Galvanising the Union
Twenty years before, no one would have dared cross him like this. He looked out of the window, watching the rain falling, and considered if it was time to get the old group together, to let out the rage burning in him in a slaughter and remind the world why no one messed with him or his family. He thought of his old friend, smiling smugly across the floor at him, thinking he was untouchable. His fists tightened. No one betrayed him like that. A kneecapping at the least, or line the man's family up and cut their throats in front of him, for the sheer lack of honour he had shown. A quiet voice drew him out of his thoughts.
"Dad? Is there any more garbage to go out?"
- Then -
Twenty years ago he had had everything: money, respect, fear, family. Ten years ago he'd had family and thought that would be had been changing, and going from a Man of Respect to a respectable man seemed the most sensible thing, after all the rules changed.
He had known of Marquis, respected the crimelord to a degree. Then the word reached him: Marquis attacked in his own home by the Brockton Bay Brigade. An utter violation of the unwritten rules by so-called heroes, and if he had not noticed what the media were not saying he would had have sent some people to their homes to make sure they knew why the rules existed (and wasn't that an ironic thought? Fleur had had it coming.) He had been too pre-occupied by what was missing: there was no word of Marquis' daughter. He had put out feelers, looked to see if she was on the street, but there was nothing. The girl had just vanished. If the heroes would kill a child, and could cover the death up so completely, what would happen to his little girl when he got caught? He had a wife, and a toddling, bubbly, little daughter, and that changed a man's priorities. He had to be there for them, but he couldn't just retire, not with the Birdcage sentence hanging over his head ready to drop at any moment. It would never go away, and he could not even cut a deal with the Feds.
Finding ChangeChild had been a stroke of luck, if assassination attempts can be called lucky. It hadn't felt that way when the shapestealer was trying to kill him, but the strange cape had a kill order on his/her head, allegedly from impersonating the wrong person at the wrong time and hearing something (s)he should not have. God knows what ChangeChild had really done, and yeah, even impersonating Rebecca Costa-Brown should not have induced a country-wide shitstorm of that degree, but once he had stopped the cape's mimic-and-murder plot ChangeChild had been willing to cut a deal.
(S)he didn't just mimic shapes: spend long enough near someone and they could mimic form, personality and even powers perfectly. Even longer and they could become them, right down to the quirks people never knew they had. Even power nullification would not revert it then: it took an active use of the cape's power to change shape, not to hold it. (S)he liked being Galvanate, liked the cash he'd offered to give his/her family more, and seemed think the Birdcage was the only safe place (s)he could go. So, after one staged fight 'Changeling' was dead, 'Galvanate' was birdcage-bound, and Danny Hebert was happily settling in to family life in a new city.
- Now -
Shadow Stalker perched in the tree, taking aim as she watched the byplay by the kitchen door. Taylor's worthless dock-worker father ruffled worthless Taylor's worthless hair before Taylor started down the steps carrying the garbage to the dumpster. He'd taken to doing that after the school meeting, trying to make the kid think he cared, after Barnes had chewed him up and spat him out. Well, she had heard from Emma that Hebert was trying to get a lawyer, and her dad was stepping all over that. Taylor thought she had some form of proof, so Sophia just needed to remind her no one cared what she had and bully her into giving it up. She wasn't going to juvie just because Taylor got big ideas. With a wimp like Taylor, after Sophia had spent two years crushing the bitch, scaring her straight would be easy. Shoot at the right time, make Taylor jump and the broken step would do the rest. Even if she saw the bolt, it would vanish from evidence the second Sophia got to it. At this range, she couldn't miss.
She watched. One step, then the back foot lifted, and the bolt left her crossbow. Right on target. Taylor jumped at the hiss of the air cartridge, dropped her head right into line of fire. Stupid - Shadow Stalker tensed, thoughts rushing through her head. She'd have to kill the father as well, make sure it could be covered up, maybe they could both vanish...
Her crossbow bolt shattered on Taylor's eye. The girl looked straight at her, as stunned as she was. Taylor-target-Hebert was a fucking cape? Didn't matter. She'd been seen, and if a cape testified - Sophia phased, jumped from the tree and launched herself towards Taylor in her shadow state. Phase a knife inside her and it would not matter how invulnerable she was. Then to finish off the father and see if she could phase bodies into concrete. With no proof, she'd be safe. She hardly heard the door open but she heard the enraged shout, as the man's hand went through her shadowy arm and closed on Taylor's shoulder the second before Shadowstalker's fist hit.
"...kill my daughter!?"
And she struck the lightning.