[The cover shows Octa-Green struggling as something off-
screen rips the shadows away from her.]

____________________________________________________________________________
.|, COHERENT COMICS PRESENTS An ASH Universe Story
--+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
'|` SHADOW GIRLS #9 Stealing Shadows
copyright 2022 by Dave Van Domelen
____________________________________________________________________________

[June 14, 2027 - Kips Bay, Manhattan Autonomous Sector]

Octa-Green kept to the shadows and rooftops, but was alert for security
cameras and other sensors as well. Kips Bay wasn't half disaster zone like
some neighborhoods, nor was it a construction site like Stuy Town. It had
never quite fallen below viability, and the shopping center had even stayed
mostly open during the roughest times. Now that Manhattan was becoming
something like respectable again, people who wanted to be near the power
center at the Scott Building found Kips Bay was a nice enough place to live
without being too obviously in anyone's turf.
That didn't exactly make it a safe place for the Morning Stars to hang
out, though, which was why Green hadn't told the others she'd be out this
way. But as an obvious waystation between the Cybernostra's core in Little
Italy and the Scott Building, she figured that it would be prime hunting
ground for Doctor Jacky and Baron Saturday...the Cybernostra they'd
encountered in Stuy Town the other day had probably been passing through
here, or planned to, before they were waylaid.
She pulled one of the Screamers out of her belt pouch and double-checked
the arming button. Black Opal had rigged the devices in response to Hexa-
Blue's claim (over Icosa-Pink's strenuous objections) that there was no way
to remove cyber-loas in the field. The Screamer would be stuck somewhere
hard to access on a victim, such as the middle of their back (and hope they
didn't have weirdly jointed cyber-arms) and then set off what amounted to a
rape alarm. That'd get the attention of the Hangmen, who could presumably
help their cyberjacked comrades. So, the plan was to find the jacked
Cybernostra, trail them a little while to get some idea where they might be
going, then slap on a Screamer before they could vanish into Jacky's body
banks.
"Oooh, what's that?" asked a voice from behind her.
Whirling, she could only barely make out two glints of eyeshine in the
darkness.
One of Bathory's catboys, no doubt. Not a big threat directly, but her
plans for tracking any victimized Cybernostra were definitely out the window
now. She fell into a fighting stance, putting the Screamer back in her belt
as she did so.
"Scat, cat," she snarled, the voice distorter around her throat turning
it into an almost animalistic growl. "This is not a healthy neighborhood for
your sort."
"Oh, and it's so great for your *sort,* little birdy?" the darkness
mocked. "Should Inky whistle for the hangman and see which of us swings
highest?"
Octa-Green pointed the back of her left fist at the catboy and flared
her gem for just a moment, a trick she'd figured out a few weeks ago. It
should have outlined her target, but instead he vanished along with the
shadows...all except for his eyes, which brightly reflected the verdant
flash.
"Tsk, tsk, greenhorn, no getting rid of the shadows, no no! The shadows
are Inky's friends!"
And suddenly he was in front of her, a hand clamped around her wrist,
she reflexively twisted to break the hold, and then gasped as the shadows
around her arm were pulled off in his grip!
"The shadows like Inky more than they like YOU," he taunted, giggling.
Aiming at the sound, Octa-Green lashed out with a lightning punch from
her right, and was gratified to feel fist strike bone, but it was muffled, as
if Inky were more fur than flesh.
"Ow! That HURT!" Inky whined. "Oh, what will Inky DO?"
"Run?" Octa-Green suggested. There was no way she was backing down from
this third-person-talking furball, but a prolonged fight wasn't a great idea
for either of them. Inky was right about the Hangmen coming to call
eventually.
"Run? Run run run got the zoomies!" Inky started racing around the
rooftop, sometimes in shadow and sometimes in light, and every time he got
close he pulled away more of her shadowy sheath, despite her best efforts to
hold onto the power.
But she didn't need the power, she had the skill and just needed to land
a solid blow.
Assuming there was anything solid to hit....

* * * *

[Same time - Battery Park, Manhattan Autonomous Sector]

Maddie looked around the restaurant while she waited for Jessa, who'd
texted that she was On The Way. Goncharov's Clock Tower was a quirky place,
decorated with memorabilia from TwenCen mob movies and otherwise having a
vibe that suggested skulduggery behind every privacy curtain. The privacy
curtains were no relic of the past, though, incorporating extremely effective
anti-eavesdropping tech, both mundane and anti-telepathic. That made it a
favored place for MetaPsych employees to relax off the grounds of the World
Trade Center campus, since it was technically not At Work but still let the
telepaths on staff shut out the mind-noise of the city and enjoy a meal with
only those minds they chose to be with. For Jessa, it was a natural place to
head for dinner. For Maddie...eh, it wasn't too lnog of a walk from
Chinatown and there weren't *that* many other restaurants near Chinatown that
weren't Chinese these days. That was slowly changing, but anyone could be
excused for seeking a little variety once in a while. As long as they only
met at the Clock Tower once in a while, it wouldn't raise too many
eyebrows...and Maddie suspected that the eyebrows she was most worried about
already knew too much.
She looked over at the big clock over the bar, which itself was
cunningly wrought to evoke the exterior of a clock tower at night.
"Caught you looking," Jessa said as she slid into the booth from the
other direction. "Ordered yet?"
Maddie nodded. "I told Andrey to hold it until you'd ordered, though."
Jessa turned to the waiter, who dressed the part of a mid-TwenCen Mafia
stereotype, and gave him a quick look. He nodded, and tapped out the order
on his tablet.
Maddie resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. No one in the Clock
Tower was impressed by telepathically ordering, least of all (anymore) Maddie
herself.
"Okay, okay," Jessa smirked, pulling the beaded curtain shut. The view
through the curtain immediately blurred, and Maddie felt the faint thrum that
she knew came from some of the more esoteric countermeasures.
"Before we get down to the serious business, and before Andrey comes
knocking," Maddie nodded towards the curtain, "what do you think of my
student's theory about our mutual friend?"
There was privacy, and there was excessive trust. Unless she absolutely
had to, Maddie was not going to name any names, even here.
Jessa shrugged. "I've got access to a lot more data than your student
does, but she did reach some surprisingly correct conclusions based on what
she did have access to. Oh, I'm not saying our friend singlehandedly made
things worse. There were other players five years ago who had a vested
interest in not letting things just fade out, and if the applecart hadn't
been upset by our friend, someone else almost definitely would have done it
soon enough. Not to get all Hari Seldon, but the historical inevitability
was there. Well, not totally inevitable, but I don't think anyone had a full
enough picture of Manhattan five years ago to make all the right decisions.
And remember, I was kind of on the wrong side of things at the start there, I
don't like admitting that I was being used, but in retrospect I think some of
my decisions were...shepherded. A certain puzzling bastard laid plans a lot
deeper than even his allies suspected."
Maddie nodded. Rebus, the Anchor who helped found the Conclave of
Super-Villains, had also set himself up for a time as a false Odin, setting
the entire city to hunting Warden. Given how wide-ranging Rebus's plans had
been, going way beyond anything even Jessa could (or would) confirm, it made
sense that Archangeli had been laying the groundwork even before Warden
started his crusade. But there'd been no sign of Rebus for years, and rumors
that he'd angered the gods and...that had been that.
"Well, I doubt we'll unravel that riddle any time soon," Maddie
shrugged. "On to the other order of business, if you can summarize it before
our drinks arrive?"
"Short answer, while having the gems mounted in the pectoral dampened
their powers a LOT, our best guess is that having someone wearing the thing
around the gems would...blunt them, somewhat. You've told me some of your
concerns, that the girls seem to be going to more extreme versions of
themselves?"
Maddie nodded. "The very first day I met most of them, one pointed out
that they already knew that the gems sharpened and enhanced their
personalities, not just their physical abilities. But lately, it's gotten
worse. Verging on obsessive behavior, and our fifth member didn't seem to be
all that stable even without her gem."
"Looks like you and the girls have a decision to make, although wait too
long and they might not be capable of rationally making that decision," Jessa
frowned. "But one last warning, the cost won't just be a potential weakening
of their powers. I'm pretty sure this pectoral will bond to you if you leave
it on too long...and no, I don't know how long is too long, but I doubt it's
more than a few days. More likely a few hours."

On 11/22/22 1:40 PM, Dave Van Domelen wrote:
> [The cover shows Octa-Green struggling as something off-
> screen rips the shadows away from her.]

O shit :o

> Octa-Green kept to the shadows and rooftops, but was alert for security
> cameras and other sensors as well. Kips Bay wasn't half disaster zone like
> some neighborhoods, nor was it a construction site like Stuy Town. It had
> never quite fallen below viability, and the shopping center had even stayed
> mostly open during the roughest times.

Speaking from a timeline where the malls are closing, that's impressive

> The Screamer would be stuck somewhere
> hard to access on a victim, such as the middle of their back (and hope they
> didn't have weirdly jointed cyber-arms) and then set off what amounted to a
> rape alarm. That'd get the attention of the Hangmen, who could presumably
> help their cyberjacked comrades. So, the plan was to find the jacked
> Cybernostra, trail them a little while to get some idea where they might be
> going, then slap on a Screamer before they could vanish into Jacky's body
> banks.

Hmmmmm, reasonable.

> "Oooh, what's that?" asked a voice from behind her.
> Whirling, she could only barely make out two glints of eyeshine in the
> darkness.
> One of Bathory's catboys, no doubt.

^owo^ *notices u*

> Octa-Green pointed the back of her left fist at the catboy and flared
> her gem for just a moment, a trick she'd figured out a few weeks ago. It
> should have outlined her target, but instead he vanished along with the
> shadows...all except for his eyes, which brightly reflected the verdant
> flash.
> "Tsk, tsk, greenhorn, no getting rid of the shadows, no no! The shadows
> are Inky's friends!"

Huhhhhh. :o

> And suddenly he was in front of her, a hand clamped around her wrist,
> she reflexively twisted to break the hold, and then gasped as the shadows
> around her arm were pulled off in his grip!
> "The shadows like Inky more than they like YOU," he taunted, giggling.

Welp. D:

> "Run? Run run run got the zoomies!" Inky started racing around the
> rooftop, sometimes in shadow and sometimes in light, and every time he got
> close he pulled away more of her shadowy sheath, despite her best efforts to
> hold onto the power.

This is a heck of a creative fight. X> <3

> Goncharov's Clock Tower was a quirky place,
> decorated with memorabilia from TwenCen mob movies and otherwise having a
> vibe that suggested skulduggery behind every privacy curtain.

Oh my god that's right you said you were gonna include this. X3 <3 Delightful.

> The privacy
> curtains were no relic of the past, though, incorporating extremely effective
> anti-eavesdropping tech, both mundane and anti-telepathic. That made it a
> favored place for MetaPsych employees to relax off the grounds of the World
> Trade Center campus, since it was technically not At Work but still let the
> telepaths on staff shut out the mind-noise of the city and enjoy a meal with
> only those minds they chose to be with.

Awwwww, lovely.

> She looked over at the big clock over the bar, which itself was
> cunningly wrought to evoke the exterior of a clock tower at night.

Delightful~

> Jessa turned to the waiter, who dressed the part of a mid-TwenCen Mafia
> stereotype, and gave him a quick look. He nodded, and tapped out the order
> on his tablet.

It's like a maid cafe! n.n He's going to use his tommy gun to make your meal
more delicious!

> There were other players five years ago who had a vested
> interest in not letting things just fade out, and if the applecart hadn't
> been upset by our friend, someone else almost definitely would have done it
> soon enough. Not to get all Hari Seldon, but the historical inevitability
> was there.

Heeheehee

> Maddie nodded. Rebus, the Anchor who helped found the Conclave of
> Super-Villains, had also set himself up for a time as a false Odin, setting
> the entire city to hunting Warden. Given how wide-ranging Rebus's plans had
> been, going way beyond anything even Jessa could (or would) confirm, it made
> sense that Archangeli had been laying the groundwork even before Warden
> started his crusade.

Mmmmmm, fair...

> But there'd been no sign of Rebus for years, and rumors
> that he'd angered the gods and...that had been that.

He sure did. o3o;

> You've told me some of your
> concerns, that the girls seem to be going to more extreme versions of
> themselves?"
> Maddie nodded. "The very first day I met most of them, one pointed out
> that they already knew that the gems sharpened and enhanced their
> personalities, not just their physical abilities. But lately, it's gotten
> worse. Verging on obsessive behavior, and our fifth member didn't seem to be
> all that stable even without her gem."

Hrmmmmm, I see...

> "I still have some left," she mockingly pointed at her right fist. "How
> about I stick 'em where the Sun doesn't shine?"
> "Oooh, butt stuff on a first date?" Inky smirked. She couldn't see his
> face, but she could definitely tell he was smirking.

XD Jeez, she's _trying_ to be stylish, nerd

> That's when she let him have the reverse "Wing Chun" style kick in the face.
> Maybe she'd never been on Michelle Yeoh's level as a normie, but even at half
> power she was good enough to manage Yeoh's moves now.

HELL YEAH. :D

> "You have my shadows, and now you have my...sole," Octa-Green taunted as
> she turned the attack into a cartwheel and sprang away. "Or aren't you
> getting your kicks anymore?"
> "I'd say I'm not into feet, but let's save some mystery for next time,"

X3 Good banter.

> "What kind of...!" Maddie choked off the sentence and stared daggers at
> Dhriti. They were kids, and Jessa was right, the gems were making them do
> stupid things without the pectoral's moderating influence.

X>;

> "Did he really refer to himself in third person, like Killgamesh did?"
> Liv asked. "Because that is really annoying after a while, I wonder if
> whatever's giving these guys extra power is doing something to their brains
> so they can't just say 'I' like a normal person, yah?"

Oh dear. X3;

> A friend of mine who
> does counseling suggested some journaling exercises I want you to do, try to
> get a handle on these extremes before one of you gets killed acting out your
> iconic inner nature or whatever."
<snip>
> Power up, type in your answers to the questions, then power down and see if
> you still think the answers you gave are reasonable."
> Maddie hoped it would shock them into recognizing the extremes to which
> they'd been going, but worried that the effects of the gems had already
> started bleeding over into their regular lives.

Mmmmmmm. *nodnods*

> Ah, for the simpler times when she only had to worry about things like
> friends being handcuffed to nerve gas bombs while half the city chased them
> through the night.

You know, now that I've been thru the pandemic, relatable. x-x

> Goncharov is to mafia movies what Suicide Squid is to comics. Instead
> of rec.arts.comics in the early 90s, though, it involves Tumblr in the early
> 2020s.

Yeah, that's a good summary. :>

> Jessa has enough insider
> knowledge that she might be aware of the general shape of the Pyramid Scheme,
> but it's one of those things she has not shared with Maddie...the fewer
> people know that apotheosis is possible, the better for everyone.

Yeah. o3o;

> Wing Chun (1994) is a real movie, and Michelle Yeoh is awesome in it,
> kicking people in ways one would not think humanly possible.

:D :D :D

Drew "watched Everything Everywhere All At Once recently and it was AMAZING" Nilium