wall of monitors that reflected faintly in their eyes.
National City sprawled across the screens in layered data, traffic flows, emergency calls, police bands, anonymous tips scraped and filtered through Tyrone's custom algorithms.
He'd built the system to prioritize patterns, not just one-off incidents. While they were definitely going to stop any crimes they could, it was more important to break down the structure that continuously caused all of these crimes rather than the one-off crimes that had no actual structural effect.
Tyrone's algorithm paid key attention to pressure points in the city, places with high criminal activity, or where people would disappear quietly.
~DING!~
A red box pulsed into existence over a cluster of streets near the waterfront.
"That's it," Tyrone said.
Tandy leaned closer, "It doesn't look like much."
"It never does," he replied, "That's the point."
He expanded the feed. Grainy camera angles filled the screen, an alley lit by flickering
street-lamps, a boarded-up storefront with a hand-painted sign advertising vape refills and phone repairs, kids lingering too long at the corners pretending not to wait for anyone.
Police response time averages twelve minutes in that block whereas ambulance response closer to fifteen. Considering it was such a poor area, there wasn't any of those facilities close nearby, compared to the near immediate response time for the wealthy areas of National City.
Tyrone's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly as he saw this, the structural issues of the City he always understood now directly in front of his eyes.
"From the information gathered, this is a distribution hub disguised as a cash-only front," he continued, "They target poor teens first with free samples, getting them quickly addicted and dependent, before strangling them with debt and blackmailing them to include friends and family,"
Tandy felt her Light stir as she heard that.
"And the victims?" she asked.
"A couple overdoses in the past few months, but none of that has gotten any attention. Just quiet disappearances, no update about today," Tyrone responded and Tandy didn't hesitate at all.
"Then we go," she said simply.
Tyrone looked at her and nodded once.
"Time for our first mission!" Tandy said excitedly.
***
The rooftop they arrived on smelled like rust and rain.
Night had fallen fully now, the city below glowing in fractured neon and sodium light. Tyrone emerged from shadow first, his cloak unfurling around him like living darkness, swallowing sound and silhouette alike.
Tandy followed a heartbeat later, walking out of his magnificent cloak that was used to teleport her alongside Tyrone.
Light flowed from the ring at her finger, blooming outward in a smooth, silent wave. LUMEN VEIL deployed instantly, graphene-weave sealing to her skin, seams lighting faintly before dimming as Lumen Suppression Mode engaged alongside the nano-fibers that formed her mask.
She landed without a sound as both of them were in their SuperHero forms. Tandy's heart raced as every sensation felt sharper once she was actually in the field.
"This is really happening," she said through the comm.
"I know," Tyrone replied, his voice layered and distant through the Duality Comms, "Stick to the plan."
Once he said that, they moved.
Tandy dropped first, Light-step soles kissing the side of the building as she descended, rebounding effortlessly between fire escapes and ledges. The kinetic fibers drank in her motion, fed it back to her in smooth, controlled bursts.
She felt like she was flying without leaving the ground.
Tyrone didn't so much descend as disappear, folding into shadow, slipping through the space between one streetlight and the next.
They reached the alley simultaneously.
Five men stood near the back door of the storefront. Armed, but careless.
"Boss said to keep up with that kid Marcus, he still owes us for the package from 2 weeks ago," One of the men said, lighting a cigarette as they spoke.
"I said I'll check in on him tomorrow," Another responded, and the one who talked first sighed out a puff of smoke.
"I'm just relaying what bossman said, you know how much he wants that dork's sister. Not only is she sexy, she's perfect for luring more idiots in, which means more money for all of us,"
Before another one of them could speak, Tyrone stepped forward and the temperature dropped.
The darkness in the surrounding environment thickened, coiling outward from him like ink in water. The men froze as their surroundings warped, alley walls stretching, shadows lengthening into grasping shapes.
Fear bloomed fast and raw in all of them.
"What the..." one of them started.
Their thoughts betrayed them before their mouths did. Tyrone felt it all, fear, paranoia, the buried knowledge of what they'd done. He didn't amplify anything new.
He just removed the filters. It was one of the powers he had become adjusted to the fastest.
Fear Manipulation!
The men collapsed to their knees, clutching their heads, screaming at things only they could see.
Tandy moved past them without a glance, only handing a chop to the neck to one of the men who tried to grab her, knocking them out.
Then, she continued her way inside the storefront, where the air was thick with the smell of cigarettes and drugs.
She found the first victim slumped behind the counter, a girl who looked barely sixteen, skin clammy, breathing shallow. A second lay farther back, unconscious near a crate of product.
Tandy knelt immediately.
"Hey," she murmured, voice steady, gentle. "I've got you."
She placed her hands lightly over the girl's chest and let her Light flow in a very precise manner. Her constant training along with the LUMEN VEIL's assistance allowed her to regulate the output flawlessly, filtering and shaping the energy into a focused purification wave.
Toxins burned away like mist under sunlight. The girl gasped, eyes fluttering open, confusion giving way to relief as color returned to her skin.
Tandy moved to the second victim without pause, repeating the process. Her Light pulsed softly, soothing as much as it healed, easing panic, stabilizing heart rhythms.
Outside, Tyrone triggered the Burner Tablet, dialing emergency services through a spoofed relay.
"Multiple overdoses," he said calmly. "Back room of the storefront on Harbor and Sixth. Victims stabilized but need immediate transport."
He ended the call before questions could be asked. The fear field dissipated as quickly as it had formed. The men outside collapsed unconscious, alive but broken of resistance.
Tandy stepped back into the alley just as sirens echoed faintly in the distance.
She looked at Tyrone, at the living shadow, at the stillness beneath the power.
"We did it," she said, breathless. "We actually, "
"Time," he cut in gently.
He swept his cloak around them both.
Darkness closed in, not cold, but absolute and the city vanished around them. A heartbeat later, they were gone.
They reappeared on the mansion rooftop, night air rushing back in like a held breath finally released.
Tandy laughed softly, exhilaration finally breaking through.
"That was," she started.
"Nice," Tyrone finished.
She turned to him, Light dimming as the suit retracted back into the ring. Her expression was bright, fierce, alive.
"We saved them," she said.
"Yes," he agreed. Then, quieter, "And we'll save more,"
Below them, National City kept breathing, unaware, unchanged, but no longer unguarded.
Somewhere in its streets, sirens grew louder, and the duo quickly made their way back to the Center of Operations, looking for their next mission.
***
( Thoughts on New Cover? )