Zero enjoyed the rush, hear hair whipped up around her face and the shadow... She couldn't be sure, but Zero liked to imagine that the shadow held a certain amount of panic in her eyes. The shadow girl didn't drop the statue, to Raine's dismay, but she did contort herself around Raine to the degree that the X-woman was comfortable dropping all previous tethers. No more falling up for the statue. No more falling toward her for the shadow.

There was always a moment of doubt. Would it work? Would this be the one time when her power just... didn't? But it always did.

Zero tethered herself to the side of the building again, her momentum making her stumble toward the actual ground for a moment, but if she fell, she would fall sideways into the building. Not down.

"Ah foo, you're no fun."

She skidded and heard a sickly crunch as she stepped onto the edge of the broken glass hole that the shadow had broken out for her escape. That was what gave Zero the idea to quickly reach for the statue with both hands to attach a quick double tether or wrestle it out from the shadow's hands so that she could toss it in the broken museum window. If she could return it now that would be so extra handy. If she couldn't get the statue, Zero wasn't above double tethering Miss Shadow to the guard. Either way, she hoped that something was getting yeeted back into the museum.

A security guard from inside, left to guard the opening no doubt, shouted in surprise.

Realistically, Silhouette was pretty sure she’d survive this fall, but who could blame her for having human reactions to mortal peril? She knew the hero had a trick up her sleeve, so she was trying to steel her nerves and focus on holding her stolen goods. There was too much going on for a shadow with a muted sense of touch to notice the subtle change in the gravity tugging on the sculpture.

The hero said something, probably teasing her, but she had no time to process that when they suddenly fell into the wall. She could feel the impact and the skidding, but clung tight to the gravitybender. Maybe she was still Silhouette’s center of gravity, but if she was not, she’d rather take this trip with her than drop to the pavement.

As they made it toward the window, a sudden force jerked the sculpture out of Silhouette’s hands. It was too unexpected for her to react in time, and it launched the item into the museum. Clever girl, keeping her eyes on the prize.

Of course, Silhouette was not going to let her payday slip away without a fight. Litebrite was not the only one with tricks. They were tumbling, but the angle they were traveling would put them close to the pillars of the exterior wall. Pillars casting shadows, thanks to the light of nearby buildings. A shadow large enough for her to sense, and if she could truly smile as a shadow, she would.

Using her body, she pushed them in that direction as they tumbled. She just had to get close enough and—

fffp.

The moment their collective bodies were fully concealed by the shadow, Silhouette teleported, taking the hero with her, though admittedly not by choice. As far as she could tell, this trip did not let her abandon people she touched.

And so, they finished their tumbling inside the museum, emerging from the shadow of a help desk. Once they were inside, Silhouette took a chance to release her stowaway and, sure enough, she tumbled to the ground on her own.

The light in this room was weak, and she shifted out of her shadowform on instinct. If it was too dark, she would be forcibly kicked and she could not deal with that kind of pain when she needed a clear head.

Scrambling to her feet, Silhouette smirked from beneath her mask. ”I’m sorry, you’re cute but I think I dropped something important. Need to retrace my steps, but maybe we can do this another time, blondie?” Running toward the hallway behind the other woman, she knew she would not be let go without a chase, so she needed to give herself a head start. Her shadow formed a small wall between them as she ran by. She had no clue how this woman altered gravity, so she wanted to avoid direct line of sight.

She stuck the statue to the guard who shouted in surprise when something expensive followed him at double gravity, but Zero didn't have time to celebrate her victory. She went for a strike on the shadow and then her whole world sort of changed.

Zero eeped as her tether dragged her back toward the wall where she'd tethered her gravity. Just because she’d suddenly changed positions didn’t meant that the tether had ended. Only jumping more than a city block would do that and judging by the art on the walls, they’d only just gone back inside somewhere. Zero dropped all her tethers in a panic. She'd been separated from the shadow, falling backwards and up towards the ceiling so when the tether dropped, she landed on her feet.

”Tricky.” Very tricky. She threw a tether, but a wall appeared to catch it. Zero dropped that and sent a fresh tether to the ceiling just as someone called for her to stop.

Zero flicked off her running lights and ran across the ceiling, vaulting over decorative wooden beams.

Aw hell no. She was not going to get blamed for this. She saved the statue thing. That guard had better be holding on tightly.

As Silhouette ran, her shadow followed her like a bubble trying to shield her from whatever was pursuing her, and she knew for damn sure she was being pursued. She could hear footsteps, but they echoed from above. The hero was running on the ceiling.

Okay, that was objectively cool. If she was going to deal with a dogged chase, this was at least a unique one.

“What the hell? Where did that come from?”

“It just fell! I swear, I don’t know what the heck happened. Should I put it back?”

The two voices ahead of her suggested Silhouette was getting close to her prize. She turned the corner, frustrated to realize the hall the two guards in was dark. Too dark.

Her shadow wall faded.

”Who the—stop her!”

Needing to act fast before her pursuer joined her in the hall, Silhouette dropped into a full slide, her body gliding across recently polished floors. She slipped past the legs of one lanky guard, notably NOT holding her prize, snagging his ankle as he passed to drop the guy. Scrambling to her feet, she begrudgingly kicked the guy in the head, (sure he’d be fine,) before wrapping one arm around the chunkier guard’s neck and the other looped around his free arm. He would not reach for anything unless he wanted to drop the sculpture, and if he did that, she would just run with it.

Walking the man back, glad her height kept her tall enough to keep a firm hold of him, Silhouette watched the hallway entrance. She needed to keep this man’s body between her and the hero. ”Look, lightning bug,” she called out in her southern drawl, ”This nice gentleman found my McGuffin. How about I give you the man, safe and sound, I take my new toy, and we can call it a night? Saving a man doing his job sounds pretty damn heroic, right?” It was a bluff; Steph was not the type to kill someone outside of self-defense, but the threat could carry enough weight if she played it right.

Zero was too late to save the first fallen guard. She cringed when he took a kick to the head despite the fact that it wasn't her being hit. She'd nursed head injuries before. They were weird in effect and if he actually lost consciousness, there could be serious damage. Zero hoped the man was faking it because losing consciousness wasn't like that in the movies, but this was real life.

"Don't hurt them."

She tripped to a stop over a ceiling pockmarked with pot lights, catching herself with her hands against the ceiling as she fell. From her vantage point, the predicament was much the same. Could Zero hit the McGuffin at this range? She could easily catch the guard. That wasn't going to be an issue. She might need to drop her personal tether to have the versatility.

"C'mon. That's a no brainer arrangement. Let's just get this over and done with." Zero tapped herself and then dropped a tether onto the ground beneath her so that she could push off the ceiling and drift in zero g. It gave her a better angle. Two tethers used, but her own safety was better. Zero tossed one tether onto the guard as soon as she was sure she could hit him squarely. All tethers used.

Zero dropped her two tethers and landed on her feet, quickly tossing a tether to the statue and continuing to hold the open tether of the guard's gravity in her hand without placing it. Until she stuck either one, were doing exactly nothing. But Zero wanted to see. Just how bad was this badguy?

Bluffing intent was a dangerous game, but there was some psychology to it. Silhouette did not need the hero thinking she was some psychopath who got off on killing innocent guards. Most people, even criminals, did not want blood on their hands, but they all had varying degrees of willingness to get violent when necessary. She just wanted the hero to think Silhouette was a seven on the "murder a civilian" scale rather than the three or four she actually hovered around.

"Aww, well you sound less than pleased. No tricks, right? Scout's honor?" She asked playfully, lowering her feet to the ground so she could walk the guard forward.

Looking down at the back of the guard's belt, Silhouette whispered in his ear. "Make no sudden moves and this works out very well for you." She kept one arm locking him down by his shoulder, but her free hand slipped from his neck to the belt, not just to lead him forward for the exchange, but to grab two useful items from the small utility pockets.

"You know, sugar, I don't think I caught your name. You hero types always have cool ones," she purred, keeping her voice breathy and low compared to her normal speaking voice. "Since we're playing nice now, care to share? I might just do the same."

No tricks? Was she seriously supposed to agree to that? Zero had never really pulled off a hostage situation. Or, actually tried to negotiate one. "I'm less than pleased because I'm doing the right thing, and you're still gonna get away with doing the wrong thing. Am I supposed to be happy about that?"

There were too many things to keep her eyes on. The statue, it didn't appear to be harmed but she hadn't actually seen it up close yet or even touched it. The man, he was sweating profusely. That didn't mean he wasn't worth saving, it just meant he was gross. The shadow woman, she was tall and other than the hint of a hip and a suggestion that she had a figure, Zero couldn't see too much. She was eclipsed behind her sweaty meatshield. Zero was surprised to see her face, despite there being a mask. She'd thought that her opponent might stay in her shadowy harder to see form the whole time. What she could see was incredibly normal, probably the same as her own exposed facial skin: not enough identifying features to make it worth covering.

And all the while she edged closer. Just an inch at a time. Hands out with invisible tether ends held in reserve.

There was a catch to this. There had to be a catch to this, right?

> "You know, sugar, I don't think I caught your name..."

"Zero." She watched the guard's eyes as she said it, introducing herself to him as well. In her eyes was the promise of his safety. "Zero Gravity."

Zero tossed both tethers to stick onto the far walls to her left and right. She would double tether whatever needed yanking out of her enemy's hands more: the man or mcguffin.

This girl really was an idealist. Those were the types to talk about things in rights and wrongs. To some degree, Stephanie could respect heroes, but they made more sense in comic books. In real life, they existed in a way that was too black and white for her taste. ”You’re doing the noble thing. That kinda implies sacrifice. The selfish thing is admittedly supposed to come easier. Sorry, I didn’t write the rules.”

Inching closer, as much as Silhouette enjoyed banter, she had to be watchful of the hero’s moves. She guided the guard’s arm she controlled behind his back, and a small series of click sounds could be heard from behind that broad back. ”For the record, I don’t want to be holding this guy longer than I have to—I’ll have to wash him off at this rate. I’m sure you’ll get it.”

Before she could get within arm’s reach of Zero, which was an objectively clever name, there was one last click as the flashlight Stephanie grabbed from the man’s belt burst to life, illuminating the darkened area. Immediately, Stephanie pulled the man’s arm, looking to jerk him around so he would face her, where she could grab the sculpture.

Wasting no time, she kicked him in the stomach to push him toward Zero. With the flashlight pointed to Silhouette’s own body, she could finally generate a shadow and guided it as a snare, looking to grab the handcuff she had fixed to the man’s wrist so it could be locked around Raine’s ankle.

Was it a bit too on the nose to share what she did with her super hero name? Zero fretted often about that. But it wasn't like knowing a thing and experiencing a thing would ever really be the same.

Like firmly holding onto the slippery arm of a sweaty man. Zero could do without some experiences, she decided. That was why his tether went toward the wall.

The tether on the statue went toward the opposite wall because Zero had to keep her tethers straight if she was going to double up and that'd get pretty embarrassing to gravity right when she meant to gravity wrong.

Only a few snags in the plan, really. The man was spun around, pushed toward her, the flashlight was... what? What was that? The tether that Zero had readied to ensure the safety of either man or statue was instead lobbed at the flash of silver that snaked toward her. Zero threw the tether left? No. Right. The opposite way from the way she'd thrown the guard. Then he'd be free of it, too right?

Using the guard as a human projectile to deliver an inconvenient handcuffing was stretch of a plan. Improvising was important, but not easy. This woman, Zero, introduced so many variables. She was exciting and extremely frustrating.

Case in point, Stephanie tried to use her shadow to guide the guard as he fell, but the gravity witch pulled some of her weird magic and, instead of dragging him in some direction, the pudgy guard became weightless, hovering off his feet and throwing off the shadow’s efforts.

As a result, she could not get the handcuff into position, but fortunately for the thief, her human projectile retained forward momentum. While it seemed Zero made an effort to move out of the way, the guard’s mass caught her and knocked her back, giving Silhouette just enough time to get a handle on her prize.

”I’ve got to admit, your power is pretty awesome,” she conceded, shifting midsentence with the benefit of the flashlight. Silhouette stepped back toward a pillar, dropping the flashlight so it pointed to the pillar, allowing it to cast a shadow.

Silhouette could not dawdle; the moment she could, Zero would manipulate the flashlight and ruin her escape. Still, as quick as she had to act, she could not resist offering some parting words. ”I’m Silhouette. Let’s do this again sometime, Girl Scout.” And so, with her stolen sculpture in hand and one blown kiss offered with the other, Silhouette stepped behind the pillar and vanished, only reappearing in an alley beside the next building over, then jumping once again for good measure.