"Do you think it's going to rain?" I ask as I look up at the sky. "These clouds came out of nowhere."

There wasn't a cloud in sight when we entered my apartment to pick up my stuff after my shift today to bring it to Theo's aparmtent. That was maybe thirty or forty minutes ago. Now, however, the sky is covered in thick, dark grey storm clouds. They've completely blocked out the sunlight, resulting in my strength and energy having increased.

It's nowhere near enough of a boost to let me match Theo in speed when he supercharges himself, but I could probably outrun a normal person right now. Or at least, a normal person from the lower districts. Outrun and outmatch.

Lucas would probably still be faster than me, though. He's trained his speed, after all, and I've not yet had a month of that, even if I've managed to build mine up a fair bit.

I'd say that it would make carrying the duffel of clothes easier, except Theo took that bag, leaving me with just the workout bag. After some consideration, I decided to only bring my new clothes with me, leaving my old outfits at the apartment since they're, well, old and worn-out.

"I dunno," Theo answers, looking up at them. "Probably. Hopefully it waits until later, though. That way, we can get your stuff to my apartment without it getting soaked through, and you can get to training just fine."

"And to Lucas's after," I add.

"And that," he nods. "You said that with the heavy rain before, you guys went to Zane's instead and shared a bath to warm up?"

"Well, it was mostly to make sure I was fine," I tell him. "Lucas seemed fine without it, and Zane can turn to stone. The cold didn't bother him at all. I, on the other hand, got the full soak treatment."

"Okay," he says. "Do you think that will happen again?"

There's no jealousy in his voice, no anger or worry. It's pure curiosity.

"If it's storming like hell?" I ask, and he nods. "Zane will probably suggest we go to his place again, since it's closer than Lucas's place."

"And mine," Theo nods. "I'll be off duty at that point. Think he'd have an issue with me joining you guys?"

"Does me taking a bath with other guys bother you?" I ask.

"Nah," he answers. "I'd just like to make sure you're okay, too. A bath isn't inherently sexual, especially not when it's just to clean up or warm up."

"Okay," I say. "Zane would probably be happy to have another guy hanging out at his place. I do hope we don't get a storm until after I'm at Lucas's, though. I don't want to get frozen again."

"Hopefully," he nods as a commotion draws our attention.

A person in a hoodie pushed a woman to the ground, running off with her purse. Theo's off-duty at the moment, and if he supercharged himself to catch up to the thief, it would mean needing the Patron to hide his identity. The person doesn't seem to be using super-speed, so I can probably catch up to them shortly.

Snatching someone's bag or purse isn't an uncommon occurrence, especially not here in the lower districts. I usually see it happen once or twice a week, but never before have I really been able to do something about it. The extra speed thanks to the cloud cover right now, however, means that I can.

"Here," I pull off my bag and toss it to my boyfriend.

"See you," Theo chuckles as he catches the bag.

I take off running, really feeling the boost from the darkness. Everything passes by much more quickly than normal for when I run, though I can still process it all just fine, reacting easily. This jacket is making it harder to run, though, due to the extra bulk. It needs to go if I want to catch up to the thief, so I work it off as I run, losing my gloves in the process. I'm sure Theo will pick them up or retrieve them for me.

"Stop!" I call out to the thief, who turns their head and looks at me. I can't make out if they're male or female. "Stop! Now!"

They turn down an alley, and I follow them, jumping over the stack of boxes they knocked over, then I jump up onto a dumpster and off of that, the height and added boost from the jump bringing me closer to them. When they turn and see that I'm even closer now than before, they twist, swiping with their hand.

A glowing blue tendril lashes out at me from the brick wall of the building to my left. I shift my weight to the right, bringing me closer to the building on that side of me before jumping up, kicking off the building and flipping over the tendril. A rolling landing, then I'm on my feet again, drawing closer to the thief. My training with the blocks and trampolines has helped me more than I realized.

That move was awesome.

"Shit!" She yells in realization that I've almost reached her, gesturing again and bringing out more of those tendrils in an attempt to stop me.

I duck under the first, step around the second, jump onto a trashcan and then over the third, continuing to maneuver past her attacks. They're slowing me down, and they've slowed her down, but she's managing to gain a lead.

As we draw near the end of the alley, one of her tendrils manages to strike me, knocking me back a bit. That hurt!

"Final chance, thief!" I call out to her, stopping my charge forward. Another tendril lashes out at me, and I step back, striking the tendril with a fist, knocking it off-course. That's much less painful. "Surrender now and allow the purse to be returned to its rightful owner, or force will be used!"

"As if you could ever catch me, would-be vigilante!" She's turned around again, bolting forward now that she's managed to stop me in my tracks, though she's still summoning those damn tendrils.

Taking a deep breath, I allow myself to travel through shadows ten feet at a time. I pop out naked, my clothes not traveling with me, and then I travel again, drawing another ten feet closer to her. Two more shadow-steps, and I'm on top of her, tackling her to the ground.

She tries wrestling against me, then squeals as she realizes my state. I pin her to the ground, putting her into a lock.

"If you'd stopped like I'd yelled," I say. "I'd still be clothed, ma'am. But you made me use my power. You aren't the only one with them, you know."

"What's going on here?" A voice asks, and I look up to see a vigilante standing there.

They're about 5'10" in height, I'd say, and dressed in black and dark red, a pair of knives on their hip. It's a skintight bodysuit with a cowl, their mask a crimson-and-orange affair, their eyes hidden and voice filtered to make it that of a deep male one, regardless of whatever it actually is.

I don't recognize this vigilante.

"Purse-snatcher," I tell him. "I had to shadow-walk to catch her, hence the nudity. I've only recently begun training the power, so can't bring clothes with me yet. You can find the purse there and verify that the ID does not belong to her."

"I wasn't asking you," the vigilante holds out a hand, and a crimson tendril shoots out, slamming into my chest.

The attack sends me flying backwards, crashing into the ground.

"You probably exhausted yourself already," the villain tells me. "Good luck catching up to us. And I told you to stop doing it when there were others around."

"Ow," I groan, returning to my feet. "So you're working with the thief, huh?"

"Stay down if you know what's best for you," the villain says. "The next tendril I hit you with will be charged with pain, enough that you won't manage to get your clothes back on. You'll freeze to death before anyone finds you."

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"Yeah, unlikely," I say. "Which vigilante would you rather face? Sovirna or Orwitz?"

"We'll be gone long before Sovirna gets here," he chuckles. "And Orwitz doesn't patrol this region."

"I don't?" A lighter, playful voice asks, the sound of sparks dancing filling the air. "Aw, man! Nobody told me that! Sovirna! Why didn't you tell me I don't come to this area?"

"As if anyone short of the Patron could tell you what to do, Orwitz," Sovirna says from behind the thief and villain. "Little Kier, put your clothes on. We'll handle this."

Slipping into the shadows, I pop out behind Orwitz, then quickly begin pulling my clothes on. I don't know what Theo did with my stuff, but he even took off his own clothes so that he could shift into his vigilante outfit.

It's an electric-blue bodysuit with small, yellow spark-like designs across it, including accenting his ass, and I know they accent his chest and crotch as well, because the Patron is apparently weird like that. His boots, gloves, cowl, and mask are the same electric-blue, with the back of the cowl covered in a yellow design resembling lightning spreading out from the center, his mask with yellow sparks patterned on the cheeks, and his boots with yellow laces.

"Shit," the villain says, looking between the two vigilantes.

He decides to take his chances with Sovirna, but before he can, Orwitz has charged forward at full speed, body-slamming into him.

"Whoops!" Orwitz exclaims. "Did I hit a little too hard? Well! If you don't want me to do it again, you'll stay down!"

Wisely, the thief stays silent and allows Orwitz to put her in cuffs.

"I've gone a couple of rounds with the partner before," Sovirna tells Orwitz. "He's always managed to escape after letting her get away. I was planning on requesting help soon. They've stolen fourteen purses and seventeen bags in the last three months. I've managed to return most of the items to their owners."

"You should have requested assistance sooner," Orwitz states. "Too many people have been affected by those stats. Now a civilian has been affected as well."

He indicates me as he says that.

"Just doing my part to help a civilian who's been stolen from," I say. "Don't mind me."

"What was with that freakish strength?" The woman asks, her hood back now, revealing the face of someone around my age, her dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail, her green eyes intense, angry. "You're too damn skinny to be that strong!"

Orwitz looks at me, then shrugs and looks at her.

"You know how your partner can use different types of attack tendrils?" Orwitz asks as Sovirna steps away and presses a hand to the side of her head, probably to her ear. "That one he hit Kieran with, along with one that causes greater pain?"

"He can also make them burn like acid or sting like lightning," she boasts.

"Those are all different powers," Orwitz says. "Most power users have multiple. Kieran here grows stronger in the darkness. He also heals faster in it. In essence, he is the darkness. This alley is relatively dark normally, judging by how narrow it is and the lack of lights. Then there's the heavy clouds we have right now. If he was actually fit, he'd have caught up to you much sooner and then merely shrugged off your partner's attack."

I've finished dressing by now, though I'm still cold. Losing my clothes in this weather was not fun. At least the thieves were stopped, though. Theo probably wouldn't have caught up to them if I hadn't interfered, not unless Sovirna managed to delay them.

Though how have they managed to escape from her? She can track them through the wind, can't she?

"You can fetch your bags," Orwitz pulls me aside and speaks in a low voice. "From a man outside the alley. He's wearing a green cap. He has the key to my apartment, too. I'll have to deal with this situation before I can catch up to you."

"Alright," I say. "See you later then."

"See you," he says, then hands me the purse. "Go return this to the woman, she's with him."

I want to give him a kiss, but I know I can't, so I just give him a brief dip of my head before heading out of the alley the way I came. Once I'm outside of it, I take a look around and spot the man with the green cap carrying my bags and the woman who'd had her purse stolen. The two of them are walking in this direction, and I meet them on the way.

"Here you go," I hand her the purse. "Everything should still be there."

"Thanks," she accepts her purse and goes through it. "Looks like it. You didn't have to do that, though. What if you'd gotten hurt?"

"I'm in training to be private security," I tell her. "That job comes with a bigger risk than stopping a purse-snatcher. Orwitz and Sovirna are taking care of them now."

"So I really did see Orwitz?" She asks in surprise. "That wasn't me mistaking someone else for him?"

"It wasn't," I answer. "He showed up just as the snatcher's partner did. You're not hurt, are you? She shoved you pretty hard."

"No," she smiles, though she looks a little nervous. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Are you sure?" I ask. "If you need something, we can step inside a business around here. I'm sure they have a first-aid kit on-hand we can borrow."

"She's fine," the man hands me my bags, then the key. "Orwitz said these were yours and to give them to you."

"Thanks," I say, looking between them and how nervous they seem. "You both seem like decent people, so I'm going to assume the nerves aren't because of something shady. If you're worried about being charged for having treatment, I'll cover it if they want to charge for using the rubbing alcohol and bandages."

"I'm not hurt, really," she insists. "Please, we're fine."

That's a strange insistence and sudden shift from being grateful to insistent everything is fine. Hm. Does she realize that her pants are bloody on the knees, and the blood looks fresh enough that it was definitely from the attack?

"Just taking a shot in the dark here," I say. "But I'm going to guess you're worried that I accept vigilantes because they can kick my ass, but have problems with normal people being power users?"

The look of fear on her face suggests she really does think that. It's a valid concern, as some people do act that way. They accept vigilantes because they can't do anything about them, but then turn around and harass normal people who have powers.

"The reason I caught up to the thief," I tell her. "Is because I grow faster and tougher the darker it is. Any other afternoon, I probably wouldn't have managed to do anything to help. Don't worry, I won't come harass you at work or try setting fire to your apartment or something. I also happen to know that that building there has no less than seven power users working in it. Come on, we can get those knees looked at."

"My knees?" She asks, then looks down. "Oh! I didn't realize they were so bad."

"Regeneration?" I guess at her power, since she didn't realize she had been hurt too bad and seems to have assumed she'd already recovered.

"A little," she nods. "It would be obvious if someone tried treating them."

"Well, we can pick a business that's fine with it," I say.

She and the man follow me, and I find out they're actually husband and wife. Orwitz showed up and handed the husband the stuff before disappearing just as he reached his wife, and I'm going to assume no one realized it was Theo, though he apparently undressed and stuffed his stuff in my workout bag rather fast.

The husband is normal, but the wife has always known about her power due to having been injured a few times as a child and the power activating on its own each time. She admits she can still get infections if things aren't cleaned, but assumed she'd be fine until she and her husband got home and were able to clean things off there.

It really needs to be cleaned right away, though. What if it got infected quickly? Or there's some bacteria that's only on the surface right now? Several things could go wrong or make it worse and take longer for her to heal, so cleaning it now is a priority. Especially with how cold it is – the blood is probably already frozen, but as soon as it warms up and circulation improves, those problems can appear.

In the business building, I take them up to a place I've worked at before, whose head manager is a power user, though I never did find out her power when I worked here. She greets me with a friendly smile, then fetches a first-aid kit when I explain the situation.

"Thanks," I say once she returns.

"No worries, Kieran," she says. "Happy to help a fellow out. I'll make sure she's taken care of, you look like you're going somewhere."

"I'm moving, yeah," I confirm. "Started dating recently and their apartment has heat while mine doesn't."

"Go have fun," she tells me. "And stop by sometime, you seem much more social now than you did last year."

"That's because I am," I snort. "Made a few friends who won't let me not be. You have a good day, and you two – stay safe."

The husband and wife thank me, then I head out. Time to go to Theo's place and hope I can see him again before training tonight. At least we got to eat lunch together before this.

I'm almost to Theo's apartment when my phone rings. Hoping it's him, I check it and find that it's Isaac instead. I pull off my glove and answer the call, pressing my phone to my ear.

"Hey, Isaac," I say. "What's up?"

"You're a crazy fucker, shadow-walking in this cold."

"Theo told you?" I laugh.

"Yeah," he says. "And he said that according to the woman, you performed some pretty neat maneuvering in that alley. Sounds like the training is going well."

"I guess it is," I say. "Though if it weren't for this cloud cover, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Those moves were definitely because of the darkness."

"Probably," he says. "Theo asked me if I could check on you since he's busy now. He was worried you were more hurt from that attack than you let on."

"I'm not," I tell him. "My chest is sore from it, but it's fading. As long as the clouds stay like this, I'll probably be fine by the time I get to the center tonight. Erm. If I keep the lights off in his apartment once I get there, too. If not, there's a healer who works at the center who can probably take care of it."

"That's good to hear," he says. "I'll let him know you're fine, then."

"Thanks," I say.

"Talk to you later," Isaac says.

"See you," I tell him.

He hangs up and I pocket my phone, then quickly pull my glove back on. Maybe I should have done that after answering the call?

As I finish the walk to Theo's apartment, anxiety begins to set in again. Once I become a guardian, how will I fare in fights? I'm not superb, and I'll definitely have to fight some. Wouldn't it be better for me to start off as a vigilante and build up my power and skills?

The first time I get involved in an incident, and I get knocked back. I did do some decent jumping around, though. But my powers aren't suited for offense right now and I doubt I'll be able to learn one that is for months.

Taking a deep breath, I push those thoughts from the back of my mind. The Patron has his reasons for making me the offer. If I make the cut, then clearly my skills right now are good enough.

Right?