>> ”Eyes on the prize, Animagus...And as a quick reminder, I am not the prize. The cargo is.”

"Right, sorry. Hard to resist." Derek nodded his head and tried his hardest to remain professional. This was, after all, a very important mission.

After they were both over the fence, he continued to stay low and close to Nate, but not too close. He didn't want to be all up in the man's personal space.

>> "If your little friends would like to scout out where the cargo is being unloaded, I’d be all for that plan.”

Derek nodded his head and looked up at the sky. He had heard some squeaking above, but couldn't pin point where they were coming from. He hated using his influencing abilities on animals, but right now, it was necessary. Slowly, his eyes changed from their warm brown color to a primal orange. After a couple of minutes, a bat, a northern bat to be more specific, flew down and landed on the front of his shirt. The girl was a cutie.

"Hey, we need you to get a couple of bats to help us find some humans unloading cargo." The bat sniffed and few away to do as she was instructed to do. Hopefully. Derek then turned back to look at Nate and grinned. "Snow White who?"

Nate was always curious to see the mutations of his team on display in person. Reading the reports and assessments was one thing, but watching how someone’s power worked was a deeper level of understanding. He knew Derek could create some kind of empathic connection with animals and influence their behavior, but he made note of all the little things. Derek’s eyes lightened and became orange as he communed with one of the bats overhead.

Derek spoke to the bat, which Nate found interesting. On one hand, talking could have been a necessary trigger; maybe his power allowed the animals to understand his verbal commands? The other possibility Nate was wholly willing to believe was that Derek might just prefer speaking to the animals. He was a kind natured young man; he might have valued his connection to the animal life around him.

Snow White was right. Derek was a real-life Disney Princess. ”That little guy’s gonna be a lot more helpful than helping you sow a dress—regardless of how pretty that might be,” he joked in a hushed voice. It was nice to know as they risked their lives, they could still enjoy some levity. ”Let those little guy’s lead the way, then.”

>> ”That little guy’s gonna be a lot more helpful than helping you sow a dress—regardless of how pretty that might be,”

Derek tried his hardest to stifle a laugh. "I'll make sure her that after we accomplish this mission of ours."

>> ”Let those little guy’s lead the way, then.”[/i]

Derek nodded his head and waited for the bat to circle back around. When they did, Derek followed after him. Doing this brought back memories of going out to look for Leon for his survival challenge back when he was a resident at the Mansion. He was glad that this time he wasn't looking for his partner and instead working with him.

After a couple of minutes of following after a growing number of bats, they came to where the shipment was being moved. Derek immediately stopped and looked at Nate for further instruction.

Nate let Derek take the lead, though that was only half-true. Really, the bats were the ones leading them, but Nate could not speak bat, so he was happy to take a backseat to his animal interpreter. He did notice that the further they went, the more bats collected to lead the way. It was a very smart play; there were plenty of bats to scope out the area and save a lot of vital time.

Nate poked his head around the corner of a shipping container and spotted what they were looking for: a dozen workers unloading a large container from an unmarked ship on the port. The Creator surveyed the scene, trying to find advantages and situations to avoid. Con: There was a man who stood possibly a foot taller than Nate overseeing the project who was definitely part of the criminal operation they were there to stop. Pro: the dock was very well-lit, with high powered lights hanging overhead in multiple areas.

Feeling a plan forming, Nate shifted into his shadow form. His body faded quickly, turning from flesh and bone to living shadow. Even Nate’s bodysuit shifted along with him, proving once again that function was more important than form.

”Okay, Animagus. I am going to try sneaking over to the shipping container out there. Is there any chance you have some animal friends who would be interested in starting a distraction?”

>> ”Okay, Animagus. I am going to try sneaking over to the shipping container out there. Is there any chance you have some animal friends who would be interested in starting a distraction?”

Derek nodded his head, "I'll do you one better than that." He whispered to shadow beside him. Damn, that was cool. He would have to fanboy about that after the mission was accomplished. "I got your back, don't worry. Though, I may end up spendin' my next paycheck on fruit." Derek gave his partner a smile before turning his attention up to the skies. The bats changed their flight patterns to it's hunting one, circling overhead. That definitely caught a little attention from the men working.

Derek telepathically told them not to get themselves hurt, but by all means, distract the goons. After a few seconds, a couple of brave bats swooped down and flew in front of the man's face. He was caught off guard at first, not knowing what to do until the second one came. Them the third, forth, and fifth.

Derek seemed confident in his ability to distract the dockworkers, so Nate nodded and merged into the ground, sliding along the ground but keeping far enough from anyone to raise suspicion as a shadow attached to nothing. He needed to wait for his opening.

Said opening was denoted by the shouting and swearing of guards and dockworkers dealing with swooping bats. Derek definitely had very unique usefulness in a mission setting, which Nate would remember for the next time he needed to assign missions. The ruckus allowed the shadow on the ground to pass through the crowd undetected. He moved into the storage container and reformed his shape, staying in shadowform.

There was a large, sealed container the workers were in the process of moving before the bats attacked. Nate bent his arm at the elbow, fusing his upper and lower arms together into a wedge shape. The lighting on the dock was bright, giving Nate the heightened strength that came with his darker, more opaque form. He jammed the shadow-wedge between the lid and the container, prying it open. The heavy lid hit the ground with a thud. Not exactly stealthy, but a cache of weapons was finally visibly in the open. Nate shoved the container over to allow the contents to spill onto the floor.

“Oy!” Nate turned to see a very large, very angry man with either a Cockney or Estuary accent.

”Any chance you’re willing to just have a friendly conversation about the moral complexities if gun running? No?” The man was large, but Nate’s strength as a shadow in bright light more than evened the playing field.

Without light, of course, things became much more challenging. As luck would have it, a cloud of darkness started emanating from the musclehead. The darkness spread, removing the presence of light as it travelled. The darkness was fast, and before Nate could get away, he was enveloped by it. His body felt the immediate shock of a forced shift back into his flesh and bone body and Nate fell to one knee as he reacclimated.

He could see nothing. The mutant he was dealing with created total darkness in a limited zone, so Nate was unsure how far he would even have to move to get to light. “Wanna talk now, bruv?”

Well, s***.

Derek had done his part and wasn't sure if Nate wanted help or not. So, he stood quiet in the spot he was currently at. The bats above them flew around in a common flight pattern that was similar to their hunting one. Derek tried to see what was going on, but sudden realized that there was a dome of darkness that covered both the tall man and Nate. That couldn't be good.

Instead of calling out like he wanted to, he remained quiet. If he knew one thing, it was that he had to make sure that his partner didn't get hurt. Derek turned his attention back to the skies and signaled for the swarm to attack. One by one, two by two, and three by three, the flying mammals swooped down into the darkness and started to attack the man viciously. Yep, he would be cashing his entire next paycheck in fruits and crickets.

When assigning missions to the members of Haven, Nate has to work with the information available to him when deciding who would fit best where. Knowing locations and objectives went a long way toward efficient placement, but the intel they had was limited. Had Nate known in advance that the criminal watching the docks could literally negate light, he would have picked literally anyone other than himself to handle that. Darkness was a hard counter for Nate’s powers, and despite his strong build, he was not much of a fighter without his mutation.

That was before taking into account that he could see nothing. Nate tried to raise his arms to defend himself, but a strong fist caught him in the stomach. The strike was a surprise that staggered Nate, who coughed and sputtered and tried to find his breath. The man was strong; a few of those punches would be enough to finish things. Honestly, one well-placed punch could be enough.

The metaphorical chips were down, but Nate did not come to the dock alone and Derek was ready to play the role of MVP. Nate could not see, but he could hear the large man swearing and shouting. With his concentration broken, the man’s darkness receded and Nate could see him swatting at divebombing bats. Maybe they were the real MVP.

Nate took the opportunity to make another quick transition into shadowform so he could throw a high-powered punch of his own. The contact with the man’s shoulder knocked him back, but he managed to stay on his feet. Taking the guy out would be ideal, but the main objective was to occupy him until the police could arrive.

The relationship between Nate’s shadowform and the nearby light was not lost on the big opponent. Trying to ignore the bats for a moment, he started creating a new field of darkness that spread outward from where he stood. Nate backpedaled, trying to steer clear of the field so he could retain his form and find out how large the man’s aura was.

And then, suddenly, Nate was gone.

More specifically, he was gone from the spot he had just been standing. The moment Nate crossed into the shadow of a nearby shipping container, something happened and he was instantly teleported away. He looked around in a panic, trying to piece together what happened. He had stepped out from a shadow next to Derek, out of the sight of a very confused criminal.

Nate, who was equally confused, said, ”I… um… huh. That was new…”