Many thanks to BeaconHill for betareading.

Trigger Warning: This chapter is written from the perspective of a Nazi, and contains a racial slur.

Interlude 10a: Emma

Sunday, June 5; One day before Valefor's attack

"So, Emma, how's the Medhall internship going?"

Emma almost choked on her mouthful of soup. After a brief coughing fit, she worked it down and looked up at her dad. "Fine," she said. "It's a lot of work, but it's interesting."

Her father smiled across the table at her. "I'm glad," he said. And he was—there was genuine joy, paired with immense relief, behind the words. She didn't bother to follow the chain further than that. She knew where it would lead.

"Are you thinking of going into medicine, then?" her mother asked. There was concern behind the question—Is she capable? Med school is hard. Should I try to dissuade her?

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom, Emma thought sourly. "Not really," she admitted. "I'm more interested in the business side of things."

"There's a lot of money in that," said her dad casually, and Emma had to bite down on the disgust at his naked avarice. "It's a good field."

"Could even lead to law, right?" Anne asked from her seat beside Emma. Her tone was perfectly light, but Emma could see the disgust and hate behind it.

"It could," their father said with a shrug. "But you shouldn't even major in business if you want an MBA. A friend of mine who taught at Harvard thinks the best MBA students come from majors like statistics."

"It's a bit early to be planning out the next ten years of my life, isn't it Dad?" asked Emma dryly. After all, I may not live to graduate high school.

"It's never too early to plan ahead," her father said firmly. Regret warred with self-loathing behind him.

"But you certainly don't need to make any decisions right now," her mother put in. A faint flicker of annoyance colored the words, tempered by affection. "You have time."

I wish. "Yeah. I'll think about it." Emma looked at her dad. "May I be excused?"

He nodded, smiling at her. There was worry under it. "Of course. See you tomorrow."

She stood up and took her plate into the kitchen. As she passed him, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, Dad."

She carefully walked up the steps, opened the door to her bedroom, and shut it softly behind her. Then she closed her eyes and fell back against it. God, she loved her family, she really did, but they were so draining. Anne's… problems weren't making it any easier. Can she go back to college already? I get that she's here for me, but she's not helping.

Well. There was work to do.

She stood up, crossed to her desk, and sat down. She pulled the phone Kaiser had given her out of her pocket and checked her messages. Two from Janice and one from Auxiliary. Nothing from Kaiser, Krieg, or Hookwolf, which probably meant she didn't need to sneak out tonight. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she was tired. On the other…

Annatar's out there. She's not stopping. I need to be doing something.

She opened the messages from Janice.

Hey, want to hit the mall tomorrow?

I wanna get a couple books

Emma smiled slightly. Winning Janice over had been hard, but Emma had learned a lot about herself in the past few weeks. Without someone she could be herself around, she would have broken by now. Again.

Sure. Which mall? The one on Bark?

She sent the text off and then glanced at Auxiliary's.

New upgrades to HUD. Need you for testing. Tomorrow?

Emma sighed. Tomorrow was getting busy; she still needed to meet with Immaculata's principal, too. I'll be around 1, she typed, and then added in the afternoon because Auxiliary was the type to ask for clarification.

Her phone pinged just as she was sending the message. Janice had replied. She was about to go look at what she'd sent when she heard a throat being cleared behind her.

She froze. Jerkily, she turned around.

It was a scene out of her nightmares. Sophia's mask was off, but she was otherwise in full gear. She was sitting on the foot of Emma's bed, her crossbows laying across her knees. Her green eyes were hooded as she studied Emma. "Been a while," she said quietly.

Emma didn't answer, and tried to ignore the shame and regret which hung heavy on her former friend's words.

Sophia sighed and looked down. "I came to apologize," she said, and oh, how Emma wished she was lying. That would have made things so much simpler. "I never meant to hurt you like I did. I never wanted this."

"No," Emma agreed flatly. "Annatar did. And you're just her lapdog now, aren't you?"

Sophia didn't answer for a moment. "Annatar didn't ask me to approach you that day," she said quietly. "And she wasn't happy when I told her."

She wasn't lying. How could she not be lying? How could…? "Then…" Emma whispered, and she found her voice was shaking. "Then why?"

Sophia looked up at her. She swallowed. "Your power lets you… what? Read minds?"

"No," Emma growled. "No, you don't get to worm out of this! Not with the power you gave me!" She stood up furiously, her voice rising. "Why, Sophia? We were friends! I thought you cared! I thought—"

"I did care!" Sophia exclaimed, standing up as well, and Emma could see the hurt and pain, and above both the overwhelming regret behind the words. "I did! But I…" She stopped.

"Annatar's mastered you!" Emma said fiercely. "Can't you see that? You'd never be like this otherwise! If you could see the pull she has on you—"

"Of course she has a pull on me," Sophia hissed. The world seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second as Emma stared into her eyes. Were those… tears? "Of course she fucking does—I'm in love with her!"

Silence fell. Emma tried, tried with all her might, to convince herself that there was something other than direct honesty behind those words. She couldn't.

"You're deluding yourself," she said. It sounded hollow even to her. "She's made you feel that way."

"You know that's not true," Sophia said dryly. "I know you know. Taylor's a hero, Emma."

"Taylor is dead!" Emma's voice broke on the terrible word. "And Annatar is only a hero for as long as it suits her! You wait, Sophia! I saw under her façade—I saw what she really is. It's only a matter of time before she throws off the hero routine."

Sophia's fists were clenched. "You're crazy," she said, her voice uneven. "What the hell could even make you think that? That's not who she is!"

"I looked at her and I saw a monster," Emma hissed. "I saw fire and ash and ruins, Sophia. Annatar's a liar. She's fooling you!"

"Taylor saved me!" Sophia exclaimed. "She took a monster and taught her to be human again! She's more a hero than anyone else in the Protectorate. And even if you were right—and you're not—why the fucking Nazis, Emma? There's no version of this where that's the right thing to do!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Emma asked. "Go to the Protectorate? Legend likes Annatar already. It'd be her word against mine, and who would he believe? The shining hero, or the petty schoolgirl with a grudge?"

Sophia stared at her. "So you went to the Nazis? Emma. Nazis."

"Kaiser's the only person in this city with the power and the balls to make himself into Annatar's enemy," Emma said flatly. "I'm not apologizing for doing what I have to."

"And it has nothing to do with me?" Sophia asked, and there was a choking hurt in her voice, audible even without Emma's power. "You're just there because you have to be? Don't make me laugh."

Emma opened her mouth to respond. No words came out.

Sophia turned away, picking up her crossbows and holstering them at her sides. "I'm sorry, Emma," she said. There was a cloud of regret hanging over her, ready to burst. "I'm so sorry. But you're wrong about Annatar, and you're wrong about me—and as long as you're with the Empire, we're going to be enemies." She glanced back. "Let me know if you ever want to be a hero," she said, but there wasn't even a flicker of hope behind the offer. "I'll make sure you get the chance."

And then, in a burst of smoky shadow, she was gone.

One week later.

"You sure this is the place?" Janice asked in a whisper.

"Yes," said Emma, opening the passenger side door of the car and stepping out onto the sidewalk. "I'll be right back."

She felt oddly half-dressed as she strode up the path to the door of the seemingly abandoned warehouse, wearing only jeans and a blouse. It was incredible how quickly she'd gotten used to the robe and mask. But this wasn't that kind of job. Especially since I haven't told Kaiser I'm here.

She raised her fist and knocked on the tinted glass window of the metal door. "Open up!" she called. "I know you're in there."

There was silence. It stretched, but she wasn't worried. They were here—she'd seen enough in the minds of the people who lived around here to be sure.

She knocked again. "Open up!"

The door opened a crack. The dark eyehole of a mask stared out at her for a moment. There was a familiar sigh. "Should've known you'd show up," said Sophia, and opened the door wider. "Come in."

Emma followed her former friend inside. As soon as she crossed the threshold, the sound of whirring machines filled her ears. "Don't mind the noise," Sophia said. "Armsmaster's just tinkering." She shut the door behind Emma and turned to her. "So. What do you want? Come to gloat?"

Emma winced. "No."

"Mm. Then what?"

"You know why I'm here, Sophia."

"Don't call me that." Sophia's voice was low. There was pain and anger and a sea of hurt buried beneath her words.

Emma flinched. "Fine," she said. "Shadow Stalker. You know why I'm here."

"I really don't. I'm not in the habit of asking useless questions."

Emma grimaced. "Annatar has to be stopped," she said. Sophia didn't answer, so Emma continued. "You broke away from her—you know something's up. You've seen what she is, now! You're here to fight back! Soph—Shadow Stalker, we need to work together! She's too strong to face otherwise."

Sophia didn't move for a moment. Then she turned and walked away without a word, into the next room, towards the sound of machinery. There was an implicit refusal in the action, but she hadn't said no. And why would she refuse? It didn't make sense.

"Shadow Stalker!" Emma hurried after her former friend. "Look, I know this isn't easy, but—"

Stars exploded in her vision. When they cleared, her face was throbbing, she was on the concrete floor, and Sophia was wringing out her right hand. Emma clamped down on a sudden rush of anger. "No, Oracle," Sophia said coldly. "No, you really don't know."

"Stalker?" A man's voice called from on the other side of a column. There was the clang of metallic boots on concrete, and Armsmaster emerged from around the corner, his blue armor dusty and slightly scratched. "What's—who's this?"

"Oracle," Sophia said flatly, turning away. "Offering us an alliance against Annatar."

Armsmaster's helmet turned as he looked between the two of them. "…Why is she on the ground?"

"Because I hit her," Sophia said matter-of-factly as she began walking away.

"…Why?"

Sophia stopped. Turned back. "…Because she's a Nazi?" she suggested. "Because she's a hypocrite? Because if Taylor sees me working with her, she'll burn us alive and never look back? Because without her bright idea to give Taylor's identity to Kaiser none of this would have happened?"

"Wait," Emma said, blinking. "What? How is this my fault?"

Sophia's mask turned to her. For a moment she was silent. "Where do I start?" she said finally, and her voice was cold and furious. "There was the two years of bullying, which you and I were both part of. There was the locker we did together. There was the not letting go when I tried to get you to stop—and that's partly on me, too, since I could've done better."

"That's—"

"Different?" Sophia interrupted, and Emma clenched her fists. "Maybe. But then you gave Kaiser her identity. How do you think Heartbreaker got it? How do you think he knew to go after her dad?"

The bottom dropped out of Emma's stomach. "Heartbreaker went after Mr. Hebert?" she asked weakly.

"What, did you think Annatar went crazy over nothing?" Sophia asked caustically. "Of course you did—anything to make this her fault. Newsflash, Oracle—it isn't." She kneeled down, looking at Emma. "You hurt her again. Just like old times. I bet you're proud of yourself."

"I didn't—"

"Yes, you did," Sophia's voice lowered to a whisper. "When Annatar second-triggered, she was trapped and helpless and disgusted with herself. Disgusted that she still didn't have the power and the will and the control to stop it from happening again. So now she's determined to take that control, no matter who she hurts to get it. And she's not going to stop until she's taken over everything." She turned away and hugged herself, and behind all the rage and pain was overwhelming shame. "And I fucking abandoned her, because I knew if I stayed, she'd take control of me too. I'd lose her, and myself with her. I was too weak, too fucking weak to be there for her."

"Sophia," Emma whispered, "Annatar's insane."

Sophia nodded. "Yeah. So was I." She sighed. As she stood back up, her hand lowered to her hip, squeezing the hilt of the sword that Emma only now noticed hung there. "She saved me. I need to repay her."

"I understand how you feel, Shadow Stalker," Armsmaster said, and there was an unaccustomed gentleness in his voice. Emma could see a real empathy there, the sort that came with a similar experience. "But we can't put ourselves above the entire city."

"No," Sophia agreed. "But—Armsmaster." She turned to him, shaking her head. "There are things that are wrong. Helping Nazis overthrow the Protectorate? I don't care how far gone Taylor is, that's wrong."

Armsmaster hesitated. "The two of us aren't going to be winning any battles on our own," he said slowly.

"You really think we can beat Taylor even with the Empire?" Sophia asked dryly. "She's got Alexandria, the entire local Protectorate, and Dragon on her side, not to mention eight Ring-Bearers. We're not trying to beat them, we're trying to save them." She sighed. "And we can't do that working with Nazis. We don't need an army. We need heroes. Real heroes."

"We don't have to make a public alliance," Emma said desperately. "But we need to work together, Sophia, can't you see that? We have to take every advantage we can! Annatar's too strong!"

"Every advantage we can, huh? The ends justify the means?" Sophia snorted. "You sound just like Annatar. And she was way more convincing."

"You're deluded," she said, finally sitting up to stare at Sophia. "You're going to kill us all because you couldn't make the sacrifices you needed to."

"Heard it," Sophia said, turning her back as Emma gritted her teeth. "You know, even now Taylor is trying to be a hero? She's doing all this to stop Heartbreaker and Valefor and Kaiser and you and everyone like you, until all the villains in this world are gone. Until no one ever gets hurt the way she once was... except at her own hands." She turned back to Emma. "You're a Nazi taking over Brockton Bay so you can pretend you have a reason to attack Taylor. Between you and her? I'll take her."

"Armsmaster?" Emma said, her head turning to him. "You know what Annatar is doing, what she's capable of. We can't let her win. Tell Sophia we have to do this."

"No." Armsmaster shook his head. "No, Shadow Stalker is right." He walked over to Emma and knelt down, offering her a hand. "We won't win this with numbers," he said gently. "Annatar isn't a monster we have to put down, she's a girl who's hurting, who needs help. We can't give her that by aligning with someone like Kaiser."

Emma stared at the hand, then up at Armsmaster. Then she forced herself to her feet, ignoring the offered hand. "I didn't want to work with Kaiser," she growled. "But I'll do it if it means saving everyone else."

Sophia nodded. "It's so much easier to pretend you have no choice than to admit you were wrong, isn't it?"

Emma stepped back. "It's not like that," she hissed. "I wish we could save her, Sophia. I wish I could have one last conversation with her. I wish I had a chance to apologize—"

"Liar," said Sophia, and there was a soft, dark amusement in her voice. "I can see you lying, you know. Even when you're lying to yourself."

"I'm not lying!"

"Enough." Armsmaster said, turning away and walking back towards his work. "You have our answer, Oracle. Leave."

"You're making a mistake!"

"I'm a black bi girl, you're a Nazi, and I'm armed," said Sophia grimly. "If you don't get out of here now, I won't be the one making a mistake."

Emma stepped back. "You wouldn't—" Yes, she would.

"I thought you wouldn't join the Empire," Sophia told her. "Guess we were both wrong, huh?"

Emma swallowed her anger. "Please," she said. "Please. I need help."

Sophia nodded, and sadness weighed down her shoulders. "Yeah," she agreed. "You do. Get lost."

The fury that had been building throughout the conversation finally boiled over. "Listen here, you nigger bitch," Emma hissed. "You can't just—"

She realized what she'd said an instant before the sword filled her vision. The blade shone cold and bright, drowning out the light of the fluorescents above. Sophia held it perfectly steady so that the point was mere inches from Emma's face. She looked to Armsmaster, but he too had drawn his weapon.

"Last chance." Sophia's voice was calm. "Get. Lost."

Emma turned and fled.

I apologize for neglecting this site for so long. The primary reason is that it's very hard to edit a chapter on this site post-release, compared with my other posting locations. I also do not particularly like this site's formatting or style.

That is, however, no excuse, and I will do better in future. More comments at the end of this big chapter dump. 12 chapters in total will be dropping today, I hope you all enjoy.