I was currently sitting in my room staring intently at a brownish-orange mask. It had a white beard with what seemed to be unruly eyebrows and a mustache with black marks on the corners of its mouth and eyes.
It was the mask I had received along with my talismans back when I first arrived in this world.
It was strange really. I could almost swear that every time I held it I could feel this weight to it, like it was oozing power.
I had to admit this had been a long time coming. I had delayed thinking about it, but after our last mission and what happened back at Cadmus I kept getting this feeling of urgency.
Like if I didn't do something it would be too late.
I had already asked Megan if she knew any mental techniques that could help me remember long forgotten memories.
She told me that she would ask her uncle about it, since he was much more familiar with human minds.
Aparently the only technique she knew would involve mind walking along side me to help me remember whatever it is that I forgot.
Obviously that was a bit too risky for my tastes, therefore I opted to wait for her to get back to me after she talked to Martian Manhunter.
On the other hand if this turned out to be a bust I planned on talking to Giovanni and seeing if he knew a memory spell or something.
Anyway I focused back onto the mask and examined it once more.
Obviously the note that ROB left wasn't too helpful about what the mask actually was or what it was supposed to do.
Even the vague sentence about it containing 'great power' and ' to be careful' left much to be desired.
Nonetheless it didn't take a genius to figure out that I probably had to wear it if I wanted to activate it.
Okay.
I have stalled long enough, time to dive in feet first. I slowly picked the mask from my lap and raised it slowly towards my face.
Finally when it was on my face a faint feeling of suction immediately attached itself on my face. A beat went by with me waiting for something to happen, but there was nothing...
" Well that was anti climactic." I dryly stated.
I sighed in disbelief, here I was wasting time agonizing over the mask for the past few months and when I finally put it on, nothing happened.
I decided to get up and walk towards the mirror to at least see how I looked wearing it but I was shocked by what I saw.
The mask didn't look like a mask anymore, instead it looked like it fused into my skin and conformed to the shape of my face.
Whoa, this was trippy.
I tried out different facial expressions in the mirror and was surprised by how surreal it looked. Eventually though it got old so I decided to take it off.
Imagine my surprise though when I couldn't.
There was no seams to slip my fingers and all of attempts at just yanking it off my face seemed to fail miserably.
After 15 minutes of me trying to take it off, it finally dawned on me that I may have made a mistake...
.
.
.
.
So, here I was with a magical mask stuck to my face. Desperately trying to pull it off, but no matter what I did nothing seemed to work.
I grew more and more agitated as my frustration mounted with each passing second.
I was cursing myself for not taking any precautions and not having Giovanni check and see if it was safe. My desire to keep the mask a secret ended up biting me in the ass.
I wanted it to be my trump card something I could pull out when things invetiably escalated in this insane universe.
But, instead here I was stuck in this embarrassing situation.
In a fit of rage and frustration I threw one of the books on my desk at the wall.
When out of nowhere a dark figure flashed by and caught the book in its hand. It all happened so quickly I didn't have anytime to react.
For a few seconds I found myself staring at the silent figure standing before me, holding out the book towards me.
My first clue about what or who was standing before me, was due to its greyish-blue skin and its glowing red eyes.
The honest to God ninja suit he was wearing was my second clue, which after a second look seemed to have a few details that drew my attention, primarily the dark red belt where it kept its Shuriken.
A Shadow Khan.
A demonic being that lived in the shadow realm. Silent, swift and skilled assassins.
Each and every Shadowkhan was deadly in its own right and now I had one standing before me in the middle of my room silently staring at me all whilst holding a book.
The amount of the what the fucks running through my mind were too many to count. So, I was to be forgiven if the first words out of my mouth were a bit unintelligent.
" Ahh.. are you a Shadow Khan?"
It silently nodded its head at my question, but apparently it was not too big on talking. I guess the fact it could understand me at all was already a boon, since I doubt I could speak whatever language it spoke.
" Where did you come from? Aren't you supposed to be in..." I trailed off, not entirely sure how to formulate my next question.
I knew Shendu used them as henchmen to harass Jackie and to help the dark hand to obtain the talismans for his resurrection, but the show never went into too much details about them.
But, then again I only watched the first season and if I am not mistaken there was still about 3 more seasons that I didn't get the chance to watch before I died in the hospital.
It seemed to understand my intent though and silently pointed towards the mask on my face and then at the shadowed corner in my room.
Understanding dawned on me and I couldn't help but say. " Holy shit! I can summon ninjas!"
A few moments after my excitement wound down I found myself scrutinizing the Shadow Khan I had summoned.
It was still standing there not moving a muscle which honestly creeped me out a bit. I tried giving it a few orders like walk, put down the book and even gave it an order to do a handstand which it had no problem doing.
Eventually I decided to try and summon more.
I tried a few things but what seemed to work best was using strong emotions like anger or frustration and imagining it oozing out of the shadows.
Before I knew it I had a half dozen Shadow Khans standing before me awaiting for my orders and after a bit of thinking I ordered them to demonstrate all of their capabilities one by one.
It turns out that the Ninja Khan were experts at Taijutsu, being able to hold their own against professional martial artists and could move at incredible speeds and were extremely agile.
They could also turn into and travel through shadows and had the ability to phase through solid matter. Something I tested by throwing different objects at them and having them phase through different materials.
They still had to go corporal if they wanted to hit something and it tended to take a few seconds for it to activate, which sadly meant they couldn't use it mid-combat and only use it as a means of inflirtation or escape.
They could also utilize various weapons, such as throwing stars and could even fight even using sticks that seemed to materlize out of nowhere.
They could also stick to any surfaces and their outfits also allowed them to glide for a brief amount of time.
Unfortunately as versatile as they were, they were still made out of shadows, so with a strong hit their bodies could be destroyed and they would end up in the Shadow Realm to regenerate.
My conclusion was that they were not actual living creatures, and acted more like autonomous ninja shaped golems made out of shadows and magic.
Their biggest issue was that they were not able to speak or communicate with each other or the person who summoned them, which made things unconvenient.
Plus, they were a bit stupid and were easily tricked or distracted by feints and attacks that shouldn't work on someone of their level of speed and skill. It was obvious their critical thinking skills were a bit on the low side and that they would need detailed instructions depending on the task they were given.
I briefly wondered if they had the capacity to learn.
Potentially if I could teach them to use cameras or devices to help them communicate they would be excellent spies. They could serve as a much more effecient intelligence network than the rudimentary one I had established using the homeless population back when I was in Gotham.
Something to contemplate at a later time.
I ended up dissming them though and as soon as I did I felt the mask slacken a bit and with a slight pull it came right off my face.
Thank God. Wearing this 24/7 would have been a nightmare. I don't know if this was a one off thing or why it came off when it did. But, I was already feeling exhausted and wasn't keen on trying to figure it out right now.
I decided to go to sleep since it was already a bit late. Tomorrow the team had a training session with Black Canary and it wouldn't do for me to embarrass myself infront of my mentor.
I had to be on my A game so to speak and a lack of sleep and exhaustion would be detrimental for my focus. I closed my eyes as a wave of mental exhaustion overcame me and before I knew it I drifted off into sleep.
Unbeknownst to me at the time was the faint shimmer of a demonic faced tattoo that suddenly appeared on my back before it disappeared again.
(Chapter End)
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