That could have gone better.
It was finally Taylors second go at her first outing as a hero.
Her costume was pretty basic, taking the black fabric and doing little more than covering her body with it. In fact, without Shapers (or her own) powers there was no way to get it on or off, it was so tight.
She had scavenged the lenses from a pair of glasses she had broken while angry for the eyes, but beyond that the only breaks in the material were airholes.
She might have added decorations or accessories to the outfit, but as of yet lacked the confidence with Shapers power.
So instead she had a costume that looked like a humanoid shadow, perfect for the new hero 'Mirage'!
Or whatever she called herself.
Could have been 'Shadow' if not for Hess.
If only there had been other colour options than black ir red.
And she really didn't want her costume to look like it was covered in blood.
In any case, she had taken the costume out for a patrol (keeping it in a bag as she left. Hopefully she would grow confident enough in using Shapers power to either remove and replace the head or completely disassemble the costume between uses).
And this time she didn't run into any Capes she needed to deal with!
Which was probably a good thing as she hadn't exactly decided what powers she would be using under this identity.
Well, except the passive Brute effects and Danger Sense.
The other powers (except whatever Hunter provided) had Butchers arguing for them, usually whoever the power first belonged to.
Which immediately decided her against VII.
It was suggested that her power had great synergy with Dodgers.
After all, the main problem against Quarrel had been over use of her power when it wasn't exactly required. But with Danger Sense letting her harmonise at just the right time she would be able to avoid that precise issue.
On the other hand it could make it obvious that it was her.
I and II's powers were, she suspected, suggested as jokes, as she wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of causing pain like that and the blood sight ability wasn't too useful by itself (as Spotters name suggested he had taken the role of locating targets and aiming weapons rather than taking the frontline like most Capes).
It did raise the question of how Spotter inherited though…
She had dismissed Fester, Forge and Berseker as well.
Fester had a power that was all about turning a minor injury into a lethal one (even if he insisted she could, with practice, target weapons and other inanimate targets) while Forge being a Tinker meant she'd need a place and supplies to Tinker, which upped the chances of the PRT discovering her.
The rage aura of IX, they claimed, could be used subtly, at a lower level, to disrupt enemy planning and fighting skills, but it felt to Taylor that using it like that (if she could get that level of control) would spark fears of a Master being active.
Detonator was too well known as a Butcher, even if she insisted that Taylor being her 'daughter' was the perfect excuse for such a similar power.
Which left Shapers power, which he was teaching her to use much better than the other Butchers, and Quarrels, which could, potentially, be passed off as unususl aiming skills rather than powers.
Or she could just pass herself off as a regular Brute.
In any case, she'd had her first encounter with unpowered criminals in costume!
… A clash between Teeth and the Skulls.
She hadn't even heard of the Skulls before, but now discovered they were a mostly teen gang that focused on drugs, like an upmarket version of the Merchants.
Who had mutual animosity with the Teeth.
Which had left the peanut gallery manipulating her into doing more damage to the Skulls than, as they put it, her 'future minions'.
As a result she now had most of the Skulls secured, along with just a few Teeth, plus a number of voices in her head telling her to let 'her minions' go.
Which she naturally ignored as she dialled 911 in the nearby phone-booth.
"How can we help you," the polite voice on the other end asked.
"I have a number of gang members needing collection," she tried to respond.
Unfortunately her mask made it somewhat muffled.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
Taylor did her best to ignore her predecessors laughter as she tried to report the gangs again.
"Are you gagged? Damn, what was the procedure for suspected kidnap victims again…"
This… wasn't how Taylor intended the conversation to go.
"Conversation? Yeah, right."
"Taylor, they will already have traced the call. You don't need to keep the call going."
But if they don't send a car-
"Standard procedure in suspected kidnap cases is to send more than just a car to investigate. The police will be here soon. And unless you want to try and tell them that you're a hero while they can't understand a word you're saying, I would advise getting out of here."
Taylor couldn't deny he had a point.
And so she slunk away from the scene of her first undeniably heroic act, retreating to the PRT building already planning how to update her costume.
She needed a proper opening for her mouth…
{}
"Holy # &, that bullet would have passed straight through your mouth if it didn't hit your cheek! How does it feel to eat lead?"
"Wow, you almost him with his own bullet!"
Never again.
{}
"Aargh, Stitch-Face isn't just an urban legend! It's after me!"
"Keep running, I called in the PRT! They can save us!"
"What is Stitch-Face? I don't remember that one."
{}
"So if I manipulate this fabric correctly I can create a bulletproof mesh that will let me speak clearly and not be confused for some kind of monster?"
"Yes, just be careful not to- Taylor, if you do that again we'll be out of material to upgrade your costume."
"I'm sorry! I didn't realise it was getting so thin."
"Just be careful. Try running it between your fingers so you can feel when it starts to get too thin. Carefully now… damnit Taylor."
"Hey, I'm still trying to get used to my strength!"
"Well, this was fun to watch, but if we want the costume finished any time soon, I think we need to Tinker something up ourselves. Just need to 'borrow' some school chemistry supplies…"
{}
"Report on Shadowmancer. She's out of m/s screening."
Director Piggott glared at the trooper.
"Is she back to her baseline then?"
"Not even close. We've been forced to conclude that she was indeed under Master influence her whole time as a Ward."
"And nobody noticed?"
"Ma'am, we based our conclusions of the baseline when she joined. If that is compromised there's nothing we can do."
Piggott sighed. "Do we at least know who it is?"
"Everything seems to point to Turncoat, except this would have been before he started making a name for himself."
"Probably testing his powers," Piggott dismissed. "Remind me what we know."
"Turncoat, Master Cape confirmed dead at the hands of his allies. Had the power to 'rewire' victims 'friend or foe' recognition or response. From Shadowmancer we can update that to response."
"Time or distance limit?"
"None we could find. Shadowmancer is the first Turncoat victim to break free."
"Any connection to her Second Trigger?"
"Maybe. Could also be that the effects weakened after Turncoats death or just always weakened over time."
"Is the girl stable enough to return to duty?"
"Maybe… the therapist suggests letting her reconnect with a friend to test if she's ready."
Piggott leveled a glare at the trooper. "She doesn't seem to have any friends. After breaking free she cut ties with Shadow Stalker quite publicly. The only other person she's recorded as being friends with is Phase, who transferred out as soon as she recognised Shadowmancer."
The trooper raised his hands. "I'm only passing on what they told me."
Piggott released a heavy breath.
"This whole situation is a nightmare. One Ward a psychopath, a second Mastered since before she even joined and the reason that a third left before we even had a chance to announce her. It's as if there's someone out there deliberately screwing us all over!"
{}
Coil read his latest report on the 'Ward problem'.
He had been thinking of adding more Capes to his team, and this seemed the perfect opportunity.
Granted, it wasn't the Thinker he'd been hoping to synergise with his own power, but giving his Undersiders a heavy hitter could be useful in building up their reputation.
And if they were a former (or if he was really good a current) Ward, that would be all the more ammunition for shutting down Piggotts administration.
In any case, someone who'd isolated themselves quite as perfectly as this 'Emma Barnes' would be an ideal target for recruitment.
He picked up his phone, speed-dialing his Tattletale.
She had a teammate to collect.
{}
Emma tried to keep the new aspect of her power hidden as she approached the Hebert residence.
She was a far cry from the model she had once been, and never again would be, hunched over in a thick coat.
Her choice of clothes and attitude led to most passersby stepping aside to avoid her, likely thinking her sicj or an addict.
The coat wasn't about keeping her warm though.
Since her realisation about what she'd done her powers were no longer limited to the shadows around her.
It had once seemed so limited, being able to feel and shape shadows (even if they could make useful weapons or restraints if she concentrated), and she'd wished she had more.
Now it wasn't so hard to keep them solid, in fact it could be a struggle to prevent shadowy dogs walking beside her at times, but more than that she herself, and her clothes, had started to fade into shadows from tume to time.
Still solid (at least mostly) but definitely shadows and malleable.
And she couldn't control it completely.
No matter how hard she tried, it would sooner or later become visible, a patch of darkness moving over her skin or clothing, twitching in response to her emotions.
At least the coat kept it from becoming obvious too quickly.
She reached the door, stepping over the broken step as had been normal once, and knocked.
It took a while for Danny to answer.
No, not Danny.
She'd lost the right to call him that.
Mister Hebert opened the door.
"I'm sorry," she began before he could say anything or close the door. "Can we talk? I'll explain everything."
"Fine," he answered with obvious reluctance, where once he'd have been more than happy to see her.
They made their way to the living room, where he fell into a chair.
Emma didn't even think about sitting down.
"I-I wasn't myself," she began.
He snorted. "Sure. That's what everyone says. 'it wasn't me, it was the Master controlling me'."
"It wasn't control," Emma answered quietly. "No commands to do one thing or another. Just… making me treat friends as enemies, enemies as friends."
"And yet you were close enough with Hess to cause my daughter to Trigger."
"She caused my Trigger," Emma responded quietly. "Not deliberately, not like we did to Taylor. My dad and I… we took a shortcut. Ran into a group of ABB. Pulled me out of the car. And I saw her. shadow Stalker, the i dependent hero. Watching."
"Then she saved you and-"
"No she didn't!"
The room went still at Emmas exclamation.
"At first I thought it would be fine. There was a hero there after all. But she just watched. I panicked, struck out at the thugs. Then… everything went black. Did you know that Trigger events cause you to lose consciousness? You and any nearby Capes. That was when they attacked dad."
"Alans scar?"
She nodded.
"When I came to I tried fighting back, broke myself free. That was all I could do without any experience with the power. It was Shadow Stalker who got dad free. I grabbed him and ran, got him to hospital. I… I hated Shadow Stalker?"
It didn't seem right for that to be a question.
"When I returned to the alley, don't ask me why, she was there and my mind was already… wrong. She was still the reason I Triggered, that dad will be scarred for the rest of his life, but I no longer wanted to make her suffer."
"You're saying you fell victim to a Master in the first few days of Triggering?"
"The perfect time, perfect opportunity I guess. I mean, each Trigger effects people differently. There's no way to tell how people will react after. So any Master influence will be dismissed at trauma."
"And you expect this to make things better?"
Emma did her best to meet his eyes.
"I hated her. Hated her so much I agreed with whatever she said. I was close enough to Taylor that…"
Her eyes dropped to the floor again.
"Get out."
Emma nodded. "Just one thing first. Can you… make sure she gets this?"
She heard his gasp of shock as she brought out Annette's flute.
She couldn't tell whether the shock was from the flute Taylor must have reported destroyed or from him catching sight of the shadows within her body.
It didn't really matter either way.
"I thought of sending it to her myself, but after everything, if she got a package from me…"
She didn't want to consider it.
Of how one day it would break Taylor to learn that she was the one to destroy the flute.
"She doesn't want to talk to me," mister Hebert responded dully. "I thought she'd agreed to transfer, that that was why I was asked to sign the papers."
"Taylor is more likely to come back to see you. Then you can give her the flute back, and tell her something from me "
"This had better not-"
"Just tell I'm sorry."
Emma turned and left.
There was nothing left to say after all.
{}
"We have reports of some kind of 'living shadow' prowling the streets," Bastion declared to begin the Wards briefing. "This sounds similar to what one of the Brockton Bay Wards has proven capable of after a Second Trigger, so watch out. We haven't yet determined if there is any kind of connection."
Taylor tried to hide her wince.
Her attempts at trialing her various 'editions' of her hero costume had proven great entertainment for the other Butchers.
At least the attempts to make a bulletproof fabric she could speak through had resulted in her discovering a way to dye her costume.
Between that and her growing skill with Shapers power she was growing more confident in designing a proper outfit, rather than just going for 'humanoid of bulletproof material'.
"What caused the Second Trigger?"
"Oh, something about a Master," Bastion dismissed. "They said Turncoat, but he's been dead for months so they probably made a mistake."
"Does this 'living shadow' have anything to do with the reports of 'Stitch-Face' being real?"
"Or the talk of 'Gun-Mouth'?"
Taylor felt herself sink into the chair at the reminders if the rumours she'd unwittingly got caught up in.
"It's possible people saw this shadow and got confused," Bastion declared. "As I told the idiots who called it in, there is no such thing as 'Stitch-Face'. It's just an urban legend, created by some fearmonger with an internet connection and too much time on their hands."
"Hey, we haven't seen much about the new Butcher, have we? Maybe Stitch-Face got him!"
"Well, she's not exactly wrong there…"
"For the last time, even if it was real our job is to real with Capes, not monsters!"
"What about Endbringers?"
"Wards do not attend Endbringer fights," Bastion ground out.
For some reason Taylor felt like he was glaring at her.
"I suspect he feels he's been losing control since you showed up, and feels there's a connection."
"Absurd. Correlation does not imply causation."
"No, it just points in causations general direction with a wink while mouthing 'he did it'."
Is this really the time?
"When you're surrounded by PRT personnel and the slightest slip will force you to retreat to the Teeth for your own safety? Apparently, yes."
Taylor couldn't help but sigh.
At least there hadn't been any repeat attempts at assigning her a hopeless task, like tracking herself down from missing persons files.
And it was worrying how normal that sentence felt to her.
"You think that's weird, you need to here about Festers first day as Butcher."
Omake: Festers First day
"And you expect us to believe you have Butchers power and his voice in your he-aargh!"
The other members of the Teeth looked at the member clearly under the effects of Butchers pain powers, then back at Fester, the man who got a lucky hit on the hero who killed Spotter.
"Welcome back Butcher. Any orders?"
"The Teeth are now a democracy!"
There was a pause.
This didn't sound very Teeth-like.
"All shall have a vote, unless disqualified for reasons of age or not being Butcher."
Ah, everything made sense again.
"Our first vote. All those connected to the Teeth of age for education shall attend! For knowledge is power! Our first unanimous vote!"
"What about the democracy thing..?"
Fester leant forward. "The first unanimous vote."
AN: And so we see why Emma turned traitor here, and the start of how much more she suffers from having been Mastered than if she had betrayed Taylor of her own free will. It doesn't make too much sense to me for her to befriend Hess without such influence, given she sees her watching rather than helping. Also, because of the whole Trigger unconsciousness, Alan Barnes ends up in worse shape, with a permanent reminder.
And we also see a 'failed costume' montage, complete with urban legend.