The Opposite of Carnage

"...And with his lieutenant's assistance, Lung escaped from PRT custody," the newswoman said seriously, "but it wasn't a complete loss, as Brockton Bay's own Wards team, with a little unexpected help, successfully prevented a tragedy when the hostage situation at Brockton Central, where Bakuda's threat was first declared, turned violent. No hostages were harmed, the villains, consisting of four new capes, one posing as Bakuda, were driven off save for one, who the PRT have dubbed Chitter, who was defeated by one of the newest additions to the team, Weaver."

The Newscaster's voice became more upbeat, almost cutesy, "Speaking of which, Weaver and her little sidekick The Cuddlebug have made their debut and will be presented at a press conference after the PRT is sure that the crisis is over, though I'm sure that they're happy that most of the encounters with the Azn Bad Boyz and their mercenaries ended with the Bombs disarmed, and that all the schools were checked and cleared for bombs overnight."

Emma turned off the television. The woman was an idiot, who wanted to go to school? Anyway, she had to get going, she needed to get to that shithole Winslow and she was meeting with Sophia on the way.

"Bye Daddy," she said as she passed her father. He smiled and waved her out with a request to "be careful." He was working on something involving a little kid as a favor to Mr. Hebert, his best friend and the father of Emma's weakling ex-best friend. Emma had no idea what kind of trouble the Heberts were in or how a little girl was involved, but she hoped that she could use it to torment Taylor if she learned enough of what it was. Her father was talking to Mr. Hebert over the phone as she left, reassuring the other man about something.

On her way to her and Sophia's meeting spot, she got a bit curious and impatient and sent off a text.

Hey hero, what's up with the newbies?

Sophia replied after a few minutes.

They're confusing, they keep giving mixed signals.

Weaver's a bug master who can make things out of silk-she's trading new, better costumes for extra perks.

Kid's a kid, acts like a kid, kind of crazy-thinks she's a mutant alien from another universe, everyone else is humoring her.

Some kind of Changer, powerful but not sure if she's strong.

Kinda bummed I missed the party.

Huh. That was weird. Sophia could usually tell if someone was weak or strong at the first meeting, she was a great judge of character.

I know something that might cheer you up-you know who disappeared on us yesterday, but I bet she'll have forgotten her lesson.

We can teach it again.

:)

Emma smiled at Sophia's response. She wondered if they could make Taylor cry without hitting her today.

Oh, What Tangled Webs We Weav-This is a bad one, too.

(If you poopoo the next one, I'll kill off the real you.)

Taylor looked sick. She seemed to be in a daze, there were dark circles around her eyes, and her skin was even paler than normal.

"You shouldn't have come in today, Tay," Emma said, "you're going to get everyone sick."

"I don't think so," Madison added. "She's obviously been selling her ass or sharing needles or something. You can't get AIDS from just being around one of the filthy drug-whores."

"Nah," Sophia added. "She's just realized that no amount of makeup will cover up how much of an ugly, skinny, worthless weakling is so she just doesn't bother anymore."

This wasn't fun. Taylor wasn't reacting. She tried to move past them, but Sophia shoved her to the ground. Taylor didn't try to get up.

"Did," Emma asked, "is she just giving up?"

Then Taylor started having a seizure. As she shook and foamed at the mouth, Madison screamed "Oh shit! Is she on drugs!? Is he ODing!?" And then she ran off.

"Okay," Emma began, "nobody else saw us. We can just walk away and let someone else-"

Sophia, it seemed, noticed something about Taylor and flipped her over. Something on Taylor's shoulder, something under her thick hoody, was glowing a sickly green, like video game poison or radiation from an old cartoon. Sophia pulled the hoody off and fiddled with Taylor's undershirt, revealing some kind of weird, glowing green scar.

"Shit," the Ward said. "This was so fucking obvious, how didn't I... But she was fine yesterday, I thought Panacea fixed her up..."

"What?" Emma asked. "Why would Panacea work on her?"

"Hebert's Weaver," Sophia explained. "We need to call an ambulance or get a teacher or something, get her to the hospital. You have no idea how much trouble I'll get in if they find out I let a fellow Ward die."

Not wanting her best friend to get in trouble over her worthless ex-best friend, Emma complied and pulled out her phone.