Ruby waited for more details. When he didn’t elaborate, she sighed. "Care to narrow that down for a non-dweeb?"
"It’s from a Japanese anime. Just look for black clothes, a long coat, a black hat, and a gold chain."
She glanced around. With most of the cosplayers wearing bright, eye-catching colors, spotting a guy in all black shouldn’t be too hard. "Should we split up?"
Jonah’s brow furrowed. "Are you sure? You’ve never seen the character. How will you know who to look for?"
Ruby shrugged. "I’ll Google it if I’m unsure."
"I’ll stick with Jonah," Kavya chimed in, handing Ruby the handheld camera. "I trust you more not to break this."
The further Ruby ventured into the heart of the convention, the more people seemed to fit the description: black clothes, long coat, black hat, and maybe, maybe a gold chain. She had tried Googling the character once she realized how vague Jonah’s description was, but found the service too unreliable in the massive, buzzing crowd. She cursed under her breath.
“Excuse me,” Ruby asked yet another tall man dressed in black. His face was painted ghostly pale with black accents around his eyes, but he had a long black trench coat and pants. Jonah would have probably noted the makeup, but after eleven incorrect guesses, she was running on fumes. “Are you a JoJo’s character?”
The man blinked at her, bewildered. "Uh, no? I’m Eric Draven, fromThe Crow."
“Right. Sorry,” she muttered a quick apology and walked away, scanning the sea of costumes. So far, she had stopped a Star Wars character named Kylo Ren, a Snape, a Neo, a Geralt, a John Wick, two Noir Spider-Men, and three Batmen—none of whom looked remotely alike. At this point, it was starting to feel like some twisted game of cosplay bingo.
“What the hell am I doing?” She spun the camera around, grinning into the lens. “Maybe I should take a break.”
She found an employee, copping a pamphlet and going through her various event options.Zen Den—A place to recharge with low lighting, comfortable seating, and calmingvibes. The picture showed an empty space, lit in blue LED lights, with bean bag chairs. Pair that with the book Lucas had helped her download to her phone and she was sold. After taking a picture with a woman dressed as a bright yellow rodent, she was pointed in the direction of the calm room.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Jonah’s name flashed. She groaned, frowning at the zen den doors, but picked up.
“I’ve got him,” Jonah exclaimed, the noise in the background suggesting he was near one of the louder parts of the convention.
“Where?”
“At one of the panels. Third floor. I think he may have recognized me.”
Ruby jogged toward the stairs, pushing through the throngs of fans. They pressed in on her from all sides.
“Fuck this,” she snapped, startling the brightly dressed folks around her. Grabbing the shoulder of the man in front of her—a towering gentleman with a white wig and blue contacts—she launched herself upward and onto the railing of the escalator.
When she finally reached the third floor, it didn’t take long to locate Jonah. He lingered near the edge of a large crowd gathered in front of a panel stage, his red wig askew and a suspender snapped and dangling by his side. Kavya stood behind him, alternating between discretely filming Albert and Jonah.
Ruby made her way over to them. “What’s going on?”
Jonah pointed toward the stage. “That’s him.”
Albert hovered near the edge of the stage, his movements jittery and erratic, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead under the bright convention lights. The crowd's chatter softened, their collective curiosity shifting into unease as his agitation became harder to ignore. Ruby’s muscles tensed, her instincts screaming at her to act, but before she could move, Albert surged forward in a blur of desperation.
The man grabbed one of the panelists—a well-known celebrity in silver armor, clearly part of the day’s cosplay events. The room collectively gasped, the noise a sharp intake of fear that ricocheted through the vast space. From the depths of his coat, Albert withdrew a strange metal object. It resembled the hilt of a lightsaber, the kind every sci-fi fan in the audience recognized instantly. But when he pressed a button on its side, a crackling arc of blue electricity sparked to life, hissing and popping with a menacing intensity.
Without hesitation, Albert jabbed the device into the actor's neck. The celebrity’s body jolted violently, his armor rattling as he collapsed onto the stage with a thud. A horrified silence rippled through the crowd, broken only by the distant hum of overhead lights. Albert gave the unconscious man a cruel kick, the metallic clang of the actor’s armor echoing through the hall.
As panic rippled outward, Albert’s hand darted out again, this time gripping the hood of a second panelist—a young woman dressed in an intricately embroidered cloak. She yelped as he yanked her from her seat, stumbling onto the stage in her heeled boots. Albert pressed the sparking lightsaber hilt against her neck, the crackle of electricity hovering above her skin.
“Stay back!” Albert barked, amplified by the convention center's acoustics. The woman whimpered, her wide eyes darting toward the audience, searching for help that wasn’t coming fast enough.
Albert’s finger hovered over the button on the hilt. “Nobody moves, or I’ll scramble her brains,” he shouted.
Ruby frowned and decided to state the obvious. “His lightsaber’s a taser.”
“You know what a lightsaber is?” Jonah’s shock was borderline offensive.
She rolled her eyes and brushed the wig’s bangs off of her forehead. It tugged along the edge of her sunglasses, wisps ofhair catching in the cracks. If she didn’t have the ability to heal, she was pretty certain it would be giving her a rash. “I’ve seen the movies in the last few years. Is now really the time for that?”
