Silhouette

Among those gathered for the Penumbral Palace's opening day was a shifty figure, covered from head to toe in baggy clothes, with a hood, a bandana, and a cap further hiding away their identity. They had been idly playing with something in their hoodie's front pouch during Silhouette's entire speech, and now that it was over and the people were ready to enter the shop and make their purchases or follow the shadow man to ask him more questions, the subject of that idle play was revealed.

The hooded figure took out a metal stick that with a click revealed a blade as they rushed forward. Those in the crowd close enough to see what was happening screamed as soon as their brain processed the information, but the attacker's mad dash was so fast that by that point the armed figure was already gone.

The hooded figure leaped into the air, their chrome knife raised and ready to stab down into Silhouette's body. It was only at that moment that all present realized the threat and panic truly spread.

The attacker bounced off a translucent dark wall.

The figure rolled as they fell to the ground, stabilizing themself for a second charge, but before they could try anything else Barry raised his arm and pressed the trigger of the strange blocky weapon in his hand. Electricity fired off. The bolt had no trouble hitting the attacker and knocked them back, leaving them twitching on the ground as a rat tail slipped from their clothes. Still, the panic persisted until Silhouette spoke.

"Calm down, everyone. This was a planned demonstration. As you can see, the police officers present were informed of this little act beforehand."

True to his word, the keepers of the law in uniform, though ready to act, seemed unperturbed by what first appeared to be an assassination attempt. Seeing that, the rest of the crowd did calm down, though there was a sense of tension that hadn't been present before.

"I figured you would be bored by this point, and so I devised this performance. My apologies for the stress it may have caused. However, I would like to point out that while our attacker is one of my employees and no one was in any danger at any point, all items used were real. Doctor, if you would."

Decanov rolled his eyes as he stepped closer and picked up the knife that had fallen some distance away from the still-twitching ratkin before presenting the weapon to the attentive crowd. Silhouette continued.

"An ordinary switchblade, one that any ruffian aiming to threaten or kill you could use. While it would have not affected me, a flesh and blood body could have suffered critical damage. No matter how minor the weapon, a good hit on a bad spot can spell your demise."

The scientist retracted the blade before tossing it at Larry, the taller of the brothers easily catching it before unleashing its cutting edge again.

"Though the automatic shield we brought for this demonstration easily blocked the attack, it isn't the sole method of defense we sell that could have taken care of it. Our patented electroshield is intended to handle rare but powerful hits rather than the numerous light attacks an individual with such a blade would use. The shield does consume quite a bit of energy at every activation, after all. Hence, our alternative to such situations. Larry, if you would."

The man dressed in black and white nodded before plunging the knife directly into his heart.

He tried to, anyway.

He did take a step back from the force of the impact on his chest, but that was all. The blade bent and slipped before escaping Larry's grasp, letting it fall to the ground with a new obvious curve that ruined its use as a weapon. The only hint Larry had just tried to stab himself was the small black scratch on his otherwise white vest.

"Reinforced clothing. This isn't padded leather or anything of the sort, rather the cloth itself is reinforced through a special process, keeping it as light as ever. We propose a few items of clothing made from this material, but I won't deny they aren't quite as stylish as you might wish. Our expertise lies in self-defense, not fashion. To solve this problem, we offer to sell this reinforced cloth directly. Do note, however, that due to the nature of this material, we will monitor its buyers and the quantity of this product they acquire and share this list with the authorities. These were made to protect the Zalcien, not give its bad elements the means to defend themselves."

Larry tried to rub the black line on his suit off only for his brother to elbow him as a reminder to act professional.

"As you can see, while the cloth is hard to damage, it is marked by attacks. This is a flaw I cannot deny. However, the piece of clothing is as solid as ever. We are currently working on a system to remove these marks, as soon as it is fully developed it will be made available for free to all customers. Frankly, I think quite a few will prefer to keep them, treating them as 'scars' as it were."

He waited a moment to take in everyone's reaction. While the police had been informed of the demonstration, the content of the speech itself was new to them. While the crowd was amazed enough by the items displayed to get over the earlier panic, it was clear the officers were particularly interested in this cloth. Bulletproof material was effective against guns but wasn't as protective when it came to bladed weapons. Similarly, armor meant to protect from knives wouldn't block firearms. Both were bulky vestments so they couldn't be worn together, but with Silhouette's fabric?

The tall lizard woman at the back of the crowd with a coat over her uniform looked at Silhouette's militia in a new light. Those fancy black armored combat suits weren't just here to scare away intruders or build a sense of uniformity. The bodysuit that made the base of their clothing was likely made from this fabric and the armored pieces on top of that probably were bulletproof. With her keen gaze, she even spotted the runes on the guard closest to her. Considering the trend, those were sure to block magic. Maybe there were a few enhancements on top of that, but Inspector Vanille's instinct told her Silhouette had prioritized defense over fancy tricks.

Her reptilian eyes narrowed. Private guards being better equipped than official emergency units was sadly common across the globe, but usually, those belonged to big and established fancy groups, not folks who appeared out of nowhere. Silhouette might be in a partnership of sorts with their local Black, but Vanille could tell this wasn't where those came from. The Black family was widespread and each branch manager was essentially left to do as they pleased so long as they didn't interfere in the bank's business. Blake Black didn't have a fancy paramilitary group at his beck and call, he only had his crows and his Celestial assistant. He could have called in reinforcements from someone he was close to in the family, but this didn't fit his usual behavior.

The inspector took another sip of her coffee. Silhouette had something going on, that she was sure of. People didn't pop up out of nowhere with odd tech and armed forces by being regular citizens. She already had reports on his activities in the slums, she knew he was familiar with operating in the grey area of the law. But, Vanille was no naive girl. She was a grown woman and an experienced officer who knew that legality and morality were not always synonymous and that sometimes, they were better off with dubious people keeping crime down their way. Some folks knew how to play with the law, and seeing them take a punch from folks who didn't care about rules always put a smile on her face. In the privacy of her mind, that is. She knew how to stay cool.

She spared a glance at Cooper next to her. They had discussed this Silhouette situation before coming, ever since they learned about the event and were officially contacted by the shadow man to monitor the situation and prevent unwelcomed guests from making a mess. He didn't agree with her on everything, but on this, they could agree: they were better off with Silhouette in the area and enforcing peace in the slums for now. Criminality in the surroundings of this Penumbral Palace had drastically lowered, and from what their eyes in the slums told the folks there were better off with Silhouette around. He kept the usual crime lords away, provided the people with the means to defend themselves from troublemakers, and the relatively high wages of his employees gave the local economy a good boost.

They just had to hope he would continue the trend of speaking softly while carrying a big stick. He'd been behaved so far and taking care of the Nightsnatcher was a great help to the city, but there was no guarantee he would keep it up. They didn't need a new Xenocorp on their hands. At least he was sticking to his self-defense shtick and his claim of an offer to help the police with their equipment was true and not a PR stunt.

Farther away from the duo of officers was a rather bland person with a bowler hat. They had no special feelings on the matter at hand, but the individual watching the event through the camera hidden in the piece of clothing on top of their head was far from serene.

Alan Leone, scientist extraordinaire with a youthful face and old hair, neither of which matched his true age, was on the verge of ripping out that very same hair. Ever since Mister Marley had gotten wind of the possibility Project Null might have survived and been picked up by a foreign party, he had the bioweapon's creator monitoring the situation. It was a waste of the scientist's expertise, keeping him away from his usual work, but considering the circumstances his experience with the escaped experiment was likely the better choice. It also spared the man from taking care of the highly unethical Project Thanatos under his rival's orders as he had as a punishment since Project Null escaped, but it was hard to appreciate that fact with the risk at hand.

Alan nervously drummed his fingers on his desk as he continued to stare at his screen. At first, he had held onto the belief that there was no chance this Sihlouette could be related to Project Null. He knew for a fact his creation spent all of its life force escaping. It couldn't have survived. The only possibility was someone finding it and repurposing it. And this Silhouette? Though he had appeared out of nowhere, he had done so away from Null's last known location. Project Null was a passion project to mix the Aspects, but its official purpose to satisfy Xenocorp's investors for these secret experiments was for it to act as an infiltration drone of sorts. As such, it had been designed to self-destruct on death in such a way it could leave nothing behind, no hint to track or material to reverse engineer its creation.

Now? That belief, one that had he held onto for the sake of his sanity, had crumbled. He doubted Silhouette was truly Project Null itself as Mister Marley feared, he was far too human and civilized for that, but everything pointed to him being related to the lab experiment in some way. The worst possible outcome then would be that Project Null survived and this Silhouette found some way to control it remotely. It would certainly fit in with the material yet ethereal nature of the man. But Alan had his doubts. They had failed to find a way to control their creation, how could someone who just stumbled upon it figure it out?

The scientist gulped as a possibility came to mind. What if Silhouette had exchanged his physical form with Null? The process was incredibly rare and complex under most circumstances, but considering the bioweapon's abilities, could it be that its Transformation Aspect streamlined the transition? Alan and his team had avoided experimenting with souls, not only were none of them well-versed on the matter but they all found it distasteful at best, but his recent time spent around Project Thanatos had given him new insights.

Yes. The abomination's ability to absorb the souls of its victims and use them as parts to upgrade itself could in some way be used to control it. Make the original mindless, program it correctly, and ensure the first soul to be absorbed is strong-willed and you may successfully transplant a human soul into a new form. It was far too late for Project Thanatos, it had already developed somewhat of a personality and was already far too used to its diet to hope and place someone new in control of it, but with a near-dead Project Null?

Alan's gaze on the screen went from the living shadow to those standing around it. Ivan Decanov may be a scientist, but it was highly unlikely he could figure out how to manipulate Project Null. The Draskian robot was an engineer, not someone dedicated to Aspects like Leone was. The store managers weren't worth mentioning. No, those who truly got Alan's attention were the last pair, though they were the most distant from Silhouette for his little presentation.

Blake Black and Nanyet. They could be the ones who had snatched up Project Null, kept it alive, and then pawned it off to this Silhouette. But why? They would have benefited much more from giving it back to Xenocorp. Alan would have figured out a way to produce more of them reliably and how to properly train them. Instead of a guaranteed loyal group, the Black Bank manager chose a single free-willed individual. Why?

Yes, thinking about it further, it just made no sense for them to give Silhouette an incomplete Project Null and support him rather than handing it back to Mister Marley to have Alan and his team finish it. And even if this Silhouette had been the one to come to them with it under his control, they could just have taken it.

No, it was far more logical that Silhouette didn't have the true Project Null, at least not in a functioning state. It was more likely that if anything was left of it, it was barely enough to serve as the core of the man's new tech. His powers showed great similitude to the bioweapons and the captors included in the spy hat showed he did have some form of connection to all nine Aspects, but this could have been achieved by developing different items who each copied a different part of Project Null. it would also explain the fact they had reports of Silhouette being in different places at the same time.

Yes. Yes! That was it! Silhouette wasn't the shadowy figure but someone controlling it. The figure was most likely some sort of slime Transformed in some way by the remains of Project Null. Those slime copies were probably flawed, necessitating further modifications to get closer to Project Null's original potential, and those fully upgraded served as Silhouette's proxies.

It all made sense. That original sample was used as the core of their tech as some sort of corruptive power source and everything else was developed from that. Decanov may not be an Aspect or bioweapons expert, but someone of his caliber could fashion some way to draw power from a powerful energy-charged item. Even the official statement of Shades Of Penumbra was that he was uninvolved in the developments of the gadgets didn't go against this theory. After all, such a device couldn't be a mere gadget. And with something like that in hand, any somewhat competent tinkerer could figure out some fancy toys.

Of course, while Alan believed this second theory wholeheartedly, he would still share the first more pessimistic one with Mister Marley as well. He already was in hot waters with his boss, he'd rather not further ruin their poor relationship by only giving him the more optimistic possibility. That was a surefire way to be heavily punished if he turned out to be wrong, and he'd rather not be the next one in Project Thanatos' pen.

Alan stared at the screen as the people began to move. Silhouette and his associates disappeared into the store, the podium with numerous mics still embedded in it following and squeezing its way inside as well.

Minutes later, the crowd began to enter as well, their hat-wearing spy included.

Alan could only hope some of the journalists' questions would bring answers to his own.