Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 15 - Red Flags

In hindsight, Athira should have realised something was wrong when Zoe hit Shift over the head with a box and chased him out of the kitchen.

The morning had started well enough. Athira had awoken surprisingly well rested considering the disaster of the last two days. Her amulet was cool, there was no sign of Rathe, and cautiously optimistic, Athira had started working through her daily routine of something Zoe had once called 'combat yoga' — a series of forms designed to integrate hand-to-hand combat with Colour — until Zoe had barged into her room and announced that she'd given Athira enough time to wake up.

Athira had been dragged down to the kitchen and sat at one of the tall stools alongside the counter, frowning at how far they left her feet dangling above the intended footrest as Zoe, despite protests, put bread in the toaster for Athira and grabbed an OmNom bar for herself.

It hadn't taken long for Shift to appear, poking his head around the corner from the common room and greeting them with a wide, concerningly gleeful smile. He'd said something about how the nice weather meant lots of people would be out and about. Athira had just enough time to get suspicious that Shift knew something she didn't before Zoe threw the empty OmNom box at Shift and shooed him out of the kitchen.

That'd been red flag number one.

Athira had managed to reluctantly down half a piece of toast by the time Raph appeared in the common room, rounding up Shift, Zoe, and Athira. With Indigo dressed in their Keeper suits and Athira in a purple vest hoodie over a long-sleeved black shirt and a pair of jeans Shift had bought the previous day, they headed out the door of Indigo base.

"We aren't taking the rover?" asked Athira when they bypassed the garage.

"It's expensive to run a vehicle, so when we have meetings at HQ, we take the monorail," said Raph as they headed down the street. "It's cheaper, and it helps us stay grounded with the citizens we're protecting. Most can't afford personal vehicles and use public transport to get around. The goodwill pays for itself, even if it's a little... inconvenient at times."

Shift had cleared his throat, almost like he was covering a laugh, and gave Athira a knowing look.

That'd been red flag number two.

The third and final red flag had been when they'd arrived at the station and it became immediately obvious that Raph had called ahead. The guard spotted them and had the side gate open, ushering them through with a quiet word that the monorail was about thirty seconds out. Raph thanked him, and sure enough, thirty seconds later, the monorail arrived. Athira followed the other three on board, blissfully unaware of the torture that awaited her.

Now, two stations later, Athira, trapped in her corner seat by a cacophony of teenagers, was starting to have serious regrets about ever saving Shift from Starpoint tower.

"Oh, Shift! I heard the other day that when you were out on patrol, you stopped a villain from kidnapping my friend!"

"No, that's not what I said! I said that I saw him save someone!"

"You said it was you!"

A growing group of at least sixteen teenagers, mostly girls, crowded the monorail car, all equipped with phones and other various gadgets as they pressed empty vanity crystals towards Indigo. Unlike epicores, which stored large amounts of pigment and turned it grey, the vanity crystals stored miniscule amounts of Colour, but retained the original hue. Their sole use resided in the fact that people turned them into jewellery and other keepsakes.

Raph and Zoe were popular targets for the crystals, but it was nothing compared to the attention Shift received. He turned crystal after crystal Green with his Colour, no doubt most of which would end up on a necklace or bracelet on some adoring fangirl's neck or wrist.