Morphing Into Shade

[Shade]

Shade sighed inwardly. For a moment she had thought it might work to fake the list. Take out Jimmy´s name and put in a few Jimmys that didn´t exist to let the police run on trails that led nowhere. But that meant they had to instantly believe her story and release her before Manuel had confessed, it also meant the police would not try and track who her brother had been. Which was a naive thing to believe.

"Yeah.." she said, after considering all that. "I can only see this work if the police can follow my story back somehow. Which either means that I do have to risk giving my name to them and possibly having to take on a new one." She stopped for a few seconds, a new idea appearing. She had no idea if it could work, but thought she might as well give it a try. "Or that we fake the background story. Manuel might know the name, but...to him, Jimmy could be anybody. If there are other Jimmys on the list, we could pick one as a... school friend or boyfriend."

[Gambit]

"We work on de list," Gambit said. "Run a background check, see if dere are any victims without a traceable family, fake your relation to 'em. Ya gotta be connected wit' deir backstory somehow, dere ain't no other way, sorry, chere," Gambit said, knowing it was a difficult thing for Shade to work with.

[Shade]

"I know." Shade said. Gambit´s last couple of words told her he probably had an idea this was not easy for her to stomach. She knew that this might be the only way to keep her own name out of it, but for some reason that she instantly knew was unreasonable, it felt like...betrayal.

She knew it was a stupid thing to think. Admitting that Jimmy had been her brother would have led the cops to her. But worse than that, to her family. They would have to live through this again, have to answer questions, probably the press would catch a sniff of the story, would try to get details from them. No, it wasn´t betrayal, it was not only the only way, it was also safest and best for them.

"That means we do not have to fake the list." she concluded for herself. "we can take the original one. With the original names."

[Gambit]

"No," Gambit said. "I don't want your name t' be appearin' in any of the case files, ever. Otherwise it'd be you we'd be sendin' dere, not Kevin."

[Shade]

It had been a vague attempt and Shade had known this when suggesting it.
Funny, she thought, how after all she had been through with this, it was the most unexpected thing that was giving her a hard time in this very moment. She would agree to this. Of course she would. She wasn´t stupid. There was no sense in debating this since it was the only way to keep her head out of this, just as well as there was no sense to risk things like that. It was reasonable beyond doubt. It just felt...a bit weird. But Jimmy´s name would be on the list, no matter what and that was what mattered. He would still be listed as one of their victims and if these bastards were charged, they would be charged for his murder as well.

She hated that list. Things like that were a sign for inequality, for bigotry and hatred, for everything she would never come to terms with. Her brother´s name should never have been on it in the first place. But it was. And it sort of mattered that someone came and recognized a twelve year old kid had been one of them.

"All right," she said, getting up, doing a step or two just for the sudden need to move around a bit. "So do I tell Kevin the fake story too?"

[Gambit]

"Yup," Gambit nodded. "If we decide to go for a fake story, dat is."

[Shade]

"Yes." Shade said, finding herself talking and more or less speaking her thoughts before she even noticed. "There were quite some names in there, there´s probably several Jimmys or James or second names of those. All we need is someone roughly my age. We could go for the story of a college friend, nobody too close, enough to make it believable and to give a convincing emotion for Manuel to manipulate."

She was pacing slowly, her hands moving a bit as if to shake off some tension and she noticed that speaking aloud was actually helping things. He would understand it, of course he would.

[Gambit]

"A friend would work," Gambit nodded. "Harder t' trace, harder to prove." He knew he'd have to call in a few long-owed favors, pull some strings to concoct a full life-like background for Shade to fit in, for Kevin to present.

[Shade]

Interestingly, this was becoming easier by the second. Shade had no doubt this might get tough when she got to telling Kevin or somewhen later when she had nothing to do or was trying to fall asleep and thought things over again. But immersing in the idea, trying to play some thoughts in her head, it felt okay. This wasn´t about personal pride after all.

"Good." she said. "but what do we tell Kevin now? We don´t have a background story yet. Do I just keep it vague for starters?"

[Gambit]

"We'll work it out t'gether," Gambit replied, "I'll direct ya how t' do it in de best way." Schemes, backup plans and trace cover-up were his area of expertise, after all. He was certain Kevin had some aces up his sleeves in this respect, too, considering his powers.

[Shade]

If this weren´t so personal a trace, Shade caught herself thinking, this could actually be an interesting even somewhat fun thing to do. Just to see out of curiosity. But it wasn´t. Which meant it never became a game but always stayed serious to her. "All right." she said. "So how about, I´ll tell him the basics then. Manuel, the murder, the amnesia and you can help me out on the background and the list. It would only be believable for me to have trouble talking about it."

Again, right now it was all right. With everything she remembered every day or week the gap between Asheville and New York was widening. Making it easier.

[Gambit]

"Yup," Gambit said, "dis is our trump card, actually. Kevin has de right t' decline de lie detector test, too, so-"

At that moment, a sound of a car pulling over came from the outside. "I guess here's our boy," Gambit remarked.

[Shade]

Shade turned around, noticing the sound of the engine only when Gambit mentioned it.
You can pull this off, she told herself. Not a problem to look a bit uncomfortable, would rather be suspicious if you weren´t.

[Morph]

Kevin forced himself to get out of the car and walk towards the entrance of the building, the coordinates of which he'd received a few days ago. He wasn't feeling good about this, and the closer he got, the less interest he had in this whole affair.

The only tiny part of him that seemed to still dig the plan was the one that needed some practice with his powers, something that has long been underused.

Entering, he saw Gambit and Shade waiting for him already. "Hi," he said, walking over.

[Gambit]

"Salut," Gambit welcomed the third participant with a nod. "Ready t' start?"