Chapter III

It hadn't be hard to find out about Skitter's identity. Anybody would know at a glance that she was a teenage girl. Even if her stature and body was misleading, it didn't really matter. His men had started investigating both Arcadia and Winslow since her addition to the team, searching for events that would constitute for a trigger. He had found one in Winslow. A girl who had be shoved into a locker full of waste, and other shit, and had be kept there for some time because nobody cared or nobody was brave enough to help her o both. Her name was Taylor Hebert.

He had got himself a picture of her, and all the information he could dig up, including her measurements. He could tell at a glance that Taylor Hebert's body matched Skitter's body and, moreover, the Darkness didn't leave him any room for doubt. When he had seen her today, it had showed him her darkness. It had showed him her fantasies about turning the bugs on her bullies, about her guilt from her mother's death in a car accident, and, most of all, being trapped with no way to get out, suffocating, suffering, calling for help that nobody was willing to provide. It matched. There was no doubt about Skitter's identity.

So what he had to do now was also obvious.

His organization had investigated those three girls before, of course. Just in case. They had found out why their actions had be so casually passed over. Sophia Hess was also the ward know as Shadow Stalker. He didn't really care if the PTR indulged her conduct, calling her a necessary evil, or if they weren't aware of it. Either way, the reason for it was clear.

Jackie went to pay her a little visit.

She wasn't in her house, of course. But patrolling the streets, like a vigilante, despite of her situation. He tracked her down. And he found her, alone, going for rooftop to rooftop, that crossbow of hers loaded with was obviously lethal ammo. Found, found, found. He could have just took a picture, send it to the office of the PRT, and ruin her career. But that alone wouldn't have made things better for Skitter. And besides, he didn't need a picture, anyway.

He jumped. The inhuman action was like a canon firing. Amassing his strength and releasing it, he covered twenty meters forward in an instant. He didn't crash into her. The ward went to her shadow state a second before he could do so, so he just landed on the ground with enough force that the ground cracked beneath his feet.

He stood up. The sound of a crossbow bolt. He turned, and smashed it aside almost idly with the back of his hand. The girl lunged for his throat, but he just ducked, grabbed her throat and squeezed. She tried to go to shadow state again, of course. But she couldn't. She couldn't because, once he had got his hands into her, it was simply enough to shut that change down before she could go through with it.

Jackie squeezed harder. She gagged, trashed around and tried everything she could do move him, to give herself even the slightest chance of slipping out of his grip. She didn't manage. Of course. For her to move him when he was in the shadows was an unthinkable as her, whose powers didn't increase her physical capabilities, to go against a Brute.

He could have just broken her neck right here, ending everything. But, he didn't. He let fall to the ground, instead. She took a deep, desperate breath. Her voice was filled with pain. He just watched her. Without moving. Without doing anything.

"W-what the fuck did you do to me?"

"You don't need to know that." Then, he let the Darkness out. An armour from it covered him from bottom to top in a matter of seconds, and the two tentacles came out of his back. Sophia stared at him… no, more like at it, frozen. Even somebody like her knew who was the predator and who was the prey. "Now, give me your phone. If you have it."

"F-fuck you."

He hit her on the cheek with the tentacle on the left, knocking her to the ground.

"Next time, that will take your head off. So I suggest you think before speaking next time, okay?"

She gave him the phone meekly. He opened, and checked it, without taking his eyes off her. It had all that he needed to bring evidence of the bullying to Winslow, and destroy her reputation. Perfect. This was the last piece he needed. The members of his crime family had be tracking her down on her nightly patrols, to collect the evidence that she was using lethal ammunition. So this was the final nail in her coffin… well, not really.

"Time to die." Jackie said.

Then he let the Darkness tear her apart, feast on her.