Chapter 19

I was starting to make my inventions work. But strangely only after Fran lost her powers, I guess the need to protect us made something click. I was able to develop all of my new invention ideas more quickly and they almost just worked like magic, exactly how I intended them to. 

I can keep us safe now and Fran won't have to sacrifice her time anymore. I'd been keeping the local news on to see if the shadow men would cause any issues for the public but it seems when Fran disappeared from her super hero work, things remained peaceful without her. Anything that did pop up was about Thorne and how she was able to stop the shadow men now. Some stories popped up questioning where Fran, "the first super hero" had gone but those were quickly forgotten. 

It seems there weren't any bad repercussions for Frans wish to have her powers gone... Which is definitely suspicious. Fran was constantly fighting monsters, even after Thorne got here, and now that Fran has backed off Thorne is doing fine still? Something fishy was going on here. 

I played with a metal ball contraption, deep in my thoughts. There's only one way to get answers. At the source. 

I got my jacket and put on a bunch of my new devices strapped to the leather belts and in each pocket. I had to practice, since shadow fighting was new to me. Fran is taking a spa day today, so no better moment than now to work on some shadow stomping skills. 

I walked out the door and started heading down any alley I could. My feet started leading me. As I walked for nearly 30 minutes I realized I hadn't seen a single shadow man. Ok time to test my theory. I started fighting against my instincts to walk in a certain direction and almost instantly I found one. It wandered aimlessly as if it couldn't see me. 

"am....ell...you........where.......help" 

Always the same things, yeah I get it I smell nice. I walked out into the open, "here I am shadow man. Come get me!" 

Suddenly the shadow man looked like it was fighting against itself but it got on four legs and started charging me. I pulled out my new weapon, the "tazernator" it was just the size of a police stick but it would shock shadow men and stun them. As it charged at me I could feel every nerve yelling at me to move, I stood still till right before it ran me over and I slapped it's back with the tazernator. 

ZAP, POP 

The shadow man fell instantly in front of me, then started to sink into the floor. Ok so this kind of damage sends em away. Let's try the next one then. 

I tested the rest of the devices but saved one for last. One more shadow man appeared, but this time I wasn't going to let it sink into the earth. I put a flat metal circle on the ground in front of me. 

The creature charged, I stood still. Everything else worked perfectly, I knew this one would too. The shadow man lunged at me, but right when it leapt over the circle I had placed it hit a yellow forcefield 

BONG 

The shadow man clawed ferociously, "help! Uhhhh help!!! Urghhhh" but it couldn't break through. 

"you're going to answer a couple questions for me and I'll help you sound good?" 

The shadow man slowed down but seemed to be fighting some internal instinct, "yes....please.....help" 

Good, it really can communicate then. Time to take it back to the garage then.