AN: Please be warned, this is a fair bit darker than my usual flair. If I ever do more than this, this would probably be the dark before the dawn chapter.

Premise: Sophia egged on the group of boys a bit too strongly. They were a bit too fast. Emma and Sophia were a bit too close to the resulting assault. And Emma…realizes she may have chosen the wrong friend.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorryI'm sorryI'msorryI'msorryImsorry…"

A Bloody Reflection

"See! I told you she was strong! She's fighting back!" Emma didn't even try to fight against the warmth that was blooming in her chest or stop the grin from spreading over her face.

Sophia in contrast seemed to be barely breathing as she murmured, "She's not supposed to fight…"

"Taylor's always been stronger than me. Much stronger."

"It's Hebert…why is she fighting?"

Emma just nodded and pointed out the car window. "Now go save her Hero. Things are about to get too far."

"I can't…"

The warmth in Emma's chest fled and like a switch flipped, the blood in her veins turned to ice. "Go save her, Sophia."

"…I don't have my costume," Sophia's voice was barely above a whisper and her eyes never left the four football players as they held Taylor down just past the mouth of the alley.

"Sophia, this isn't funny. Go save her." Emma couldn't stop staring at her hero, her cape, her friend. This was a joke. This was a bad joke. She'd finally proven that Taylor was worthy of being her friend and Sophia was trying to make a joke.

Sophia was never good at jokes.

"It's Hebert. She's not supposed to fight. She's prey. Prey doesn't fight!"

"Go save her Sophia."

"Prey runs. She's been running. I've seen her run. She's fast. I didn't take my suit. Prey doesn't fight. Prey runs…"

"I have a mask. Go save her Sophia."

"I'm wearing the same clothes I was when I bribed the fuckers…I can't go out there, Emma. We…we should call the police."

Emma turned back to the alley. One of the boys was bleeding down his arm where Taylor had bitten him. She could just barely see the glinting of the blood in the dim light. The others were laughing. Her arms were over her head and the one of them had gotten their hands on her jeans. "The police will never get here fast enough," Emma whispered, her eyes wide.

"I'll call…Militia. She's fast. She has a motorcycle. She'll…she'll be here fast. I didn't think…"

Emma wasn't sure when she decided to reach across the seat and grab Sophia's backpack, one moment it was on the floor, the next it was in her hands and the zipper was opened.

"Emma, what are you doing?"

"I'm saving my friend." Was that her voice? She usually had some sort of inflection to her statements. A slight warble, a mild keen, a carefully modulated pout…all of that was typical. Why was her voice so soft, so sure? So…dead? Her hand closed around Sophia's knife and she dropped the backpack.

"Emma, you can't go out there."

"I'm saving my friend." She pulled the door handle and started to step out as Sophia grabbed her arm.

"Kid Win gave me that knife," Sophia hissed. "You can't go out there with that!"

Emma stared at Sophia's hand. Her gaze lifted to the boys in the alley. They were still laughing, but the bleeding one had dropped to his knees, and had a blade in his hand. Emma looked back to Sophia. In the same dead - yes, dead was right, definitely dead - tone as before she stated, "I'm saving my friend. Let go."

Sophia's eyes widened, her gaze locked with Emma's. Her hand fell away. Emma turned and started to stalk forward. She couldn't run. If she ran they would see her. They would notice. She would spook them if she ran. She needed to walk, to stalk, to surprise.

She was only three steps behind the bleeding one before any of them had bothered to look at her more than once. The boy kneeling on Taylor's hand with a hand over her mouth turned to stare at her, a smirk on his face. "Hey, Barnes. Stick around, there's more than enough of us for you too."

Emma didn't say anything. She stalked the last foot that she needed to cross. A scream cut through the alley. The bleeder's blade fell to the ground with a dull clank. Emma slashed out again. Another scream rang through the night and a dull thud sounded as the bleeder dropped, motionless. The one holding Taylor's leg started to lunge for her. Emma jerked her hand forward. A third scream sounded. The boy fell back. The other two scrambled away with him, deeper into the alley.

Emma held the knife forward, pointing it at the three boys as she dropped to one knee next to Taylor. Taylor had already gotten into a sitting position, her knees pulled up to her chest and her back smashing against the wall, the discarded blade from the bleeder held in her shaking hand and the gag in her mouth discarded on the ground. Emma spared one more glance at Taylor as she shifted to kneel between her best friend and the sadists. "Leave."

"You fucking pyscho bitch!" One of the trio snarled. Was he the one that she had already stabbed? He was holding his shoulder. Maybe.

"Leave."

"Fuck you!" They ran toward the girls. Taylor shouted, and Emma pushed off with her back foot propelling herself forward.

"You. Will. Not. Touch. Her." Each word was punctuated with a slash of the knife. Each swing flinging more blood into the air as the leader of the brutes fell to the alley ground. Emma lifted the knife and tried to take a step towards the last two. Both were too close. She didn't have enough leverage and she didn't know how to fight like Sophia.

One got an arm wrapped around her elbow and jerked her hand back. The other flung his fist towards her head. She snapped her mouth forward. If she couldn't stab them, she would bite their fingers off instead.

The blood from the walls coalesced into a shield in front of her and the brute's hand smashed into it. He screamed, falling back onto his ass, cradling his hand. The blood shield formed into a spear and shot to Emma's side. She twisted her head and just barely managed to catch sight of the blood spear shooting through the chest of the brute who had grabbed her arm. A gurgle passed his lips and he slumped down the wall next to her. Emma turned back to the last brute. She stepped forward, raising the knife one final time.

The corpse of the bleeder beat her to it. Its arms moved with a jerky, spastic swipe, and its legs weren't coordinated enough to manage more than a leaping hop, but it was enough. The body fell on the final brute, one hand latched onto his throat while the bleeding arm lifted into the air, fist hovering over his chest. A thin red blade shot through the wrist, spearing down into the brute on the ground. With a gasp, he stopped moving. The corpse collapsed an instant later.

Emma immediately turned on her heel and ran to Taylor. She skidded on both knees, not caring about the rips she opened in her pants as she pulled the sobbing brunette's head against her chest. Taylor's hand clutched at Emma's arm and the sob turned into a keening wail. Emma could only hold her in a deathgrip as she murmured over and over, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"