Morning came softly to the mansion.
Sunlight spilled across polished floors and untouched furniture, filtering through tall windows that revealed nothing of what lived beneath the house. Aboveground, it was still just a luxury Airbnb, quiet, expensive, empty.
Below-ground, National City was already bleeding data.
Tyrone stood at the central console with a mug of coffee he hadn't actually needed to drink, shadows resting calmly at his heels like trained animals. He hadn't slept, not because he couldn't, he didn't need sleep anymore, it was just a bonus to him similar to relaxation.
The reason he didn't take a break was because his mind wouldn't slow down. Last night hadn't faded. Their first mission had validated the system, all the planning and training they did had paid off clearly.
Tandy entered the operations room still in her school clothes, backpack slung over one shoulder, hair tied back hastily. She looked tired, but there was something new in her eyes.
Purpose.
"Please tell me that red box isn't worse than last night," she said, stepping beside him.
Tyrone didn't answer immediately. Instead, he expanded the display to read the details of a new target his algorithm had picked out for them.
A new set of files filled the main monitors. A man's face appeared at the center alongside details of his life, his job, and the reason why they should target him.
Councilman Elias Harrow.
A man in his Mid-forties, relatively clean-cut and warm smile, expensive suit with a decent following. The kind of man whose campaign ads talked about hope and community investment.
Tandy frowned, "A politician?"
"A philanthropist," Tyrone corrected flatly. "Publicly."
He brought up another window.
The Harrow Foundation for Youth Advancement.
At first glance, it looked pristine. Donor transparency, various huge awards and constant praise from the media all across the city. There was even photo ops from smiling children in matching T-shirts, and success stories plastered all over.
Then Tyrone toggled a hidden layer to find out the problem with this seemingly good man, and the smile vanished from his face.
"Over the last eleven years," he said, voice tight and controlled, "the foundation has operated three orphanages across National City and Blüdhaven. On paper, they're model facilities."
He zoomed in on a list.
"In reality? Every year, one to three children go missing. Sometimes listed as runaways. Sometimes accidents. Sometimes, they 'are killed' with no body ever recovered, usually from spontaneous fires, falls or sudden illness,"
Tandy's Light stirred uneasily as she heard that last part, "12 dead people in the last 6 years, and not one of them had a body recovered according to this information. That's definitely not normal," she added.
"No," Tyrone agreed, "It's designed not to be."
Graphs appeared, statistical overlays showing how the incidents were spaced out. Different causes and very different locations. There wasn't any repeating patterns obvious enough to trigger oversight.
"But when you overlay them," Tyrone continued, "the age range is consistent. Physical profiles are consistent, and the timing lines up, and here this," Tyrone said and Tandy looked at him, curious.
"He's had a huge monetary push from various companies to help him expand his political platform, more than the average politician of his level. These companies are all fine on the surface, so no one batted any eye, especially at a supposed philanthropist like him," Tyrone explained.
Tandy looked at him, "Then let's fine out what's going on ourselves,"
***
Councilman Harrow's townhouse sat in one of the wealthiest districts in National City, private security, discreet cameras, reinforced glass. The kind of place designed to keep problems out.
It didn't account for shadows.
Tyrone teleported close nearby, Tandy still within his cloak as he shifted through the shadows until they arrived onto a darkened balcony two floors up. Tandy's suit deployed instantly, mask sealing into place as Lumen Suppression Mode engaged.
Inside, Harrow was alone. He sat in his study, reviewing documents on a tablet, unaware that the temperature had begun to drop due to the arrival of these two.
Tyrone stepped forward and the lights dimmed.
"Councilman Harrow," Tyrone said calmly.
Harrow looked up sharply,"What the, security,"
His words died as the shadows moved.
The room stretched, walls pulling away into something vast and hollow. The corners of his vision darkened as fear crawled up his spine, not sudden panic, but the slow, dawning certainty that he was no longer in control.
Tandy stood beside Tyrone, Light faint but present, a steady counterbalance to the suffocating dark.
"Please," Harrow stammered, backing away. "Who are you?"
"You can call us concerned citizens," Tandy said evenly, "We're here about your foundation."
Harrow's eyes flicked toward her, then past her, to the shadows that had begun whispering things he couldn't quite hear.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said quickly, "My foundation is quite beloved, everything is to help the kids,'
Tyrone raised a hand, darkness surging as he swallowed Harrow in his cloak temporarily, images flooding the Councilman's mind, locked doors, crying children, sterile rooms that smelled of disinfectant and fear. Memories he'd kept to himself, dragged back into the light.
Then, once all of those memories flashed through Councilman Harrow's mind, Tyrone released him back onto the floor from his Cloak.
"You authorize transfers," Tyrone said softly. "You approve disappearances. You sign off on 'accidents.'"
Harrow collapsed into a chair, breathing hard, "I—I was told they were going to better places," he gasped. "That they were being used for something important."
Tandy stepped closer, her Light flaring just enough to force clarity.
"Used how?" she demanded.
Harrow squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't know details! Only that they were… special. That they-"
He froze as he said that, and Tyrone's shadows surged.
"Finish that sentence," Tyrone said, voice deadly calm.
"They....," Harrow sobbed,"I don't know who they are....Once I inherited this position from Angus, he said I needed to do it. All I know is they know everything about me, and are far too rich and influential to ever betray,"
Tandy felt sick as the man continued rambling, "And the kids?" she asked quietly.
Harrow shook his head violently. "I never saw them again."
Tyrone studied him for a long moment, sifting truth from fear.
He found no lies.
Just cowardice.
Tyrone let the silence stretch as Councilman Harrow sat shaking in his chair, eyes glassy, breath uneven, a man stripped of the illusion that power had ever protected him.
"Then we're done here," Tyrone said quietly.
The shadows rose and darkness slid up Harrow's legs and chest like heavy water, seeping into his lungs, pressing against his thoughts. Fear spiked once, sharp and panicked, before Tyrone severed it cleanly.
Harrow slumped forward, unconscious before his head could hit the desk.
Tandy exhaled slowly, light dimming as she stepped back. "That's it?"
"For him," Tyrone replied.
He turned away from the body, already pulling data into the Burner Tablet, fingers moving with ruthless efficiency.
"I'm going to leak everything," he continued. "Financial crimes. Embezzlement. Human trafficking. Abuse of charitable funds. Enough to bury him under fifty lifetimes."
She frowned, "But not his connection to them?"
"No," Tyrone said firmly, "Not directly."
He looked at her then, eyes steady, calculating, "If we link him to something that big and mysterious, something that dangerous, they'll notice us immediately. They'll shut down, clean house, and move everything underground. Remember, they're so influential they've had multiple Politicians effortlessly in their pocket,"
Tandy understood instantly. She hated it, but she understood what Tyrone meant.
"And he's not important enough to risk that," Tyrone finished. "Harrow's a middleman at best. A coward with a pen and a bank account."
He uploaded the final packet, routing it through anonymous channels, laundering the trail until it looked like a routine investigative leak.
"To the world," Tyrone said, "he did it for money and power, classic fake philanthropist who is actually a terrible person, nothing to see here,"
Tandy glanced at the unconscious man one last time, "Which… isn't even wrong."
Tyrone swept his cloak around them both.
"Exactly."
Darkness folded inward.
By the time Harrow's security alarms finally triggered, the room was empty, save for a disgraced man and the beginning of his fall.
Back at the mansion, the monitors updated almost instantly.
News tickers began to scroll.
BREAKING: COUNCILMAN ELIAS HARROW UNDER INVESTIGATION
Tandy crossed her arms, watching the city react.
"One less monster," she said quietly.
Tyrone nodded, eyes already scanning deeper layers of data.
"Many more to go."