Morning Patrol

Super Marker Buck stood on the highest tower of his fortress, watching the sun rise over Canvas Forest Metropolis. The city sparkled below with its mix of towering buildings and leafy parks where humans and deer-folk lived together.

"Another peaceful day," he said, adjusting his blue mask. His red cape fluttered in the morning breeze.

Buck pulled out his phone to check the news. Nothing unusual reported. He was about to head inside when something caught his eye—a flash of movement near the art district.

"Probably just the morning rush," he muttered, but his super senses tingled with unease.

Through his X-ray vision, he spotted a strange van parked behind the Canvas Gallery. Two figures in gray coveralls were unloading equipment that looked oddly familiar. Buck squinted harder. Those devices resembled color-extraction machines from his old science textbooks.

"That's not normal maintenance work," he said aloud.

His giant marker materialized in his hand, glowing softly. Something was definitely wrong down there.

The Draining Gallery

Buck leaped from his tower and soared toward the art district. His red cape snapped behind him as he landed silently on the Canvas Gallery's rooftop.

Below, the two workers wheeled their strange machines through the gallery's back door. Buck activated his X-ray vision and peered through the walls. Inside, dozens of paintings hung on white walls—but something was terribly wrong.

The colors were draining away.

Reds faded to pink, then white. Blues turned pale gray. Yellows disappeared completely. The workers' machines hummed with crackling energy, pulling every bit of color from the artwork into glass containers.

"No way," Buck whispered.

One worker, a woman with short gray hair, checked her tablet. "Extraction at sixty percent, Maya. The Color Vault should be pleased."

Her partner, a tall man with a scruffy beard, grinned. "Professor Chen's invention works perfectly. Soon the whole city will be gray, and only the Color Vault will have the rainbow."

Buck's giant marker materialized in his hand, glowing bright blue. He had to stop them before they drained every color from Canvas Forest Metropolis.