I don't own Worm

Authors Note: This is the outtake so to say, a different version of my story Nox. With a different premise. It will be a two-shot since I don't intend to continue it... but perhaps some of you might like it nonetheless... to see what my first draft of this story amounted to.

You will see the difference are the timeline and a repeat of the locker scene with a slightly different version of the power I envisioned for Taylor to have - After I wrote it out and didn't like the second chapter ... I decided to go with the other version.

I'm aware that some of you might like this version better for whatever reason - I don't - so I got no intention to continue this... If on the other hand, somebody else wants to, feel free to do so...

Chapter 01: The first Followers of the Queen:

Monday morning, the first school day after the winter holidays, under normal circumstances, this would be a day that wouldn't be very popular with the students. I would count myself as being part of those who despised this day because it once more meant being cooped up half the day with a bunch of sheep. Instead of being out there punching the ever-living shit out of this thrash, the gangs were made of.

Well at least this school start won't be as boring as usual, with what we have planned. It might make the start of this headache-inducing routine that is school at least a little bit enjoyable. It wasn't exactly breaking the bones of Nazi enjoyable, but as of late, I was satisfied with the small mercies that made school bearable.

I reached the gates of Winslow High School and could already see Emma waiting at the main entrance. I made my way over to her while pushing through the crowd of people lingering about. On my way, I even got the chance to push one of those drug addict merchants from behind. He impacted his buddy holding a steaming cup of coffee in one of those throwaway coffee mugs. By the time I heard them wail of pain I was already past them.

I grinned; What a good way to start the day. Perhaps, someday they would learn their place and move out of the way for their betters.

A few moments later, I came to a stop next to Emma. She noticed my not so subtle approach and greeted me with a grin of her own. Sometimes I wondered how dull and utter torture school would be without her here. She was the sole person able to understand me in this shit-hole called school and even shared my view of the world. The one person I knew possessing the mindset of an apex predator but unfortunately lacked the ability to act on it.

This wasn't the first time I cursed the universe because of this injustice. Wimps like little Vista got powers and tried to fight Nazis, rapists, and other kinds of criminals with the power of love, rainbows, and their cuteness, and predators like Emma get shafted. Unable to become more than a survivor. Even thinking about it I had to suppress my urge to howl.

Damn, there went my good mood.

I leaned on the wall next to Emma, while she was busy texting, probably putting the finishing touches on our little prank we had planned for Hebert this dumb bitch.

We dwelled that way in silence for a few minutes waiting for our prey to make her appearance. Patience a virtue every predator has to embrace to be successful. But unlike on my nightly outings, I didn't have to wait hours on hours for my bait to make itself known or be found.

I heard Emma next to me say

"Julia just texted me that her bus arrived, and she is making her way to the school gates."

My heart rate increased in joyful anticipation, I turned my head Emma way, and she did the same. We ferally grinned at each other.

I grabbed my backpack from the floor between my legs, and Emma did the same. We made our way directly to the locker.

I noticed that standing at several key junctions were girls Emma was familiar with. Apparently, she followed my advice and posted her - What was a good word to describe those hyenas, followers? Yeah, I would go with that, because to more they were no good for. They would never be anything else than scavengers feeding on the leftovers, true predators left behind – at key locations as lookouts.

We wouldn't want for prey to escape her trap now, would we?

They greeted us by nodding their heads when we passed them. After paying their tribute to their betters, they returned to their task keeping their eyes open. Phones, in their hands, primed to notify us of anything noteworthy.

I would hate it if all our elaborate preparation would go to waste. Knowing Emma, she would have made sure for everyone to know that failure would be something not easily forgiven.

I arrive in the hallway with Hebert's locker in it. There is already a crowd present. I scan their faces and note that those are more of Emma's followers. Good.

Emma addresses them.

"Okay, by my estimate Taylor should be here in one or two minutes. Everybody is in position. No teachers are in the vicinity and if everybody does her job by keeping the teachers away from here. Taylor will have the pleasure to experience what her life holds in store for her a little prematurely. So don't screw this up, we don't wanna rob her of this experience, now would we."

I couldn't stress enough how impressed I was with Emma's ability to direct her followers to do her bidding. If I didn't know any better, I might even suspect her to be a master.

Well, time to get ready. I stuck my hands in my pocket and took out the earplugs I bought for this occasion. A good forethought, if I may say so myself, I knew that the pads tampons and the other things would become something nasty in the span of the holidays in her locker. But even I underestimated it. After all, I stood more than twenty feet away from it, an enclosed space with barely any vent in it, and I nearly couldn't breathe because of the stench.

I even had to fight down my breakfast the very first moment my nose was assaulted with this smell, and if looked over the faces of those standing closer to the locker, it became clear they underwent something similar, their green faces were proof enough.

I stuffed those earplugs into my nostrils, handed my backpack over to Emma, and leaned on the locker on the opposite side of the hallway facing Heberts locker.

A few seconds after I was in place, Hebert rounded the corner. She immediately noticed Emma and her followers spread throughout the hallway. I could see the exact moment her feeble mind goes into overdrive. I noticed how fear crept into her body, and her movement became rigid, but she kept going. No doubt telling herself she was imagining it. Although, by now, her instinct should scream at her that she was walking directly to the slaughterhouse. Worthless prey always sensed when their time has come.

I could see how she tried to defy her very nature, to be something she wasn't like the animals who made themselves bigger to look more intimidating, a useless attempt nothing more. A true predator needed one short glance to look past this illusion, and she knew this. She knew we are aware of her bravado, aware that she was nothing but a pretender.

Her frightened eyes darted around the room and met mine, just for a fraction of a second until she averted her gaze, even if her mind refused to accept reality her body did. As a result, she tightened the grip around the strap of her bag and forced herself to continue walking with an unsteady pace to her locker.

The vicious grins on the faces of the people surrounding her set her even more on edge. I could practically feel her increasing apprehension every time she came one step closer to her target.

My body trembled in anticipation of what I hoped to follow. I had to cross my arms to not give it away.

Suddenly she grimaced, must be close enough to smell her present. I noticed how a little of the tension drained out of her frame. I had to suppress laughing. I have seen this dozen of times, prey who was confronted with the unknown reducing their state of alarm the moment they think the world started making sense again, that the threat was something known.

I wondered what she thought we were here for. It Could be she believed we were all here to see her reaction to whatever was in her locker and giving off this smell and was therefore letting her guard down.

It made a certain kind of sense if her suspicion were correct, and that was the reason we were here for. In that case, she indeed would no longer be in danger.

Stupid Pretender, if she would accept her role in life; as sheep, she would know that a sheep could never allow herself to let her guard down in the presence of a predator.

I smirked, something Taylor was unable to see with her back turned my way, inviting me to take advantage of that. She placed her bag on the floor and starting fumbling with her lock while holding her nose with the other one. I doubted that anybody could get close to the locker, otherwise. She was no exception, not yet at least. I wondered if that was still true after this day was over. My smirk took on predatory traits in anticipation of what would follow.

I detached myself from the locker I was leaning against and sneaked behind Taylor. She didn't even notice when I came to a stop standing directly behind her. My fear the barely stifled laughter around her would somehow tip her off turned out to be unfounded. She stayed completely oblivious to my presence.

I waited till she opened her locker ready to pounce on her and shove her inside, when she suddenly bent down and started to puke her soul out of her body, right on top of the skittering bugs and toxic waste that fell out of it. I was startled by her sudden movement, which cost me the opportunity to stuff her inside.

Because it would be near impossible to get her inside while she was leaning forward with one hand on the locker door. The locker just didn't have the depth to allow for that. So I had to wait till she was done losing her breakfast and was in the process to right herself after she wiped her mouth with the hand she had on the locker door. That was the exact moment I made my move, still dizzy with her back turned and her hands close to her body.

It was nearly effortlessly; a short shove while she was distracted, and she lost her balance pretty much stumbling inside. She was so surprised she didn't even have time to fight back, not that I would have given her the chance to do try.

She fit in perfectly and before her mind fully realized what happened and she was able to shake off the dizziness from when she hit her head, I had already closed the locker door behind her and locked it.

There was a moment of complete silence in the hallway until the minds of Emma and her followers were done processing what just took place right before their eyes. Followed by utter Pandemonium, in which they all started to laugh like crazy.

They were nearly loud enough to drown out the pathetic pleading crying, and begging of Hebert. I could even hear her retching and puking. Disgusting, what an utter waste of space.

I hit the locker a few times to get her attention.

"That's what you get, for not knowing your place in life. Consider this a lesson to get yourself accustomed to your equals, you maggot. We will come by throughout the day to check if you have learned your lesson. See ya, Hebert."

I turned around to Emma grinning like a Chesire cat.

"That went even better than in my wildest imagination."

She took Taylor's bag and held it up for inspection, and said with her sweet voice, she usually only used to play up her act of innocent maiden. "I wonder what we should do with this. Perhaps we should search for the owner. There is no way poor little Taylor owns something nice like this. If we are in luck, he or she won't even press charges."

Some of the girls who inched closer to us at the last minute snickered at her words.

"Sometimes I wonder what would become of Taylor without friends like us," she added. I had to give it to her; she was a master of her art. I doubted there was anyone who excelled at this like she did.

We enjoyed the simpering sounds emanating from the locker until the first ring of the bell heralding that classes were about to start. On the way to the classroom, we come across our locker, and Emma decided to stash Taylor's bag in hers, to give her more time to think of a fitting way to dispose of it.

We parted ways and went to our respective classes. Nearing the door to my class my mood already started to plummet, because it meant two hours of listening to boring history, yeah.

I made my way to my seat next to the window ignoring my classmates, even those gratulating me to a "prank" well done. I sat down and took out a pen, my notes, and my phone. At least texting with Emma during the lesson might help in enduring Gonzales's lessons and prevent me from going crazy.

Winslow being the shit hole it is, it is to be expected for their teachers to fit right in. But that shouldn't be an excuse for the school to let Gonzales students suffer through hours and hours of his incoherent babbling. Fucking drunks. He was even more pathetic than Hebert; a weak-ass addict.

After half an hour of mind-numbing background noises and a lot of texting with Emma. The ground rumbled slightly, immediately followed by a loud bang. Not a second later, my other phone vibrated. I lost not a second of time tipped in my pin and scanned my thumbprint. The message displayed showed a code blue, and with that, I was sure there was a God. Without delay, I stood up and moved towards the door while I said.

"Mr. Gonzales, I have to go to the bathroom"

I didn't wait for his permission, let alone a response. Leaving the classroom, I started running towards the janitor's storage room, where a costume and equipment was hidden inside the wall.

I brought my PRT issued phone to my ear and called the console. I needed to know what was going on.

"Shadow Stalker here ID-Code Sulu Sulu 4178"

"Acknowledged," was the immediate response I received. "There is a

Parahuman alteration between the Incredibles, and various E88 capes near Winslow High. The Protectorate is trying to contain the fight but the nearest member is at least five minutes out. Meaning you are on your own for the moment. The school is informed of the situation as we speak and the principal will notify the school shortly of the impending danger."

"They are told to evacuate the school through the West entrance." The voice I didn't recognize went on to explain. "This places them on the opposite side of their approach vector with the school buildings between them. You are to take the Overwatch position. If the fight gets within a hundred meters of Winslow High you are authorized to engage. Your priority is the safekeeping of the civilians. You are hereby ordered, to try to lure them away. Should that prove to be not a feasible option, you need to keep them occupied and stall them long enough for the Protectorate to arrive. Keep in mind that above all else, you are to prevent them from reaching the civilians. Do not under any circumstances initiate a confrontation outside of these parameters."

Yeah, yeah, I know. Do everything but those things that are fun.

My response was brief.

"Understood -"

I put my phone away, and a short use of my power later, my clothes fell to the floor around me, and I was standing in nothing but my underwear. I grabbed my costume and put it on as fast as I could. When I was done, I activated the radio embedded in the mask and connected to the console, not that it will do me much good for quite some time with me being alone here, but at least I would know when Halbbeard was arriving.

I used the fact that I was nearly weightless in my breaker state and jumped upwards. Shortly after I left the ground, I went shadow and glided through the ceiling. I repeated this two more times and found myself on the roof near a corner of the building, with a great panoptic view east.

I didn't even have to search for the fight. A blind and deaf idiot could have found it, like those too dumb to breathe idiots who called themselves the Incredibles. Seriously, who in his right mind uses a grenade launcher during a car chase.

They turned into Lincoln, which led directly to Winslow's parking place, meanwhile firing grenades from on top of the pick-up truck. They hit everywhere, and everything save the intended target, which turned out to be Hookwolf in his wolf-form giving chase.

Didn't expect that, to be honest. I knew from the briefings that those Incredible guys are group wandering capes and not by choice. After seeing this, I was not surprised. I couldn't believe it when their modus operandi was mentioned, go somewhere piss off the local gangs in a stupid attempt to make some cash, and flee before they are found and crucified in the most painful way possible. If they acted this way everywhere they went, how were those idiots still alive? It had to be luck, plain and simple. There was just no other explanation.

Well, at least the few other cars on the road were quick on the uptake and moved themselves out of the line of fire.

It seemed their luck was running out since Hookwolf wasn't the only one following them. Behind him, two SUVs fully maned with guys were shooting at the pick-up truck, and they must have hit one of the tires. Because the truck started to slow down, and the driver was having problems controlling it.

They drove right through the small flower bed and straight through the bushes surrounding the parking area, and crashed right into one of the parked cars there. A few seconds later, they rushed out of the car, as far as I could tell uninjured. But now with, the E88 breathing down their necks and coming closer, they panicked.

At least what they did before had a resemblance of sanity. Turned headless chicken, they shouted at each other and started blindly shooting grenades behind themselves, not bothering to aim, let alone look.

Given their state, I was surprised to see them dragging along a few duffle bags. Idiots, this would only slow them down.

This stupidity was only surpassed by the fact that they were running right towards the school. Every cape except for the absolute nutcases would think twice before bringing a war within a school because that was the express train towards a kill order.

Well, if they wanted to die. I was more than happy to help them along, and if this had the side-effect to permanently remove them from the gen-pool, who am I to complain.

I readied my crossbow and took aim.

"Shadow Stalker here, the Incredibles have breached the Perimeter of the school. They are in the possession of heavy ordnance and are using it, to little effect against their pursuers. Which are lead by Hookwolf with at least half a dozen armed Nazi in tow. So far, I haven't seen any other E88 capes. I have a clear shot at the Incredibles and Hookwolf, but my window of opportunity is closing fast. I have no anti-brute ammunition on hand, and everything short off phased bolts will not even stop them for a second. What are my orders?"

"Armsmaster here, you are authorized to use phased bolts, but you are to refrain from shooting at vital areas, incapacitating shots aimed towards extremities only."

"Acknowledged"

Let the fun begin.

My first bolt swayed slightly to the left due to the mild wind and only graced the guy calling himself Werewolf.

I compensated for the wind in my second shot and nailed this guy's right in his knee. He fell to the ground with a piercing scream while firing a grenade. The grenade bounced on the pavement and hit a car in between us, and exploded. The car and one on either side went up in dark flames, which took away my sight. Damn.

I had to relocate to a different position. I started running towards the ledge, jumped, and went shadow.

With the speed, I had gathered, and the wind I caught with my cape, it was easy to glide over to the adjacent building.

I rolled off my momentum on the roof sprinted towards the ledge. If I was fast enough, they should still be below. I was hoping that they didn't reach the building in that short amount of time; Shooting on something from an above angle was a pain. Before I even had to tackle this potential problem, I lost my footing and was thrown to the ground from the shaking building and the shockwave that hit me.

I had barely enough time to realize that they returned my fire. The grenade hit the building just below the roof, no doubt taking out a good chunk of the building. I was still reeling as another shake went through it.

They must have fired again. This time the explosion was nowhere near me; they must have fired at the ground floor. Why?

I stood up and made my way to the ledge. I saw a glimpse of Hookwolf as he went inside the building through a hole a grenade must have punched in the wall. Not far behind, following his lead were Crusader and Stormtiger together with a bunch of gangbangers

I grabbed my crossbow switched the ammunition from lethal back to tranquilizer and started shooting. I didn't get a clear shot at any of the two capes, but that didn't matter anyway, because a strong gust of wind deflected my bolts. My failed attempt brought me Crusader's notice. He didn't hesitate and summoned a few ghosts and sent them my way.

I took a few steps back from the ledge to break the line of sight and phased through the floor. I was flirting with the idea to walk to the window and shoot at them again. But I doubted this would get any results with Stormtiger there, I wouldn't even be able to pin them down, let alone take them down. He would just keep deflecting my bolts until my ammunition would run out.

And melee was out, Crusader with his ghost was far too dangerous for me to confront. Not only didn't I have a clue if my shadow state would protect me from them. Then there were their numbers, given how numerous they were, not just Crusaders Ghost, I could get surrounded, and since I couldn't stay in my breaker state indefinitely. I'd rather not risk it, especially with Stormtiger there, too.

He was probably the worst match-up for me there is in the Bay, short of Grue. Because in my breaker state. I would be no different from a leaf in his wind.

So I had to find another way to take them on. I decided to try for an ambush. I walked through the wall behind me and away from the windows. In the next room, I phased through the floors until I arrived on the ground level.

During that time, I called to mind the layout of this building in search of a good vantage point granting cover. That was when I realized that I was in the building with the lockers. The lockers we put Hebert inside, and they happened to be located in the same hallway, they entered the building.

Fuck – This dumb Bitch was only trouble. If she didn't die in the crossfire, I was killing her myself. After this was all over and I could make sure that nothing was pointing in my direction. For now, I had damage control to do.

I couldn't even finish the thought when I heard gunfire and the sound of metal being dragged along the pavement.

I located the sounds and was confident that they were fighting behind the wall I was standing in front of. If I phased through this wall, I would emerge with lockers to my back. If I wasn't wrong Hebert's locker should be around 40 feet to the right from my entry point. Another few dozen feet away from that on the other side of the hallway should be the hole the grenade blew in the wall.

Going by the muffled sounds I heard from the other side of the wall, the fight had to take place a dozen feet to my left. This meant that I would emerge right in their midst or near them. If I was fast, I was convinced that I could take a few of them out before they even noticed I was there. And by the time they did, I would have stepped back through the wall.

I took a moment with my tinker-tech lenses to make sure there was no power line in the wall before phased through, my crossbow ready to fire. As I emerged still intangible, I had the of fraction of a second to get my bearings.

The gangbanger had taken positions at the hole in the wall. Taking potshots at Incredibles, which were tangled up in close-quarter combat against Hookwolf, and as I suspected, it didn't go well for them.

They didn't have the powers to be a threat to Hookwolf. Sure they were all Brute or Changer with Brute sub ratings but not on a level that would allow them to win. All they could do was stall and hope to survive long enough until the situation somehow changed.

What it did, dozens of crusaders ghost phased through the wall opposite of me a few meters to my right. I was also able to make out Stormtiger standing by the gangers. I didn't bother trying to hit them; firing down the hallway towards an Aerokinetic would be futile.

As a result, I shifted my at the ready crossbow and decided to try my luck with Crusader, I couldn't see him, but since all of his ghosts came through the wall, at roughly the same spot, I guessed at his position and fired away. Lethal Bolts at knee height went through the wall.

The scream I heard after my third bolt could only mean that I must have hit something. A second later, all his ghosts vanished into thin air. Unfortunately, not before this guy resembling an upright walking Werewolf with one of my bolts sticking out of his knee fired a grenade at them.

The grenade bounced off the wall and flew towards Stormtiger, my eyes followed the grenade path, and for the first time, I noticed that the lockers on my side of the hallway all looked like they went through a blender. I got a glimpse of Hebert's fingers wiggling out from a slash splitting the metal on her locker. I wasn't given the time to ponder about the implications this had as the grenade was redirected my way. I managed to give off a shot at Stormtiger, hoping he would slip up somehow, fully intending to phase back through the wall before the grenade could hit the wall in my immediate surrounding me when the grenade exploded in my face.

I just saw a bright flash and heard a loud bang. Something tugged at me, and I felt like being ripped apart. Then there was darkness.

I came back to my senses only to feel pain like I never did before. My whole body was aching, and I had trouble breathing. It took me a felt eternity until my lungs finally filled with oxygen again, and I no longer was suffocating like a fish on dry land.

I didn't even notice the constant beeping in my ears until I was able to breathe again, it hurt like hell, but I preferred pain over death.

I took in my surroundings. I needed a moment for my eyes to blink out dark spots and for me to recognize and comprehend where I ended up. I was back behind the wall I phased through for my attack. The premature detonation must have launched me through the wall, given the state I was in that probably saved my life. I was so not doing something like that again. My eyes found my crossbow lying on the floor a few feet away from me. It looked as if it weathered my mishaps much better than I did myself.

I waited till my breathing had normalized itself before I tried to stand up. It took me nearly all my concentration to fight of the dizzying spell and not to fall on my ass. Woah, why was the room spinning? I stumbled my way to the nearest wall and used my arms to support myself. I kept leaning against the wall, waiting for the world to stop somersaulting around me.

While I did that, the beeping in my ears subsided, and everything I could hear was the fire alarm and gunfire, judging by its volume it didn't come from the other side of the wall. Speaking of which it needed a serious paint job and a mason. It didn't get destroyed but it bent my way a malformed mess of brick and metal rods.

Shit, what was wrong with me? Why was I staring at a wall? When did I get so pathetic, there were fucking nazis on the other side, and I got a score to settle. No one messed with Shadow Stalker, no one, least of all some Nazi fucks.

I slowly walked over to my crossbow, while doing my best to keep the vertigo in check. I bent down to pick it up and felt a sharp pain in my chest. I stopped mid-movement hissing and waited until the pain faded. Slowly I resumed my movement and carefully rearmed myself. The moment I laid my hands on it, a drop fell on my crossbow. Huh, where came that from?

I righted myself and touched my head. My hand came back with my gloves smeared in dark red liquid. Blood, this must be the reason I had trouble standing, must have a concussion, and severely battered or broken ribs no wonder I had a hard time breathing. This discovery not only reinforced my desire to make them bleed, but my anger started to flare. I checked my crossbow, something that became second nature to me. Good, it was still working; time for some serious payback.

I walk back to the wall, crossbow at ready, and phased through it, fully expecting to find the fight still in progress. To my surprise, the fight was already over.

Most of the lockers were ripped from the walls and spread throughout the hallway. What little there was left of some and their contents decorated the vicinity as if a bomb went off. What it did, if I remembered right. Damn Concussion, it was difficult to form a coherent thought.

I took my time to look around, wouldn't want to be taken by surprise, and with parts of the corridor looking like someone played Jenga with the lockers, it seemed to be a good idea to be cautious. I slowly walked towards the breach in the wall along the corridor, carefully maneuvering around the flames flickering on some flammable objects throughout the hallway.

I smelled it long before I saw it. I walked around the locker, fallen over on top of another one obstructing my view. I remembered this smell of death and decay. It was not the first time I came across it intermingled with something else, a retching smell, there was some part of me that recognized it, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Rounding the locker, I came across a horrifying scene. Two of those Incredible guys ripped apart, having more in common with mincemeat than a human being, were stuffed in the few lockers still standing upright like some kind of grotesque monument.

It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to identify the work of Hookwolf, but there was something else. There, in front of the third incredible, if I remembered right, the biggest one of them, at least while the others didn't transform in their werewolf and werebear forms, was lying motionless on the floor.

He was around 6,8 feet tall and nearly half as broad shaped as a bodybuilder, but that was not what disturbed me. I have seen my fair share of corpses some results of my action. No, it was the figure bent over him, over his upper body panicked doing something to him.

This figure, I refused to call it a human, was clad in grim stuff. Blood, entrails, viscera interspersed with moving little creatures - were those bugs? It looked like something straight out from those Earth-Aleph Horror Movies Emma liked and made me watch with her all the time.

I slowly sneaked closer. I was perhaps five feet apart from that creature when suddenly there was a sound coming from under my foot. I looked down, and I saw bugs crawling on the floor, must have stepped on some and crushed it. When I looked up again I stared into the eyes, of a person on verge of insanity. She, yes it was a she, stared back at me, examined me from head to toe, and without warning started laughing. It was the most hysteric laugh I had ever heard in my life. I was dumbfounded, completely taken off-guard by her reaction then I heard her say

"Of course, that's why the school never did anything. One of my fucking Tormentors is a Ward, a fucking Hero. Isn't that right Sophia." She spat the last word.

That's when my brain seemed to start working again, and I recognized her. Hebert, that was why there were bugs all around us skittering on the floor. Wasn't she the reason I originally came here? At this revelation, a lot of questions started coursing through my head. How the fuck was she not dead? At ground zero of this slaughterhouse.

Short of being a brute, she shouldn't have gotten out of her locker. Suddenly her actions made sense, her torso slightly bopping up and down trying to reanimate this guy. Who even does something like that in her situation?

That was the moment my thoughts came to a screeching halt. she called my Sophia, not Shadow Stalker. How did she know that I was wearing a mask, aren't I?

Alarmed my right-hand moved to my face and touched my skin, instead of the ceramic fiber my mask was made out of. Where is my mask? That's when I noticed that it was missing and my Hoodie was down.

I started to panic adrenaline was pumped into my system. I must have lost in the explosion, most likely ripped from my face myself when I thought to be suffocating. I stopped myself from furthering this thought.

It didn't matter, how I lost it. All that mattered was that out of all people Hebert knew who I was. She wouldn't keep quiet about it, fuck it wasn't enough that this prank could be construed as attempted murder, no I was on probation. I couldn't let her talk. I wouldn't go into prison not now not ever.

Sorry Hebert, but I couldn't allow a worthless creature like you to stand in my way. You should be thankful I would do you a favor and end your miserable life.

I slung my crossbow over my shoulder and skimmed my vicinity. I couldn't kill her with my bolts nor use my powers, that was too distinguishable. Going by the declining noise, the fight outside was winding down, so I didn't have the time to conceal using my power.

There, a mostly loose piece of metal, barely hanging onto the locker door it was once a part of.

It was shaped like a blade, that had to suffice. I grabbed it, and with a strong yank, freed it.

I didn't know what gave it away, but when I turned back to Taylor, her eyes under her fractured glasses had gone wide as saucers. She tried to stand, to get distance between us as fast as possible. But in her panic riddled state, she slipped on the blood on the floor. She fell on top of the guy, she tried to help. That was when I reached her. I grabbed her hair and yanked her away from the corpse, and threw her against a locker.

I suppressed a wince, damn ribs. Luckily, Hebert ran into it face first and hit her head. She seemed to be dazed - Good – I went down on my knee and grabbed her hair with my free hand, holding her in place. My other hand reapplied the grip on the handle of the makeshift knife and readied itself to plunge it in her heart. I waited a moment for the dizziness to fade and her eyes to clear. I wanted to relish the moment she realizes the situation she was in, the hopelessness of it. I wanted to see it when she broke. I wanted her to die with the knowledge that it was me that broke her, that all her struggling she did over the years has been futile, and that I was the one to kill her.

Grinning I said to her,

"A fitting end for a maggot like yourself to die surrounded by thrash."

[Destination]

Huh, what was that? Did I blackout? Oh, right, I was on top of Hebert. I needed to hurry up and kill her before Armsmaster got here.

My eyes refocused, and I stared in eyes lacking a shred of resignation in them. On the contrary, what I saw was the furthest from what I was expecting unwavering determination. A cold feeling spread throughout my body. I could was getting goosebumps. I recognized the feeling responsible, it was fear. I pushed it down. My mind was rejecting the very idea. There was no way that the sheep Hebert could elicit that feeling in anybody, least of all in me. But my instincts served me well in the past. For this reason, I heeded them. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.

I stabbed at her. Meanwhile, a part of me was regretting not to get to see her squirm beg and break.

Suddenly my whole body froze up. My hand stopped mid-motion, barely a few centimeters away from Hebert's throat. I didn't even have enough time to ask myself, what was happening to me when I felt an indescribable cold spreading from my stomach. It took all my willpower just to move my eyes a bit to look down, to see a black dagger made out of shadow sticking out of it. Buried to the hilt just under my ribcage held in Hebert's right hand. The dagger was undoubtedly the source of this cold feeling, black shadowy liquid flowing out of it spreading across my body. Every part that was encompassed by was lost to my senses as if it no longer was part of my body.

I tried to struggle. I tried to use my powers to phase away. But nothing was working. I was degraded to a spectator of my own slow antagonizing death. That was when my eyes darted back up and I once again look backed into Hebert's eyes. All I saw in them was curiosity. The cold making its way to my head, no longer could I feel my extremities, that was the moment when I was hit with the realization I was going to die.

But I didn't want to die. My eyes began to moist. Unable to speak, my eyes started pleading at Hebert to let me live, to spare me. The only response I got shortly before I lost my sight to the shadow I could see a new expression on her face, one I was familiar with because I wore every time I successfully had hurt her; Satisfaction.