ColorBlind (Book #2 of S.H.A.D.E.) ✔

Electric

3.

Although I whistled my warning to the others, Copper comes flying up the stairs, brandishing  a gun from the truck.

When he reaches the top, he takes in the sight of Indigo simpering on the ground and me holding the gun. He instantly relaxes, coming over to my side.

"Your leg's opened up again," he points out, and I realize that the graze on my shin from Silver has begun to bleed through the fabric Copper used to staunch the wound. I sigh, feeling incompetent.

I could very well be dead right now, had Indigo not turned on Viridian.

I look at him now, remembering when I first met him back in the SUV after my escape from the industrial plant, so proud of the work he was doing. He really believed in S.H.A.D.E.

My Swatch must have been what flipped the switch.

I look away from him bitterly. He just stood by. He's as much to blame as Silver.

"Copper, Viridian is dead. Indigo killed him."

Copper's face turns from concerned to puzzled, eyes leaving me to stare questioningly at Indigo.

"I-I thought that," Indigo whispers, "that we were doing good. That we stopped killers. But..."

Copper nods, then looks over into the unit. "Fuck."

"Onyx needs help. And we have to get rid of that body. You think anyone heard the gun shot?"

"There's a silencer on it."

I hadn't noticed. My mind was consumed by the placid look on Viridian's face before he fell.

Can I return to my family like this? I am not who they loved. I am not Jane. I am gore and death.

Copper's hand comes up to cup my chin, turning my gaze his way. "Whatever it is you're thinking, stop, okay?"

I nod and he lets his hand drop. Scarlet and Iris have reached us by now, and they survey the awful scene. Scarlet eyes Indigo cautiously.

"He helped me," I offer weakly.

Scarlet runs a hand down her face, sensing that things are getting even more complicated. "Iris, help me carry the body to the truck. There's a tarp we can wrap it in."

Iris looks over at Scarlet, worried. "You don't want to check on Onyx?"

Scarlet's fierceness crumbles for a second, and there's something vulnerable lurking in her eyes. She's scared. She's never met Onyx in person, and she's afraid.

I get it. Meeting Copper was surreal.

"I can do it," I speak up, "and Copper probably knows what to do."

Copper snorts, heading into the apartment. Scarlet stares at me thankfully, and I give her the best smile I can muster under the circumstance.

I move to Indigo and poke him with the gun. "Inside." I nod my head towards the door.

Indigo stands shakily and obeys, moving sluggishly into the unit. I try to remind myself that his whole belief system has just been upturned, that his sense of self and reality has been usurped by destruction and uncertainty.

The better half of me sympathizes.

The worst part of me snickers, serves you right. 

As Scarlet and Iris lift the body out of the apartment and down the fire escape, Copper checks Onyx's vitals while I cradle his head in my lap, dabbing at his bleeding nose and brow.

"Got a concussion probably," Copper says, prodding at bones and tendons. "He'll be okay I think. Needs some rest."

"Good. We're gonna need him. I wish we could stay here until we pull ourselves together, but we have these damn chips in our heads that make us sitting ducks."

"Perhaps I..." Indigo says suddenly, but his words die out when I throw him a look of askance.

"What? Perhaps you could what?" Copper inquiries.

"Well, I put them in. I can help disable them," he says, standing there awkwardly.

Me and Copper share a look. He seems as hesitant as I am.

"How?" I demand.

"Electrocution."