Chapter 1
“Authorities report another overdose on the latest booster drug by Shaw labs. The victim was found yesterday evening with high levels of G3 in their blood. This marks the sixth victim in just over two years.”
The broadcast droned on through the office as Devon scanned the footage he had collected the previous night. He paused on an image of a girl with dark blue hair running by an electronics shop. “I know it's you,” he whispered. Two breaths passed before two knocks thumped at his door. “Come in Kegan.”Kegan entered, running a hand through his black hair as he crossed the threshold. “I’m sorry Dev, I don’t see it, for starters she’s got a physical ability and all the others are mental.” He closed the file labeled Melody Mare. “Higher rank than the others too.” He held the file over the desk.Devon didn’t reach for the file, instead he grabbed the remote and turned the TV up. “She disappeared four months after the boy went missing, I grabbed some footage last night after the report of the boy's body came in.” He slid away from the computer nodding at Kegan to take a look next. Kegan pursed his lips, a curt grunt escaping his throat as he dropped the file in place. “Right, so if someone is behind this you think they are just switching up the profile now?” He wandered over to the other side and looked at the still image of the girl. “Where did you get this?”“Doesn’t matter,” Devon said flatly as he pressed play.Kegan paused the video immediately. “Yes, it does, Devon.” His tone was more firm now. “Deliveries, clean. Vendors, clean. Does this mean you’re going to break into Shaw Labs next?”“Not a bad idea, I know at least one bastard in there.” Devon started trailing off as the broadcast continued.“Up next, Darius Shaw to address the growing concerns around the G3 Booster.”“Be quiet Kegan, I want to hear his latest spin.” Kegan bit his tongue and took in a deep breath as they waited for Darius Shaw to take the stage.A message came up on screen.‘The Kayden Whitmore memorial service will be held in three days at his mothers house. His family asks that anyone who felt wronged by Kayden's crimes contact them directly so the service can remain in remembrance of their son and brother.’Devon watched, unblinking until the words started to fade. A man entered the screen from the right and the screen displayed his name at the bottom Darius Shaw: Chief Executive of Shaw Laboratories.Devon sneered as the man took the podium and started to speak.“I’d like to offer my condolences to the Whitmore family, in this trying time. I know this must be difficult for all of you.” The sound of his voice sent a sharp heat through Devon’s spine as Shaw paused to look around the crowd.“In the wake of recent events I’d like to also announce that we have agreed to share any information the Lights End officials request to aid the investigation. First and foremost, I want to reiterate, our latest boosters are proven to be non addictive and remain the safest option for anybody trying to get a little extra push in their daily and work activities.” Kegan cleared his throat and Devon shot a finger up, not looking away from the TV.“However, we continue to encourage their use in moderation. Any drug taken to excess has side effects, sometimes these are fatal as we’ve unfortunately seen today.” Shaw shifted to face the Whitmore family. “Your family will be in the thoughts of all of us at Shaw Labs, and I would like to offer counseling to help you and your family after this tragedy.”Kegan shut the TV off. “Yep, seems guilty to me.” He said dryly as he stood back up to leave, pausing at the door. “We should be focusing on how he got the Booster. 17 years old, weak with his ability, we know why he was using it Devon. The where and how are the important parts in my opinion.”After Kegan closed the door, Devon waved his hand. A shimmer started to form next to his desk and an image of the girl from the footage appeared. He leaned back in his chair, “Why would they break the pattern with you Melody?” He stroked his beard as he squinted at the image.“They tricked you somehow, according to your file you wouldn’t have gone quietly, but why?” He waved his hand again and several other images started to form going down a line. The six previous missing teens, now found dead.“I need more footage don’t I?” He whispered to the images before waving his hand one last time and they all dispersed into nothing. As the light flickered around he went straight to his coat, throwing it on and grabbing his hat in one swoop.Devon opened his door abruptly and stormed over to a cabinet to grab some gloves. “I’m sure you realized I’ve taken over the ground work on this one Kegan, I’ll be back later tonight.” He continued moving, like a chain reaction, not stopping for anything.Kegan rubbed his eyes fighting back a laugh. “I’m going to guess you don’t mean talking to the witnesses again do you?”“Stories aren’t going to change but now I know what I’m looking for.” Devon finished slipping on his gloves and strode over to the door.Kegan composed himself before speaking again. “You do realize that just because they can’t see you doesn’t mean it's not breaking and entering, right?”Devon shrugged as he opened the door to the stairs. “Warrants are for the guys that exist, remember?”Devon shimmered and began to fade, the colors draining from him until all that remained was a faint outline, rippling like a mirage.“I’ll be back tomorrow, don’t wait up.” His words were almost a whisper and Kegan shrugged at someone else, biting his tongue as the door knob clicked opening the door.Devon slipped out, shutting the door quickly behind him. The wind nipped at his face as he slid through the streets. The snow flurries moved at random around him, the only movement that kept the streets from looking like a fresh painting with no signs of life around him.Illusions held over his footprints, disappearing once he was too far away to be followed. The air always felt more bitter after a storm. The elevation plus being this far north already made it hard to breathe, Devon smirked at the thought. The streets belonged to him when the weather got bad enough. Everyone else hid in their homes until they needed to get back to life. The fresh snow and ice couldn’t hinder him, not anymore. He stopped for just a moment, taking in a full deep breath, exhaling slowly, tasting the air, then starting again. Thirty minutes later and no signs of followers Devon broke stride, heading back to the shops. Once Devon arrived at Pelton Electronics he watched, verifying the owner wasn’t working late today. After some time had passed he made his way to the door, dug through his pocket, pulling out a heating coil and his code breaker, “There you are old faithfuls.”After carefully setting the code breaker on the window sill and attaching the coil to the first hinge on the door he pulled his lock pick out next and got to work on the handle. “Lets hope the old man didn’t notice I was here the other day.” He whispered.Even if the man had it wasn’t likely for anyone in this part of town to spring for a new security system if nothing actually went missing.The lock clicked a moment later, Devon nodded as he tucked his pick back in his coat and moved the coil to the next hinge.As the ice melted he picked up the code breaker and adjusted the settings. Once it was ready he grabbed the coil, dipped it in the snow at his feet and pocketed it before moving in.The alarm ticked from across the room. Hurrying over he attached the device and hit run, the alarm was disabled in a moment. “Thanks old man.”He left the code breaker attached to be sure the alarm wouldn’t reset and moved down the hallway to the main computer, plugging in his drive. Once logged in he found the footage from the day Melody went missing.‘There you are,’ he thought as he slowed the footage as four trucks drove by and into the delivery center across the street. He pulled out his note pad, and sure enough, only three trucks reported arriving back that day and one reported to be broken down. He tried going forward to when Melody went missing, but just like the night before the footage was corrupted.He copied the new footage to his own drive and gathered his things for his next destination.The delivery center took up a city block on its own. The truck had finished its booster delivery before breaking down but wasn’t on the right road to be heading back to the center.The next destination would be it for the day and getting in went much like the first. This time though, he pulled the files from his drive first and ran the footage in order of her day as he pulled up this shops sections with her.After splicing all the videos together he watched through it, fast forwarding through her day. ‘What were you doing kid?’ sweat started to bead on his forehead as he watched her last day.The girl didn’t know subtlety. A tank top in the freezing cold, casually getting into fights with other enforcers. She even ripped out a door frame of a different shop.‘The tank top almost makes sense I guess,’ his mind wandered to the enforcers he knew. It was almost like a uniform for the men but generally speaking the women still would stick to the latest styles up here in Light’s End.He started humming to the footage as a thought creeped in. why would someone as gifted as her take these low end jobs? Confidence and skill well beyond her age.His breathing started to get heavier and he checked the time. Nearly four hours of being invisible.He sighed and closed the footage that he had, before shutting down though Devon wanted to see if this camera had anything else. He skipped to the night, and just like with the last shop, more corrupted footage until the time stamp of 5:04 AM.He pulled out his notepad, wanting to make sure he kept that time.As soon as he had that written down he heard the front door open with a chime.Devon scrambled, removing his drive, closing the security feed and tucking back into a corner. When he looked at his hand he could see it starting to fade back into existence so he dropped the invisibility all together, for now.No longer feeling the strain of his ability Devon slowed his breathing making sure to stay quiet from the corner as he listened.“Don’t know who you are, but I know you’re back there. I can see my alarms been turned off.” The voice was shaky but young.Devon slid over closer to the door to listen. He could hear something scraping the floor.“Listen, I don’t want any trouble, just leave whatever you were gonna take and go.” The voice was getting closer.Devon reached for his ability, feeling it take hold he peeked around the corner. The apparent shop owner was pushing the entire front counter slowly down the hallway, no sign of straining.Devon pulled himself back into the room, pulling his shirt over the bottom half of his face and grabbed the mouse off the desk. He made an illusion of Melody running to the room on the other side, chucking the mouse to make some noise from the other room.“You’re back?” The words were quick and breathy, and the shop owner now rushed the counter up against the door, staying to hold it as Devon reached for his ability again and snuck out of the now safe room. He barreled into the front door making sure to trigger the chime.As he pushed his way out an image of a dog escaped the shop and ran in the opposite direction of Devon. After a block he realized he had been holding his breath, finally exhaling and then gulping down the cold air again he groaned and jumped into an alley. After hiding behind some garbage he dropped his invisibility again.A few short breaths later he grabbed a handful of snow, shoved it into his mouth, swallowing down the cool wet sensation.
