There were very few ways to contact Shadow.

No calls. No emails. No "yo boss, we need help" smoke signals. The man operated like a shadow as his moniker suggested - drifting in and out of the world like fog, always just out of reach, and just cryptic enough to make you wonder if he'd ever existed at all.

But there was one method that always got his attention.

Death.

If he caught wind that one of the Mutant Outlaws had died, Shadow would drop everything. He would cross space in a heartbeat, retrieve the body, and mobilise whatever available outlaws there were to burn the responsible parties to ash. It hadn't occurred much, but it was widely known amongst themselves that he prioritised the lives of their members above all else.

Although considering the suicide missions he had sent them all on many times, it didn't seem like it.

So naturally, they faked a death.

And not just any death. They made it loud.

Getting into the heart of the city wasn't easy, especially when most of them were wanted, and the rest didn't know how to stay subtle even if their lives depended on it.

So they wore disguises.

Bad ones.

Kai wore a delivery uniform and a fake moustache that kept falling off every few minutes, along with some shades. Nadya shoved her wild curls under a pink wig that made her look like an off-duty pop idol with anger issues. Sven had stolen a full suit and tie ensemble from someone's laundry line and looked like a very confused office worker.

And Lenny?

Lenny was a seven-foot-tall humanoid lizard in a hoodie that read "#1 Grandma."

They didn't even try to explain that one.

And thanks to some miracle, they arrived at their destination...

-

The news station's lobby was sleek, polished, and completely unprepared for the mutant apocalypse that strolled through its front doors.

"Are you... here for an appointment?" the receptionist asked, visibly sweating as Lenny growled and sniffed at the potted plants.

"Yeah," Kai said with a grin, before pulling down his sunglasses. "We're here to announce a death. Yours, if you don't bring us the guy in charge."

A few moments later, they were standing in the plush, poorly lit office of a balding, middle-aged man with a sweat-stained dress shirt and fingers that jittered with caffeine and cowardice. He barely reached Lenny's chest, and the moment the mutant lizard stepped into the room, the man squeaked like a deflating balloon.

"Y-you don't have to explain!" the man said, waving his hands like he was trying to disperse the very concept of danger. "I don't care what this is! Drama? Stunt? Real? Fake? Doesn't matter! I just want viewership! Give me a corpse pic, a name, and let me do the rest!"

Kai blinked. "You're... very cooperative."

"I run a dying news channel in a dying city!" the man shouted, half-laughing and half-weeping. "If I can milk mutant outrage and a fake death for clicks, I'll do it twice! How do you want it - Pyro Maniac dies in an explosion? Mysterious mutant cult involvement? We've got green screens!"

Nadya tilted her head. "You're disturbingly prepared for this."

"I've done worse," the man whispered, staring off into the distance. "There was a reality show pitch involving mutant dating last week... I can put this up just before that."

An hour later, the headline quickly spread onto every major broadcast:

"BREAKING: Pyro Maniac - known rogue mutant and primary figure in the Mutant Outlaws - under mysterious circumstances has been Confirmed Dead!. Body was discovered charred beyond recognition. Investigation pending."

They even threw in a doctored photo of Nadya's "corpse" for good measure - scorched clothes, soot-covered skin, eyes closed in a peaceful kind of fake death.

Then they waited.

The news station had bent over backwards to accommodate their little stunt and still continued treating them like kings. The conference room was stocked with snacks, biscuits, soft drinks, and even a cheese platter that Sven immediately claimed as his own.

"I could get used to this," he mumbled, stuffing crackers into his mouth two at a time.

"I can't believe we're doing all this just to get him to show up," Nadya muttered, sipping on tea. "What's next, we fake a wedding?"

Kai leaned back in a chair, arms behind his head. "Honestly? That might be easier."

They didn't have to wait long.

Roughly an hour after the story broke, the pressure in the room dropped like a stone.

A jagged black rift tore into reality in the centre of the table, warping the lights and drawing in all sound like a vacuum. Shadows spilt through the air, dense and oily, curling into clawed tendrils that snuffed out all warmth.

And then, he stepped through.

Shadow.

A cloaked figure of pure menace, his body wrapped in shifting darkness that clung to him like a living entity. His face was hidden behind the darkness, but his gloomy eyes that gleamed within said everything. The temperature dropped with every step he took.

"Where is the body?" he said, voice low and deadly.

No one answered.

Shadow's presence alone was enough to freeze blood in their veins. He looked around slowly, gaze slicing through each of them like a blade.

Then he spotted Nadya.

Alive. Blinking. Mid-biscuit.

His shadows recoiled, and the pressure he was producing immediately lifted.

"You faked a death." His voice trembled, not with fear, but something darker.

Anger!

But before he could even let out his frustration, he was immediately shut down by the others.

"You threw us out here without a lifeline," Nadya said, calm but firm. "No updates. No backup. No Spatial Pulses. You left us out here with hardly any details, and out of the blue. What did you expect?"

"You still shouldn't have..." Shadow replied coldly.

"Well, we were desperate," Sven said. "It's not like we could call you."

There was silence. A heavy, oppressive pause that hung in the air like a noose.

Then, with a sigh of pure exhaustion, Shadow reached into his coat and pulled out a sleek black case. He internally blamed himself for falling for the news report which in hindsight appeared very fabricated, but he quickly moved on.

"I'm here now, so I might as well give you these," he muttered. "I was going to show up sometime this week. But clearly, you idiots couldn't wait."

He opened the case, revealing a row of custom-built devices. They looked like phones, only bulkier, sleeker, and a hell of a lot tougher.

"Phones?" Isaac asked quietly.

"Vance's work," Shadow said, already turning to leave. "Custom internal network. No cell towers. No GPS. No internet. Encrypted. Untraceable. Practically indestructible. They're for communication between us outlaws."

"He really made phones for us?" Nadya asked, surprised.

Shadow nodded. "And yes, I think he even launched his own satellite just to make sure they'd work."

Kai stared at the device. "Sounds like a nerd."

"Yeah, he's the biggest nerd I've ever seen," Sven agreed.

"I think he's great," Isaac chimed in with approval from the corner.

Nadya laughed, "It's only because he's making you a fake arm that you can't wait for. I bet it's gonna have some crazy gadgets. Maybe I should cut off one of mine."

"I certainly wouldn't recommend it," Isaac said, as they all began laughing and chattering among themselves until a sharp cough brought silence to the room.

-

Darkness still clung to Shadow like a loyal beast, coiling protectively around his frame as he stood silent in the news station's conference room. The shadows pulsed gently, not with malice, but with a subtle edge, as if reminding everyone who and what he was.

Then, with a quiet, almost theatrical clearing of his throat, he drew their attention.

"I've got more on my plate than I care to list," he said bluntly, his tone cutting through the room like a scalpel. "So let's keep this short."

They all quieted down. For all the times Shadow had vanished without a trace, none of them could pretend not to respect the man. He was the glue that somehow held their dysfunctional crew together, even if that glue was half dried out and smelled suspiciously like regret.

"From now on," Shadow continued, withdrawing one of the strange black devices and holding it up between his fingers, "you can call or message me directly whenever you need to. No more Spatial Pulses. Vance's network makes them obsolete."

"That's if you actually respond," Nadya muttered with a scowl, not bothering to hide the jab.

Shadow didn't dignify that with a response. He just dropped the phone onto the table and gave a slight nod.

That was Isaac's cue.

The sharp-eyed mutant was already flicking through a series of mental notes he had prepared.

"I'll begin the debrief," Isaac said in his usual monotone. "Since arriving in the city, we have..."

He kept going for minutes, unfazed by the way everyone else slowly tuned out. No one ever volunteered for the summary. Isaac liked the order and giving reports in a structured manner. The rest of them liked that he liked it.

Kai munched a biscuit.

Nadya checked her nails.

Lenny tried to lick the frosting off a scone without being obvious about it.

It wasn't until ten minutes in that Shadow raised a hand. "Understood. And... who's that?"

He gestured toward the hulking figure looming in the corner...

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