Within the Darkness

Kathryn woke up in bed, snuggled up to Pitch's back who was laying on his side. Kathryn slowly got up, figuring Pitch was likely awake since he didn't need as much sleep but didn't want to bother him just in case. She went to the living room and grabbed the tablet with the cryptid files on it and started scrolling through it. She found Black Eagle even made files on witnesses that survived encounters. Among these files she noticed one for James Holden. It made sense since he survived an attack by an Umbran in first grade. She looked around before opening it up out of curiosity.

She found in addition to witnesses statements, Black Eagle also took blood samples. There were even a number of reports for years after the event. Opening up those files revealed that Black Eagle had somehow acquired James' therapy notes from his psychiatrist that he was assigned after the event. This was a clear violation of Doctor patient confidentiality laws. Not that it surprised Kathryn. What she did find odd is the blood test report tagged an anomaly in his DNA. They also had his blood test from when he applied to work at NexGen that showed the anomaly became more pronounced.

From what Kathryn knew, Pitch had simply replicated what his blood was like before James died. This meant any and all tests would match what he had at that time. These files on James suggested that he was on Black Eagle’s radar after the event that happened twenty one years ago and they haven't stopped checking in on him since. He's been under observation for basically his entire life.

Looking into the file and the mention of the anomaly, Kathryn found that anomalies like the one in James' DNA are not uncommon and are thought to be the result of cryptid human hybridization with some kinds of cryptids being able to produce offspring with humans. Not only is this still a possibility today but multiple mythologies and folklores make mention of otherworldly things such as fairies or angels mingling with humans. Since many folklore and myth creatures are confirmed to be real as cryptids today it is highly likely many of these folk creatures are or were cryptids that have either reached near extinction and gone into hiding or have completely died out.

Individuals with more prominent anomalies sometimes display anomalous abilities. Such a thing was investigated in the case of James as Black Eagle looked into how the anomaly manifested as soon as they noticed it. It seemed James even at a young age emitted a stronger electromagnetic frequency than average by a significant amount. This EMF would occasionally interfere with some electronics like analog antennas and older street lamps. There was also evidence to suggest his EMF interacted with and could even influence the ENF of others. This allowed a young James to be strongly in tune with others.

In a simpler way of wording it, James was empathetic. Able to detect and even project emotions in a short range. This ability allowed him to make friends easily as well as understand the feelings of others so he could defuse a bully and help them through why they lasted out or even project calm to reduce someone's anger. However, after the trauma in first grade he shut himself off and ignored this ability for the most part.

This apparently made him a stronger candidate for recruitment than average with Black Eagle seeing the potential for using this ability to detect and defend against cryptids. However, they decided to give him space for a few years after his parents died meaning he went missing before they had a chance to try to recruit him. This ability was also at one point thought to be the source of something referred to as The Signal. Apparently they noticed a strange increase in cryptid activity in the area and theorized something was drawing them in like a signal as nothing else could explain the heightened amount of activity. However, it was concluded that the timing wasn't right since the increase was detected after the incident twenty one years ago.

So James couldn't be the source. It was however believed he could detect The Signal as it was most likely some kind of EMF that couldn't be detected by satellite and would require on ground localized scans. This information made Kathryn pause. With how Pitch's current body worked being a cryptid that detects fear as part of its hunting and digestion it's possible his natural ability to detect emotions was enhanced by his new form on top of being a cryptid. That combined with how he described feeling a pull from NexGen when he passed it after coming back for the first time since becoming a cryptid.

This led Kathryn to one conclusion. Whatever was causing The Signal, it was inside NexGen. Was it the high number of cryptids being kept there? If so then why didn't the increase start sooner? NexGen has been holding cryptids since day one and it's been around longer than James' entire life. So what could it be? Maybe they are intentionally sending it out to draw in cryptids to get easier access to specimens.

While Kathryn was lost in thought, Pitch finally wandered out of the bedroom. “I was wondering where you went. What's up?” Kathryn hesitated a bit before showing him what she found. Pitch looked everything over while rubbing his chin. “I haven't noticed an increase of strange stuff but Black Eagle has done a good job of covering things up so far. A gas leak here, a rabid animal there. Unless you were actively looking for something you probably wouldn't notice anything wrong.”

Kathryn nodded. “Only question is why it took till now for them to check in on the place they used to imprison and run tests on Cryptids.” Pitch grumbled. “They have no idea the lab itself is the problem, and there have been no recorded escapes. So they had no reason before now. I'm guessing since we are now actively looking for cryptid activity we'll see it a lot more. Like when you get a car and suddenly notice every time you pass that car. It's not because there's suddenly more of it on the road, you just didn't have a reason to notice.”

Kathryn hummed. “Okay, so what's next.” Pitch scrolled on the tablet a bit. “I don't know. I still feel like we're missing something. For now we continue as we have been. Working at NexGen and looking for clues. In the meantime I think I'll give you a sample of my particles to look at with the equipment so we can better understand my body. We can run a few tests on me and gather data. Maybe we'll find something that'll help us out if or when we encounter the Umbran that started all this.”

Kathryn nodded. “Just name a thing you want to test and we can get started.” Pitch dissolved his pinky to let his true self out before grabbing an airtight bottle and putting a part of him in before closing it on himself and separating the particles from himself with a light wince. “That wasn't so bad.” The particles go limp and drop to the bottom of the container, no longer connected to the main mass and no longer active. Kathryn shook the bottle around, rattling the contents with a humm. “I'll run this sample through as many different scans and tests as I can.”

Pitch nodded. “I have a few tools here we can use to run a few tests. In the garage.” Pitch walks to the garage and Kathryn follows. Once in there Kathryn looks through a number of things until she pulls out an EMF reader. “This will definitely come in handy. Why do you have this?” Pitch looked at the device. “It can help find power leaks and stuff. It's not like they were invented for ghost hunting. Although since some cryptids likely give off a strong EMF it's possible to use one of these to tell if one is nearby.”

Kathryn turned on the device to scan Pitch who then entered his true form and got scanned again. “Well you are definitely giving off a strong signal. I have another question. Why do you have a freaking Tesla coil in your garage?” Pitch shrugged. “I always thought they were cool. It's hooked up to a laptop that takes energy readings right now because last time I turned it on I was checking how conductive various materials were.”

Kathryn chuckled. “You could have just googled it?” Pitch looked at Kathryn, a bit confused. “I have the equipment to find it out myself, why wouldn't I use it?” Kathryn nodded with a smile. “Good point.” And turned on the laptop to open the program out of curiosity. While fiddling she accidentally turned on the program. The Tesla coil fired up and Pitch happened to be floating between the coil and the rod the electricity would get sent to.

The coil hummed to life as it built up energy before shooting a small bolt of lightning at Pitch. The blueish white bolt hits the black mass, jumping from particle to particle at lightning before turning purple after a few jumps and seemingly getting thicker. It bounced around a bit before Pitch intentionally discharged it at the rod. Kathryn jumped back from the laptop. “Holy shit!” Pitch chuckled. “Don't fret, that didn't exactly hurt. It actually tickled a bit.”

Kathryn then stated “That wasn't why I jumped back.” Before turning the laptop over so he could see the numbers. Pitch retook his human form and looked it over. “That… shouldn't be possible. Unless it's grabbing energy from me on the way though. If these numbers are fully accurate, as long as I was well fed I could be used for cold fission.” Pitch then paused as his eyes widened. He then grabbed a whiteboard and started writing down math. “Hey Kat, do you know how our city gets its power?”

Kathryn has a confused expression on her face, not sure where Pitch was going with this. “Well we used to have a coal plant, but some clean energy company bought it and closed it down ten years ago, switching over to solar and wind based energy powered by solar and wind farms in the outskirts of town.” Pitch wrote out three equations. “This is the estimated amount of energy the solar and wind farms should produce on average. Calculated by how many Watt hours per square foot of panel and Watt hours per windmill. This second one is a rough estimate of how much energy a city of our size needs per hour.”

Kathryn looked over the numbers. “I don't have to be good at math to see that we definitely are not producing enough power. What is the third equation?” Pitch points to it. “This is an estimate of how much the energy output of our clean energy generation would be increased by running it through an Umbran. As you can see it's more than twice what we need. This is what is causing the signal, what is drawing me to NexGen. The thing in the sub basement, the secret reactor powering the building. I suspect that NexGen captured the Umbran and that fact was not conveyed to Ishwada or perhaps even kept secret from most if not all of Black Eagle.”

Kathryn put her hand on her chin. “Selling the excess energy would definitely help pay for things. But I feel like we missed a step. How would this not be something known to the energy company since wouldn't they be aware of the fact their farms aren't enough?” Pitch looked at Kathryn. “Do you remember who bought the coal plant?” Kathryn thought for a moment. “The green energy company is called N.R.G Solutions if I remember correctly.”

Pitch nodded. “It's a subsidiary of Tomarrow Corporation, owned by Thomas Marrow aka TomBone.” Kathryn's eyes widened. “NexGen is technically owned by Tomarrow Corp. A big money company was needed to provide the budget. As long as we gave the treatments they could sell we continued to receive funding. I figured we somehow did the cryptid stuff behind their backs but now it seems like Tom is actively trying to prophet off cryptids. Not sure how or when he would have learned about them though.”

Pitch nodded. “The how of how we got to this point isn't as important as doing something about it. As long as they torture the Umbran in the basement this city will continue to be a hot bed for cryptids and people will die. We need to work our way in till you can gain access to the reactor and we can shut it down. Even if that means giving the Umbran a mercy killing. It's not like we are doing a rescue operation for an abused pet. This is a man eating monster we are talking about. One that your bosses are actively feeding in order to produce clean and technically renewable energy.”

Kathryn's face scrunched in disgust. “That's awful. Unfortunately getting that level of trust is going to take time and can't be rushed.” Pitch nods. “So in the meantime I'll devote myself to taking out any cryptids causing problems and helping Black Eagle in a way. Though containment isn't a great option if I don't kill them considering we know where the living specimens go.” Kathryn nods. “It won't be easy, but we've got a clear goal.”

Pitch closes the laptop. “Yeah, now that business has been taken care of, maybe we should talk about the personal.” Kathryn looked to Pitch. “What do you mean?” Pitch gestured between the two of them. “This. I mean how exactly are we going to handle this? Are we going to start off slow, going on dates like a normal couple and eventually build up to living together if things go well making this the last night we spend in the same bed till then? Or do we accept that nothing in our lives will ever be normal and play this by ear?”

Kathryn shifted back and forth a bit. When she suggested they try and be together she didn't exactly think it through. All she knew is for the first time in her life she wasn't going to let something she wanted slip away from her because of her own insecurities or other issues. She figured she would deal with problems as they came up. “I umm… wasn't thinking that far ahead. I figured we would just go with the flow. Whatever happens happens.” Pitch nodded. “Play it by ear then? That works for me.” He then kissed Kat on the cheek.

Kathryn rubbed her cheek and smiled. The two spent some time together casually watching TV before getting ready for and going to work. For Pitch it was just a normal day. Though it felt strange now that Black Eagle was no longer posted inside the building. Pitch knew they didn't go far because of the high level of activity in the city but still. Working in the lab building felt different for a number of reasons. Here Pitch was, going about his day like everything was normal, despite knowing the only other living member of the species he was now a part of was being tortured in the basement.

Even if the monster was actively malicious rather than just acting in its nature, no living thing deserved to spend its life in such torment. And for what? A source of clean renewable energy? The people behind this place didn't care about containing cryptids for the safety of the people, the only thing they saw was a resource they could exploit without consequences because cryptids would have no protections under current laws similar to how aliens had no protections. If a space person crashed into your backyard you could rape, kill, and eat it on camera and legally speaking get away with it. However, one can imagine anyone depraved enough to publicly do such a thing would quickly be punished by the court of public opinion.

There are lots of people who would have sympathy for a sentient life form from the stars. But who on this earth would feel any remorse for a life form literally born from the energy of emotions? Especially when most of them are born from emotions that are seen as negative. Who would feel remorse for the death of something born from the fear of cannibalism that eats people or a literal sea monster that sinks ships for fun? Pitch found his thoughts spiraling ever darker as he thought about the worst parts of humanity.

Pitch had to shake that off and remind himself there is also good in people. He bet if he tried hard enough he could find a file on a wholesome cryptid born from positive emotions. All it would take was a solid minority to convince people cryptids are not all bad. To think before they act in a way that could be considered genocidal by a loose definition considering cryptids don't have traditional genetics.

In fact there were several things about cryptids that didn't make sense when pitch thought about it. He wasn't exactly a scientist but even he understood that energy to matter conversation wasn't exactly efficient. It took something like the equivalent of sixty four tones of TNT just to generate two grams of matter. Anyone who was a fan of a specific sci-fi movie franchise knew that humans make really crappy batteries so something that would be just a percentage of the waste energy coming off a person would be lucky to light a lightbulb even with hundreds of people.

Even the lowest energy solution of pulling an existing entity from an adjacent dimension overlapping ours would probably require something akin to multiple nuclear power plants. Cryptids actively defined several scientific rules from what Pitch understood. If he were to create an analogy he would say it felt like God took a day off and outsourced creation to an artificial intelligence for a day. Creating something that at a distance resembled normal life and seemed to follow the rules on closer inspection is outed as fraudulent. An uncanny existence with rules that are similar but not the same as the universal standard.

This however wasn't Pitch's problem to look into. It was best to focus on things within his range and power to effect. Thinking about the nonsense at work only served to distract him from his goals. To figure out why and how he was changed and freeing the Umbran from its torment. This would be accomplished by him and or Kathryn embedding themselves even deeper into NexGen and possibly Black Eagle. Something Pitch knew wouldn't happen overnight.