Shadow Walker

Life, Crime

It was just supposed to be a simple bodyguard/chaperone task, not even a real Wyldfire operation ... but then a hostile psionicist went after the ambassador's daughter.

Jean-Claude Gironde has a two-month temporary custody of a young woman known as Tempest, daughter of a visiting ambassador to the United Nations. The back-room deal is that the ambassador will support an international drive to designate metahumans as citizens equal under every law to their non-metahuman peers. In return, Dr. Gironde and his staff will help Tempest refine her control of her innate abilities, with a short-term goal of serving as her country's official champion and a long-term goal of eventually succeeding her father as a political leader.

Tempest learns quickly, though she questions the point of some lessons. After a week of intense training, she points out that she is in this country for a very limited time ... and she wants to enjoy her time in North America. More, she needs personal experiences that she can relate to her peers when she returns home! And what better way to start on that, than by going shopping in world-famous New York City?

Dr. Gironde sees reason in such a straightforward request. He gives his permission, his only caveat that the seventeen-year-old daughter of an ambassador has to have an adult as chaperone and, in an emergency, as a bodyguard. He assigns very reserved Wyldfire member Jarissa Venters to the task with simple instructions:

1. Only interfere in a case of serious threat.
2. Be civil.
3. Tempest has limited diplomatic immunity. She cannot be arrested. She can, however, be held in custody until her father or one of his staff can come for her. Therefore, warn Tempest clearly and concisely if her choices are leading her into a real chance of police custody.
4. I prefer that neither of you appear on the news. However, if someone is going to get photographed, it is tolerable that Tempest be photographed. Do not assault the paparazzi over an annoying candid shot of her.
5. If you run into difficulties, update me immediately.

Naturally, partway through the night, the two women get separated. After a brief attempt to rejoin her charge, Feral follows instructions. She finds a pay phone and calls Dr. Gironde's private number to describe the hints she has already picked up of organized enemy action. (It helps that she has experience with tracking someone who can teleport! She knows some of the tricks, and how to compensate.)

In the middle of this report, Shadow Walker attacked! In addition to his artificially-bestowed teleportation power, he can attack the sensory processing areas of a victim. One by one, he begins to shut down the catgirl's senses. Once she is completely helpless, he can approach and attack physically!

(If only a much more powerful psionicist were not aware of this event as it happens, that is. Shadow Walker finds himself teleporting directly to the space in front of the prototype containment cell that will soon be the model for the Vault. He walks himself into the power-dampening cell, shutting the door behind himself, without quite caring why he does it. Only once the lock turns does he realize that he just imprisoned himself, "voluntarily", into psychiatric care ... and all because he thought a teenage girl and a black-haired little mutate woman would be easy prey.)