Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I tapped my foot as Gladly spoke, the bell couldn’t come soon enough.

“Now.” His voice was smarmy, like a used car salesman, he looked a bit like one too. “I know this isn’t as exciting as capes but this stuff will be on the test, it’s important to understand how the Endbringers have affected the world.”

I let his words wash over me like an annoyingly boring wave, soon enough I realized that I completely zoned out and missed about a minute of his dumb lecture.

A soft impact hit the back of my head and it snapped back in an instant, my eyes met Emma Barnes, who just smirked as she wadded up another ball of paper.

She was a pretty girl, the kind that turned heads when she walked by, with long dyed blonde hair and a more mature figure, it was no surprise that she was a model. There were a few things that detracted from how pretty she was though, mostly the ugly expression on her face and the friends she liked to hang around.

The only thing that kept me from getting up and breaking her nose was my parole and the utter irony of the situation. I still remembered her face, the scared, weak little girl that I’d saved from a group of ABB gangbangers.

Now there wasn’t much left of that weakness, sure, she wasn’t physically strong but she had half of the skinheads in the school wrapped around her finger. In all honesty I should have seen that coming, a pretty white girl gets cornered by some scum that had a skin tone darker than mayonnaise and she groups up with the Nazis.

At least that was how it worked in Brockton Bay, my blood boiled at that. In the past I’d take out some of my aggression by pinning one of those racist assholes to a building but now I’d have to settle with sparing Carlos or something.

I took deep breaths, that was what the counselor that Piggy gave me for all of a month said to do when my temper started to get the best of me. I turned back to Gladly and tried to focus back onto what he was saying.

I could feel Emma’s eye burning into the back of my head, ever since I stepped in when she was berating some girl she’d had it out for me. Thankfully all the times she sent her skinhead goons after me it had been a pretty clear cut story, even with her fancy lawyer dad there wasn’t much that could be done to get me in trouble when a gang of white boys covered in Nazi symbols cornered me, a singular black girl.

I was strong, it was better me than someone else who couldn’t protect themselves.

The tapping of my foot got faster as Gladly droned on about shipping lanes and I glanced up to the clock, there were still a few minutes left before class was over.

A second wad of paper hit me in the back of the head and I tried to keep a cool head, trying didn’t keep me from snapping the pencil that I had in my hands in half. I tried all the dumb anger management techniques I knew but none of them were working at all.

Gladly stopped to look at me for a moment like the useless piece of shit he was, there was a smattering of laughter from the other kids as I reached into my backpack and brought out another pencil. I just had to endure this, if I had to suffer so someone weaker than me didn’t need to then so be it.

Blood was starting to rush in my ears as I ground my teeth, even the threat of having to explain to Piggy why I decided to beat in Emma’s face was starting to be less and less concerning.

“The monkey’s probably roided out of her mind.” Emma was leaning over to whisper to one of her lackeys and that was it.

I stood up, fast enough to push my desk over and faced to turn the bitch, even if I knew I was playing right into her game I couldn’t let that stand.

“You-”

I could see it, it was massive.

Somehow I could tell that I wasn’t looking at the whole thing, that even a fraction of a fraction was enough to be so big that I felt suffocated. It was like a massive kaleidoscope of something, I couldn’t place what exactly, parts of it moved and stayed still at the same time, parts of it grew and shrank simultaneously but somehow it didn’t feel wrong. It was a mass of contradictions that was so much bigger than anything I ever knew, like something awe inducing that also made me feel like throwing up.

And it felt alive, like a writhing, living mass of something that was moving faster than anything possibly should have. I couldn’t even put into words how I knew that, I just did. It was fragmented but connected, separate but whole and out of the corner of my eye, or whatever I was seeing the thing with, I noticed something.

The edges of it, not that I could explain exactly how they were edges, were fraying, little pieces of it were coming undone and leaving the thing as it sped through nothingness. There were thousands of them, fragments of the whole that were shedding off the main mass.

But strangely enough it felt familiar, like a dream I’d already had hundreds of times already, I felt like I knew what was coming next without actually knowing.

One of the uncountable slivers of the thing started to fall towards me, it was wispy, like the fragment wasn’t all there. It grew bigger and bigger but it didn’t feel like a threat, it felt like it belonged.

As it landed feelings hit me, fear so strong it felt like my heart was in my throat. I could swear I could see Steven leaning closer and closer to me, that self-assured grin plastered on his face as he reached out to touch me.

“-ophia! Sophia!”

My eyes flickered open to Gladly’s face hovering above me, instinctually I recoiled, he was too close, he pulled back as I started to feel panic well up in my chest. What I’d seen already started feeling like a dream, I could remember it but it felt far away, like I’d forget it soon.

“Phew, you had me scared for a second.” Gladly gave me a hand and pulled me up from the ground. “You okay Sophia?”

“Yeah… yeah, just give me a sec.” I reached into my backpack and brought out a notebook, before it escaped me I scribbled down what I had seen, it was important, I knew that much was true.

Gladly did that little chuckle thing he always did when he was nervous. “You sure? You seem a bit out of it, do you need to see the nurse?”

“I’m fine Mr. G, just got up too fast, gotta drink some water.” To really make my point I got the bottle I kept in my bag out and took a swig, the cold water did wonders in getting me to snap back to reality.

The rest of the classroom was empty, I glanced at the clock, thankfully I’d only been out for a minute or two. Gladly backed off enough to give me space to breathe but he still seemed worried, not that he’d even care if he didn’t know about my extracurriculars. “Alright, if you say so…”

I picked my backpack up and slung it over my shoulder, I couldn’t be late for my next class again, Piggy’d have my head if I started slacking off in school again. Gladly tried to go after me but with a sneer I scared him off, I really didn’t have the energy to deal with his bootlicking right now.

As I started walking down the hall I noticed something, there really wasn’t that many Empire thugs hanging around, usually I had to glare at at least one of them on my way to biology class.

I soon noticed why, there was a whole blob of them standing around the hallway, led by the skinhead queen Emma herself. From inside one of the lockers there was a pounding sound and muffled screaming.

Hell no, I wasn’t going to let that stand.

I was strong, I could stop this.

“The fuck is this?” I walked forward, pushing a meathead out of the way as I got closer to the commotion. There was a metallic scent in the air, not just the smell of a school but somewhat more intense.

Emma turned to me, the nasty smirk on her face just grew. “Look at this, the monkey’s up from her nap. Sorry, we only have room for Hebert, maybe come back tomorrow.” She really enunciated the slur in the name, all the losers around her chuckled at it.

Right, Taylor Hebert, the only other girl Emma went after as much as me. She’d taken a similar approach but Taylor was weaker than me, where I got angry she rolled over and let it happen. I’d heard a bit of gossip that they used to be best friends, I didn’t put too much stock in them. There was no way a girl could pull that much of a one-eighty, even if she joined up with the Empire she wouldn’t have gone after Taylor just for being somewhat Jewish looking.

“The fuck did you do to her?” I was strong, I could fix this, I had to fix this. As I stepped forward I realized what that weird smell had been, it was blood.

Emma laughed, the bitch had the audacity to laugh. “Just teaching Hebert a lesson, I know it’s hard for you but try to put two and two together, okay?”

“You bitch!” I stepped forward and drew back my arm to start beating the shit out of Emma, I didn’t care about Piggy anymore, Emma deserved it. 

The only thing that stopped me was Gladly’s voice. “What’s going on here?”

Cue the crocodile tears from Emma. “It’s Sophia Mr. G, she was going to attack me!” Thankfully I had the bootlicker firmly on my side, being a superhero had to have some perks.

He looked at me and I started to give my side of the story. “Emma and her skinheads locked Hebert in her locker, pissed me off.”

He gave Emma what he probably thought was a disapproving stare, he looked like a kid trying to do one. “Is this true Emma?” 

“I didn’t do anything Mr. G, she’s lying!” Emma was still fake crying, thankfully it was kind of hard for her to look like the innocent party when she was standing next to the locker that someone was pounding against from the inside.

Gladly walked forward, covering his nose as he got closer to the locker that Taylor was in but one of the bigger Nazi grunts stepped up to get in his way. “Liam, please step aside, I need to make sure Taylor’s okay.”

“No can do Mr. G.”

My hands curled into fists, things were starting to look like they’d get nasty. Gladly frowned, he tried to push by Liam but the boy shoved back. “That’s it, detention.”

“Oh no, what’ll I do?” Liam and the rest of Emma’s cronies laughed, it was almost like nobody took Gladly seriously at all, who knew?

For a second nothing big happened, I could see skinheads taking knives from pockets and my own fists tightened even further. Gladly may have been annoying but he was weak, I was strong, if things got ugly I needed to act.

“What’re all you kids doing ‘round here, scram!” 

That was the janitor, an older man that was built like a brick shithouse with a row of scars across his face and a deep southern accent. Nobody actually knew exactly who he was but he was scary enough that most kids were happy to stay out of his way. Now that an adult that wasn’t as pathetic as Gladly was present Emma and her Nazis scrammed, the hallway was empty soon enough, the only commotion was the slamming on the locker door and the raw yells from inside it.

Gladly glanced at the janitor, a stupid little grin grew on his face. “Thanks for that, could you get the locker open?”

The thrashing inside the locker started to fade, the screams had already begun to go away. Taylor must have been losing consciousness or something. I barely kept myself from shouting at them to hurry up, I knew it wouldn’t help but they were being so useless.

An annoying thing I’d learned from life, people almost never did what I wanted them to when I wanted them to, almost everything was a waiting game. Even if I wanted to get Taylor out I couldn’t do it without completely blowing my cover as a Ward, it was a last resort if for whatever reason the idiot adults couldn’t get the job done.

The janitor grumbled before digging through his pocket and pulling out a key, as he got closer to the locker he had to cover his nose. “Damn, shit smells rancid.”

“Um…” Gladly glanced at me and I swear he was about to tell the janitor to watch his language before he thought better of it.

The bigger man put the key into the padlock keeping Taylor trapped and tugged it open. Almost immediately the girl’s body fell out of the locker and onto the ground alongside a goddamn landslide of bloody pads and shit, it was disgusting.

Taylor was what I could best describe as willowy, about as tall as me but less lean and more skinny, she was always kind of awkward, hunched over instead of standing tall. Her hair, black, long and curly, was matted and covered in garbage, I couldn’t help but wincing at that, I knew from experience that it would take forever for her to clean it.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Gladly actually ran off like a coward, leaving me and the janitor alone with an unresponsive Taylor.

I did what I had been trained to do, I checked for a pulse first, she could have had a heart attack or something, I didn’t know. The smell was terrible but I pushed through it, I was strong, I could do this.

Thankfully she still had a heartbeat, next I gave her a once over, she had a few scrapes but nothing that looked life threatening or anything. The only thing that was out of the usual were her eyes, it almost looked like they were shaking or something. If I had to guess I’d say she was in shock.

Once I’d made sure that she wasn’t dying I looked up at the janitor. “Call a fucking ambulance, I think she needs a hospital!”

“Shit, you’re right.” He grabbed a phone from his pocket and dialed the number, he put it up to his ear and I could hear the murmur of the operator responding to the call. “Fuck, I work at Winslow. I’ve got a girl here, she was trapped inside a locker full of bloody shit and isn’t moving… I think she’s fine, she’s got a pulse, right?”

He directed that last question at me, I nodded and he continued. “Yeah, tampons and stuff, the kids who did it are gone.”

I couldn’t keep my foot from tapping again, in a perfect world I’d have pinned Emma Barnes to a wall but I couldn’t do that, I needed to be a good Ward for Piggy or else it was juvie for me.

“Nah, I aint a doctor but she don’t look like she’s hurt too bad. Just real shaken up, not moving at all.” He paused for a second as the operator spoke. “Right then, thanks.”

Then he hung up, for a moment we just stood there, neither of us talking before I snapped at the janitor. “So? What’d they say?”

“They’ve got an ambulance coming, should be here in nine minutes or so.” He sounded much less worried now, like he thought that his whole part in the situation was over.

I guess in a way it was kind of, there wasn’t much that we could do now that the medics were coming. It was still kind of weird to be standing over Taylor’s body, her eyes were still spasming but other than that she was stock still.

I did the only thing I could do to make things better, I knelt down next to Taylor and started to talk. “It’s gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay…”

I was never the best at giving people support, Dean would probably blow a fuse at how I was handling it but I was trying.

I could only hope that would be enough.

Chapter Text

“Go ahead, Shadow Stalker.”

I brought up my crossbow and took aim, putting the target in my sight. As I breathed out I pulled the trigger, the bolt flew forward and clipped the mannequin in the shoulder.

“Shit!”

I was off my game, today I was too busy thinking about Taylor and the thing I saw in Gladly’s class. I was acting weak, I wasn’t being strong enough.

Miss Militia shook her head. “Language.”

In all honesty I liked her, she was one of my favorites. Sure, she was a bit of a stickler for the rules but she got it, she understood the same thing I did, she was a real hero. She also offered to give me pointers at the shooting range, that didn’t hurt my impression of her.

“Sorry.” I bit out the words, both of us knew that I wasn’t actually apologizing but Miss Militia seemed happy enough to let it slide. 

With a growl I reloaded my crossbow and turned back to the target, shifting into my shadow state. Everything stopped, my body ceased to do anything on its own, I was just a shadow, no organs or anything. Then air surged into my wispy form and I felt more alive than I ever did normally, like the rush of energy I got before a fight started, it was amazing. 

I loosed another bolt at the mannequin, I didn’t need to breathe to steady myself, every inch of me was tense, ready to fight. The bolt sailed forward in the same smoke-like state that my body was in, even after it left my crossbow I could still feel it as it moved through the air, like I was still holding onto it somehow. Right before it struck the target center mass I let go, the bolt shifted back to its physical state and impacted the mannequin in the chest.

Then I did the same, my dark and hazy body reverted back to flesh and blood, air started to flow into my lungs and my heart started to beat again. I looked at my work with a huff of approval. “Better.”

“Good job, a bit close to the heart but I don’t think it’s too bad.” I fought the blush that came to my face, even if I liked praise it was still a bit embarrassing. Miss Militia leaned forward to get a better look at my shot. “You’ve gotten better at adjusting to the lack of drop with your shadow state, you were aiming for the chest, right?”

Of course I was, I wouldn’t just miss.

“Yeah, Armsmaster said that I should be in the clear to hit people there with my newest bolts, though I’d get used to the change in here.” That I was thankful for, I was good with my crossbows but aiming for limbs and stuff was annoying, it was much easier to just go for center mass.

“Alright, again. Try going a bit faster.” She directed me to a target that was a bit behind the one I’d just hit.

I shifted into my shadow state again and felt the rush of tensed energy as I raised my other crossbow and aimed, faster this time around. The imprint of the bolt rushed to meet the mannequin in the sternum.

I let the bolt go a bit earlier to make up for shooting a bit high, it kept its speed but gravity started to do its job, the tip dipped down just a bit to hit the target square in the chest.

“There.” I gave a little snort, it wasn’t really that hard but I took wins where I could.

Miss Militia’s eyes did that smiling thing as she pointed to one of the further targets, right in front of the back wall. With the click of a button it started to slowly move back and forth. “Now try to hit that one, no shadow state.”

That was actually hard for me, my full sized crossbow would do it easily but the ones I had today were small, they didn’t have the same kick to them, they dropped off earlier. I got in proper position and started to breathe deep, lining up my shot. I needed to make sure to lead the target and remember gravity, I couldn’t just shoot without thinking.

I pulled the trigger with an exhale, the bolt flew towards the target with a whistle. It plinked off the wall and fell to the ground.

Weak.

“Goddamn it!” I stomped my foot and bit down on my lip to keep myself from throwing my crossbow on the ground, those things were expensive, I couldn’t afford to break another.

Miss Militia made a sighing noise that was almost inaudible. “How about we take a break.”

“Fine.” I wasn’t exactly happy about it but I’d take it over fucking up again.

I clipped both of my crossbows on my belt and tried to calm down, I shouldn’t be making a scene in front of Miss Militia, she was cool.

“Are you sure you’re okay, you seem… off today.” She reached out slowly and put a hand on my shoulder, I couldn’t keep myself from flinching. “If you want to talk about it I can listen.”

I debated it a bit in my head, it came down to pretty simple math. Worrying about things made me weaker so removing that would make me stronger, that wasn’t too difficult. Besides, I liked Miss Militia, she was nice enough, I was pretty sure she’d at least try to help.

“School was shitty yesterday, a girl got trapped in her locker by some Empire thugs and I had this weird dream thing in class.” I couldn’t remember everything about what I’d seen in Gladly’s class but I knew it was important, somehow.

Miss Militia thought for a moment before speaking up. “Weird dream? Like what?”

“It’s kinda hard to explain.” I thought back to the note I’d written, it helped me remember the important bits. “There was this… massive thing, like something a schizo on acid would come up with and bits of it were falling.”

“Really?” There was a weird sound in her voice, almost like she knew what I was talking about. “Tell me more.”

“Not sure what to say, I can barely remember it as is.” It felt bad to admit it, like I was letting her down or something.

Her eyes did the smile thing again but it looked a whole lot more forced than the last time. “That’s alright, what about the girl in the locker? You helped her?”

“Yeah, the thing was full of pads and tampons and stuff, really fucking gross. When I got her out she wasn’t responding but the medics said it was probably just shock.” Well, it could be more, I was starting to get a suspicion that maybe whatever I’d seen and Taylor’s condition were related maybe.

Miss Militia nodded her head. “You did the right thing.”

I took in the praise but there was still something that stuck out, like I was missing a piece of the puzzle. There was one answer but I didn’t even want to consider it, it would sting too much that I let it happen right under my nose.

Maybe she triggered, maybe I had failed so much that she had the worst day of her life.

“Sophia, are you okay?” The closest thing I had to a mentor shifted a bit, she took her hand off my shoulder and looked me square in the face.

I shrugged, mentally I reminded myself that it wasn’t weakness to talk about my feelings, it was just hard. “I don’t know, I feel like there’s still something that I don’t know but I should, y’know?”

“I know, it’s hard but that’s part of growing up sometimes.” She gave me a nonanswer that I didn’t exactly mind, I had kind of expected Miss Militia to not be the best at being emotional, we were pretty similar all in all. “Not everything makes sense, sometimes you have to live with that.”

“Guess so.” After a moment where neither of us spoke I took one of my crossbows off my belt and loaded it, the target at the back of the room was still moving back and forth, taunting me.

I got back in firing position and took aim, taking a moment to make sure I was tracking how it moved. Once my shot was lined up I took a deep breath and let it go, while my lungs were empty I pulled the trigger.

The bolt was flung forward, flying across the room, even if it was a bit childish I crossed my fingers, I needed another win today.

It struck true, burying itself in the neck of the mannequin.

“Fuck yeah!”

Miss Militia gave me another smile with her eyes, this one looked a lot less forced. “I knew you could do it.”

I was strong, I could do whatever I really put my mind to.

“Alright, we shouldn’t linger for too long, I’m sure the rest of your team is already discussing patrol routes.” That was the only part of Miss Militia that I somewhat disliked, I knew for a fact that Chris was still tinkering away and Missy had roped Dean into tutoring her but Miss Militia always thought that everyone was just like her, professionals.

Maybe I could be one of those every once in a while but to overlook how other people acted was stupid, just assuming that everyone was as seasoned as her was a problem waiting to happen. People all had different kinds of strength, it wasn’t smart to think that a lion and an elephant were the same just because they could kill someone.

But I still did what she asked, I gathered up all of my bolts and joined her, we left the room and moved into a long hallway. Before we walked up the stairs to the headquarters I peeled off. “I’m just gonna go check if Chris is in the workshop, you know how he is.”

“Good idea, I’ll gather up any of the other Wards that are late.” Then she marched off.

I made my way further down the hallway to another door, there was a light on under it and the sound of soldering and sparks came from inside. I knocked on the door and waited for a second, the tinkering paused.

“Yeah?” Chris’s voice called out.

I groaned before speaking up. “Miss M wants us for the patrol meeting, come on!”

Another second passed and the door opened, Chris was standing with a bit of a frown on his face. He was kind of reedy, with brown hair and pale skin, he was wearing a sweaty tank top and jeans. I liked him well enough I guess, not that we really knew each other very well, he stuck in his lane and I stuck to mine, there just wasn’t too much overlap. He was a bit like a crow I guessed, latching onto whatever shiny thing was in front of him.

“Really? I was in a groove.” He tossed some kind of wrench back on his workbench and wiped a bit of grease from his face.

I snorted, less than a laugh but still there and leveled him a look, even with my mask on I hoped he got what I was trying to do. “Well you better get out of the groove, I don’t know if Piggy’ll be there.”

“Damn, right…” He popped back into his workshop and came out with a blank domino mask on his face. Piggy was always such a stickler for random, arbitrary rules that it evaporated almost all the respect I had for her.

The rest was done away with thanks to her insistence that I didn’t try to help as many people as I could but that was neither here nor there. I still didn’t understand how the rest of the Wards rolled over for her.

Then a thought popped into my head, me and Chris didn’t really know each other but I did know that he’d been in the Wards for a year or two, maybe he knew a bit more than me. “Hey, before we get going, do you know how to do crisis point stuff?”

It couldn’t hurt to be sure.

He let out a little laugh. “Don’t be stupid Sophia, they aren’t going to send you to one of those.” I tried to keep the annoyance from getting to me, who was he to say I couldn’t do it?

“Shut the fuck up.” That just got him to laugh a bit more, once he was done I continued. “I’m just talking about how to put a request for one in.”

“Jeez, you didn’t make someone trigger… did you?” 

I was stunned for a second, even if it was a joke the insinuation hurt, real fucking bad. “No you asshole, some skinheads did something to a girl I go to school with, I just want to make fucking sure that she didn’t get powers or anything.”

I turned to stomp away but Chris caught me by the arm, the touch felt like electricity when I was in my shadow state, all my nerves were on fire and yelling at me to fight or run, to do something. I spun on him, pinning him to the wall.

After a second I realized what I’d done and I let go, trying to take a deep breath and calm myself the fuck down.

“Sorry, sorry, goddamn.” He should be sorry, he knew I didn’t like to be touched and he did it anyway. After he stretched his arm a bit Chris kept talking. “Sorry about that, I… I shouldn’t joke about that.”

“Damn right.” I’d calmed down enough to talk without my body shouting at me to run, that was good. “Now, do you know what I should do or are you just as useless as usual?”

The barb hit home, Chris cringed slightly before he talked back and I fought off the grin that wanted to grow on my face. I had to push down that part of me that was happy to hurt people that hurt me. “Yeah, I probably deserve that… Just ask Piggot about it, I don’t know all the rigmarole about it but she should.”

I pointedly didn’t say thanks to him as I turned and stomped away. It was a bit awkward because we were going in the same direction but he got the message and didn’t try to keep talking to me. We made our way down the staircase and to the Wards headquarters.

After Chris did the retinal scan a pair of doors opened up for us, we both walked inside and were greeted with the domed room that held the rest of the Wards and Miss Militia.

It was littered with tinkertech and I fought off a shudder. Today had been a lot and all that electricity made me nervous, I felt like a rodent trapped in a box.

Carlos was the first person I clocked, he was a big guy with long hair and darkish skin who had on his red and white costume minus the mask, which was resting on the table in front of him. “Hey you two, ready to get down to it?”

Him and Missy, a younger blonde girl who was fully costumed up in green body armor, were looking at the massive computer that was console while Dean sat at one of the seats around a table and Dennis leaned against a wall with his phone in his hands.

I nodded and glared at Dean as he went to say something. He was in casual clothes but he still had that look on his pretty boy face that said he was going to bring up my emotions or some shit. I couldn’t really be mad at him specifically, I knew I was fucked up and at least he was cautious about it but still, not the time or place.

“Wow Stalker, way to bring the mood down. What, did your puppy die?” That was Dennis, a ginger guy with a stupid grin on his face. I honestly didn’t really like him, he was good at his job, sure, but he made too many jokes at my expense, it annoyed me.

Miss Militia sighed. “Clockblocker, reign it in.”

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Missy was honestly one of the Wards that I liked the most, she was young but she was trying her best to be a hero. It was respectable and cute at the same time, like a bear cub hunting for the first time.

I ground my teeth before answering, Dean probably knew how aggravated I was but I wasn’t going to give people the satisfaction of me blowing up at them. “I’m fine, pipsqueak.”

Missy just rolled her eyes, when I first joined she hadn’t been very happy with how I talked to her but I was pretty sure Dean explained it to her after she had a big blow up about it. I was just like that, it didn’t mean I didn’t like her.

“Alright people.” Once it was clear that I wasn’t going to be saying anything else, Miss Militia caught our attention and the screen above console lit up with a map of the city. “We’ve got the patrol routes for you all today, take a look.”

Well, hopefully I’d get to beat up a Nazi tonight.

Chapter Text

“All right, I want you all to go over these vocab words, you’ve got a test next week you need to study for.” 

Akins adjusted her glasses and rested her hands on the desk in front of her, she was a pretty hardcore lady for a Biology teacher, like Piggy but with different specific annoying bits. She was pretty much my favorite teacher, sure, she pissed me off sometimes but I’d take that over someone like Gladly, he was just pathetic.

I still wanted to get out of her class, even before I got my powers school never was that fun for me but after it felt completely useless. I still didn’t completely get why the Wards had to have solid grades, it wasn’t like I’d be doing anything other than being a hero once I graduated.

But I had to do what I had to do to stay out of juvie, I wasn’t going to be exactly happy about it but If I needed to get good grades then I would. It wasn’t that hard, not like I was taking any of the really hard classes anyways. Besides, I was a godsend to the track team, as far as the PRT knew I was a perfectly fine student.

Well, as far as Winslow went, sure, I got into fights every once in a while but if everyone who did that got in trouble then the school’d lose a good two thirds of its students. As long as I stuck to giving as good as I got it was barely worth mentioning.

Some nerd near the front of the class raised his hand. “Ms. Akins, what about the extra credit?”

“Good question Adam, if you’ll all look to the syllabus you’ll see an assignment that you can complete for an additional ten points on your test, it is not mandatory but I would recommend doing it.” Always with the fucking syllabus, I was pretty sure I lost it like a week into class, I’d need to get another one.

A glance at the clock said that we had a minute left of class, people were already gathering up their textbooks and stuff and I did the same. Once it was clear that nobody was in a mood to listen to her anymore Akins sighed. “Just remember to go over those terms, I want all of you to get passing grades.”

The bell rang and there was a rush to the door, lunch was next and the Biology room was almost across the building. The food they served might not have been good but for some people it was better than nothing.

I took my time, ever since my little sister started Pre-K my mom had started trying to be a good parent again, that meant that she’d gotten enough food that I could make my own lunches. They were shitty lunches but they had enough protein and stuff that I wasn’t hungry by the time I got home.

As I walked down the hallway I made sure to keep an eye out for Empire assholes, it was a habit that I’d learned early on, to always stay on top of any skinheads that wanted to start something, to always have an option to fight or run.

They were out in force today, a few nights ago there was a fight between a few Empire capes and the Protectorate, they took a few licks, I knew from some insider information that Dauntless got in a lucky hit on Hookwolf and Armsmaster had gotten one over on Loki, putting both out of commission until Othala got her hands on them. The Empire responded like they always did, with a show of force, it made my blood fucking boil, knowing that a lynching happened in my city and nothing was done about it.

All of that had trickled down to Winslow, maybe the calls for blood had been taken care of but there was still this energy in the skinheads, like they thought they were invincible. In the hallway one of the beefier Empire grunts started to approach me with a cocky grin on his face.

I fingered the knife in my pocket, blood roared in my ears as he got closer and I got ready to fight, running wasn’t an option.

Baring my teeth and standing my ground was the only thing left before I went for the throat.

He got closer and stood right in front of me, like some kind of wannabe badass. “Hey dyke, outta the way.” 

That was one of the thousands of rumors that Emma had spread about me, personally I didn’t really care, so what if I thought girls were cute or whatever?

I looked up at the asshole with a sneer. “And what’re you gonna do if I don't?”

“Seems like we’re gonna have a problem then.” he cracked his knuckles, I glanced around the hallway, there were a few other skinheads around but they didn’t seem like they were part of this.

He took another step forward and I drew the knife from my pocket, just enough that he could see it. That kept him back a bit, he chuckled but it was nervous. “How about you get outta the way or the Hitler Youth is gonna lose a member.”

A moment passed where nothing happened but eventually the skinhead grunted and stepped to the side, I glared at him as I walked by.

The rest of my walk to the cafeteria went by smoothly. The Nazis might have been energized but most of the Empire members that still went to school weren’t looking to straight up kill a minority, just the usual when it came to bullying.

Once I got to where everyone ate their food I went to sit down, I’d pretty much laid claim to a table in the middle of the cafeteria, far enough from the ABB and Empire that they didn’t cause too much trouble to me and mine.

Charlotte was already there, she was a pretty looking girl with long dark hair that had gotten on the Empire’s bad side by being Jewish. She was weak, she didn’t even like the idea of fighting so I took her in, I was strong for her. She was like one of those pampered lapdogs, not really lazy but just not made out for fighting.

“Hey Sophia!” She was still able to smile, even in Brockton Bay, the part of me that I listened to wanted to protect that smile.

I gave her a small smile of my own as I sat down. “Hey Char, how are things?”

We both knew what I was really asking, with the Empire up in arms recently I needed to make sure she was safe.

“Good, nothing to really talk about.” Okay, that was great, nothing bad happened to her and in Brockton Bay that was about as good of news as someone could get. “How about you?”

I shrugged, I might have been doing a whole lot more than she thought as a Ward but Piggy didn’t really field us against the Empire if she could help it, it had been pretty boring sticking to the Boardwalk though. “Not much to say, the weekend wasn’t too exciting.”

“That’s good.” Charlotte smiled at me, it was thin, I could tell she was kind of forcing it but she still did it, it was nice.

A few more of the girls that I’d taken under my wing started to make their way to our table. There was Maria, a nice Hispanic girl that I’d saved from some ABB thugs trying to have their way with her, Sabrina was an out gay girl which was enough to get the Empire after her and then there were the twins, Naomi and May, two smaller Asian girls whose family didn’t exactly have a great relationship with the pan-Asian gang in the city.

All of them were alive, that was good, the Empire hadn’t gotten any of them.

Our little pack gathered together, like clockwork the twins got out their homework and Maria started looking over it. She was a year above me, Sabrina and Charlotte and she was pretty smart, Maria was all of our go-to for school stuff.

After a bit of eating I gathered up the courage and asked what I’d wanted to know ever since the day started. “So, I heard Hebert was back, any of you know where she goes for lunch?”

Sabrina snorted, she was the closest thing to me in the group, not as strong but she was also an angry bitch about stuff, like one of those tiny dogs that would bark at a wolf if they had the chance. “What, gonna get Locker Girl to join our little–”

I saw red, Sabrina could always be a bit insensitive, I wasn’t one to talk but that was crossing a line. What happened to Taylor was disgusting, there was a reason that I had a suspicion that she triggered, that I had failed.

“Don’t fucking call her that.” Thankfully I kept my voice low, it’d look bad if I couldn’t control myself. 

My group looked at me for a moment, sometimes it felt like they forgot just what I was, a survivor, someone strong. Sabrina swallowed and everyone else at the table grew a bit tense. “Got it.”

I was pretty sure everyone other than me let out a sigh of relief when I dropped it, I didn’t like having to be scary or aggressive towards them but sometimes I had to.

“Anyways, does anyone know where Hebert goes for lunch?”

Maria looked up from the twin’s homework, she was meek in a different way than Charlotte, kind of like one of those cats that flinched at any noise they heard. “I think I heard one of those girls in your year say something about her eating in the bathroom.”

“That’d be Madison, I’m pretty sure they have Gladly second period, maybe check the one near his classroom?” Charlotte was helpful, she understood the social aspects of Winslow a lot better than me, at least when it came to stuff happening outside of the gangs, that was my bread and butter.

I stood up from the table, I’d finished my lunch pretty quick so there was about forty-five minutes left. “Well, I’m off to check the bathroom I guess.”

“Bring us back a new friend!” Naomi called after me, she was always a bit hyper about things, I didn’t mind.

Thankfully Gladly’s room was closer to the cafeteria than Akins’s, since everyone was already eating I didn’t have too much trouble making my way to the bathroom across from his classroom, I heard talking from inside.

“-didn’t you just not come back, huh Taylor? God, you’re so useless, you fucking traitor, no wonder your mom killed herself trying to get away from you.” It was Emma, the skinhead empress herself.

Yeah no, I wasn’t just going to let her do whatever she wanted, with a huff I pushed myself into the bathroom. Emma was standing around with a few Empire girls, nobody too strong in the physical way at least.

When I showed up the blonde snorted. “Wow, looks like the monkey wants a bit of it too, sorry Sophie, you’ve gotta wait your turn.”

That name… That damn name.

If what had happened with Sabrina had been anger then this was rage.

I didn’t even feel what was happening, my body just moved on its own. One moment she was talking and the next I was in front of her, feeling the sickly squish of cartilage breaking under my fist. In a squirt of blood Emma stumbled back, a hand flew up to her nose as the rest of her posse stared at me.

Shit, this wasn’t good, Piggy’d be pissed.

“You bitch!” Emma ran at me, it took me a moment to realize that she was a model, I didn’t just break her nose, I probably did a whole lot more, ruined her face for a bit.

Now that I wasn’t as angry I had an easy enough time stepping to the side, sharp nails clawed the side of my face but they didn’t hit anything important. “Learn to shut up and we won’t have any problems.”

Before she could come at me again one of Emma’s lackeys grabbed her and whispered something in her ear, she straightened up and gave me an evil smirk.

“Let’s hope you enjoy your last days here monkey, you’ve done it now.” Her and her gang of vultures ran off, her nose dripping blood the entire way.

Oh boy, she was probably going to tell someone. I’d probably get a suspension or something but I knew that as long as I told Piggy the truth she’d be lenient enough, even she respected trigger trauma and it wasn’t like people didn’t know that Emma was in with the Empire.

Now that the immediate threat was taken care of I washed the blood off my hands and moved to the closed stall and knocked on it. “You good in there Hebert?”

A moment passed and nobody answered. We both knew that I knew she was in there but I’d dealt with enough people to know that she wouldn’t just do what I wanted immediately.

“Hebert?”

“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded watery, almost like she’d been crying. I mean, if I was weak like her I’d probably be crying, it made sense.

I kept a sigh inside of me and listened to the same voice in my head that told me to protect Charlotte’s smile. “You don’t sound fine, you wanna come outta there?”

“Okay…”

The stall door opened and Taylor stepped out, her eyes were puffy and she really didn’t look like she was fine, like someone just kicked her puppy or something.

“You don’t look good either.” I glanced at the paper towels, the roll was empty, like usual. “Do you need a sec?”

She sniffled a bit before looking me dead in the eyes, it was a glare that I could recognize, like a cornered animal, I didn’t doubt that she trusted me about as far as she could throw me. “I’m fine.”

“If you say so.” I had to be gentle with her, not less strong, just softer. “You wanna eat in the cafeteria? I’ve got a table you can sit at.”

“Why?” Her eyes narrowed like she was trying to pull apart a puzzle.

I shrugged. “Thought you might like some friends after what happened.”

“You punched Emma.” I could almost see the cogs in her head, trying to figure out why I helped her out.

I let out a little laugh. “The bitch was pissing me off, you saying you didn’t want her to leave you alone?”

“No… No, I just want to know why now.” She was relaxing, just a little bit but it was there, she wasn’t panicking anymore.

There were a million ways I could answer that question, maybe it was because I thought she could have triggered or because I finally realized how bad it had been for her but I didn’t say any of that. “I was one of the people that pulled you out of that locker, thought you’d like someone in your corner after all that.”

“And what do you get out of it?” She’d pulled back when I mentioned the locker, I didn’t blame her.

I just shrugged again. “You're weak, I’m not, I gotta keep you safe.”

“What?” She didn’t understand, not yet, just like when I explained it to my mom. Only the strong really understood, like Miss Militia or Piggy, as much as I disliked the woman she knew what I was talking about.

Then I got an idea, if she really did trigger then there was only one way her life could go, she’d want to fight. Sure, she might have just had a bad day but it couldn’t hurt. “You got a phone number?”

“Why?” She didn’t trust me any more now, good, that meant she was smart enough.

Just because she was weak didn’t mean she had to stay that way, I’d sharpen her claws and teach her to use them.

“Because, I’m gonna make you strong.”

Chapter Text

I wasn’t having the worst day.

Usually after I got in trouble for a fight I’d be pretty pissed off but today was different. Sure, I was probably going to be ripped into by Piggy but I’d done something good today, even she couldn’t take that away from me.

Taylor’d been stronger than I realized, maybe I needed to tease it out of her but I didn’t think that she’d be too hard to teach. I’d already gotten her to promise that she’d join the track team and we could start training once she’d toughened up a bit.

I’d take her to a gym or something, give her a rundown on how to throw a punch and not block with her face. I’d make her strong, I’d make her someone who could protect people.

So sue me, I was in a good mood.

I’d had some disciplinary action but with Taylor backing me up that Emma went after me first I didn’t even get suspended or anything, it was just a slap on the wrist. Piggy’d probably be watching me like a hawk for a while but I could deal with that.

I was still worried about Taylor, I hadn’t really known her before the locker but she’d been acting a bit weird, like nothing surprised her, she’d known that a teacher was coming to talk to me about punching Emma before I’d even noticed them. Maybe that was just a coincidence but it also could be something else. She could have triggered with some kind of thinker power that let her know where people were or something.

After school I did the usual, I went home to change and pick up my costume in one of those big duffle bags then made my way to Lord Street and started to walk. I couldn’t really get my mom to drive me because that would bring up too many questions, she didn’t know I was Shadow Stalker and I was happy to keep it that way, all I had to do was tell the PRT that she was part of the reason I triggered which was barely a lie and I could keep her out of my work.

It was her fault that Steven came into my life, it was her fault that he did what he did to me. Nothing could ever fix that.

Anyways, Lord Street maybe wasn’t the safest place in the bay, that went to the Boardwalk, but it wasn’t the kind of place where muggings could happen in plain view. I still kept an eye out when I moved out of ABB turf and into Empire territory, they kept things pretty quiet in Downtown but all it took was one wrong move and I’d have to clean more Nazi blood off my hands.

It didn’t help that a solid three fourths of the police were in the Empire’s pockets, someone like me would be on their shit list faster than those skinheads could heil Hitler. I needed to be smart, to stick to the route I knew as I made my way to the PRT Headquarters.

The closer I got to where I worked the nicer the city got, that was kind of annoying, that even the headquarters was in the kiddy safe space, it just served as a reminder that I was chained to a job that I more or less could do without.

Don’t get me wrong, being a Ward was nice I guess. I’d gotten top of the line gear and training in my power and how to fight but it still felt stifling, like they wouldn’t even think about letting us actually protect people. Someone like Missy, Dean or Carlos had seen their fair share of action but they’d been members for years, I’d gotten antsy without people to really save.

I still wouldn’t have done anything differently, that Nazi scumbag deserved what I did to him.

I ended up in front of the PRT Headquarters pretty soon, it was close enough to the police station and everyone at least pretended to be law abiding citizens around that area. I swung open the bulletproof glass door and walked into the lobby, the PRT agents standing guard knew me, they probably had some idea of who I was with a mask on but as long as they kept their mouths shut it didn’t really matter.

I’d had to change into more professional looking clothes, since I got to the Headquarters later in the day I couldn’t just rely on being discreet like the rest of the Wards, I looked like an intern or something. The cover story that Piggy had given me was that I was volunteering because of a plea deal or something, honestly it wasn’t even that far from the truth.

I was greeted with the portraits above the main desk, they were a collection of all the different faces of the Brockton Bay Wards, mine had just been put up. A wave of anger passed through me, like this was what really meant that I was stuck with the Wards until I was eighteen. It was stupid, I know, but it still happened.

The secretary waved me in, as he did my phone started to ring, with a sigh I brought it from my pocket and answered. “Yeah?”

“Sophia…” Oh, it was my mom, great. “I got a call from your school today.”

I sighed as I made my way to the meeting room, the PRT agent that was standing guard opened it up for me with a nod. “Yeah?”

“Sophia, you can’t keep getting into fights, what the fuck were you thinking?” She was angry, good, that was a lot easier to deal with then when she tried to be a good parent about it. “You’re lucky they didn’t suspend you!”

I let out a groan as I went up to the reserve elevator and swiped my ID. “It’s fine mom, I had a friend to back me up.”

“That's not the goddamn problem Sophia, you’re setting a bad example for Olivia, how am I going to explain it to her when her big sister gets herself killed trying to be a cape?” Now I was getting mad, how dare she bring that shit up, she might not have known I was Shadow Stalker but I could still help people even without the mask.

Did she just want me to stay as helpless as I’d been when she started dating Steven?

After the elevator opened up with a soft hiss and I went inside I made another groan, this one was a bit louder than the last, I did my best to keep the anger out of my voice. “I can take care of myself mom, I’m strong.”

“Sophia, you’re just a kid, stop trying to be a fucking hero, you saw what the Empire did last weekend, I don’t want it to be you next.” She got a little less angry at the end, like she thought she was actually being a parent.

I growled, I was fine, why couldn’t she understand? “I can handle myself, those skinheads know not to mess with me.”

“I hope you're right Sophia. I just worry, you’ll always be my little girl, I can’t help it.” I was tempted to just hang up right there, I fucking hated when she got like that.

But I didn’t, I took a deep breath and tried to keep my cool, it wouldn’t help if I got angry at my mom. I tried to remind myself of that over and over again. Eventually I was able to cool off enough to form a sentence without yelling “I know, I’m sorry mom.”

“I love you Sophia.” I didn’t know how to feel about that, as a rule our family didn’t really express our emotions other than anger all that often, maybe what the Empire had done struck a nerve with her or something.

A second passed, the silence was interrupted by the elevator dinging and opening into a long chrome hallway. Most of the anger had faded by now, sometimes it came quick and left just as fast. “Love you too mom, I’ve got work though…”

“Stay safe Sophia.” Just like that she hung up, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and walked up to where the security terminal was.

I leaned forward and the machine scanned my eyes, the doors whizzed open for me and I was greeted with the Wards Headquarters. Dean was on console and Missy was working on what looked like homework, they both looked up at me.

“Hey Stalker, what's happening?” Dean spoke first, he was always like that, taking initiative, it was why I didn’t hate him that much, he might have been a bleeding heart but he at least put his money where his mouth was.

Dean was like what happened when an animal had spent its whole life being pampered in a zoo and then got released into the wild. It might not have been fair to say but he just didn’t seem to understand the rules like everyone else did, that wasn’t always bad though, sometimes it was nice to have someone arguably more well adjusted around to give us a point of comparison, like a canary in a coal mine for trauma.

He probably picked up on the fact that I wasn’t feeling completely terrible today, even the phone call with my mom wasn’t enough to put that big a dent in my relatively good mood. “Not much, I’ve gotta get changed. Who's here today?”

“Clock and Aegis are out patrolling the Boardwalk, Kid’s in his workshop.” Missy didn’t even look up from her homework when she answered.

I was happy enough that Dennis was out, we still didn’t get along very well. I nodded to Missy before I made my way to the showers, she didn’t see it but it was more the principal of the matter, I liked Missy enough. The showers were really the best place to change if I didn’t want to risk giving Dean a view of my goods.

It took a while to get into costume, between the bodysuit, armor and cloak I spent a good ten minutes putting it all on. I left my mask off though, clipped to the side of my belt, there wasn’t any kind of tour that was happening today, the PRT needed to take some breaks to make sure everything was up to code and while the mask was made to be as comfortable as possible it was still better to be without it if I didn’t need it.

Once I was done I left the showers and made my way back to where Dean and Missy were, I sat down on one of the chairs and glanced over to Missy. “What’cha working on, pipsqueak?”

“Math.” She looked over to me for a second before her focus returned to her worksheets or whatever. “I don’t need help.”

I couldn’t keep a snort from coming out, sometimes Missy was like a mirror into my past, when I was her age I was pretty similar, just a lot more violent. “Hey, never said you did.”

Dean yawned before he stretched his neck, he looked away from the console and to me, not like Carlos or Dennis really needed him when they were patrolling the Boardwalk. “What about you Stalker, you’re in a good mood today.”

“Punched a bitch.” The two of them looked at me and with a sigh I elaborated. “Don’t worry, she’s in the Empire, she deserved it.”

“What was she doing?” Missy’s attention was firmly pulled away from her math homework now, not that I blamed her, math was boring.

I smiled at her, it was surprisingly fun to hang around her and I guess Dean, sometimes I could even see what Glory Girl saw in the guy, not that I was interested. “She was bullying this girl in the bathroom, I didn’t like that.”

“Wow, is Winslow really that bad, I mean, I’ve heard stories but…” That tracked with Dean, sure, he was nice enough but he was also rich, he didn’t really know what it was like in Brockton Bay for people who didn’t have daddy’s money to bail them out.

I shrugged. “Eh, there’s gangs and fights and stuff but nobody’s died or anything, it’s mostly just idiots who want to prove something.”

“What happened next?” Missy was trying not to sound like a kid and failing a bit, she always liked my more violent stories, I thought that maybe it was because she was tired of being babied by everyone.

I chuckled, I wouldn’t admit it out loud but I liked having someone enjoy it when I talked, it made me feel less lonely probably, a therapist would have had a field day with that. “So I popped her in the nose and she ran off, the girl in the bathroom that the Nazi bitch was going after wasn’t doing so hot so I got her number to keep an eye on her, y’know?”

“Really? that doesn’t sound like you.” Dean tried to say it as a joke but it fell flat, anger flared in my stomach, who was he to say that I couldn’t protect people, what the fuck did he know? He cringed slightly as I glared at him, good, he got to have a taste of how pissed off I was.

Normally I was pretty chill with him but sometimes he just said the wrong goddamn thing.

Missy glanced between the two of us and let out an awkward little laugh. “Well I think it’s nice, like you’re being a hero outside the costume too.”

“Fucking finally, someone gets it.” See, that was why I liked Missy, she might have been a kid but she got it, she knew what being a hero meant.

Dean’s attention shifted back to the monitor. “Copy that.” His hand moved away from the keyboard as he turned to me and Missy. “Looks like Aegis and Clockblocker are going to be getting back soon.”

Ugh, I didn’t really want to deal with Dennis right now, maybe he wouldn’t be an ass but maybe wasn’t good enough. I looked at Missy. “Hey Vista, you wanna spar for a bit.”

“Oh, sure!” She put away her homework and was up and ready pretty quick. I could always count on Missy to be easy to understand, she wanted a place to belong, once I knew that it was pretty easy to know what she wanted. Around when I joined Dean pulled me aside and explained it to me, that was part of the reason I tolerated him so much, he had helped me find a real place in the team, it was better than always being stuck outside looking in.

Dean glanced our way and I could guess that he understood what emotions I was giving off or whatever. “Alright, just don’t spend too long fighting, I’ll come get you girls if we’re having a meeting.”

The two of us slipped on our masks as we made our way outside of the headquarters, we left through the stair entrance, there was a heavy set of tinker made doors that needed another retinal scan to use at all which I leaned forward and did. There wasn’t even a hiss as the doors slid open and me and Missy started walking up the stairs.

As we climbed past the cell blocks Missy looked at me. “You sure you're doing okay Shadow Stalker, you seem… weird.”

“Eh…” I had to remind myself that sharing things wasn't a weakness, that I could be strong and open at the same time, that was what my month long therapy sessions had taught me. “You know the girl in the bathroom I was talking about? Some shit happened to her, I just have this feeling that she triggered, can’t explain it.”

“Sounds serious. What’re you gonna do about it?” It felt a bit stupid to be talking to Missy of all people about this, she was a middle schooler for fucks sake but out of the Wards it would be her or Dean and I didn’t need his self-righteous judgement.

I shrugged. “I guess I’ll make her strong, make her a hero.”

Missy snorted, she might have understood but she was still just a kid, she wasn’t driven like me, she was strong but she wasn’t a survivor.

“Alright then Shadow Stalker, you do that.”

Chapter Text

Time passed.

The Simurgh had just attacked Canberra, none of the Wards were allowed to go to the fight. That pissed me off, sure, I got that it wasn’t safe for us to fight Ziz but we couldn’t even do search and rescue. News out of Australia was sparse, apparently some kind of virus was set off in the city but Piggy said there’d been a gag order about what was happening in Canberra.

I tried to put it out of my head, could haves and should haves were a good way to drive myself insane.

In other news, my time with Taylor was going pretty well, she’d joined the track team and while she might not have been as fast as me she was still getting better. I’d also finally gotten her to sit with me and my group during lunch, she was still a bit untrusting but it was a work in progress.

Her and Maria got along the best, they were both quiet people generally, Charlotte was welcoming enough and Sabrina didn’t care unless it became her problem. The real sore point was the twins, even if May was a bit more relaxed than Naomi they were still a lot for Taylor, I had to talk to them about relaxing a bit around her. They were like two puppies when it came to new people.

It was nice to learn that I got along with Taylor, she was a bit more laid back than me but I could tell there was that same fire in her that I had. She was kind of weird but I liked spending time with her, I’d probably say that we were pretty good friends. We played off each other’s strength, I pushed her to be better and she reigned me in when I was too hot-headed.

She hadn’t let the locker get to her, that I respected, after Steven I’d been out of it for a bit but Taylor stayed steady.

She was a survivor, all I needed to do was make her strong.

It was during lunch one day that I felt like she was finally ready to take the next step.

I brought her to an empty classroom, Winslow always had a few that weren’t being used by anyone. The school had been made with more teachers in mind but nowadays it was rare for us to get any new ones.

“What do you want, Sophia?” Taylor still had that sketchiness to her eyes, like she was a cornered animal looking for a way out, like she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I rolled my shoulders to limber up a bit. “I want you to try and hit me.”

“What?” She still didn’t understand, I’d sprinkled in a bit of the truth of the world when we talked but I had tried to be slow with it, most people weren’t really that receptive to it.

I cracked my knuckles before getting into a fighting stance. “You’re weak, I gotta teach you how to keep yourself safe.”

“Really Sophia, I’m fine, I don’t need you to teach me how to–”

I reeled my arm back before snapping it forward with a step, my fist whipped right at her face. Right before my hand made impact with her nose she stumbled back and I pulled the punch, it didn’t hit her but it was close. “That’s why, you need to be strong.”

“Fuck, are you insane?” Taylor’s chest rose and fell a good inch or so, she scrambled up to her feet.

I snorted. “Maybe, you gonna try to hit me now?”

A moment passed, the only sound in the room was the noise of the two of us breathing heavily.

“Fine, show me how to punch.” That was what I was looking for, that strength that was buried under years of learned helplessness.

I stepped forward and took Taylor’s hands in my, they were soft, surprisingly so. “Alright, make a fist.” It was surprising that she did it right, if she threw a punch then she probably wouldn’t have broken her fingers.

She scoffed. “I know how to make a fist, I’m not an idiot.”

“Good.” I shifted behind her. “Now do you know how to throw a punch?”

“Yeah…” She whipped out her fist and I kept the cringe from showing, sure, it wasn’t the worst that I’ve seen but she barely moved the rest of her body. She looked at me once she did it, suspicion was still written all over her face but there was something else in it, eagerness.

I kept the sigh inside, it could be worse. “Alright, put your hands up.”

She did, her stance wasn’t terrible but it was pretty clear that she was doing what she saw other people do. I took her arms in my hands and moved them a bit. “You want to have your hands up covering your face and your elbows in, keeps the rest of you safe enough.”

“Like this?” Her arms flexed as they tensed in position, she glanced back and I nodded. There was a slight dusting of red on her face, she was probably still a bit drained from having to scamper away from me.

Then I took my foot and moved it behind her right foot and shuffled it forward a bit. After that I nudged her other foot to the side a bit. “Always lead with your dominant foot, it keeps you from getting knocked over as easy and gives you a bit more to work with when you throw a punch.”

“Alright…” Her stance got a bit more sturdy as her feet shifted out.

I came around to her side and gave her a little shove, just like how I said she stayed standing. “See?” I glanced up to her, her arms had relaxed a little. “Keep those hands up Taylor!”

They snapped back into position. “I’ve got it.” She bit it out, I could tell that she was getting a bit annoyed but that was good, feelings could be used, like fuel.

“Now throw a punch, make sure to move those hips, that’s where a lot of the power comes from.” Once she put on some muscle she’d have a build a bit like mine, her lankiness made her have a bit more leverage in hitting shit.

She punched the air, her body pivoted a bit more than what it needed to do but it wasn’t like she overshoot too much. She didn’t go as fast as she probably should have but there was time to fix it. “Like that?”

“Better, let me run you through it.” I put one of my hands on her hip and the other on her arm and looked up to her, there was a bit of heat in my face, it felt different from when I sparred with Carlos or whoever. “Go through it slow, I need to show you how it’s done.”

“Okay.” As she ran through a punch I made all the little adjustments, once I was happy I stood up, Taylor was stuck for a bit standing like she was punching.

I grinned at her. “Alright, try that again but without me, got it?”

“Got it.” She pulled her fist back and threw another slow motion punch, it looked a lot better than the first one that she did, she looked at me with her own small grin, it was weak but it was there. “Like that?”

“Yeah, just gotta do it fast now.” I moved away from her side and to the front of her and got into position. “Now try to hit me.”

“Really?” She blinked at me, like she wasn’t sure that it was a good idea.

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I won’t hit back or anything.”

“Got it.”

Taylor stepped forward, the punch was good enough for a beginner but it was still clumsy, I sidestepped it easily, my muscles tensed at the promise of a fight and I had to keep down the instinct to hit back, this was for Taylor, not me.

I blocked another punch from the other side with my forearm, it was even less rehearsed than the last one. “Gotta do better than that Taylor. Remember to keep in form.” 

“I know.” She growled out, I could barely keep the laugh out as her body went back to how I taught her, she was finally starting to understand, she had to be strong.

Taylor launched another punch at me, it was a bit better than the first one but it was still a bit awkward. “Doing better, keep it up!”

With a huff of exertion she threw another one at me, it was pretty flimsy but before it could connect she pivoted on her feet and her other hand flew at me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the cleanest feint but it showed some initiative on her side. My arm twitched to the side and blocked it but it was close, closer than Taylor’d ever gotten before.

“Good one!” Sparring with Missy had taught me that being supportive was a lot better than being harsh, I couldn’t have Taylor hating me or anything.

Taylor was starting to get tired, her breaths were turning more ragged and her stance was starting to get a bit worse, she’d only been on track for a bit so she hadn’t gotten that much endurance training.

I lowered my guard. “You okay, need a br–”

Like a snake her arm lashed out, the fist caught me in the cheek, I stumbled back a bit, the sting of pain was sweet like sugar. I couldn’t keep the laugh from coming out, Taylor jolted forward and put her hands out. “Sorry, I didn’t…”

“Nah, it’s okay, you took advantage of shit, good job.” I took out my water bottle and held it up to the spot that Taylor hit, I didn’t really want a bruise if I could help it. “How about we take a break?”

“Sure.” She didn’t have too many tells but I could guess that she was a bit nervous, she probably thought I’d be mad at her for hitting me.

I handed her my water bottle and she took it, waterfalling for a bit before handing it back. After she seized up and looked at me, her eyes were back to looking like those of a cornered animal. “We need to leave.”

“Why?” Was this her being weird or maybe it was her power? I couldn’t know anything for certain, I needed to know more, I needed to know how much I failed.

Her eyes darted to the door as she picked up her backpack. “I hear Emma and her cronies, she brought a few.”

That added another tally in my theory that she had some kind of thinker power, I wasn’t sure what exactly it was but it seemed pretty useful.

“Okay, you wanna get out of here?” I didn’t mind giving Emma another broken nose but even I knew which fights to pick and which to run from, I didn’t survive almost three years of being a vigilante by being completely stupid.

Taylor nodded and the two of us started to make our way out of the classroom, before we could make our way back to the cafeteria we were cornered by a pack of skinheads, I glanced to the other side and saw another group of them coming to pack us in.

I stepped forward, my fists clenched into tight fists, under my breath I spoke to Taylor. “Get behind me, I can handle this.”

She did as I said, thank god, I didn’t want to have to worry about scaring off the Nazis and keeping her safe at the same time, I needed to keep her safe, I needed to.

There were too many of them to take on at once, I’d get rushed if they wanted to but I knew Emma, how she worked, she’d want to make it a production.

Like it was on cue one of the groups of Empire thugs parted and she walked out of the small horde, her nose was still a tiny bit swollen. “Well would you look at that, the dyke got a new pet monkey to keep her safe.”

“Emma, what are you doing?” Something different entered Taylor’s voice when she spoke, like a weird kind of vulnerability.

The blonde just laughed. “Stupid and a race traitor, I knew you were pathetic but this is just a whole other level.”

In the crowd I spotted a more nervous looking boy, in his hand there was the glint of metal. My blood ran cold for just a moment before it was replaced by rage.

“So what, this another initiation?” I could only hope that it wasn’t one that was meant to end with a dead body.

Emma clapped, it was mocking, like she was enjoying seeing me squirm. “Look at that, the monkey can learn! It’s either you or the jew, I know which one I’d prefer but I’ll let my new friend decide.”

“Cut the shit and leave us alone.” Talking might not have been my strong suit but I wasn’t going to not try it. I stepped forward, covering Taylor with my body, keeping her safe.

Emma looked at the nervous boy, her gaze was harsh. “Are you going to take that Dale? This bitch thinks she can order around her betters… do it!”

The rest of the skinheads laughed and Dale stepped forward, the grip on his knife tightened, I grabbed my own from my pocket and popped the blade out, I needed to be ready, to be strong. 

The thing about knife fights was that you’d almost always get hit at least once, I could only hope that he didn’t have any of Loki’s bullshit tinkered toxins on the blade. His stance was weak and he was still jittery, I could do this.

I lunged forward first, pulling back my arm and dragging the knife across his body.

He tried to pull back but he was too slow, my switchblade sliced a ribbon of blood on the forearm that he brought up to block, nothing deep but it was at least something. There were a mixture of laughs and taunts from the Nazis surrounding us, Emma was still standing there with that ugly grin plastered on her face.

Before Dale could get his footing back I used the momentum of my slash to throw a punch at him, it collided right with his jaw, a tooth and some blood were knocked out.

He planted his foot behind him and shook his head, I drew my knife back and cut a decent bit of his other arm, my empty hand came up to block my face. It wasn’t enough to even get close to knocking him out but I could hope.

He flailed wildly, the knife in his hand glinted as it nicked my hand, almost instantly I could feel the numbness start to seep its way into my fingers.

Fucking Loki and her stupid fucking poison.

The only good part of this was that I knew she wouldn’t have given a dumbass in Winslow any of her nasty stuff, I’d prolly just be knocked out or something.

I was on a time limit now, I didn’t have time to mess around. Anger raged inside of me, I grabbed onto it and used it, like fuel it burned.

It was kill or be killed.

I lunged forward again, my knife went straight for his gut, I stuck it a good inch deep before Dale could pull away. His hands were shaking now, he obviously hadn’t thought this’d be much of a fight, that was his mistake.

His knife hand lashed out, I was able to shift my body but it still caught me in the side just a bit.

“Sophia!” I didn’t even look back to Taylor, any distraction could mean I died, I could feel my heartbeat and funnily, I never felt more alive.

I took the hit, the numbness of the poison had started to spread even further now, my hand was limp. There was one good thing to come from the strike, Dale had overextended and left his face uncovered.

I lifted my good hand and brought down the butt of my knife across his head, with a crack Dale crumpled to the ground. The poison in my system was starting to spread more now, it felt like my entire arm was asleep.

My breath was heavy as I turned to face the rest of the skinheads, I couldn’t take them all in a fight but I could hurt a few, as long as Taylor got out safe.

Emma just sighed. “Well, it looks like the Empire won’t be getting a new member anytime soon…”

“Who's next?” I choked the words out.

She laughed. “For you? Nobody, believe it or not we have better things to do than putting down a dyke and her pet monkey, this was Dale’s day and he failed.”

It took a moment for her words to sink in, my brain wasn’t really too focused on thinking right now.

“Come on boys, let's leave these two little degenerates, we can always have some fun with them later.” Her grin turned ugly at that last phrase, I could only imagine what kind of fun she was imagining.

With a handful of grumbles the surrounding skinheads started to move away, a few of them shot me and Taylor glares but most were happy enough to leave now that they got their entertainment, one of the bigger boys picked up Dale by the armpits and started to drag him with them.

Taylor ran up to me, surprisingly she wasn’t panicking, she kept herself calm, good, she was being strong. “Are you okay Sophia?”

It was nice, having someone worry about me. I stumbled a bit and she caught me, the poison was starting to really go into effect now, I felt woozy, like I was going to pass out. I trusted Taylor though, I knew she wouldn’t leave me.

“Fuck, poison, call an ambulance…” The words came out a bit slurred, my entire body was starting to go numb. Police were bad, they were in the Empire’s pocket, I couldn’t let them stick me with the blame in all this.

Taylor was staying stone faced and I could swear I heard the sound of buzzing, I must have really been losing it. “I don’t have a phone, should I get a teacher?”

“Nah… Use mine, it’s in my pocket.” My eyes were starting to feel heavy, like I was going to fall asleep any second now.

Taylor brought my phone out and dialed nine-one-one as I closed my eyes. “I’m at Winslow High, one of my friends was attacked by the Empire, she’s…”

And just like that, I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Taylor hesitated as she picked up the phone from the wall.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing, in the past it had always been Sophia to call her, not the other way around. She could still remember what it was like before mom died, when she was a stupid and immature little girl that would spend so much of her time talking to Emma over the phone.

Now her memories of her childhood were irrevocably poisoned by who Emma was now, it was hard to wrap her head around. It hadn’t happened overnight, it was slow, it took almost half a year before the bullying started but it still hurt, every time Emma brought up mom or the rest of Taylor’s childhood it hurt so much.

Part of her wanted to give up, Sophia had helped her, sure but against the Empire it was nothing, the only thing keeping them alive was that Emma didn’t think they were worth getting rid of.

No, she couldn’t let Emma control her even now, she had to be strong, like Sophia.

Taylor punched in Sophia’s number and held the phone up to her ear, it dialed for a second before a voice carried through the line.

“Hey Taylor.” She sounded better, it’d been a week since they were attacked and apparently there was some kind of tinker made poison on the knife that had stabbed Sophia, she hadn’t ever been in danger of dying apparently but it hadn’t looked good for some time.

There’d been a report about it in the paper but with a fight between the local Protectorate and Lung a story about a single girl getting stabbed fell to the wayside.

Taylor cleared her throat. “Hello Sophia, how are you?”

“Ugh, fine…” She didn’t sound completely fine, Taylor was expecting a little more from Sophia. “Okay, so apparently since it was tinker stuff that put me down the PRT stepped in and now I’m part of an investigation, my mom is barely letting me out of the house and my boss needs me to be safe while the PRT snoops around so I’m not getting hours, it’s bullshit.”

“That sounds rough.” Taylor tried to put some empathy into her voice, it had been some time since she’d had practice in the last few years.

Sophia laughed a bit. “Eh, it is what it is, can’t change it but it’s still annoying.”

Taylor gathered up her courage, at her peripherals her swarm buzzed. She still had something to tell Sophia, she deserved that much.

“Would your mom be okay with me visiting?” Sophia had mentioned her mom offhandedly before, from what Taylor could gather she didn’t sound terrible, just like someone that Sophia couldn’t really get along with usually.

There was the sound of walking and a door opening before Sophia yelled. “Hey mom! Can a friend come over?”

There was another yell that Taylor couldn’t make out and a muffled shifting as Sophia brought the phone back up to her ear.

“She said yeah, come over whenever, just not at night.”

Taylor laughed a bit, it wasn’t really all that funny but almost everyone knew not to go out into the city at night, only tourists with death wishes did that. “Okay, I’ll just ask my dad if I can come over.”

“Sounds good, just don’t come over around five, my mom will try to get you to stay for dinner.” Sophia sounded annoyed already, it had been a bit of an adjustment to get used to her temper, Taylor’d never had a friend with such a hair trigger before.

At least Sophia never took it out on her, a bit like her dad, Taylor shifted the phone and glanced over to the sofa where he was sitting. He was watching the TV, not doing anything, sometimes he got like that. “Alright, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Kay, stay safe.” Sophia was the one to hang up, Taylor didn’t mind that much, it’d been far too long since she’d had someone to call that she’d forgotten when was a good time to hang up.

She liked Sophia, the stronger girl was someone that always made sure that Taylor was safe, it was nice, a big difference from before the locker. Taylor didn’t mind having someone she could trust, it had been so long since that was the case and Sophia was like a knight, keeping her safe from everything in the world that was trying to hurt her.

She put the phone back up on the wall and made her way to the living room, her dad looked up to her. “Who was that?”

“My friend, Sophia, she’s having a bit of a rough time so I was planning on going over to visit.” She didn’t really think that her dad would say no, as long as she promised to stay safe.

He thought for a second, clicking the remote to turn the TV off. “How long were you going to stay?”

“Just an hour or two, she lives pretty close, near downtown.” She hadn’t been over to Sophia’s before but she knew the address, once she told Sophia that she didn’t have a cell phone she insisted that they exchange addresses too.

Dad nodded, he was in one of his moods, even after the locker he still sometimes didn’t have the energy to be a parent. “Just try to stick to Lord Street, you’ve got pepper spray, right?”

“Yeah.” She brought the cylinder out of her pocket and showed him, it was small and she hadn’t needed to use it but on one of his good days her dad had brought her out to get some.

Her dad nodded his head again and with a shrug looked back to her. “Be back before sunset, okay?”

“Got it.”

He clicked on the TV and Taylor walked out of the house, the crisp Spring air hit her as she opened the door. She stepped over that one rotten step and started to make her way closer to downtown.

She felt her awareness spiral out, she brought some of her bugs with her as she moved, just enough to make sure she could stay safe, ever since Sophia got stabbed Taylor had been a bit more paranoid about being attacked.

It was her fault that she hadn’t made sure to keep track of where Emma and her goons were, it was her fault that Sophia got hurt.

She should have been smarter, she should have put bugs on all the Empire thugs that Emma could throw at them and she should have paid extra attention to the ones she’d put on Emma, she’d let herself be distracted, never again.

It wasn’t too hard to stay safe when she had about two blocks worth of information, maybe Taylor couldn’t really hear through them and vision was unreliable but she could find people pretty easily. She could just stick bugs on anyone that she wanted, most of them were small enough that they wouldn’t be felt through things like clothes.

She created what was essentially a radar system as she walked, whenever she found a new suspicious seeming group of people she went out of her way to stay away from them. Sure, it was a bit more time consuming then just walking straight to Sophia’s house but it was also a lot more safe, that was what Taylor was after.

Eventually she had made her way to an older looking apartment building, it wasn’t really in the bad part of town but it was definitely not in the good one either. Taylor fished out the scrap piece of paper that had Sophia’s address on it out of her pocket as she flexed her control over all the parts of her swarm inside the building.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, people were just going about their days, she figured out which apartment was Sophia’s pretty quickly and started to walk towards it, it was up a flight of rusty stairs.

Once she got to the right apartment she knocked on the door, a moment passed before a tired looking woman that had to be Sophia’s mom opened it. “Oh hello dear, you must be the friend Sophia mentioned.”

“Um, yes, thank you for having me over Ms. Hess…” She didn’t want to make a bad impression, Sophia was her only real friend nowadays, even if Sophia didn’t like her it just wouldn’t be smart to make her mom dislike Taylor.

Sophia’s mom waved her inside the apartment with a smile. “Oh none of that dear, call me Susan.”

“Okay.” Taylor stepped inside the room, it wasn’t as big as her house but it was a bit more homely, definitely cramped but Sophia’s family made it work, Taylor moved some of the bugs in the apartment out, it couldn’t hurt to make the place a bit more healthy. There was a little girl sleeping on the couch, resting her head on an older boy, more of a man than anything, next to her as a cartoon played.

The man looked up when Taylor and Sophia’s mom walked into the living room. “Hey mom, who’s that?”

“This is Sophia’s friend…” She paused for a second before she looked at Taylor with a curious expression. “Oh dear, I’m sorry, I must have missed your name.” 

“It’s Taylor.”

Sophia’s mom smiled at her, it felt a bit weird, Taylor didn’t necessarily trust her like she did Sophia but it was different having an adult act like that around her, she was too used to being ignored. “Well Taylor, can I get you anything, it’s not everyday that Sophia has a friend over.”

“You mean never? I didn’t even know she had friends.” The man on the couch said with a bit of a laugh.

Sophia’s mom glared at him. “Terry, none of that now, Sophia’s had a difficult time recently. I think it’s nice that one of her friends came to check on her.”

“Yeah, sure…” He rolled his eyes and went back to watching the cartoon as the girl next to shifted slightly.

Sophia’s mom turned to her. “Now dear, would you like a drink?”

“Oh, no thanks, I’m good.” Taylor honestly felt pretty awkward, it was strange, it felt like she was invading the dynamic that Sophia’s family had, like she didn’t belong there. She remembered what Sophia had said over the phone, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out which room was Sophia’s with her bugs but it was more about the social situation than anything. “Could you tell me where Sophia’s room is? I'd like to check on her.”

“Over here.” Sophia came out from one of the doors, she looked well, very different from the sallow and lifeless complexion she had after she’d fallen unconscious.

Taylor nodded and walked over, Sophia’s mom sighed as Sophia brought her into the room and slammed the door shut. It was small but littered with things, her window was open and the air was filtering in.

It was now or nothing, she had to tell Sophia the truth now, at the edges of her control her swarm buzzed.

“How are you doing?”

Sophia scoffed. “Fine… Really, I’m fine, it’s been a week and I barely got stabbed.”

She moved to her bed and sat down with a huff, Taylor tried to smile. “That’s good, I was worried.” It was the truth, for a while she hadn’t known how bad things had been for Sophia.

She huffed. “You didn’t have to come over for that y’know?”

“Well, I actually wanted to tell you something.” A colony of termites started to kill each other, it didn’t help Taylor with the actual anxiety but it was relieving to do something with the feeling.

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I’m a cape!” She blurted it out, she felt like she needed to tell Sophia, it was for the best.

For a second Sophia didn’t respond, she just sat there until a small laugh escaped her lips. “I fucking knew it.”

“What?” Had she really been that obvious? Sure, when Emma had cornered them she’d relied on her bugs a bit but she thought it wouldn’t be that clear cut.

Sophia finished laughing and she got a bit more serious. “So, what power do you have?” She leaned back in her bed, it was strange, she didn’t seem worried at all, she must have really trusted Taylor.

Taylor shifted slightly, even having her bugs fight to the death didn’t keep her from being a bit embarrassed, there wasn't any way around her power being lame. “I control bugs.”

To make her point she had a butterfly fly in through the open window and land on her outstretched hand.

“How many?” Sophia was taking it well, that was good.

Taylor had the bug fly away. “All of them in about two blocks or so.”

“Really?” Taylor nodded, she knew it wasn’t the most flashy thing, all she could hope was that Sophia wasn’t grossed out by it. “Fucking awesome.”

Wait, what

“No seriously, you’d be like the ultimate recon person, I bet you know everything that happens with your bugs, right?” Well, she wasn’t wrong, so long as she had enough bugs she could make a pretty accurate mental map of everything around her.

The termites stopped killing each other as Taylor relaxed a bit. “You’re taking this surprisingly well.”

Sophia laughed again before she calmed down and got more serious. “I maybe have something I need to tell you too.”

She stood up from her bed and then her body changed, in the blink of an eye her flesh and blood was replaced with this dark smoke, it looked a bit like sand, immaterial.

Taylor made the connection almost immediately, there was only one person who had a power like that in Brockton Bay. “You’re Shadow Stalker.”

Sophia shifted back to regular and nodded. “Yep.”

Suddenly a lot of stuff started to make sense, why Sophia was so concerned about being strong and why she had her own little group of people she protected, it was because she was a hero.

“Now, you’ve got two options.” Sophia sat back down on her bed. “You can try to be an independent hero or you can join the Wards.”

Taylor had been planning on being independent, the Wards had sounded like too much drama and she couldn’t be sure that the PRT wouldn’t just be like the teachers at Winslow but now that she had one in front of her it couldn’t hurt to ask. “What’s it like, being a Ward?”

“Eh…” Sophia wiggled her hand. “Parts of it are nice, I got training and a team to have my back but then there’s some shitty bits. Most of the other Wards are nice enough, Clock’s a bit of an ass but that’s just me. The real problem is Piggot, the director, she’s a hardass, doesn’t let us out to help people as much as we should have.”

“Really? So you don’t think I should join?” Taylor didn’t like the sound of being under someone like that, it was like a sour note that ruined the whole idea.

Sophia sighed as she shifted on her bed. “I didn’t say that, I’m on probation so I’m probably biased about how bad Piggy is or whatever but in all honesty I think it’d be better for you than going independent.”

“Why?” 

There was another sigh. “I’ll level with you, your power’s good for recon but I can’t see you being able to stand up to more than grunts. Against someone like Lung or Hookwolf you’d basically have to get lucky to make it out alive. Back before I joined the Wards I could get away pretty easily with my power but you don’t have that… I don’t want you getting hurt.”

That last part sounded different, like it came from someplace deep inside Sophia.

“If I joined, would I have to tell my dad?” That was another sticking point, as much as it sounded bad Taylor had gotten used to the situation at home, part of her was scared that if her dad knew she had powers something would change.

Sophia snorted. “Nah, if Piggy’s good for something it’s finding loopholes about that kind of thing, if you do decide to join you can just tell her you don’t want him to know and she’d handle it. I did the same thing with my mom. The Youth Guard might get on your ass about it but they can’t really do anything.”

Taylor juggled the concept in her head, she could admit that Sophia had made some good points, being fully independent had some challenges she hadn’t thought of before but she still wasn’t completely sold on the idea.

“It’s all up to you Taylor, just remember, you can’t save anyone if you're dead.” Sophia said it so seriously, like she’d had the same argument in her head as Taylor.

Really it was the difference between freedom and safety, the impulsive part of Taylor leaned towards the former but logic said that the later was more important. She glanced at Sophia, there was something new in her expression, like a fondness that wasn’t there before.

Taylor made her decision.

Chapter Text

Emma glared as Taylor took her seat at lunch, her best friend was surrounded by a spic, chinks and faggots.

She’d tried to get Taylor to realize the truth, that some people were just better than others but the girl just didn’t want to listen.

Sure, there were the Shadow Stalkers and Legends of the world but they were a minority, most of the people that the Empire hated deserved it.

Some days, after dreaming about those japs holding her down in that alleyway she thought that she’d gone too far, that Taylor didn’t deserve everything that she threw at her.

She threw those thoughts against the fucking pavement, if Taylor wasn’t with her she was against Emma, it was happening right before her. A little fucking race traitor probally sticking her tongue in that black dyke Sophia.

Her family just didn’t get it, she knew they had shouting matches when she wasn’t around, about how she was falling in with the wrong crowd. As if the Empire was wrong when chinks and monkeys were running around making the city terrible for all the right kind of people living in it.

At least her dad still cared in his own way, ever since the alley he’d bend over backwards to make her happy. She knew that if she pushed it too far he wouldn’t be able to follow her, he could overlook her hair being dyed and all her friends being in the Empire but if she made it clear where she stood she was pretty sure he had a limit somewhere.

So she stuck with having him get who he could out of jail time, all she had to do was flutter her eyebrows and mention how whoever went after her friends must have been just like the ABB thug that held her down with a knife in their hand.

She huffed and went back to her lunch, a salad. Brad would probably tell her to eat some real food, ever since she really joined the Empire she’d been putting on some muscle, not enough that the agencies she modeled for didn’t want her anymore, she was just a bit more athletic now.

She reached over to Liam’s lunch and plucked half of his sandwich, it was ham, not the tastiest but a bit of protein couldn’t hurt. He looked at her and nodded, he’d learnt his place, he was the muscle, he was beneath her.

There was a bustle of jeering from the boys and some of the girls at her table as a black boy walked by, just the usual, it barely even registered.

She took a bite of the sandwich, a bit too heavy on the mayonnaise but it wasn’t too bad. Emma made a mental note to get her dad to buy something stuff like that to bring, salad every day each day got boring after a while.

One of her boys, Mark if she remembered right, nudged her with his shoulder. “Whaddya want to do to the heeb next, how about we catch her when the darkie isn’t looking?”

“Orders from up high, we need to focus on the ABB a bit more, we won’t get as many new recruits if the right sort gets scared that we’re gonna turn on them.” Emma chafed against it, if only the idiots around her could realize that Taylor was just as bad as the people she hung around.

It probably had something to do with the fact that their last fiasco against the bitch Sophia ended with a few of their muscle going to jail. Krieg had thrown a fit, if it wasn’t for Brad calming him down he probably would have taken it to Kaiser. Emma could admit that failing that badly to kill a monkey didn’t reflect very well on the Empire.

They were meant to be the civilized ones, they were meant to be the ones keeping everything wrong out of the city. When they went after a white girl, even a dyke, it set a bad example, people that shouldn’t have anything to worry about started to ask if they’d be next.

Mark grumbled but he took the excuse well enough, another one of her boys scowled, it was one of the ones that thought about bringing Dale into the fold. “Really, we aren’t gonna go after a dyke when she’s making a fool of us?”

“I wouldn’t be saying any of this if Dale had been a good pick for the Empire, he brought a few of us with him to prison. We need to step back for a bit, let the heat cool down.” It was easy, not for the first time Emma felt like she was the only smart one around.

She took another bite of Liam’s sandwich as her burner started to ring, she took it out of her pocket and checked who was calling her. 

It was Brad, her heart fluttered, she shushed the rest of the table then answered it and put the phone up to her ear.

His voice was deep, commanding, different from Kaiser’s, it was more down to earth but just as authoritative. “Hey baby girl.”

“Hi Brad.” She tried to keep her voice steady, he just had this way of making her knees weak. Brad was like a force of nature, he’d swept her up and taught her the truth of the world. He was the only one she could really trust, like a beacon in the night sky.

Brad had found her when she was at her lowest, with nothing but a spray can and a knife against a group of ABB gangbangers that she’d hunted down in the night. He’d saved her, showed her that there was more to life than just revenge, that she could be a part of something bigger, a group that would make sure that what happened to her would never happen to anyone ever again.

He’d seen how strong she could be, how she was different from all the other bitches her age, how special she was.

He chuckled, it was like a hot trucker’s laugh or something. “Would’ya mind cutting class for me, I’ve got something I need you to do.”

“Of course.” She would do anything for him, kill whatever chink or dyke he asked, Brad always knew what was best for her.

He let out another little laugh. “Knew I could count on you baby girl, Mel’s gonna be waiting for you outside the school, you know the drill.”

He hung up and she was left wanting for more. 

Liam tapped her on the shoulder. “You need to head out?”

She nodded, she knew there was a reason he was her second in command at Winslow, he was smarter than the usual blockheads that joined the Empire to be told what to do, he’d spread the word while she was gone.

Emma stood up and flipped her hair over her shoulder, she picked her backpack and put it on. She walked out of the cafeteria, making sure to pass Taylor’s table and mutter some slurs under her breath for good measure, it couldn’t hurt to hammer in how freakish they were.

Melody was probably parked out around back so that was where Emma was headed, once she was out of the building she brought out a cigarette and popped it in her mouth. Smoking was one of the habits she picked up from Brad, sure, it might have been bad for her technically but she had her ways of getting past that.

Besides, it felt good, it was a rush of energy that just hit the spot.

She saw Melody’s car pretty soon, it was a bit beat up but it still looked nice enough. The older woman waved her down, she walked up to the car and got in, it smelled like blood and nicotine, that used to get on Emma’s nerves but now she kind of liked it.

“Hey kid.” In all honesty she didn’t like Melody all that much, she knew that her and Craig were together but sometimes she swore she saw the bitch eying Brad. Melody noticed the cigarette in her mouth and held out a hand. “You got another one?”

Emma sighed and fished another cigarette from her pocket and handed it to Melody, that was another reason she didn’t like the woman, with Brad his crassness was charming, with her it was annoying. “Here”

Then Emma held out her lighter, Melody held her cigarette over it and puffed out some smoke as she started to drive. Emma tried to not let the anxiety get to her, ever since those ABB pieces of shit attacked her and her dad being in a car got on her nerves, especially if she didn’t have her gear on her, like she was in a death box.

“Things at Winslow doing okay?” Melody tried to make small talk as she turned onto Lord Street.

Emma wasn’t very receptive to it. “What, are you, my mom?” She knew that most of the Empire capes didn’t respect her yet, to them she was just a coward that hid behind Brad.

Melody chuckled, it was an ugly sounding thing. “Just keeping an eye on the baby of the team.”

“Cassie’s like, two years younger than me.” Emma tried to not let the annoyance seep into her voice, she failed.

There was another laugh from Melody. “At least she gets up in the thick of it, when’s the last time you even went out there and fought the good fight?”

Emma crossed her arms and looked out the window, it wasn’t her fault that Kaiser kept her holed up all day. She'd like to be out there more often with Brad but she just wasn’t able.

Melody drove the rest of the way in silence, to the good parts of Downtown that the Empire controlled. She stopped outside of one of Brad’s warehouses, Emma could tell it was his by some of the graffiti on the side, a stylized wolf.

“Alright now kid, get out.” Melody parked the car and hopped out of it, taking a long drag on her cigarette before she grabbed her mask from the backseat and put it on.

Emma did as she was told, technically Melody was kind of her boss, even though Brad was both their bosses it was expected of Emma to at least listen to most of the people older than her. “Did Brad say what he wanted me for?”

“He didn’t fucking tell me, all I know is that I’ll be fucking pissed if he got me to play taxi driver for a fucking booty call.” Emma rolled her eyes, she knew that Melody was a bit jealous already but seriously, that was just uncalled for.

The two of them made their way inside the warehouse, in through a side door that needed a few tries to get open. Inside of the building were a number of Empire grunts moving things around, from the looks of it they were handling guns.

One of the men came up to them, his head was shaved but he looked a bit more put together than the usual Empire grunt. “Ladies, Hookwolf is waiting for you two up there.” He pointed to the office overlooking the warehouse.

Melody snorted. “Could’a fucking guessed that.”

They started climbing the flight of metal stairs that led up to the office, Emma fought off the butterflies in her stomach, she ran a hand through her hair to at least try to pretty up for Brad.

Once they got up to the door Melody knocked and Brad’s voice came through it. “Yeah, what’d you want?”

“I’ve got your girl here.” Emma blushed slightly at that, it had been a while but she still felt like she was in that honeymoon phase, Brad just had a way of making everything better.

After a second there was the sound of footsteps and the door opened up, inside of the room was Brad, in all his shirtless glory. Emma had first been surprised when she saw his face, as a kid she thought he’d be ugly but he was actually pretty rugged, it was hot.

“Hey baby girl, come on in.”

She did just what he asked, on the table of the room was all her gear laid out and a new mix of feelings swirled inside of her. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t hoping to fool around a bit but a mission for the Empire sounded like a different kind of fun.

Melody groaned. “Now, do you need me to stick around or can I go?”

“You’re good Mel, thanks for picking Ems up, I can have one of the boys drive her to where she needs to be.” Brad just had this way of making people listen to him, it was so hot.

She hesitated for a minute, not sure what to say before she settled on something. “So, does this mean I’m going out on the field today?”

“Sure does baby girl, Kaiser wants you to go with Justin and teach some towelheads who set up shop Downtown a lesson, he said to use some of your nasty stuff.” Brad’s smile just had this way of lighting up Emma’s world, she’d do anything for him, anything at all.

But something about that stuck out to her. “Justin? Why not you?”

He sighed, she could tell he wanted to go with her but then he spoke and everything made sense. “I’ve gotta hold down the fort, Coil’s been sending some guys after us recently so I’ll make a little ruckus, draw his mercs in so they don’t go after you.”

Aww, that was so sweet.

“Sorry, I just got a bit stupid there, I’m up for it.” She really was, she was already getting ideas of how to deal with whatever pieces of shit that Kaiser wanted her to take care of.

She picked up her mask, it looked like a stylized gas mask from World War Two, with a pair of horns coming out from the sides.

Brad leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay Loki, I believe in you.”

Chapter Text

I was nervous.

My foot tapped as I waited for the news to come in.

As long as she didn’t get cold feet and back out today was the day that Taylor would join the Wards. Piggy had called us all to the headquarters and hadn’t told us why, I could only guess that she’d be introducing Taylor to the rest of the team.

I glanced at them, most of them were on their phones with their masks off, waiting for Piggy to come down with whatever news she had but Chris was also acting a bit jumpy, I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d been pulled away from his workshop or because he was nervous about the meeting.

“So, does anyone know why the director called us in.” Carlos was trying to be a leader, I really didn’t have any problems with it though, he was a hard worker and a good guy, I didn’t mind any of that.

Missy looked up from her phone. “I hope we aren’t getting in trouble.”

“Don’t remind me, I’m still recovering from being on toilet duty.” Dennis said it like a joke, apparently before I joined he’d done something stupid and gotten the hammer dropped on him, I didn’t care enough to learn what exactly he’d done.

I’d only gotten in trouble with Piggy  a few times in the past, sure, she’d had to dress me down tons of times but I’d been a while since she actually had to do something more than that, the closest thing was when she kept me from the field after the whole fiasco with Loki recently but I was pretty sure that wasn’t meant to be a punishment.

I was also pretty sure she knew about my unscheduled patrols but as long as I kept using nonlethal ammo and saving people I didn’t think she’d really care to make a point of it. So what if I was a hero a bit more than I was supposed to, I didn’t think she minded if a few more rapists and Nazis were brought in.

Dean threw his hat in the ring, trying to calm everyone down. “I’m sure it’s nothing like that, maybe we have a new team member joining.”

That was what I hoped was happening, I thought I’d given Taylor a pretty good pitch about the Wards. I may have not liked certain bits of them but it was for the best, only two years of training before she was strong enough to make a decision about what she wanted to do with her life, we could go independent then if we wanted to.

It was worth it, it had to be worth it.

I could only hope my friend had done the right thing.

“I hope we get another girl.” Missy put her phone up now that it was clear we were having a conversation.

I snorted. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing, you can just be a little…” She tried to back step before she realized that I was teasing her and rolled her eyes.

Dennis laughed. “Just saying Stalker, you’re a bit intense to be the eye candy.”

Anger flared in my stomach and I tried to push it down, I needed to be on my best behavior. Thankfully I was able to get it under control, at least enough to talk back without blowing up at him.

“Nah, that’s Aegis.” I could admit that he was a pretty good looking guy, just not exactly my type.

He shot me a smile. “Thanks for the vote.”

“By the way, Shadow Stalker…” Dean was looking at me with his wannabe therapist eyes. “Are you going to be cleared to patrol soon, I heard that the investigation is finishing up.”

I sighed. “Don’t fucking remind me. I wouldn’t be benched this long if Loki shanked me in costume but since it was my civvies there's a goddamn pile of paperwork to sort through. Last I checked Piggy’s almost done.”

If it wasn’t for Taylor I’d probably have flown off the handle already, training her and my solo patrols were a good way to get some of the stress out. We’d gone to the gym a few times, I’d given her a more in depth rundown of how to fight, she still hadn’t taken all of it to heart but it was a start.

“That’s good, we’ve missed you out in the field.” Chris piped up, he’d finally stopped fidgeting and joined in on the conversation.

I groaned, I’d wanted to be out there since the moment I got told I’d be benched. “I’ve missed it too, fucking skinheads making my life harder than it needs to be.”

“I’m sure if you asked Director Piggot she could get you transferred to Arcadia, I don’t remember it being too bad.” Carlos was trying to help but I couldn’t really appreciate it.

He didn’t understand why I stayed at Winslow, almost none of them did. “If it wasn’t me then it’d be someone else, it’s better this way.”

“If you say so.” Dennis was about to launch into another joke before the alarm started ringing.

It was to make sure that we all were masked up before someone entered the Wards headquarters, mostly for tourists and stuff but it could also mean that a new member was coming to visit. I took my mask from my belt and put it on my face, the ones who didn’t already have their masks on did the same thing.

After all of our identities were covered up a moment passed, the only sound was the alarm. Eventually the elevator down to the headquarters dinged and the door shifted open as the alarm stopped.

Out of the elevator walked Piggy and a masked girl dressed in a heavy hoodie and jeans that I could just tell was Taylor. She looked nervous, maybe she didn’t have that many tells but she was hesitating, like a scared animal in a new enclosure.

Piggy walked forward and Taylor followed her. “Wards, this is our latest recruit, she’ll be going by Bug until she has a meeting with Image, understood?”

We all nodded, some of us a bit more genuine than the others, Piggy gestured for Taylor to step forward.

I fought off some heat from my face, it felt good that Taylor was here, not just because I did the right thing but because I’d be here with her. If I had to admit it, my advice for her to join the Wards had been a bit selfish, sure, Dean and Missy were chill enough but I was still kind of lonely, I didn’t really have any friends that knew about my life as Shadow Stalker.

Besides, if Taylor didn’t feel like being a hero she could just not go on patrol, the PRT was happy enough to have parahumans not committing crimes so it wasn’t like the crime fighting part of the Wards was required or something, it just brought with it a bit of a bonus when it came to the money.

Taylor walked forward, her body became stock still, any kind of emotion disappeared, it was odd, almost freaky if I didn’t know who Taylor really was. “Hello there, I’m Bug, it’s nice to meet you. I can control insects.”

Some of the room cringed slightly, fucking rude, before Carlos stepped forward. “Nice to meet you, welcome to the team! I’m sure you know me already but I’m Aegis.” He put out a hand which she took after a bit of time with an awkward looking smile.

“And I am the great Clockblocker, cower before my power!” I had to roll my eyes at Dennis, it wasn’t really even that funny, the only person that laughed was Missy and she was still in middle school.

Chris moved up next, he breathed in, probably to calm his nerves or something. “Kid Win, I’m sure you’re nice but I do have something I left in my workshop so if I could…” He looked at Piggy who sighed and nodded before he scampered off in the direction of the staircase.

”Sorry about that, Kid can get a bit attached to his projects.” Dean had probably turned his pretty boy smile up to full under his helmet. “I’m Gallant, you might have heard of me.”

Missy stepped in, like a territorial puppy, her little crush on Dean was a bit embarrassing during times like these. “Vista, it’s a pleasure.”

“And you already know me.” As I spoke I reached up and pulled the mask from my face, under it was a smile.

Piggy’s face squeezed up like she’d just eaten a lemon and the rest of the Wards got uncomfortable but a smile grew on Taylor’s face. “Hi Sophia.”

“You two know each other?” Dean kept his voice light, like he was asking about the weather, that had to be from some kind of fancy people training that his family drilled into him or something.

The rest of the Wards pretty much had the same reaction, I chuckled a bit and smiled at Taylor, I was happy she was here. “Yeah, we’re friends.”

“You have friends? That’s a surprise, I feel like we might wanna call Master protocols on you, Stalker.” I glared at Dennis, sometimes he kept on prodding me with his shity jokes and it had already gotten old months ago.

Taylor glanced at him too, she didn’t seem very entertained either. “Shadow Stalker helped me after I got my powers.”

That made a few of the Wards stiffen, most people didn’t like talking about their trigger events, even in passing. I felt a warmth in my chest, I had helped her, she thought that I’d helped her. A dopey grin spread across my face before I could fight it off.

Piggy sighed before she looked at me, she reminded me a bit of a big cat, waiting for just the right time to make my day horrible. “Shadow Stalker, with me. Bug can fraternize the rest of the team while we talk.”

I kept the groan to myself, one on one meetings with Piggy never really went well, some of them were okay but I didn’t want to deal with that today. She glared at me and I moved up to her, I couldn’t fully keep the scowl off my face.

“Yes ma’am.” I bit it out, the only person that could actually stand meetings with Piggy was probably Carlos, maybe Dean.

She led me to the elevator and pressed a button, the door shifted closed but the box didn’t start to move. Piggy turned to me with another sigh. “You’ll be happy to hear that the PRT investigation is finished, the boy who stabbed you and a number of Empire sympathizers have been sentenced to prison. It also looks like your cover is still intact, for now.”

That was a surprise, I might have been lying a bit to the rest of the team about how close Piggy said she was to finishing the investigation. I was happy, don’t get me wrong but it was still a surprise. I hadn’t really thought that my cover as a Ward had been compromised but it was nice that Piggy at least made sure. “Good, good… What about Barnes?”

Piggy sighed, that grimace that she always got when one of the Wards fucked up was back. “We were unable to find any concrete evidence on Emma Barnes, the Empire presence at Winslow has seemingly rallied around her, none of the members that were arrested were willing to talk and you and Bug’s word can only go so far.” She straightened her suit jacket, most of the time I couldn’t stand Piggy but we both hated the scum in the city, I could work with that.

I leaned back on the elevator wall. “Damn, thought you’d be able to get her.”

“Now, we can’t do much more given the situation with the Empire but I’ve spoken with Armsmaster and Loki will be having her threat level reevaluated.” I didn’t really care about that, I’d already got an aching to maybe switch out my ammo when dealing with that bitch but she wasn’t really seen too often, the PRT thought that she spent most of her time tinkering away for the Empire.

All in all this wasn’t the worst chat I’d had with Piggy, if anything she seemed a bit less like she had a stick up her ass, probably because I hadn’t really done anything she thought was wrong yet. “Anything else?”

Piggy looked at me, it wasn’t the same kind of pissed off expression she usually had. “You did a good job recruiting Bug, we can use someone like her on the team.” That was surprising, she usually never gave out compliments and if she did it was to Carlos for being a decent enough leader.

I laughed a bit. “I didn’t do it for you, I need to keep her safe, this was just the best option.”

“It’s almost as if that's the entire point of the Wards.” The glare was back, I didn’t mind, I’d rather have her be the same Piggy that I knew then something new, something I couldn’t predict. “You did a decent job Sophia, if you don’t fuck up again and I can see if I can grant you some additional privileges.”

Another chuckle made it past my lips. “Right…”

“Any questions?” She was back to professionalism stained with that faint look of distrust.

I did have one. “How’s school gonna work with Bug, is she going to Arcadia?”

Piggy sighed. “She requested to stay at Winslow, if it weren’t for that then I’d be putting in the paperwork to have you transferred to Arcadia. Keep an eye on her, would you?”

“‘Course.” I hadn’t left her to the wolves yet and I wasn’t planning on it, I’d keep her safe, I needed to keep her safe.

Piggy nodded, she seemed happy enough with that, it was a bit hard to gauge her moods but she wasn’t scowling at me which was probably good. “I’ll leave you all to it, please don’t make any more problems for me today.”

She pressed a button on the elevator and the door hissed open. I gave a mock salute as I stepped out of it, I could tell that Piggy was annoyed but she didn’t do anything about it. “Gotcha, I’ll try.”

The elevator closed behind me, the rest of the Wards, some of them already unmasked, had gathered around Taylor in a semicircle by the time I’d gotten back to them. Carlos was asking a question. “-how many can you control, is there a limit?”

“Not that I know of, so far it’s just been how many there are around me.” Taylor sounded a bit more at ease, at least I thought so, she’d been kind of difficult to read.

Dennis piped up, I was ready for him to say a stupid joke or something but surprisingly he didn’t, today was just full of pleasant surprises. “Not to be rude but it sounds pretty freaky, I’m happy you're on our team.”

“Thank Soph- Shadow Stalker, she’s the one who convinced me to join.” After Taylor spoke the rest of the Wards stared at me, I had to smother down another wave of anger, this was Taylor’s day, I shouldn’t ruin it with my problems.

Once I had it under control I shrugged. “I’m not an idiot, she’d last a few weeks as an independent tops, just want to keep my friend safe.”

“You did the right thing Stalker, I’m glad we’re getting another teammate.” If there was one thing I could say about Carlos it was that he knew how to be sincere, almost weirdly so.

I fought off a blush, I don’t know why but it made me feel good that people were recognizing what I did, I just didn’t really know what to say back. “Stop it, it’s weird enough that Piggot said it, don’t get too sappy on me.”

Dean smiled at me with that pretty boy face of his, I should have known he’d know that I wasn’t really annoyed. “Well, how’d you two meet?”

“School, Shadow Stalker helped me deal with some bullies.” Taylor smiled at me, it wasn’t the most practiced but it made a bit of a warm feeling grow in my chest anyways. 

Missy grinned at me, it was the same expression she had when we sparred, excitement mixed with something else. “Well, I’m sure Sophia will like having you onboard, just don’t let her get too greedy.”

What was she saying? All of this was just to make sure Taylor stayed safe, it would hurt if she decided to drop me but I could deal with it, I was strong. I didn’t understand, was Missy jealous or something, that could be it maybe.

“Vista, don’t tease her too much, she did the right thing.” Carlos said it lightheartedly and I still wasn’t too sure what they were talking about, I started to get angry.

Before Dean could cut in with whatever emotional bullshit he had I glared at Carlos. “What the fuck are you talking about.” The rest of the Wards looked at me as Taylor gave me a sympathetic look.

Dennis laughed. “What are you talking about Stalker? You’re being weird as hell, it’s pretty obvious you–”

“That you want Bug to have the best training she can, right?” Dean interrupted Dennis before he could say something probably annoying. I might not have known what they were all talking about but I could tell that Dean was trying to keep me calm.

I glanced at Taylor, she was smiling.

That’s all that really mattered at the moment.

Chapter Text

“Alright Weaver, just follow my lead.”

The PRT agent that had driven us to the Boardwalk parked and the two of us got out of the car. He was an older guy, his hair had just started to gray and he didn’t say a word as we got out. 

Taylor followed after me, her costume was nice looking, over a black silk bodysuit she had dark armor that was iridescent, like a beetle’s shell. I knew from seeing it that there was a button somewhere on her armor that made it a dull black for stealth. 

Her mask was made out of the same material, it looked insect-like without being too realistic that it scared kids. It had large, rounded lenses and it covered everything other than her hair and mouth, there was probably a whole lot of tinkertech shoved into it, same as mine.

It looked good.

It was probably a good thing that I told her to make it a part of her contract that she could reject what Image wanted, they might have been okay with me being edgy or whatever but she’d said they tried to have her use butterflies and wear a dress, a bit like that rogue, Parian.

Thankfully she was able to get it so that most bugs would be okay, it was a bit nasty, sure, but Piggy was surprisingly helpful. According to her it was a liability for Taylor to not use her full arsenal if she needed to.

Taylor cleared her throat and I looked away, for some reason I felt embarrassed about it. 

I reached a hand up and put it on my mask. “Console, this is Shadow Stalker here with Weaver, starting our patrol now.”

“Copy, you’re clear to start.” Missy’s voice came over the comms, she’d been doing this long enough that she knew console duty like the back of her hand.

I put my hand down and looked at Taylor, she was glancing around the street maybe not nervously but I imagined that Image would throw a fit at her being anything less than heroically stoic. I’d had to deal with enough of their rants to know to get Taylor to kick that before it became a habit. “Try not to look like your necks on a swivel, it’s bad optics.”

“Right, sorry.” She shifted to a much more natural looking way of keeping an eye on things, it wouldn’t really matter but this was her first patrol, Image would be watching and making sure she didn’t fuck up too bad.

 The two of us started our walk through the Boardwalk, since it was her first time on one this was less about fighting crime and more about being seen, already there were a few people who had taken out their phones and snapped pictures of us, Dean or Carlos would have waved at them but me and Taylor didn’t, mostly because Taylor was probably nervous and I just didn’t feel like it.

As we walked I glanced back at Taylor, she wasn’t hunched over like she usually was at school, her back was straight and she walked with a purpose. It was nice seeing her be more confident, I felt that warm feeling in my chest again.

“Good job, just try to look a bit less rigid.” I tried to offer the pointer and not sound like I was criticizing her, it was hard but I thought I did it well enough.

Her lips thinned and I immediately felt shitty, she did what I said but I got the impression she thought I was nitpicking or something. 

We walked for a bit in silence, I didn’t want to put my foot in my mouth again and Taylor seemed happy enough to not talk.

I tried to not let the annoyance get to me, the Boardwalk felt stifling, like I was surrounded by a fake world where nothing bad ever happened. I was like a predator put into a zoo, just something to be looked at by the people around me, it made me pissed off.

“Excuse me?” I looked to where the voice was coming from, it was a middle aged white guy with glasses, next to him was a little girl that was almost shaking in anticipation.

We both stopped and I stepped up, smiling. Even if I had a mask on Image had hammered it into my head that people could tell when I smiled. “How can we help you today?”

I felt like gagging, this was what I hated about being a Ward, I knew what the fucker was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

“Well… Sarah here is one of your biggest fans.” The girl looked up to what I guessed was her dad with annoyance and I felt the same. “She was wondering if you could take a picture with her?”

I glanced over to Taylor, she had the same fake smile that I did on her face, before I kneeled down to the girl. I didn’t really want to make Taylor any more upset than she probably already was but I knew that it would look a lot better if I included her. “How about we get a picture with Weaver too, all three of us?”

“Sure!” The girl’s eyes fucking sparkled and I could guess that Taylor was glaring at me under her mask. This was for the best, she needed to learn how to do this stuff eventually.

After a moment me and Taylor went to either side of the girl and her dad stepped back with his phone. “Alright everyone, say cheese!”

The little girl said it, neither of us did, there was the flash of the camera and the dad walked up to his daughter, he kneeled down and showed her the screen. “Did you get it daddy?”

“Yep, we can print it out when you get home.” He smiled and looked at the two of us, the worst part was how happy he looked, like I just made his day or something. “What do we say Sarah?”

“Oh, thank you!” She beamed at us and I quashed the anger in my gut, she was weak, basically nothing, she didn’t deserve me being mad at her.

I smiled again, it was fake as hell but it was there. “No problem kid.” Taylor also smiled at her but didn’t say anything.

The man nodded at us. “All right Sarah, let's get going, I’m sure the heroes need to be on their way.”

“Okay daddy!” She skipped off with her dad, the biggest smile ever on her face.

Me and Taylor stood there for a second, it felt awkward. “Sorry ‘bout that, that’s mostly what the Boardwalk’s about, optics and stuff.”

“It’s fine.” It really didn’t sound fine but I knew Taylor enough to know that pushing her on stuff wasn’t the best idea when we were in the thick of it, we could talk about stuff once we got back from the patrol.

We kept walking, more people took pictures of us but thankfully nobody tried coming up to us again. It still felt wrong, like I was on display for them to see but I could deal with it for Taylor, I wanted to make her first patrol at least not terrible.

Suddenly Taylor stiffened and looked off near an alleyway. I glanced at her before looking in the same direction. “Everything okay?”

“Something’s happening over there, I think it might be a mugging.” Her voice was tight with anticipation, I could tell she was just as happy as me that there was something else to do.

But first we had to report it, I lifted my hand up to my mask and pushed down. “Console, this is Shadow Stalker, Weaver spotted something shifty going on, mugging probably. We’re going to investigate.”

“Roger that, did Weaver give you a headcount?”

Taylor reached a hand up and put it to her own mask, her voice cut through the comms. “This is Weaver, I can feel three men and a victim.”

“You’re clear to engage, I can send over a patrol car.” Missy’s voice broke off for a second. “They should be there in less than ten minutes.”

Taylor took point, since she knew where the mugging was it only made sense for her to be leading, once we got close enough I’d probably take over since I knew how to handle trash like that and she didn’t.

She led me down the alleyway that she’d looked at, since it was the Boardwalk it wasn’t like it was a really bad alley but it still was one, kinda ratty and nasty. We walked past a homeless person sleeping, a bit of a surprise given all the enforcers around but I didn’t really care all that much.

Taylor glanced back at me then she pointed further down the alley. “They’re over here, the victim is on the ground but the men are still around her, I think they might be doing something else.”

I got it, they were probably rapists or something disgusting like that. That fire of anger that was already in my stomach lept at the chance to go after monsters like that.

I shifted into my shadow state, the air rushed into my body and I felt really alive, now was the time for me to really be a hero, no more Image bullshit, just protecting people that needed it.

I jumped up, I couldn’t fly or anything in my shadow state but I was a whole lot lighter than normal, I could make it up the fire escape pretty easily. It was kind of weird, I could phase through it but then just as easily my foot made contact with it when I landed back down.

I jumped again, up to the roof of the building that was on the side of the alley. I looked down to Taylor and nodded at her, a swarm of bugs flew up to where I was and made a line deeper into the alley, guiding me where I needed to go.

I leapt into the air again, following the train of insects, I landed without even a thud on a rooftop overlooking a gang of thugs surrounding a woman. They were dressed in red and green, ABB shitstains.

“Her whore, how about you show us a good time, eh? I promise we won’t be too rough.” The biggest thug leaned down and picked up the woman by the face, she tried to escape but the guy’s hand didn’t budge.

I felt anger course through me and grabbed my crossbow, the bigger one, bringing it around. I loaded a tranquilizer bolt and steadied myself just for a moment to aim.

“I can give them a surprise on your signal.” Taylor’s voice was steady, I glanced over to where she was to see her crouched behind a dumpster. I nodded at her, hopefully she knew what I was doing with all her bugs and stuff.

If I had a mouth I’d grin, we had this in the bag but not before I put at least one of those assholes down.

One of the smaller men had a knife but my target was the big man, he was the one who had hands on the woman. I put him in my sight and my shadow form went still for just a second before I pulled the trigger.

The dark imprint of the bolt flew forward, before it hit the man I let go of it and it struck him in the side. Almost immediately he was out, whatever Armsmaster put in those things was strong.

I shifted out of my shadow state and my free hand jumped up to my mask before the other two thugs could react. “Now!”

A wave of bugs flew forward and I jumped down, they swarmed around the two scumbags as I reloaded my crossbow. They were panicking, I could guess that Taylor was doing whatever it took to keep them off their balance.

It was almost disappointingly easy to loose another bolt into the man with the knife, he followed his big friend into a nap. The last thug dropped to the ground on his own as he writhed in pain or confusion, I didn’t care which.

I stalked forward as I brought another bolt from my quiver, the woman on the ground was sobbing and it just made me even angrier. If it wasn’t for Taylor watching, keeping me grounded, I might have gone for a knife instead.

Once I got to the guy the bugs started to go away, there were still enough to keep him on the ground but I could see him instead of a cloud of swarming bugs around him. I brought the bolt down on his chest, it pierced skin and I watched as the little cylinder on the head of it drained empty of tranquilizer juice.

Now that all of the ABB thugs were taken care of almost all of the bugs buzzed away and I went up to the woman. “Ma’am, are you okay?”

“I thought-I thought they were going to… Oh my god.” She wasn’t really lucid enough so I didn’t reach out to steady her, touching her would just get her to panic even more.

Instead I tried to keep my voice steady as Taylor walked up behind me. “Ma’am, me and Weaver here saved you, can you breathe for me?”

“Breath? I can breathe.” She started to calm down a bit, her breath became a bit more steady and she stopped spasming.

“Alright ma’am, that’s good, keep breathing.” Then I turned to Taylor, she was standing there, overlooking the three unconscious thugs. “Hey Weaver, can you cuff these guys?”

“Sure.” She reached to her back and brought some handcuffs from the little compartment there. She started with the big guy, the click of the cuffs was like music to my ears.

The woman had gotten a hold of herself, now that I had the time to look over her she didn’t have any injuries except for a bruise and she was dressed in pretty fancy clothes, I got the impression that she wasn’t local, nobody that well-dressed would go down an alley if they were from Brockton Bay.

While I put out an arm to steady the woman Taylor lifted a hand and put it to her mask before she spoke. “Console, this is Weaver, we have three suspects detained and one frazzled woman.”

“A patrol car should be over in about four minutes.” 

I kept my eyes on the woman, she’d gotten calm enough to talk actual sentences by now. “Ma’am, could you tell me your name?”

“Isabella… Isabella Martinez.” She was weak, I had to quash down the urge to give her a go at her attackers, I needed to remind myself that I wasn’t a vigilante, I couldn’t pull that shit anymore.

I paused to let her organize her thoughts. “Alright Isabella, the police are coming to help you out, can you stick around to tell them what happened?”

“...Yes.”

I let out a sigh of relief, her sticking around to give a report meant a bit less paperwork for me and Taylor.

Speaking of the girl she had walked over to me and kneeled down next to me and the woman. “It’s okay now, they can’t hurt you anymore.”

Even if she couldn’t see it I smiled, she was already getting stronger.

Chapter Text

The bell rang and the last dodgeball flew at some unlucky kid and it nailed him in the head.

“Alright everyone, that’s it for today, hit the lockers.” Coach blew her whistle and everyone stopped playing, I was happy to give it a rest. Compared to some of the training exercises Carlos put me through I really didn’t find dodgeball all that difficult, it was kind of boring really.

Coach was the type of teacher where it didn’t really make sense why she worked at a school, she was a middle aged fatish lady that never really seemed to even have anything close to enjoyment when I had class with her, it just seemed like she wanted it to be over always.

I looked over to Charlotte, she was almost panting, she was never the most active in my little group. I didn’t mind that, I’d rather partner with one of my friends than someone strong when it came to something as useless as Gym, it was more fun that way.

I waited a second for Charlotte to catch her breath, once she seemed a bit more under control I put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

I knew the answer but it was more the principal of the matter than anything, I needed to make sure that she was good, I needed to keep her safe.

“Yeah, a bit worn out but I’m fine.” 

The two of us left the gym and headed towards the lockers, since we’d known each other for a year give or take we’d gotten our lockers to be right next to each other. I popped mine open and brought out my gym bag.

Charlotte did the same next to me, taking out a water bottle and drinking a bit. She was a pretty girl, more in a cute way than a hot one, she had nice dark hair and a face that I could admit was attractive. She maybe didn’t dress as skimpy as Sabrina but there was a lot about her that got the boys to like her.

“Are you good?” She said it with a bit of a chuckle, not like she was mocking me or anything, it was lighthearted.

I shook my head as I stripped down to my underwear and got my normal clothes out of my bag. “Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking about something.”

Charlotte did the same as me before she looked back. “What’cha got on your mind?”

“Nothing…” It would’ve been kind of weird to admit that I was admiring how she looked, I wasn’t some kind of pervert or anything but it’d be embarrassing.

She shrugged, happy enough to leave it at that.

Once I’d changed into my clothes I brought my bag around and slung it over my shoulder, after Charlotte was done too we headed for the entrance of the locker room. As we left I glared at some of the Empire girls, just to keep them from getting any ideas.

The bravest of them murmured under her breath about how I was a Jew loving monkey or something, I wasn’t just going to let that go. Before we left I lunged forward at the girl that said it, she flinched back but I didn’t do anything else, I left it there.

I wasn’t going to get in trouble for punching a Nazi bitch but I’d scare one when I could. 

Me and Charlotte walked out of the locker room and back into the gym, she turned to look at me as we moved. She didn’t look too happy about what I did but she knew I couldn’t just do nothing. “Got any plans for the evening?”

“Nothing serious, me and Taylor’ve got work.” I shrugged, we’d probably have another patrol where nothing happened, Taylor was good at finding trouble but we were still stuck to the area around the Boardwalk, we’d probably deal with a mugging or two tops. “You?”

She groaned, it was a bit exaggerated. “I’ve got two tests I need to study for, it’s gonna be torture.”

“Sounds rough.” I knew that she was taking some harder classes than me, granted, we were at Winslow where graduating wasn’t always in the cards for people but Charlotte was smart, smarter than me at least.

We went from the gym into the hallways, hordes of people were moving through them. The only kids that weren’t trying to leave were the small few in clubs and the gang members. The Empire thugs were a bit more spread out but the ABB had closed rank, after the Undersiders got away with pissing off Lung they were quiet, it wasn’t a good look for some small timers to get one over on the second biggest gang in the city.

I glanced over to Charlotte, she was sticking close, more because of all the Empire assholes around, they were like fucking locust. As we walked one of the bigger skinheads shoulder checked me. “Fucking faggots.”

I glared at him but soon he was swallowed up by the tide of people walking through the hallway, Charlotte put an arm on my shoulder. “Don’t mind him, how about we go see how Taylor is doing.”

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea, Taylor’s last class was Quinlan with Emma, she was usually kind of out of it after school ended, all quiet and shit.

“Fine.” I still had that little ember of anger in my chest but I quashed it pretty easily, I might have flown off the handle a bit more than most people but I could still somewhat control myself.

We made our way further into the school, it wasn’t too hard now that some time had passed, the amount of people in the hallways had started to die down, it was still annoying but it was manageable.

Eventually we got to the outside of Quinlan’s room, from the inside I could hear talking.

“Just leave me alone.” That was Taylor’s voice, it was hard, like when she was Weaver. I felt a smile start to worm its way onto my face, she was being strong.

Then there was a laugh, it sounded a lot like Emma. “And why’d I do that Tay-Tay, I thought we were friends?”

“Just shut up Emma.” Her voice stayed steady, I didn’t really know what her deal with Emma was but in the past she’d gotten all wavery around her, not anymore it seemed.

There was another laugh as me and Charlotte got closer, it was a lot more ugly sounding than the first one. “What’re you gonna do if I don’t, cry like after mommy got herself killed, worthless fucking kike.”

“What happened to you Emma, to make you this much of a bitch?” The two of us made it to the doorway as Taylor talked back.

The room was empty, Quinlan must have left with the bell because it was just Emma and Taylor, they were both standing, staring at each other before the Empire bitch noticed us. “Well would you look at that, the monkey brought another heeb around, god, I need to get out of here.”

Emma made her way to the door with a nasty smirk on her face and tried to push past me, I didn’t let her.

“Are we gonna have a problem?” Her voice was low, like she was a predator getting ready to attack.

I didn’t move, I wasn’t going to let her force me out of the way, she might have been strong but I was stronger. “I dunno, are we?”

Charlotte glanced at me nervously, she wouldn’t like where this is going. Before Emma could respond she moved out of the way.

“Looks like one of you knows who your betters are, if only she could teach you two dykes.” She said it jokingly, like it was a big shame I didn’t roll over for her and her skinhead goons, it really got my blood boiling.

But there wasn’t time for lashing out, I needed to do something first. I turned to Taylor. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, she always got like this after Emma had a go at her, I bet if I could see the bugs around us they’d be spazzing out. Taylor’d told me about how she shoved some of her reactions into them. It didn’t really sound all that healthy but it was better than what I did with my feelings so I didn’t bring it up.

“I’m fine.” Great, I’d have to spend some time getting the truth out of her, it was annoying but I could deal with it. I just wished she realized that she wasn’t strong yet, she still needed me to protect her.

She picked up her backpack and walked out of the room. I went to join her but Charlotte stayed behind. “I’ll walk home with the twins today, you two have fun at work.”

I waved as she left, I kind of would have liked it if she’d come along for a bit to needle what had happened out of Taylor but I couldn’t just force her to do that.

Before we started moving I put a hand on Taylor’s shoulder and leaned in, close enough that nobody could hear what I was about to say. “It’s okay if you aren’t fine, you can talk to me, y’know?”

Taylor sighed but she didn’t say anything after, I ground my teeth a bit, I liked Taylor, sure, but she could be so goddamn annoying sometimes.

After another second she let out a smaller sigh. “Just, walk with me for a bit.”

I made my own sigh as Taylor started to lead me out of the school, some of the Empire grunts glared at us but most of the people were already gone or in the bus loop, we weren’t given too much trouble.

Once we left Winslow we started to walk, pretty soon I started to recognize the path we were on, Taylor was bringing me over to her house. I’d been there before, she’d brought me to visit over a weekend after she joined the Wards.

We moved down Lord Street, once we got pretty close to her house Taylor started to talk again. “Me and Emma used to be best friends.”

“Really?” I mean, I’d heard the rumors but they hadn’t really seemed that realistic, Emma had said some really shitty things to Taylor.

She nodded. “We did everything together, we were like sisters. She wasn’t always like that, I don’t even think her family is in the Empire.”

“What happened?” I wasn’t sure if Taylor was going to share but it was worth a shot.

She sighed, it was tired, like she was exhausted. “That’s what I want to know. After my mom died my dad sent me to a summer camp. I think he needed space to mourn or something and when I came back Emma was different, she changed.”

Wait a minute. “When was this, about four years ago, right?” Guilt stabbed me in the gut, was I the one who had made Taylor’s life shitty? Was it all my fault?

She nodded. “Yeah… How’d you know that?”

“Fuck.” The pang of guilt got even heavier as we stopped before a crosswalk. “I can remember it. I was out patrolling, still pretty early in my career and I saved her and her dad from some ABB thugs, must’ve stuck with her, she must have–”

“Joined up with the Empire.” We crossed the street in silence after that, I didn’t want to say anything that’d make Taylor hate me more and she was probably processing what I’d said.

Once we got to the other side she glanced back at me before she started to talk again. “Anyways, when I got home she’d made some new friends, they didn’t like me and I knew enough about the gangs to not like them. At first Emma tried to get us all to get along but eventually we started to drift apart.”

“I’m sorry, that fucking sucks.” I didn’t know what else to say, someone like Dean probably would have but he wasn’t around, all Taylor had was me.

She smiled at me, it was weak and looked forced but it was still there. “Don’t apologize, it isn’t your fault, Emma made her choice.”

“Yeah, fuck, still sucks though.” One thing about the story was still bugging me, it might just not have been over yet but how did Emma go from growing apart from her best friend to mocking her about her dead mom. “Why’d things change, why’d she start going after you?”

Taylor frowned, like she was remembering something she didn’t want to. “It was right before we started high school, she called me out of the blue, saying that she wanted to meet up, like the good old times.”

She talked as we walked, we were getting closer to her home now, just a few turns away from being able to see it. I didn’t say a thing, it said a lot that Taylor was willing to tell me about this, I wasn’t going to do anything to hurt her trust in me and that meant I was keeping my big mouth shut.

“I said yes, I didn’t really have any other friends and I’d been missing her. We met in a park, we caught up, it was nice. It was stupid but I thought maybe she’d realized that the Empire was bad news or something and wanted to reconnect.” She let out a sad little laugh, like she couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been.

We turned off Lord Street and into Taylor’s neighborhood before she started to talk again. “Then she gave me a knife, told me to go and stab this black lady watching her kids. She said it was the only way we could be friends again.”

I didn’t say a word as her home came into view, it felt wrong whenever I tried to make any words in my head. For another moment we walked in silence, I could tell that Taylor was being strong doing this, that she didn’t want to but she was, I was proud of her.

“I didn’t do it, obviously, then some of her new friends pushed me around for a bit, called me a race traitor and stuff. After that she started really going after me. Until you saved me.” We were at her house now, she fished a key out of her pocket and stuck it in the door, opening it.

I felt a bit like shit as she led me into the house, here she was, spilling her guts to me and I wasn’t doing anything in return.

Taylor climbed up the stairs to her room and I heard the sound of a door opening. Soon enough she came down changed into more professional clothes and with a heavy duffle bag in her arms.

I mustered up some courage, if Taylor could talk about Emma then I could do something in return.

“Hey…” I got her attention and gulped, after this there wasn’t any way back but I pushed on. “Let me tell you about Steven.”

Chapter Text

Me and Taylor got to the PRT building on time, thank god, I didn’t want to deal with Piggy any more than I needed to.

Sure, she’d been surprisingly nice for like a day after I got Taylor to join but after that she went right back to having a stick so far up her ass I could see it coming out of her mouth. It might have been annoying but I had to deal with it.

Our talk had gone on a bit longer than I think both of us had wanted. I didn’t just tell her about Steven, I told her about everything, the trapped feeling, how much I hated how he got too close to me. Then Taylor talked a bit more about her trigger event too, it just made me feel worse, if I had just been better she wouldn’t have gotten powers in the first place.

She tried to say that it wasn’t my fault but I knew the truth, I was strong, I was supposed to protect her. I’d thought that there were other people that needed my help more, I had been wrong.

It didn’t matter, I couldn’t change the past, I just had to be better now.

We rushed through the door and past the dopey greeter that was always standing out front, he tried to get our attention but we passed him and made our way to the meeting room fast. The agent waved us in and we got in the elevator quick, Taylor swiped her ID and we got in.

Both of us started to wheeze, it was a pretty long jog from Taylor’s house and even though we stopped at my place to pick up my gear and stuff it was still a bit exhausting, a lot more than a warm up for sure. “God, never want to do that again…”

“Yeah, that kind of sucked.” Taylor looked somewhat more exhausted than me, not enough that she wouldn’t be able to do anything but she was definitely tired.

The elevator beeped and the door opened to the Wards Headquarters, I could see Carlos, Dennis and Missy sitting around the main table, they were all unmasked but in their costumes. Dauntless was standing, chatting with Carlos about something, he looked up to the two of us as we got out of the elevator. Dennis and Missy were on their phones, really, that was what we did a surprising amount of the time, the Wards were kind of more of a club than a crime fighting unit.

That pissed me off, I knew that it was safer or whatever but I felt like I needed to be out there, I needed to be saving people. Piggy and the PRT had hamstrung me, made me useless, just two more years and I could join the Protectorate or even go independent again, that was the deal.

I glanced over to Taylor, we’d talked about it a bit but she had much less of a problem with how the Wards were set up, if anything she just chafed against being under someone. I got that, it sucked but it was better for her in the long run, it would keep her safe.

“Hi there you two, it’s good to see you.” Dauntless was surprisingly soft-spoken, I knew that when he patrolled he put on a character or something stupid but when the public wasn’t around he was reserved, not showing off his strength.

I looked at the clock, not the one of Dennis’s armor, thankfully we were still on time. “Sorry about that, we got a bit held up.”

“Nothing bad I hope.” Carlos smiled at us, Taylor shook her head and he left it at that, that was one of the reasons I liked Carlos decently, he didn’t push shit that shouldn’t be pushed.

There was something different about Missy today, she looked less excited to see me, it kind of hurt a bit, that she didn’t seem to want to talk to me, her words had a bit more bite in them. “Well, I’ve got homework to do.”

She got up and stomped off to one of the little cubical things that were basically our rooms. Tinkertech made sure that any sound softer than the alarm didn’t travel very far through the walls, I thought it was a privacy thing.

All in all, it wasn’t very like Missy to be acting like that, I tried to go through my memory, did I do anything to piss her off recently? I didn’t think so, I might have been spending a bit more time with Taylor as she got used to being a Ward but I didn’t think that Missy’d get in a huff just because of that.

Was it something else then?

“Wow, that’s got to be a record, I thought that you and Vista were buddies.” Dennis at least didn’t say it like one of his shitty jokes, more like a question.

Carlos frowned, more a disapproving scowl than anything but it was there, now that I got a better look at him his hair looked a bit damp, he must have just come back from a patrol. “Just give her time, I’m sure she just had something bad happen at school.”

Yeah no, that couldn’t be it, maybe her parents had gotten into another fight or something but I knew Missy, being a Ward was an escape from all of that, it was a place for her to not have to worry. If anything a bad day would mean she’d try to be more peppy, trying to get over it.

I looked around the room, it only dawned on me now that somebody who wasn’t Chris was missing. “Where’s Galant?”

Dennis sighed. “On a date with Glory Girl, he said something about it yesterday.” That last bit was definitely a jab, like he was saying I wasn’t a good teammate or some shit, it pissed me off.

I ground my teeth and dealt with it, it wouldn’t help if I got in Dennis’s face, it’d just make things worse.

“We should get changed, didn’t Piggot say that the tours are starting up again?” Taylor made a good point, it had been great to not deal with them but now that all the tinkertech in the building had gone through maintenance people’d start coming around again.

I fucking hated the tours, I felt like a show horse, put on display for people to poke and prod at, it was like Boardwalk patrols but even worse.

Me and Taylor moved to the showers and started to change, it took a bit of time to put on all the layers but I finished earlier than Taylor, I’d been doing this a lot longer than her. She was still putting on her armor when I fastened my cloak around my neck. I went up to her and grabbed the next piece of armor. “Hey, let me help you with that.”

“Thanks…” As I fastened the breastplate on her chest I glanced up to her face, it was starting to get a bit red. It was a bit hot, Missy must have taken a shower when she got here.

It took a few more minutes for us to get all the armor on her, parts of it overlapped so there was an order to it all. Once she was fully costumed up I grinned at her. “There we go.”

We left the showers about ten minutes or so after we went in, when we came back Missy was still gone and Chris was still probably tinkering away in his workshop.

“Well, what's on the docket for everyone today?” Dauntless was doing his best, I’d learnt that he really didn’t like bringing attention to himself but he could put himself out there if he tried.

Dennis spoke first. “I’ve got a patrol with Galant later, once he’s done with his date. He said he’d be here by four.” Good, that wasn’t too far from now, I liked having Dean around to be a buffer for people I wasn’t too big a fan of.

“Me and Chris already did ours for today, nothing too bad happened. I did help a very nice old lady cross the street though.” Carlos ended it with a soft chuckle, he and Dean were the biggest fucking boyscouts in the Wards, they’d be happy to not see a real day of combat in their lives as long as they could rescue cats from trees and wave for the cameras.

No… That wasn’t fair, I might have been pissed but I knew that Carlos was strong, that he’d do the right thing when it came to it.

“Me and Taylor are stuck here for today, console duty.” It was a bore but I actually didn’t hate console duty, sure, it felt useless but I’d rather do something in the background than be paraded around like a doll for the public.

It felt too much like Steven leering, leaning closer and closer as he reached out.

I shook my head, I couldn’t let myself be distracted, I walked with Taylor to the center table and took a seat next to her. Dauntless cleared his throat and looked at Carlos. “Well, all of you seem to have a pretty good idea of what's happening, not too sure you need me.”

He sounded like he’d rather leave but was just too polite to do it like Armsmaster sometimes did.

“I think I’ve got all this under control, I’m sure you have something more important to deal with then playing babysitter.” Carlos chuckled a bit, he was also picking up what I was, good.

I couldn’t really see a good bit of his face but I think Dauntless smiled. “Well, I won’t hold all of you up anymore than I need to, it was good getting to see all of you again.”

He gave us an awkward wave before walking over to the staircase entrance, he leaned down for the retinal scan and the door opened, he walked out with another wave.

There was a moment of silence before Dennis broke it. “So Stalker, you wanna spar for a bit, I’ve got some new moves.”

I wanted to say yes, as long as we didn’t bring powers into things I was stronger than Dennis, better than him. Beating him up for half an hour sounded fun, it was one of the only good things that he brought to the table but there was this nagging feeling that I couldn’t quite place for a second.

Then I did.

“Lemma just check on Vista first, I wanna make sure she’s okay.” She was mad I thought, at what I had no idea but I didn’t just want to leave her to stew in whatever had her down.

Dennis shrugged before looking at Carlos, the bigger boy chuckled with a smile and stood up. “You and Weaver do that, I’ll see how good Clock’s new moves are.”

I nodded and the two of them walked off, Taylor and me started to make our way to the cubicle that Missy had gone to. Before we went in I pulled Taylor aside.

“Listen, I’m not sure what’s got Vista down but I think I should handle it for now, I’ve known her for a bit, you haven't.” It made sense in my head, I was pretty sure the two of them hadn’t really interacted without me there except for a pretty short Boardwalk patrol.

Taylor frowned but she nodded, I felt a bit bad sidelining her but it was for the best. “Alright.”

With a heavy sigh I walked up to the entrance of Missy’s room thing and looked in. She was working on some kind of homework but she had a pretty pissed expression on her face.

“Hey pipsqueak, what's wrong.” 

She looked up at me and her scowl only grew. “Nothing, leave me alone.”

“No can do, can’t leave my favorite Ward to be a pissy bitch.” Okay, Dean might have gotten on my ass about being too blunt or whatever but Missy would respond better to me treating her like more of an adult, the last thing I wanted to do was baby her.

She grumbled something under her breath that I couldn’t hear.

I kept another sigh inside as I walked into the cubical. “Mind saying that again, I’m not Aegis, don’t got super hearing.”

“I said I’m obviously not your favorite Ward!” She exploded on me, turning around to face me with a bit of dampness in her eyes.

It took me a second but I put it together, she didn’t like that I was spending my time with Taylor, I was very aware that she probably overheard what Missy said. “Fuck, Missy, I’m friends with Weaver, sure, but you and Dean were the first people to treat me like I belonged her, just trying to give her the same thing.”

“But she’s creepy, I don’t get why you’re friends with her!” Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Taylor cringe back, I tried to reign in my temper, tried to tell myself that lashing out wouldn’t help. It took a second but eventually I was able to get it under control. 

Missy was just doing what I would have done at her age, attacking someone to feel stronger, I needed to figure out why. I knew it wasn’t because Taylor was creepy or whatever, I’d seen Missy’s stitches, being a Ward for so long probably desensitized her to creepy or gross stuff.

So what was it? “Don’t give me that shit, why don’t you like Weaver?”

“It doesn’t matter, you’ll choose her over me…” Again she mumbled something under her breath but I could pick out the words mom and dad. Fuck, this was hitting her deep in the shit, she felt like I was abandoning her, just like her parents.

Deep breaths, I tried to center myself. “Just… Fuck, I’m not throwing you away or something, I just like spending time with Weaver too. If you told me what’s wrong I can try to fix it, okay?” I hoped that I made that make sense, fuck, why did words have to be so hard.

Missy sniffled, tears had started falling down her eyes. “It’s stupid…” I reached out slow and put a hand on her shoulder, I wanted to solve this the right way. “Her bugs, they make my power not work. They get in the way of it and I can’t smudge space around them as easy.”

Really? I tried not to let my reaction show but that was a bit underwhelming. I guess I could understand a bit, back when I was Missy’s age every small thing set me off too, I had to be gentle about this.

I glanced back at Taylor, she looked a bit surprised, it was kind of hard to tell but that was the emotion I got, I wished Dean was around.

“How about we work with Weaver to find a way to fix that problem, okay pipsqueak?” I lifted my hand from her shoulder and ruffled her hair a bit.

She let out a watery laugh, it was fragile but it happened, that was a step in the right direction. “You won’t leave me for her?”

Oh boy, that was a loaded question. I tried to think of how to answer it and finally landed on something that made a bit of sense. I looked at Taylor for just a moment, she nodded at me and then I moved my eyes back to Missy.

“I’ll do my best.” I tried to keep my voice steady, to keep out all the different feelings that were trying to make me weak.

Then Taylor did something unexpected, she stepped up, into Missy’s eyeline. The smaller girl froze for a second, probably scared that Taylor’d rip into her for complaining or something.

But she didn’t, she just spoke. “I think you mean we’ll do our best.”

Chapter Text

I wasn’t really sure what I was doing.

At first the idea had been to have my group go out for the weekend but Charlotte and Maria had homework, Sabrina was going out with her girlfriend and the twins had family stuff to deal with so it ended up with just me and Taylor.

I still wanted to go out, it sounded kind of nice to spend some time with her when we weren’t working, it felt like recently it was just training, patrols and being shown off like a show dog. I might have liked a few of those but there was a limit, I didn’t just want to do that twenty-four seven. We only had Art together at school and I didn’t think either of us really liked that class, it was just one more obligation.

I’d given Taylor a call on the new phone that the PRT gave her, technically it wasn’t meant to be used for stuff outside of work but I knew for a fact that most of the Wards didn’t really follow that rule, as long as I was just calling Taylor or the rest of the team I doubted Piggy would even bring it up. This was basically just teambuilding anyways, I was just keeping an eye on our newest teammate.

It was Saturday afternoon when the two of us met at the Market, in front of Fugly Bob’s. The Boardwalk might have been technically safer but I didn’t really have the cash for that and it was full of tourists, that was just bound to annoy me.

Taylor was dressed like she usually did, in a baggy jacket and jeans. It kinda pissed me off, she shouldn’t hide who she was, she’d really grown into her build, put on a bit of muscle and lost some fat, maybe she wasn’t model hot but I could admit that she was attractive in her own way.

So what if her lips were thin or she was still a bit spindly, I liked her, not like I wanted to bone her or anything but I could admire how she looked.

“So, what’d you want to do?” She didn’t seem too comfortable, I’d gotten better at telling what she was feeling even when she did her thing with the bugs, it was pretty hard but a good general rule was that if she was doing it she was probably not feeling great.

I shrugged, I didn’t really have a super detailed plan for today, it was mostly just to hang out away from cape stuff for a bit, even I needed a break sometimes. I nodded my head to Fugly Bob’s. “You wanna get a bite to eat?”

It wasn’t exactly the healthiest food but it was good, it couldn’t hurt to enjoy ourselves a bit today.

“Sure, I could use some food.” It sounded like she was okay with it, it wasn’t super easy to tell but I hoped that I wasn’t butchering everything.

We walked into the restaurant, a little bell jingled when we opened the door. Fugly’s wasn’t the kind of place that had a greeter or whatever, there was a stack of menus on the side and I picked one up, it had been a bit since I ate here, it couldn’t hurt to see if they had anything new.

There was a blaring TV with some football on, I didn’t care enough to pay attention to what was happening but it made it so that we’d at least have a little privacy if we decided to talk about stuff. It wasn’t really that full, there was another group of teenagers sitting outside but it was that weird time after lunch but before dinner, I pointed to the cleanest looking booth. “Let’s sit there.”

Taylor nodded and followed me, I slid into the booth and she sat across from me. After a moment of looking at the menu I looked back up to Taylor. “You wanna split one or what?”

“I really don’t think I could eat an entire Fugly’s burger, we’ll split it.” That sounded like a good idea, Fugly’s food was a lot sometimes. It might have tasted good but it was also like eating solid grease, enjoying ourselves had a limit.

I nodded. “Sounds good, you want fries or onion rings?” Personally I was a bit more of a fan of onion rings, their fries were too soggy for me.

She shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

After a bit of time where we chatted about school and things that didn’t really matter a heavyset Asian woman came up to us with a notepad in her hands.

“Right then kids, what can I get you today?” She didn’t sound too happy to be there, I might not have ever worked in fast food but I could imagine that it wasn’t really that rewarding.

I took initiative. “Can we get a bacon cheeseburger with a side of onion rings and two drinks, could I get a Sprite?”

“Yeah.” She turned to Taylor and motioned with her pen after she was done writing down the order. “And you?”

“Just Coke.” The waitress marked that down and then without another word she left to the back.

I smiled at Taylor, this was nice, it was different but I found it kind of calming, just spending some time with her without something happening.

I tried to think of what Dean would want me to do next, I didn’t just want to sit in silence, that felt really awkward. “So, how’re you doing today?”

“Fine.” I gave her a look at that, it was basically worse than her saying nothing, I needed a bit more than that. “I didn’t have any plans today, thanks for inviting me out.”

Alright, now I was starting to get somewhere, I smiled at her and got a small grin from her. “No problem, just happy to give you something to do.”

The conversation petered out a bit, I still tried to keep it going but there wasn’t too much that I could think of, there were some things I wanted to ask her but I wanted to wait a bit before we had the chance of being interrupted.

Eventually the waitress came back with our order, a plate full of onion rings, two sodas and a massive cheeseburger, she put them down on the table. “You kids need anything else?”

“Yeah, could we get a knife?”

She let out a soft groan and left our table. I reached over and grabbed one of the onion rings and popped it into my mouth. It tasted just like I remembered, a bit salty and very greasy but not in a terrible way.

Pretty soon the waitress came back and tossed a plastic knife on the table. “Right, just yell if you need anything else.”

Once the woman left I took the knife and started to saw through the burger, it took a bit of time because the thing was so damn big but eventually I’d cut it in half. I grabbed the one closer to me and took a bite, it tasted pretty good, maybe Fugly was doing something with the seasoning or some shit.

I took a swig of my Sprite as Taylor ate a bit of her side of the burger.

“So, how’s being a Ward.” If her first few weeks were anything like mine then I knew that she’d at least have a complaint or two, it was best to get them out before she blew up on someone after bottling it up for months.

Just for a second she froze, probably making her bugs fight or something, if I wasn’t looking out for it I wouldn’t have noticed it. “Fine, just… It’s not what I expected. It’s annoying, not being able to choose what I want to do, it feels wrong.”

“I had a pretty similar problem when I first joined, felt like I was being useless. It sucks but we gotta learn to live with it.” Only two more years and we could do whatever we wanted, I was planning on going independent, I hoped Taylor would do the same, we could be a duo.

She sighed as she picked one of the onion rings and bit down on it, after she was done chewing she spoke up. “I know, I just feel stupid, I had this whole plan for being independent and then everything I learn says that I should be happy as a Ward but I’m not.”

“Well why? I get that Piggy’s a bit of a bitch but there’s gotta be something nice about it.” I didn’t really hate most of the Wards, sure, Chris and Dennis could be assholes occasionally and that pissed me off but the rest of them were fine enough, they might not have understood the rules but they were fine I guessed.

Taylor grimaced, I could tell she was thinking about it but it was hard to figure out what exactly she was thinking, I wasn’t Dean or anything. “Most of the team is fine, I don’t really have a problem with them but it just feels weird, like I don’t really belong there.”

“I had the same thing happen to me, you think they were fine with being on a team with a bitch that killed a guy or two? Dean and Carlos helped me, just… Let me, let us help you Taylor.” I hoped I did a good job of it, I really didn’t want to fuck everything up between us.

She didn’t say anything for a minute, we went back to our meal, about half of it was gone by the time she looked up at me and spoke again. “I guess I can try.”

“All I can ask for.”

We ate the rest of our food in silence, it felt like to me that we needed to give that conversation some space, that we shouldn’t just hop back into talking about school or something.

I finished my half of the burger first, Taylor took the last bite of hers pretty soon after. Eventually the waitress came back around and we paid for the food.

We left Fugly’s right before the rush of people getting off of work, the little bell rang as I opened the door and we got out of the building. “Well, that tasted good, never want to eat there again though, I can feel the grease in my blood.”

“I feel that, it’s like there’s a heart attack right around the corner.” It was nice that Taylor was happy enough to joke around with me, it felt good that she trusted me that much.

I gave her a soft clap on the shoulder and started to walk before I looked back at her. “You want to hang around the Market for a bit or head home?”

“I kinda don’t feel up to doing a whole lot, all that food made me feel kinda bad.” Yeah, I got that, sometimes greasy shit made me feel terrible.

I smiled at her. “No problem, how about I hang out at your place for a bit?”

“Sure, my dad will probably be okay with it.” Taylor said it with a shrug and started to walk in the opposite direction of the Market.

I had to run up to her side, with a bit of a chuckle I joked around a bit more. “Hey, don’t just leave me here.”

“Then keep up.” She smirked at me, instead of annoyance like at Dennis all I felt was pride, I was getting her back out of her shell again, finally.

We walked further into the city, sticking somewhat close to Lord Street, the Docks were deep in ABB territory and neither of us were Asian. I trusted Taylor to not steer us wrong, she had her whole radar thing with her bugs.

When the signs started to be more in English and there were less ABB thugs milling about Taylor froze, under her breath she whispered to me. “There’s a guy coming up behind us, might be drunk, I don’t know.” 

I tried to glance back sneakily, Taylor wasn’t wrong, there was a guy in green and red with a knife in his hands stumbling towards us. I felt anger course through me as he got closer, did this guy really think he could just ruin this day, ruin my day with Taylor?

“What's–” He hiccupped, if this guy wasn’t drunk then I wasn’t a Ward. “What’s two pretty girls like you doing here?”

He stepped closer, I could smell the booze on his lips and he reached his arm around to put it on my shoulder.

“Hands off dirtbag.” I slapped it away, if he didn’t get the message I wouldn’t hesitate to beat this asshole’s face in.

He scowled. “That’s no way for you to talk to me, Imma… I could cut you for that.”

Oh great, it was looking more and more likely that I’d have to punch him.

It was a bit of a surprise when Taylor stepped up. “She said don’t touch her.”

“It’s not your turn girlie.” He stumbled forward and I shoved him back, he groaned angrily. “Do you.. Do you know why I am?”

Before I could answer another voice cut through, it was strange, kind of like when audio was played in reverse but it was still understandable and it seemed to come from everywhere, I couldn’t pinpoint what direction it came from. “I do.”

“Who… Who said that?”

Something crawled out from a nearby alleyway, it looked like the silhouette of a person if you tried describing one to a blind person, an all swirling black thing with arms and legs that were just too long and it was too thin or thick in some places. A shiver ran down my spine, this had to be some kind of cape.

It took me a moment to realize that it almost looked like Grue’s darkness, not that it could be him, his power didn’t work like that and I was pretty sure he was still in the hospital. Just to be safe I moved my body in front of Taylor’s, I had to keep her safe.

“I did.” I couldn’t make out if it was a man or woman’s voice and it’s body was too abstract to really make out a gender.

The drunk pointed his knife at the cape as the people around us started to get interested, they didn’t crowd around an unknown cape thank god but they started paying attention. “Don’t fuck with me, I–”

Without warning it leapt forward, as it got closer I realized how tall it was, almost ten feet from head to two. It was fast too, I almost couldn’t keep track of it as it ran at the drunk.

He stumbled and fell on his back as the thing pounced, it was almost like a panther if it wanted to play with its prey. 

It grabbed him by the head, long fingers wrapped fully around the guy’s face as it lifted him up off the ground as it rose to its full height. Its empty face turned to look at us and I clenched my fists but surprisingly, it didn’t attack. “Are you okay?”

“We’re fine.” I didn’t let any of my fear taint my voice, I needed to be strong.

The drunk started whimpering as the hand around his face clenched tighter, I didn’t really feel bad for him.

The thing nodded, it was exaggerated, like it didn’t really understand its body. It turned away, back to the alley it came from. “Stay safe.”

Then the thing ran, the drunk guy still in its hand. It really was fast, one moment it was standing before us and the next I caught it sprinting towards the alleyway, I guess it was more how quickly it went from still to moving. The whole thing was weird but that really didn’t help in figuring out how fast it really was.

Well fuck, we were going to have to report this, wouldn’t we.

Chapter Text

Her imp lumbered forward, the man in it’s hands had passed out, super fucking lame.

Aisha had it drop him, he tumbled to the ground and she hopped off the box she was sitting on. She was wearing her costume, nothing really spectacular, just a black bandana around her face and one of her bro’s leather jackets.

Her imp lifted him up by the armpits and she got out her phone, flipping it open and calling the only number that really mattered. As much as she hated having a boss she had to admit that Coil could be pretty useful.

“Hello Imp, I imagine you have Mr. Huang in your custody?” He had that kind of smarmy voice that a Bond villain would have, he was basically one already.

She got out her knife and answered through her imp’s voice. Shitty side effect of her power, when it was out and about she just plain couldn’t be perceived. It was annoying, the only time she could do the things that needed to be done was when she was a nobody, useful, sure but annoying all the same. “Sure thing bossman, you want me to put you on speaker or are you gonna let me have fun?”

“Sadly I have need of Mr. Huang for now, if he doesn’t prove useful you can play with him.” Fuck yeah, she knew there was a reason her bro worked for the guy, she clicked a button on the phone and his next words were loud enough for the alleyway to hear. “Wake him up.”

With a grin Aisha slapped the guy, he might be a bit tipsy but a good hit had to wake him up. After a moment he stirred, he smelled like piss and booze, a bit like Aisha’s mom now that she thought of it. “...Wha?”

“Hello Wu Huang, my associate and I have a number of questions for you, answer them and you may be on your way.” Aisha had to hand it to Coil, he could be pretty scary when he wanted to, he had the inflection where he sounded like he was being nice but he totally wasn’t.

The dude started to struggle in her projection’s arms, it wasn’t like he was going to break out or anything but she had to give him credit for trying. “... Fuck no, I’m not a fucking rat.”

“Imp, please motivate our friend here.” If there was one thing she could say about the guy Coil knew how to keep her happy, there was probably a reason why Brian never complained about the guy.

She had her imp shift its hand up one of the guy’s arms and to his hand, it was like a vice grip, he wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. She felt her power spike as she grabbed one of his fingers with her fleshy human hand. It was weird, she could feel when it reached out and made her invisible, like a little tingling in the back of her head.

With her other hand she took her knife and held it up to the dude’s pinky finger, slowly she pushed it into his flesh, the guy started to cry out and Aisha had her imp cover his mouth with it’s other hand. It was Brockton Bay so it wasn’t like anyone was going to do something as stupid as investigating a scream in an alleyway but the noise got on her nerves a little bit.

It wasn’t quick, she wanted to make sure this scumbag suffered, eventually he was down a finger and hopefully a bit more willing to squeal, she had her imp ask. “You ready to talk or do I need to take another one?”

Its hand left his mouth and grabbed him by the armpit again, the guy was crying but through it he nodded. “...Yeah.” He sounded pathetic, like Aisha’s mom after a night of partying, trying to suck up to her so she helped her with the hangover.

“Good, good. Now Mr. Huang, could you tell me what Bakuda has planned for the city?” Aisha started to play with her knife as Coil spoke, it was kind of interesting but she still needed to do something with her hands.

The guy started to sob louder. “She’ll kill me…”

“And I can have you killed right here Mr. Huang, tell me what I want to know.” Coil was ruthless, Aisha could respect that.

There was another snort as the guy cried a bit more but before long he answered. “She’s putting bombs in our heads, forcing us to bring our families in to get bombs in theirs…. She–she wants to rule the ABB, she wants to take Lung out.”

“Now, that wasn’t very hard now was it?” There was a moment of silence and Aisha had her imp tighten its grip just a little. “When will she make her move?”

“I–I don’t know!” The dude was pathetic, Aisha felt her grip on her knife tighten.

Coil paused before he spoke again. “Imp, please encourage Mr. Huang to remember what we need him to know.”

Aisha had her imp grab him by the face and smirked, it felt so good to be in control, to be the one calling the shot. She took her knife and put it up to his nose, slowly she pressed the blade into out, cutting a nostril in half and drawing a spurt of blood.

“F…Fine, she's gonna do it in two weeks, please, she’s going to kill me!”

“Thank you Mr. Huang.” Aisha was pretty sure that Coil was smiling through the phone, after a moment he addressed her. “Imp, you may enjoy the rest of Mr. Huang’s… hospitality.”

Then Coil hung up and Aisha stalked forward with a grin on her face. This scumbag deserved it, the entire ABB did, they put Brian in the hospital, they ruined the one good thing Aisha had in her life.

She had her imp lift the guy higher into the air as he started to scream. “You said you’d let me go, you said–”

She stabbed him in the gut and twisted the knife, it felt good, like it was the first pound of flesh she was taking from the pieces of shit that ruined everything.

“Oh god… please, please, please.”

She didn’t listen, she just took the knife out of his stomach and started to draw it along his chest, it cut through his shirt and a line of blood started to seep through it. She had her imp laugh, it was pretty creepy, like something that’d be played in a horror movie right before the monster jumped out.

Then she had her imp drop him to the ground, he crumpled with a sob. Her imp leaned down and placed a hand on his leg, with a jolt of movement there was a nasty snapping sound and a scream, once the guy was back to just crying she had her imp speak again. “Now run.”

Before she could play more, Aisha's phone started to ding, it was an alarm. Fuck, she couldn’t miss this. She put her phone back in her pocket and started to walk away as the dude tried to pick himself up from the ground. 

She left her imp there, it was a bit weird to kind of be in two places at once but it was like her brain had made it work. From one perspective she was walking Downtown and the other she was looking down at a bleeding scumbag as he hobbled out of an alleyway.

She took off her mask and shoved it in her pocket, Coil’d said that even recordings of her didn’t show up so it wasn’t like she had too much to worry about. Her fleshy human self had made enough distance from where her imp was scaring the drunk that in the unlikely scenario where someone could see her a face covering wasn’t really needed.

A guy ran into her as she walked, she watched as his eyes glazed over and her power really went into effect, he probably thought he just tripped and stumbled a bit.

She shifted her focus back to the alleyway and had her imp follow behind the drunk as he tried to run, he started screaming off his head about a crazy cape, if anything this little demonstration would be good for her reputation. She left her imp standing right in the alleyway, when he looked back she had it wave, just to make sure he would never forget how easy it would’ve been to kill him.

Then, when the drunk turned away in a panic to keep running she let go of her power, her imp vanished from existence and she was a person again, people moved out of the way when she walked and glanced at her. Her power fucked with memories a little bit, they probably just thought they hadn’t noticed her until now or something, it smoothed over the wrinkles.

Eventually she got to where she was going, it was a hospital on the edge of Downtown, not as fancy as Medhall or anything but they made do. The automatic doors opened for Aisha and she went inside.

The nurse at the front desk was a white lady, probably in her twenties with a fake smile plastered on her face. She looked at Aisha. “Hi there, how can I help you today?”

“I’m here to see my brother, Brian Laborn, he’s in the ICU.” She felt stupid, like a little kid asking for her big bro but she had to, she needed to make sure he was okay.

The nurse lady smiled as she searched up Brian’s name, just for a second it dropped before she looked back up to Aisha. “Please sit down, I just need to call this in so they know you’re coming.”

She knew the drill by now, they had to dial in the PRT because Brian had been a villain, not like it really mattered now. He had brain damage and even if Panacea wanted to heal him she couldn’t fix that.

His fight with Lung had been on the news, apparently Armsmaster took him down but not before Lung torched Aisha’s brother and a few of Bitch’s dogs.

She did the stupid thing and set off on a one woman crusade against the ABB, armed with nothing but her knife she followed a group of gangsters down an alley and…

No, she didn’t want to think about that right now. Aisha got out her phone and started playing some random game on it, she turned up the volume just enough that it would be annoying but not loud enough that someone would ask for her to turn it down.

Waiting was boring, she just wanted to see Brian already, it felt like forever when the nurse lady put down the phone and looked at her. “Alright, you can go see your brother now… Are your parents with you?”

“No.” She doubted that her mom had even noticed that he was gone and his dad was hurt by it but it wasn’t like he showed it, at the very least the guy had shown her how to throw a punch to distract himself from the grief or whatever.

There was another nurse through the door that was meant to guide Aisha to where Brian was, she rolled her eyes but followed the dude. They made their way to the ICU, up a flight of stairs and to the room that Aisha knew had Brian in it.

The nurse opened the door and Aisha walked inside, for once she didn’t feel the need to do something, she just looked down at Brain’s body as a machine beeped in the background. She turned to the nurse. “Uh, could I get some privacy?”

“Of course.” He closed the door as he left Aisha all alone with Brian.

He looked terrible, there was a massive burn scar across his chest that licked up to his face and one eye was swollen shut. Apparently in his fight with Lung it wasn’t even the fuck off dragon that got him, it was the lack of oxygen.

Aisha sat next to him. “Hey bro…”

She heard somewhere that talking to people in comas could help wake them up but each day it became harder and harder to think that he would, even Coil’s promises started to sound more like hot air than anything.

“I hope you’re having a good dream, getting it on with a hot chick or something, maybe making loads of cash.” She wasn’t even sure why she was doing this, it just felt right.

She sighed. “I’ve been good, just getting by I guess. Been staying at your place, mom probably hasn’t even noticed I’m gone yet and your boss is still paying for it, I thought why not, y’know?”

For a bit she didn’t say anything, she just let herself exist next to her brother. She wished he would do something like in the movies, move just a little bit or murmur something in his sleep but he didn’t.

“Speaking of your boss, I’ve been having a good time working for him, he’s a bit scary but I think I get him. He’s kinda like you, always worrying about shit but he’s just better at hiding it.” She’d made sure that there weren’t any bugs in the room during her first visit, just in case the PRT decided to fuck Brian over even more but it’d been clear.

She put a hand over his and held it for a second, at least his body was still warm. “Fucked up an ABB thug for you today, cut him up real good. This Bakuda lady’s gonna be doing something big soon, the guy said she was putting bombs in people’s brains. Guess I’m kinda glad you don’t gotta deal with it.”

She knew he’d have a seizure if he knew that she was the one dealing with it, not that she was sure she would be, Coil was the kind of weasley asshole to try to take advantage of the whole situation.

“Your team broke up, bossman told me about it. He’s got Tattletale and Regent doing their thing for him but Bitch up and left for Boston, she got pretty pissed when her dogs died or some shit. Thought you might want to know I guess.” Even if he didn’t talk about them Aisha could guess that Brian would have liked to know where his team was, he would have felt responsible for them.

She sighed. “This is a fucking mess, I get powers and I can barely even have fun with them. It’s all grab this guy, kill this guy, fucking lame as hell.” Alright, that was more her venting than anything but she didn’t think Brian’d mind, he was kinda braindead or whatever.

She squeezed his hand, for just a second she let herself be the little girl that wanted her big brother and tears started to well up in her eyes.

She sniffled, wiping them away with her sleeve. “Fuck, I’m getting all sappy and shit.”

She took one last look at Brian’s body, the charred flesh stood out, it didn’t belong there, this shouldn’t have happened to him.

One way or another Lung would get what was coming to him.

Chapter Text

Paige’s eyes flickered open, her head was killing her, like a massive thudding pain at the back of her skull.

It took a moment for the memories to come back to her. The last thing she remembered was the Birdcage transport, being locked up and muzzled before she was sent to a hole so deep she couldn’t come back.

All because of three words.

Something obviously happened, she could faintly recall the transport being knocked over before she lost consciousness after hitting her head on something. She also didn’t have the muzzle on, that would’ve only been taken off if she got to the Birdcage and she doubted it was as nice as the room she was in.

Not that it was super nice or anything, it looked like a pretty standard hotel room, Paige had stayed in a few of them when she was first starting out, before she got a manager that got her nicer places to stay. The bed she was in felt like heaven but that was probably because she barely got a mattress after being arrested. There was a window to one side of the room that she could see a tree through, she was pretty sure the Birdcage didn’t have trees.

She went to shift the blankets off before she noticed the handcuff chaining her to the bed. She tried to pull on it but it didn’t budge, under her breath she muttered. “Damn…”

She tried to take better stock of everything around her, maybe there was something she could use to break out, she didn’t really want to be at the mercy of someone who could stop a Birdcage transport.

There was a lamp on a nightstand, if she could reach it maybe she could use it to break the handcuffs or something, she shimmied over to the other side of the bed and reached, the cuff bit into her hand but eventually she was able to grab the lamp.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The voice was smooth and commanding with just a bit of an accent still poking through, like some kind of foreign queen.

Paige jumped at it, yelping as she turned to face whoever just spoke. She saw a woman, she had dark skin and long flowing hair, she was wearing a multicolor shirt and jeans. Paige fought off a blush, the woman was attractive but there were a few things more important than a pretty face at the moment.

“What the fuck do you–”

Before she could finish a much younger girl’s voice shouted out from deeper in the apartment. “Don’t swear!”

The woman laughed, it was nice sounding but Paige had to stay focused. “What do you want?”

“At the moment? I wish to make sure you don’t do anything foolish. I apologize for my associate’s outburst, she can be… intense.” The woman moved a bit closer and Paige got a better look, along her surprisingly defined arms were hundreds of tiny scars.

She tried to keep her wits about her, maybe this woman was one of the people who rescued her, it didn’t explain why she was handcuffed to a bed or why her head hurt so much but it was a start. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Farrah, I belong to the group of people that whisked you away from that nasty business with the Birdcage.” Okay, confirmation about that, Paige wouldn’t say no to it but it did raise a lot more questions.

She cleared her throat, now that her mouth wasn’t being held still by some weird Victorian torture device she realized how thirsty she was. “Why?”

“I don’t imagine you’d wish to go to the Birdcage, would you darling?” That really didn’t help, it was like Farrah was being purposely hard to deal with.

Paige tried to think rationally, she wasn’t going to the Birdcage which was good and if Farrah had some kind of plan she wasn’t trying to threaten Paige which was also pretty good. “Thanks for that. Just one question, why’d you handcuff me?”

“Our leader thought it best to make sure you didn’t try anything rash when you first awakened, you did manage to concuss yourself as the transport tipped over.” Farrah looked at her nails as she talked, it was weird, Paige couldn’t really tell if she was being nice or not. Although what she said kind of explained the pain in the back of her head.

She chucked a bit, at least she got a bit more information. “Guess that’s why my head hurts so much.” She jangled the handcuff. “Could you get me out of here?”

“Just one moment, I do have something I’d like to ask of you.” Farrah reached into a pocket and brought out a key and twirled it in her hand. “Your powers, they weren’t acquired in the usual way, were they?”

Any sense of comfort Paige had fled immediately, she knew that Cauldron was a big player but this was too much. Did they really keep her from the Birdcage? But why, she still owned them a favor, sure but she didn’t think that they’d break the law that overtly just to keep her around, all she could do was sing for god’s sake.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” The woman smirked, this was getting too confusing, why would Cauldron need to make sure she bought her powers?

Paige nodded. “Yes, I… I bought them.”

“From who darling?” Farrah said it with a lilt to her voice, it sounded dangerous, like at any moment she’d burst into action and kill Paige.

Her first instinct was to say no, to keep the secret tight to her chest but Farrah was surprisingly imitating, she got the impression that she’d die if she didn’t answer. “C–Cauldron, they sold them to me.”

“Interesting.” Her body language had relaxed slightly, she tilted her head to the side and rapped a finger on her chin. “Now, did you get the impression that this Cauldron happened to sell powers to others?”

“I think…” The Doctor had been pretty matter of fact, Paige didn’t really think that it seemed like that was her first time giving someone powers.

Farrah smiled, it was weirdly scary, like she was thinking of how to dissect Paige or something. “Cauldron… that is good to know.”

“Is she awake yet?” The childlike voice was closer, she was probably just out of Paige’s eyeline.

Farrah turned back. “Yes she is.”

Paige craned her neck as a little girl entered the room, the first thing she noticed was her hair, golden blonde and set in ringlets. She felt her breath hitch as she noticed the girl’s ragged dress, she recognized her from a forum online she sometimes frequented.

It was Bonesaw, the youngest member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.

Paige’s mind blanked, she could only think to do what she did best, sing.

A single note left her mouth before a spike of pain shot through her head. Paige gasped for air as Bonesaw giggled. “Don’t do that silly, I put a little present in your head when I was rooting around in there, so no singing until I turn it off, okay birdie?”

“Do you find such repugnance necessary Bonesaw? I was speaking with Canary.” Farrah, who must have been Shatterbird sighed before speaking.

Bonesaw huffed and put her hands on her hips as she glared at Shatterbird, it would have almost been cute if she wasn’t a mass murderer. “You’re being mean, I’ll tell Jack.”

“Yes, do that.” Shatterbird waved the girl away who grumbled out of the room before she turned back to Paige, she flinched as the villain approached. “My apologies, while she has her uses, my younger compatriot can be rather… boorish at times.”

“W-What did she do to me?” She’d heard horror stories of what Bonesaw would do to people, all of Paige’s insides were still where they belonged which seemed like a good start but if what the girl said was true then there was something in her head.

Shatterbird smiled, it didn’t seem so friendly anymore. “She made you better, a few safeguards were required in case you woke up too early but now the issue has been dealt with. I assure you, despite how pretty it sounds, your song will have no effect on us.”

Well damn, that wasn’t good, she wasn’t sure how much she trusted Shatterbird but she didn’t doubt that Bonesaw could cook up something that made her powers not work on certain people.

“What do you… What do you want from me?” There was the bad option then the worse option, she hoped they’d just kill her and get it over with.

Shatterbird grinned her feral grin, it was just wrong enough to put Paige’s nerves on edge. “Why, you know that I’m something of a musician myself but I’ve recently felt… lacking, repeating the same performance over and over again has become rather dull. I thought that a duet might spice things up.”

“You-You’re nominating me?” She’d heard about how the Nine operated, they brought forth parahumans to join them, whether they wanted to or not. It wasn’t exactly clear how it worked but Paige knew that she wanted no part in it.

Shatterbird’s grin became a full smile. “Of course darling, I believe we will be having quite a bit of fun.”

There was a creak as the door to the bedroom opened up and a man walked into the room. He was older, probably in his thirties, handsome in his own way with slicked back hair and piercing blue eyes. Paige tried her very best to put as much space between herself and the man as possible, even if she knew it wouldn’t help.

“Why hello there songbird, it’s nice to meet you.” Jack Slash’s grin was different than Shatterbird’s, it was warm, like he was shooting the shit with friends.

Paige didn’t trust her voice, after a moment without her speaking Shatterbird turned to the leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine with a playful smile. “Jack, you’re frightening the poor thing.”

“My bad, I bet you’ve heard all sorts of things about me, makes me a bit scary, right?” He just sounded so… normal, like someone she’d overhear talking on the phone. After a moment he walked up and leaned in and just like that the normalness was gone, his eyes were wild, like an animal. “Right?”

He brought a butterfly knife out of his pocket, he flicked it open as quick as a flash.

“Y-Yes.” Paige finally found her voice again.

Just like that the friendly smile was back, the man flipped the knife around his hand, playing with it as he spoke. “See songbird, that wasn’t so hard. Don’t you worry about all the nasty rumors you’ve heard about me, they’re all true.”

“I’ll leave you to it Jack, I have things I must do. Please don’t hurt the girl too badly.” Shatterbird left the room without much else, all that was left was Paige and Jack Slash.

He smiled and waved as the woman left before he turned back to Paige, there was that feral look in his eyes again, like he was a monster just hiding behind human skin. “Now, it was Shatterbird that wanted you onboard, not me. I’m glad she’s trying to step out of her comfort zone and be a better artist but really, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if you live or die. So tell me, why should I let you join the Nine?”

“Just… Just get it over with, kill me.” She didn’t want to hurt anyone, all she ever wanted to do was make music, to do something good for the world.

The man just sighed, his hand settled on gripping the knife. “See, that’s the kind of thing I didn’t want to hear, we won’t kill you, I could have my Bonesaw force you to sing a song like the Simurgh’s without being able to stop, I could make Alan put you in a box and force you to live forever, if I was in a good mood I’d give you to the Siberian, she’s always hungry but the pain would stop eventually. Try again.”

Paige swallowed, she tried to keep her will steady but she knew the kind of terrible things that the Nine could do, she knew that Jack Slash wouldn’t hesitate to make her life a living hell.

She took the easy way, the coward's way.

“Fine, I’ll join.” It was better than being tortured, maybe once she knew how they worked she could do something, turn on them or anything.

Jack Slash tsked, he waved the knife in his hand. “That wasn’t what I asked songbird. We don’t let just anyone join the Nine, no, I want you to tell me what you bring to the table.”

Paige took a deep breath, she needed to sell the mass murdering psychopath on how she could be just like him.

“You heard what got me sent to the Birdcage, right?” He nodded, his lips twitched into a small grin as she continued to speak. “That… That was an accident, just a bad choice of words. I-Imagine what I could do on purpose.”

“See, I knew you had it in you.” His smile was back in full now and Paige felt terrible, she was the worst kind of person, willing to sell out all of humanity just to keep herself safe.

Jack Slash stepped back, away from the bed. “Now, we can’t just have you join the Nine outright, we gotta make sure you're up to snuff before we make anything official.”

“W-What do you want me to do?” She imagined it would be worse than anything she ever could think up, something so terrible that it would give anyone nightmares.

He kept on smiling, that damn smile, it felt like he was putting her under a microscope, analyzing everything about her but acting like nothing was ever wrong. “We have a little tradition you know, new recruits have to take a few tests, eight to be specific. Just some things we cook up in our spare time.”

Paige could figure out what he was saying pretty quickly, eight tests for eight members.

“You’ll let me sing, right?” It only made sense, that was what she was bringing to the table, even a psycho like Jack Slash should realize that without singing she was basically useless.

He chuckled. “Of course songbird, I’ll have my Bonesaw fix up whatever she did to you before the first test, it’s only fair, isn’t it?”

“T-Thank you.” It couldn’t hurt to be polite to the mass murderer looming above her.

Jack Slash huffed out another laugh. “Polite too, I’m starting to think Shatterbird made a pretty interesting choice.”

“Why?” 

He grinned at her, it was rabid this time around and somehow better than the normal one he made. “Because… I can’t wait to see who you become when I break you.”

Chapter Text

The city was quiet, too quiet.

Other than Browbeat, an independent hero getting coked up and trying to rob a bank in the middle of the day and the mayor’s niece disappearing, there wasn’t much news about the criminal parts of the city.

At least there was a new vigilante going around, the PRT codenamed them Imp, they were the weird smokey black thing that had attacked the drunk ABB asshole going after me and Taylor. They were mostly going after the ABB, they might have been a bit rough but I could respect someone strong at the very least keeping their violence to the shits that deserved it.

A bit ago I did the same exact thing.

It was late and a weekend, the perfect time to go on patrol all by myself.

Solo patrols weren’t really completely legal but they were the kind of thing where Piggy would look the other way as long as I didn’t kill anyone and nobody killed me. At least I thought so, she never really said anything about them so either she didn’t know about them which was unlikely or she was fine with it.

I was on a roof in Empire territory, most of the time my solo patrols ended with nothing, maybe an idiot behind bars or a tip off to the cops about a drug deal but I still did them, I still needed to keep people safe.

The thing about Empire turf was that nothing looked wrong with it. It was Downtown, there weren’t working girls standing on the curbs and there weren’t gangsters out in the open. It all still existed, the dog fights, drug deals, a bit of prostitution but it was all behind closed doors.

The racist assholes thought they were better than the ABB, that was their whole recruitment drive anyway, they weren’t the sex slaving Asians. Instead they were civilized, men and women just fighting for the right thing.

It made my blood boil, that some of the idiots in the Empire actually thought they were in the right, it was part of the reason why I hated them more than the ABB, at least they embraced their monstrosity.

I shifted into my shadow state to distract myself from the growing pit of anger in my gut, the night air was refreshing, like a bottle of water after a long run. I started running towards the edge of the roof, right before I hit the end I jumped. The air buoyed me across the street below me.

My shadow state was perfect for night time, it was dark enough that as long as I didn’t get too close to light it was almost impossible for people to make out where I was. I scanned the alleyway under me, it was pretty empty, nothing out of the ordinary.

I jumped to another roof, the air flowing through me was amazing, it was times like these when I felt really free, like nothing could stop me. I glanced around and finally saw what I was looking for, two skinheads were standing near a door to a warehouse, guarding it.

I felt my trigger finger twitch but I needed to be smart about this, they were obviously guarding something, I should probably figure out what before I did something. I got a running head start and leapt up and over the alleyway where they were standing, I rolled as I hit the roof of the warehouse.

I could hear the sound of cheering from through the roof. If I knew the Empire it was either a dog fighting ring or a human fighting ring, I knew which one was worse. I glanced around the rooftop, just to make sure that there weren’t any guards where I was before I dropped my shadow state.

I didn’t have the safety net the Wards gave me, I needed to be careful, get a lay of the land before I really went to work. I touched the side of my mask and lenses popped into place, my vision was replaced with dark green and blacks, there were small lines of dull gray running under the roof and a few glowing nodes of white inside the warehouse but it didn’t look like anything was purposely electrified, it had been a pretty shitty week after the Empire figured that out about my power but it looked like they were being lazy.

Good, it was time to remind them to not underestimate me.

I made my way to the side of the building and dropped down to a fire escape, I landed without even the smallest noise.

I glanced through a broken window and into the warehouse, there was a ring set up with barbed wire lining it, inside were two men, one of them was familiar, wearing a white and blue tiger mask and the other was a younger looking guy, probably in his twenties and definitely not a cape.

Around the ring was a horde of Nazi assholes, they were cheering on Stormtiger as he launched another punch at the guy.

Then I saw something that made me a bit nervous on one side of the building. Sitting in what could generously be called a throne was Hookwolf in all his shirtless glory with Loki curled up on his lap like some kind of trophy.

Maybe if it was just Stormtiger I could go in, take him out and leave by the time another cape showed up but I couldn’t take out three capes without giving up the element of surprise, I needed to be smart, to plan things out.

At least Cricket wasn’t there, one less problem to deal with.

The crowd cheered as Stormtiger uppercut his opponent who fell to the ground unconscious. He raised a fist towards the sky, like it was any wonder that the cape would beat whatever unpowered schmuck got put in the ring with him.

“Alright, alright everyone!” Loki shifted off Hookwolf’s lap as he stood up and grabbed a microphone at his side, his voice rang through the warehouse. “Let’s give it up for Stormtiger!”

The crowd cheered again.

“Now, we’ve got one more fight planned for tonight, I think all of you are gonna enjoy it!” He sauntered forward towards the cage and jumped over the ring of barbed wire. Stormtiger nodded at him and then left the ring.

The crowd was almost deafening when Hookwolf went into the ring, it got even louder when a bloodied, older Asian man was tossed into it. “This chink thought it was a good idea to try to muscle in on Empire turf, what do we think about that?”

There was a mass of booing and insults yelled at the man as he tried to get to his feet.

“How about I teach this fucker a lesson?!”

The crowd cheered mindlessly, I probably shouldn’t have put any faith in Nazis but I didn’t even get how this was entertaining, it wasn’t fair at all.

And I couldn’t just let it happen, I brought my crossbow from my back and loaded a broadhead. I doubted it would do more than put him out of commission for a bit and Hookwolf basically had a kill order already, I doubted anyone other than the Empire would be very upset if I managed to kill him.

I took aim as he was working the crowd, my shadow state went stiff as I felt the weird feeling of muscle memory when I didn’t even need to breathe in the first place.

Then I pulled the trigger.

The shadow of the bolt passed through the glass of the window and sailed forward towards Hookwolf, I kept an eye on it, I needed to time this just right.

Apparently he always had some metal in his body, just hitting him with the bolt wouldn’t do much, I needed to go deeper. His biology might have been weird but the bolt I had was tinkertech, it was also weird, if it didn’t end up putting him down I could always just run.

Before the bolt hit he turned, a would have swore if I could as his eyes widened and metal began to fold out from his body. It thankfully wasn’t enough, the bolt struck true and I released it as it was about halfway in his chest, Hookwolf fell to the ground as the metal sloughed off his body.

“No!” Loki yelled and ran forward as I reloaded my crossbow, the crowd was inching away from the ring, even if they were gangsters most normal people knew better than to get involved in a cape fight.

I could have left it at that, I could have ran away with my tail between my legs and called the PRT to tell them that Hookwolf was down. I didn’t.

Seeing Loki like that lit a fire in my gut, this was the same bitch that tried to get me killed as a civilian, how dare she act like she was anything but a massive piece of shit.

Before I jumped down to take care of the garbage I loaded my crossbows with tranquilizer bolts, Loki and Stormtiger may have been scum but they also weren’t as long lived as Hookwolf, they weren’t Birdcage bound.

Stormtiger sent a few blasts of air my way but the nice thing about my shadow state was that air just kind of went through me, the force still knocked me back a bit but between that and the wall between me and the blast I was able to push through it.

It also told me that they’d figured out where I was, it was time to move, I glanced up to where the catwalk was and leapt for it, keeping mobile was the best way to make sure I didn’t get myself killed.

I stuck the landing as another concussive blast of air hit where I’d just been and the rest of the window exploded out. Thankfully the warehouse wasn’t the most lit up, there were areas of shadow where I could hide.

I ran through the catwalk, even with the it probably wouldn’t take them long to figure out where I was and I needed to take them down now. I glanced back to the ring to see Loki cradling Hookwolf’s body and Stormtiger lifting up the Asian man by the collar.

“All right then Shadow Stalker, how about you come on out or the slant gets it.” He was being cocky, I might not be one to talk but I could use that, he was still facing where he thought I was, not where I actually was.

At least most of the crowd had left by now, they ran for the doors when Stormtiger started throwing his air at me. Other than that the only advantage I had was that they didn’t know where I was, I had to be smart about it.

I had one shot at this or the man would die.

I dropped down from the catwalk a bit aways from the ring, Stormtiger was still facing the window where I shot Hookwolf from, I wasn’t too sure if he’d seen me jump for the catwalk or not.

I inched forward, one step at a time as I tried to keep my body low, the closer I got to the center of the building the more light there was and the more my advantage slipped away. 

“The fuck is this bitch?” Stormtiger had turned to Loki, there was a snarl in his voice.

Loki actually sounded a bit distraught, probably because I just shot her sugar daddy. “I don’t know!”

I ducked behind a chair as Stormtiger’s head whipped around the room. “I can’t fucking feel her, she must be in her Breaker form.”

If I had a mouth I’d grin, the PRT was pretty sure that Stormtiger used the air around him to tell where people were somehow and this was confirmation that he did and he couldn’t find me in my shadow state.

“Alright you bitch, I guess this chink won’t be going home today.”

I took aim through the chair, lining up my shot as Stormtiger’s hand wrapped around the man’s neck.

I pulled the trigger and the imprint of another bolt flew at my target, I couldn’t afford to let it go early, Stormtiger would just use his power to knock it aside if I did.

Loki noticed just a bit too late, as she called out the bolt his flesh and I took my power away from it.

“You… fucking bitch…” Stormtiger fell unconscious with a thud and the man crumpled to the ground.

I staked forward as I dropped my shadow state, it was only Loki left and I planned on having some fun teaching her a lesson.

She noticed me, “D-Don’t come any closer!” She sounded scared, good, I’d been waiting for this.

I shifted back into my shadow state and jumped over the barbed wire lining the ring, once I landed I dropped it again, putting my mask to mask with Loki. She was just a shitty little Tinker, nothing to write home about, I’d enjoy this.

What… What do you want from us?” I let the anger grow in my gut, this was what I’d been looking for, an outlet that deserved what was coming to them.

I snorted, it was kind of funny that she couldn’t even tell why I was doing this. “This is what you asshole’s deserve.”

“You know…” She didn’t sound so scared anymore, I only noticed her hand holding something before it was too late. “I thought you were one of the good ones.”

She brought out what looked like a weird combination between an actual pistol and a water gun and sprayed me in the face with this mist. I went to lunge for her but stumbled, almost immediately I realized she’d poisoned me.

I felt off, like when I got hit by Dean’s emotion blasts hit me, something was just wrong. My mind didn’t feel like it belonged to me, everything was fuzzy and wrong, I couldn’t tell what was really real.

“Come on now Sophie, don’t be like that.” My blood ran cold at the sound of that voice, instead of Loki I saw Steven, just standing there.

I lost it, I knew somewhere that this must be the poison but overwhelmingly I knew I wasn’t safe, it felt so real. My breathing picked up and fear gripped me tight, just like back then. “You… You can’t be here, you’re dead!”

“Be a good girl Sophie, listen to daddy.” I felt like vomiting, that was exactly what he said when… when he tried to do what wanted to me, bile rose up in my throat.

Instead of fear I went to anger, that was safe, I knew that. “I-I-I fucking killed you! You can’t be here!”

“Don’t you see Sophie, we can be together now, forever. You love your daddy, don’t you?” I brought out my crossbow and shot him.

My hand was shaking and the bolt went out wide, Steven watched it go before he turned back to me with that smile, that self assured grin like he knew best and I should just shut up and go along with what he wanted.

He reached out for me and I did the only thing I could do.

I ran.

Chapter Text

Piggy called me into her office the next day.

I felt like shit, I’d let my trauma get to me, I’d been weak. I knew that it was whatever bullshit toxin Loki had cooked up but I still felt worthless, I’d let it get to me.

Carlos was the one to tell me, the boyscout. If Piggy told him to jump he'd ask how high, I knew he was just doing his job as a leader but it was annoying, it pissed me off.

“Oof, what happened Stalker, do something to piss Piggy off?” Dennis at least wasn’t being a total ass right now, we maybe weren’t getting along still but I’d spent enough time around him to know he’d have my back in a fight.

Vista glanced at me, she may not have liked Piggy just as much as me but she was still a kid, she thought that getting in trouble was a way bigger deal than it actually was. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, pipsqueak.” 

As I got up Taylor looked at me, there was this kind of weird sympathy in her eyes, I couldn’t tell why exactly she was giving it to me but it helped, just a bit.

I nodded to her as I got in the elevator and pressed the button that would get me up to her office. I had a pretty good idea what this was about, my total fuckup the night before, it was better to just get it over with.

I tapped my foot as the elevator door slid closed and it started to move up, eventually it opened to Piggy’s office, it wasn’t very decorated, I could at least respect that about Piggy, she was the type of no nonsense bitch to not beat around the bush.

Sitting at the desk was Piggy herself, next to her was Armsmaster. Piggy looked up from the papers on her desk and motioned for me to sit. “Please Shadow Stalker, we have some things to talk about.”

Reluctantly I took the seat, I could only hope that with Armsmaster around Piggy wouldn’t be too willing to blow a fuse. Then immediately after I felt weak for even thinking it, Piggy didn’t even have powers, I shouldn’t be scared of her.

“What do you want?” Piggy frowned slightly and I felt good, like I was getting one over on her or something, I knew it was stupid but my feelings usually were anyways.

She sighed and glanced down to her papers, when she looked up her eyes were hard and her voice steady. “I’ve received a report that you went on a patrol by yourself last night and got into an altercation with members of the Empire Eighty-Eight. Obviously that can’t be true, you can’t really be so stupid that you’d risk your life over what, a grudge?”

She didn’t fucking understand, I was doing the right thing and now I was getting punished for it? That was bullshit. I needed to keep people safe, I was strong, if I didn’t do that then I was no better than the monsters that ruined this city.

“Yeah… and?” I tried to keep my voice steady, the shit with Loki had put me on the backfoot already, I couldn’t show any weakness, no matter what, weakness was what got people killed.

Piggy sighed, that glare that meant a week’s worth of console duty was back in full. “Sophia, I’ve been overlooking these unsanctioned patrols in the interest of keeping this city safe, I can no longer do so.”

“What? Why?” I’d almost gotten Hookwolf and Stormtiger, if it wasn’t for Loki I’d have taken down two of the Empire’s enforcers, if anything she should want me out there more.

Piggy shook her head. “I know this is difficult for you but try to think for once, the city is a ticking time bomb, I can’t have a single Ward accidentally set off a gang war just because she wanted to have a bit of fun. IT would be bad if you got caught in a fight with one cape, much less three.”

“That’s fucking bullshit, I should be out there helping people. I had them, if it wasn’t for Loki I’d-”

Armsmaster interrupted me, in all honesty the guy was kind of a dick, he didn’t have a stick up his ass in the same way Piggy did but it was definitely there. He cleared his throat and talked, his voice was like how the PRT agents spoke, all official and shit. “So you didn’t have them, they got away. We aren’t saying you can’t help, just to leave threats like Hookwolf to us. You got lucky Shadow Stalker, next time you might end up dead.”

“And if I didn’t show up that guy would’ve ended up dead, you can’t seriously be saying that I can’t help people!” I thought at the very least he should have gotten it, he was a hero for fucks sake, he was supposed to be the best of us or whatever shit the Protectorate fed the world.

Piggy glared daggers at my outburst but I couldn’t find it in me to be upset. “The man did die.”

Almost all the fight left me, like a rope that just went slack. It hurt, to know that I hadn’t even saved anyone, Hookwolf and Stormtiger would be back at it in days thanks to Othala. 

“How.” I could at least know that much, I could only hope that he didn’t have to suffer.

Piggy looked to Armsmaster and after a second he answered me. “Hideo Yamada died from one of Loki’s tinkered toxins, his lungs were liquified.”

My blood ran cold.

The twins hadn’t really talked about their family all that much but I was pretty sure that was their dad’s name, though maybe it wasn’t, it was pretty common but I needed to make sure. “Did he have a family?”

Another second passed before Armsmaster told me the thing I really didn’t want to hear.

“He had a wife and two daughters, all of them are under surveillance in case a crisis point needs to be organized.” He said it so matter of factly, like it wasn’t my fault that May and Naomi’s dad’s blood might have been on my hands.

For a second I didn’t trust myself to talk, Piggy noticed. “This is the reason why I don’t want you going out on your own. It’s bad enough that I have the Youth Guard breathing down my neck about you and Weaver not having parental consent but lord help us all if you two manage to get yourselves hurt, do you know what kind of shitstorm that would bring to us.”

That made me mad, Piggy was just some washed up bitch that didn’t know what I had to do, what I needed to do to be strong. She sat in her fucking office all day lecturing us about what we could and couldn’t do, like she was ever out there fighting the good fight. For every person I saved there was one I couldn’t because of Piggy’s stupid rules, she was the reason the twin’s dad died, if she was a little bit more proactive the Empire could have already been dealt with.

“Easy for you to say.” I bit the words out as I glared at Piggy.

She didn’t react, “And what do you mean by that?”

I exploded.

“All you do is tell us we can’t help people, just like the fucking rest of the world! You aren’t strong, all you care about is some stupid fucking rules that don’t make any goddamn sense! I want to be out there, fighting the good fight, why should we care what some bitches in the Youth Guard think! I’m strong, I can actually fucking save people but nobody wants to let me!”

For a moment the room was silent, the only noise was my breathing as I caught my breath.

“So I should just let you and the rest of the Wards do whatever you want?” Piggy was trying to keep her voice steady but I could tell she was angry, that she wanted to blow up on me like I did to her.

I nodded.

“I know you Sophia, you are an angry young woman who feels hurt, I doubt there is a parahuman-no, a person alive that hasn’t felt the same way before. You want things to go your way, who doesn’t?” I didn’t understand what she was saying, was she actually agreeing with me?

No, this was a trap, she was trying to get me or something. “Get to the fucking point.”

“You are a child Sophia, a hurt child that was handed the power to hurt people.” Piggy stopped for a moment before continuing. “Maybe you only hurt people who deserve it, maybe you do it to save others, your motive doesn’t matter.”

Armsmaster looked at Piggy as she continued to talk. “Who's to say you won’t get it wrong next time, that when you go to break up an Empire fight you phase a crossbow bolt into the wrong person. The truth is Sophia, I know you well enough, I know every parahuman well enough.”

“None of you can be trusted to do the right thing, you are all traumatized people lashing out at the world, especially for the Wards, you are children who don’t want to understand that sometimes bad things just happen. So yes, I make you follow rules, I make sure you don’t do anything stupid because that’s what keeps everything from failing, that’s what keeps the system from falling down because if the system fails then everything will go wrong.”

Fire lit in my blood, she was just saying bullshit, empty air that didn’t matter. “Stop fucking with me–”

“Did I say you can interrupt me?!” Piggy stood up from her desk and started to yell. “The truth is all of you want to bend the rules to fit you, you all want to be special and tell the world how things are supposed to go! The PRT was to make sure dangers like you and every other parahuman in the world do as little damage to it as possible! We make sure you broken, selfish people don’t do something so stupid that another city needs to be quarantined, we make sure that there never is another Slaughterhouse Nine, another Machine Army, another Nilbog!”

“Director Piggot, please calm down.” Armsmaster’s voice cut through the room like a knife through butter.

Piggy straightened out her dumbass suit and sighed before she sat back down. “So tell me Sophia, how would you take down the Empire, tell me how you would get rid of the gangs and keep more from rising in their place? Tell me your plan for dealing with every person you feel deserves it.”

“I don’t fucking know!” She was trying to trap me with words, I couldn’t let her win, I needed to be strong. “Don’t you have fucking Thinkers for this kind of thing?”

“But the Thinkers are broken people, just like you, how can we fully trust someone who is so traumatized they get superpowers? It’s the same reason we can’t let you go around killing everyone who you think deserves it, you and every other parahuman in the world can’t be trusted to have sound judgment.” She sounded so self assured, so confident that she knew best, it annoyed the fuck out of me.

I kept glaring at her. “Then why haven’t you done anything to take care of the Empire, they fucking deserve it, why hasn’t some sniper or whatever shoot Kaiser in the head when he’s at a rally or some shit?”

“Do you really think that would end well, the truth of the matter is that we don’t have the people to deal with what would happen. Countless people would be killed, anarchy would reign. I would love to take care of the problems in this city but unless we get more parahumans here under our control there isn’t much else we can do.”

“So what, we’re just fucking useless?”

Piggy stared at me as she folded her hands above the desk she was sitting at. “This conversation is over, I don’t even want to hear a peep about you going out on your own or else I’m sending you to patrol the walls around Ellisburg. For now I think I’ll settle for three weeks of console duty, maybe then you’ll get your head sorted out.”

For a moment I just sat there, stewing in my anger before I ground out my answer. “Understood.”

Then I got up and walked back to the elevator, swiping my ID and getting inside once the doors opened. I pressed the button that’d bring me down to the Wards Headquarters and just breathed for a second.

“Fuck!” I wished I had something to hit, someway to let my anger out but there were just stainless steel walls in every direction. I bit down on my lip to feel anything other than the boiling rage in my chest.

It felt like forever before the doors opened again to the chrome hallway that led to the Headquarters. With a huff I leaned down and scanned my eyes before the door whirred open.

“Hey Stalker, your back, how was Piggy?” It felt like Dennis was mocking me, making fun of how I got yelled at, I growled at him as I made my way to where Taylor was sitting. “Damn, no need to be so rude, just asking a question.”

Dean walked up to me, his pretty boy grin was so fucking annoying to look at, like he had the whole thing figured out. “Are you sure you’re okay, I’m seeing a lot of anger.”

“I’m fucking fine! I didn’t ask for you to check on me every fucking time I’m feeling like shit!” It felt good to yell, to get some of it out and even though I knew I’d regret it I just couldn’t, it felt too good.

Missy jumped up to defend her little crush, it was fucking pathetic. “Hey, Gallant is just trying to help, don’t yell at him Sophia!”

“Just shut the fuck up! All of you!” I started to shout even louder, they were all just getting on my nerves so goddamn much. They were all stupid fucking children that didn’t understand how the world worked.

Then I felt a hand wrap around mine and glared down, Taylor was looking up to me, a small frown on her face. “Sophia, please calm down.”

“Fuck…” All my anger started to peter out, I was making Taylor upset, I couldn’t fucking do that. I turned to the rest of the Wards, they were all staring at me and I felt like shit. I’d blown up on my team, the people who I was supposed to have the back of, that couldn’t fly. “Fuck, sorry… I don’t-”

Taylor cut me off and I didn’t even feel a twinge of annoyance, she knew what she was doing, she knew me. “It’s all right, just tell us what happened.”

“Okay…”