Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 3 - When Pasts Collide

Shift, Green Keeper of team Indigo, felt the cavern tremble and knew it was collapsing.

It'd all gone wrong so quickly. The mission had been clear: surprise Reader at Starpoint tower and arrest him. Now, this weird basement was filled with smoke, Reader and the Owl had both escaped, and whatever hopes Shift had of sleeping before dawn were going down with the tower.

"Indigo!" called Raph. The bright red of his suit was barely visible through the smoke and falling dust. "Evacuate, now! Back where we came in through!"

Talia dropped the stone in her Grip, glancing around the cavern with wide eyes. "It didn't feel this unstable —"

"Doesn't matter," said Raph, dissolving his whip and shaping a grapple gun with his Red. "Out, now! Give us as much cover as you can."

Talia jumped on her board and Gripped it with her elemental ability, levitating it into the air. She set to work, Gripping and redirecting the falling debris to give them a clear path to the ceiling hole.

Shift shaped his own grapple gun from the copied Red he had left. It didn't leave him with much, and with the tower coming down, that wasn't something he found comforting.

"Raph!" said Shift. "I need more Red!"

Raph was reaching for Shift's hand when Talia yelled a warning from above. Shift turned, spotting the metal beam that was far too heavy for Talia to Grip hurtling straight for him.

Shift wasn't fast enough but Raph was, hastily shaping a shield of Red across his back as he threw himself on top of Shift.

The beam hit the edge of Raph's shield. It cracked but held, deflecting the beam to spear into the ground beside them. The impact slammed Shift down onto his back. Raph's head struck the floor, and his Red shield vanished as he went limp.

"Raph!" No response. Shift cursed and rolled Raph off. There was blood on his forehead, but he was breathing. Shift pressed a hand against Raph's cheek, trying to sense his Colour, but Indigo's leader was completely unconscious. "Raphael, wake up!"

Talia landed beside them. "Is he —"

"Alive," said Shift. "Take him."

Talia diverted another falling rock with a grunt of effort. "What about you? He's unconscious, you can't shift —"

"I've still got Red left," said Shift. "We don't have time to wait for my Green to reset." He checked his grapple gun as Talia pulled Raph onto her board. "I've got enough Red to get me up, and you'll pass out if you try to lift us both. I'm right behind you — go!"

"You'd better be," said Talia with a worried glare before speeding off, disappearing through the ceiling hole she'd made earlier.

When Talia was clear, Shift aimed the Red-shaped grapple gun at the ceiling and fired. The grapple connected. He tugged the rope, ensuring its hold, before squeezing the trigger to retract the line and sent himself hurtling towards the roof.

He was halfway up when whatever he'd been hooked onto gave way and came down on top of him.

Shift crashed into the ground, breaking his fall with a roll, and quickly shaped a small shield over his head to catch the falling debris. It saved him, but at the cost of his grapple gun when it slipped from his hand. Raph's Red was nearly unbreakable, but lose direct contact with it for even a moment and it dissolved.

With a curse, Shift reshaped the grapple gun, putting every last scrap of Red he had shifted into the length of the line.

"Cutting it close," he muttered, aiming the grapple at his escape for the second time.