Hope Comes to Brockton Bay

Part 25

Hope winged her way across the city, keeping low, and flying slowly so as to not make too much noise. Ahead loomed the Wards' headquarters, silent and dark in the night.

I might have even gotten away with it, she thought with relief. I really shouldn't do this any more.

She landed and immediately headed for the roof entrance. Her hand was almost on the door handle when a dark figure stepped around the corner and laid a hand on her arm.

She yelped and jumped back, her wing lashing out reflexively. But even as she did so, she realized who it was, and aborted her strike.

"Weld!" she gasped. "Don't do that!"

Weld raised one metallic eyebrow. "Jumpy, much?" he asked. "Come on, we need to talk."

"You really can't do this anymore," Weld said patiently. They were seated across from each other in his room, and Hope was holding a hot cup of cocoa. "Even if I see fit to keep turning a blind eye – and I'm not at all sure that I should – others will start taking notice. Official notice. Director Piggot already considers you a security risk, considering the number of contacts you have had with the Undersiders. Keep sneaking out like this, and you may just give her the ammunition to do something about it."

Hope hung her head meekly. "I know," she said. "I'd already decided not to go out again. I wouldn't have gone out at all, except she asked me for help."

"Who asked you for help?" asked Weld curiously.

"Skitter," said Hope.

"Skitter?" Weld was shaking his head. "Hope, if I didn't know –"

"Okay, not Skitter herself," Hope corrected. "I gave out my number to Taylor, a girl I met. She works for Skitter and tonight she helped rescue a boy from the Merchants, and there were injuries, and Taylor called me on Skitter's behalf to ask if I could help out. That's all."

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Weld.

"Because they needed me right then," Hope said. "Look, I know I did the wrong thing. But I did it for the right reasons. And I'm not going to do it again. If I have to go out again, I will talk to you first. And if you say no ..." She paused, as if the words were painful for her to say, "I ... I won't go."

Weld considered that. "I suppose that's fair," he allowed. "Now, about your patrol this afternoon. Kid Win's given me his report. You haven't finished the report you were going to give me. What were you talking to Taylor about?"

"I've been writing it up properly, trying to get it straight in my head."

"So give it to me now. The gist, I mean."

Hope looked up from the cocoa. "I don't think you're going to like it," she warned him.

"Try me," challenged Weld.

"Well, she told me that she had been bullied at school by three girls. She ended up skipping school to get away from them. From what she said, it wasn't a one-off thing. It was ongoing. At least a year." Hope gave Weld a direct look. "I've been bullied. You don't forget it. It leaves scars."

Weld nodded. "I imagine it does. And while I certainly don't approve, I don't see what the buildup is all about."

"Because," Hope said clearly, "one of the three girls was called Sophia Hess."

There was a moment's silence. Hope sipped her cocoa, her eyes never leaving Weld's.

When he spoke, his voice was flat. "You're talking about Shadow Stalker."

"I am."

"You can't know that it's the same Sophia Hess."

"No," said Hope. "But I do know that I can check up school files and see which school Taylor Hebert attended, and which school Shadow Stalker attended, and see if they are one and the same. And I know that even in the few days I knew Shadow Stalker, she was nothing other than mean to me and everyone around her, if she didn't get her own way." She eyed Weld challengingly. "Tell me I'm wrong."

Weld sighed. "You're probably not wrong. Before ... before all this started, before I was brought in from the Boston Wards, Shadow Stalker was a lone vigilante. She nailed a guy to the wall with one of her arrows, but he nearly bled out. She faced juvenile hall, or the Wards. She chose the Wards, but she was on probation. And I'm not sure, but I think she was giving Vista a hard time. I was trying to figure out how to handle it, when you dropped into our laps."

"So is it true that the schools know which of their students are Wards?" pressed Hope. "Do they give them preferential treatment?"

"They're informed, yes, so they can be pulled out of class at a moment's notice," Weld confirmed. "But ... preferential treatment? I shouldn't think so."

"Well," said Hope, "it appears that someone thought so. Shadow Stalker got away with bullying a normal girl for more than a year, and not even official intervention served to stop her." She finished her cocoa and put it down. "Superhero or not, that's wrong. And it's worse that she got away with it because she was a superhero."

"Well," said Weld, "supposing you're right –"

"Really?" snapped Hope. "Supposing? Weld, I had thought better of you. That's a word a politician would use." She leaned forward in her chair. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you honestly believe that Shadow Stalker was not bullying Taylor Hebert."

Silvery eyes met dark metallic ones. The gaze held for long moments. And then Weld looked away.

"Okay, fine," he said. "The pieces all fit. Shadow Stalker's definitely got the personality for it." He lifted his hands in the air helplessly. "But what can we do about it? Shadow Stalker's faced the inquiry for something far worse than bullying. That problem's closed and done."

"Except that it's not," said Hope. "Many things can be done. An apology can be issued to the Heberts by the Wards, and by the school. Maybe compensation paid. The other two girls can be charged and punished. And most important," she added, "oversight needs to be put in place to make sure this never happens again. Because I've noticed that getting powers around here seems to go hand-in-hand with a certain harshness of attitude. People get mean. So this probably isn't the first time it's happened, and it's likely not going to be the last. And it's probably happening right now, in any city that has a Wards program."

Weld thought about that for a long while.

"Well," he said at length, "I hate to admit it, but you're probably right. In the morning, I believe I shall have a long talk with Miss Militia about it." He stood from his chair. "But it's time you got to bed, young lady. And no more midnight excursions. You got me?"

"Message received and understood, boss," replied Hope with a grin.

Weld watched the door close behind her. He thought back to the number of people he'd spoken to over the last few days who had expressed the opinion that Hope was 'soft' or 'weak' because of her gentle heart and sheer kindness of spirit.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered to himself. "Are they ever wrong."

To be continued ...