2014 had been a disaster of a year, but if chomping down hundreds of dollars of food on Valentine's Day was the worst thing that happened to him in 2015, Vance counted himself damn lucky. Every downswing needed and upswing, right? While he tried to stay in touch with most of his friend, including Mink, life had steered most of them in different directions for the time being. Rather, his hours were spent being pestered by his sister, taking classes, boatloads of research papers, the occasional video game with Simon and Shima, and stopping the latest no-name villain. While the exposure of the Handlers had been hell for the team and had taken a personal toll on Vance, he remained vigilant in case there were any further developments.
So he was unusually relaxed thanks to two months of subjective peace and quiet. When the call first came in, he thought nothing of it, hopping over to his phone like he expected to hear about the latest superpowered B&E because most of these idiots thought small. But five minutes later he was racing to suit up, having been told the what (dark tentacles), the where (downtown), and...the who (him). Word was sent out to his teammates and he arrived on scene just moments before they did. With Miss America diverted to fight elsewhere, he was in charge of this crew.
"We've got to figure out exactly what those tentacles are, if they're the same shadows as Halloween's, and if they take damage. Set up a perimeter, clear out remaining citizens. The boy -" Mink looked distorted, possessed, and Vance forced down a swallow "- might be a conduit. Whatever happens, try not to hurt him."