Taco Time was their safe space. It was a small, dank place on the corner of first and second, right across from their office. It served greasy food in abundance, and also had these little sauce packets which Glass liked to stuff in her pockets. Glass and Ninja sat in a booth near the back of the building, which had a window looking out onto an unused parking lot where grocery bags tumbled and twisted in the brisk wind. They always sat there when they went to Taco Time. No one ever sat there, or even near it, and that suited Glass and Ninja just fine. They sat next to one another, feet on the opposite seat.

Ninja chewed her soft taco wearily. Paperwork…

Welp. I’m done, though. Glass wasn’t being smug about it, but that didn’t make it any better. I mean, what I mean is that I’m free. Like a bird. A giant yellow bird. Ninja, I’m Big Bird!

Is Big Bird going to go vigilante on Sesame Street?

Glass smiled, straightening her collar. Absolutely. Elmo better watch out. Big Bird is on the case.

Wait, you mean the Shadow lady case?

I mean the Shadow Elmo case! But yeah, basically. Why?

The boss isn’t going to like that.

No one that handsome could be irrational.

He specifically said that we’re off the case.

Glass finished her massive burrito and yawned. “So I won’t use my badge. No biggie.” Time to kick it old school.

He’ll probably keep the evidence restricted to the agents he’s assigned to the case. You might not be able to access the crime scenes.

Glass looked at her as if she were dense. Ninja, you do know that I can turn invisible, right? The whole world belongs to me.

Oh, right. Ninja bit her lip. I guess I forgot. Other people can’t tell where you are based on where your mind is.

“Yep!” Glass attacked her friend with a hug. You’re my best friend for a reason!

A blonde karen gave them a weird look from across the room. Ninja decided to keep the lady’s thoughts to herself.

Letting go of her friend, Glass slid out of the booth. “M’kay, see you later.”

“I’ll be finishing up my paperwork.”

It occurred to Glass that she could help Ninja with her paperwork. Ninja knew she’d had the thought, and Glass knew Ninja knew it.

Glass fled.

Ninja gave a begrudging laugh.

Instead of going home, Glass went directly back to the office, invisible this time.

She climbed up the side of the building. It wasn’t very efficient, but it was good exercise and Glass hadn’t been able to do so for a while. There was nothing quite like climbing buildings.

Sliding the window to the evidence room open, she slipped in. Her breathing was quiet, and once the window was softly closed, no one would suspect there was someone in the room.

She rifled through the files. Active cases. The S’s. No file on the Shadow case. Frowning, she looked in the W’s for weddings. Q for queen. C for cult.

Nothing.

She pawed through the files for every active case. Some were really interesting, like one that seemed to be a magic donut thief, and the case of the rubber duckies, but nothing to do with Shadows, or their mysterious queen.

There was nothing on her in the past cases, either, and there wasn’t a section for future cases, which Glass found disappointing.

She put her hands on her hips. Something isn’t right here.

There was a creak as the door to the room opened.

Glass froze. The files were all over the floor. She may have been a bit frustrated. A streak of lurid yellow light from the hall fell onto the donut folder.

“What’s this?” It was Mr. Ray, the velvet fedora low on his forehead. The shadow from the brim hid his eyes.

Glass cat footed out of his way as he strode into the center of the room. He blinked in the dim window-light. “How… unfortunate.” He glared into the dark corners of the room, but saw no one. He sighed, and pushed his hat a little further onto his head. “I’ll check the security cameras.”

She glanced around, spotting a camera poking out from a corner. That’s new.

He started turning to leave, but Glass leapt onto him from behind, grasping him in a chokehold.

“Ah— ergh, uh…” He passed out into her arms. Glass blinked. She’d never held a man in her arms before. Then she unceremoniously dropped him.

Oh… wait. He’s my boss… Oops.

She left to scrub the security system.

The next morning, the atmosphere in the office was tense and stuffy from all the anxiety floating around. Ninja tried to ignore it and focus on her paperwork, but everyone else was in a tizzy about the break-in last night. Apparently, someone had come in and made a mess of the archives, assaulted Mr. Ray, and wiped the security tapes clean. Ninja had a suspicion of what had happened, but she hadn’t seen Glass since Taco Time.

The loud man came to her desk. His thoughts were buzzing with annoyance. “Have you seen my laptop?” He was very upset that he couldn’t do his work without it.

“No,” she answered.

He scowled. “If there is one more Batman logo on my desktop…” He glanced over at Glass’s cubicle. “Where’s Agent G?”

“She has food poisoning.”

“Did you guys go to Taco Time?”

“Yes.”

The loud man shook his head gravely. “Food poisoning. It’s not surprising.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Glass sat on her bed, examining the loud man’s laptop. It had a disc player and a noisy fan. Practically a fossil. A bit like its owner, really.

She turned it on and hacked in quickly. Opening Powerpoint, she smiled when she found the slides on the Shadow Queen. Names, dates, locations, even his presentation notes. It was a start.