Console duty. Of course it'd be console duty. Her first day back, eager and ready, so what do her superiors do? They sit her ass down in front of the console and tell her that she'll be manning it for the rest of the week.

Honestly, what the hell? She's always thought it's a dumbass idea to put a hero to this sort of work in the first place. The police have people to handle it, and nobody can bullshit her into believing the PRT doesn't have money for one goddamn guy to handle the comms, not when it could put another hero on the streets. Has to be something else - a way to punish the heroes in Sophia's professional opinion.

The most annoying part? She's done nothing wrong.

The girl scowls and scratches her raw leg, currently resting on the desk. Piece of shit, it's driving her crazy the way it is. Sure, having both legs beats being a cripple, but couldn't Panacea make it the same as her old one was? Wearing long pants is quite literally a pain right now, but hey! She can deal with some pain if it'd mean smashing a few faces in, instead of being basically grounded by Piggy. What, is she being punished for having her leg torn off by one of Oni Lee's exploding clones? For having stood her ground? Well, she's been punished enough already!First, she had to put on over twenty damn pounds so that Panacea had something to regrow her leg from, which took its sweet time, and made her feel like a bloated mess in addition. And when she finally had her limb back, it felt almost like the skin under a torn-off nail for the first few days.

And now this. Somebody just kill her now, before she falls asleep and has her ass grilled for it.

School's gone to shit too, not that she cares, really. It's just that she's expected to keep it relatively clean, and while sustaining the status quo was not much of an issue, returning it is gonna take a lot of effort she'd rather spend on something else. Hell, Emma even says that Hebert has gotten bolder with her away. Seriously, it's like she can't leave her moron of a friend for five minutes without stuff going sideways. She wonders if Hebert will keep up her attitude once she returns...

...Nah. She has yet to see whatever Emma sees in that girl. Doubtless, the loser's only feeling bold because Sophia isn't there to remind her that bottom feeder like her doesn't get to act that way. She'll take care of it when the school starts again. It wouldn't do for Emma to start hanging out with that freak again, under the misconception that she's suddenly grown teeth.

She snatches her phone from the desk when the screen lights up with a message. She has set it on mute, since there's no way in hell, none, that she's letting any of the Wards ever hear her ringtone. Okay, let's see... huh, speak of the devil, it's Emma.

An involuntary smile briefly curves her lips upwards before she forcefully suppresses it. It wouldn't do for somebody to see her smile because of a stupid text. It's just a dumb text, nothing to get excited over. Besides, questions would follow and it's nobody's fucking business but hers who she's talking with. And then they would whine when she'd say that to their faces, another talk with Armsmaster would follow... same old, same old.

She gets her password wrong twice, her thoughts back in the hospital where Emma was wasting both their time with her visits. But – well, it wasn't that bad, Sophia supposes. It's not like she had anything better to do than listen to the redhead's animated chatter. And she was useful for one thing, at least. That is, for seeing how well could she hide how painful even the most minute of movements were, with her stump, for however long the girl's visits lasted. Seeing the admiration in Emma's eyes had nothing to do with it. It was a test for herself and herself only!

She brings the message up – U heard from madison - ...why is she texting her about their third wheel?

"Hey." She most definitely doesn't jump up at Dennis' voice.

"Hey yourself." He takes her reply as an invitation to pull a chair for himself. Ugh, what is it in her talking back that makes people think they're not unwelcome? Can't they just leave her well enough alone? She doesn't say anything? Wrong. She starts talking? Even worse. It'd be nice if they'd finally make up their damn minds.

- Heard what - she types back to Emma.

"How's your leg?" The boy asks after setting a foam cup of – Sophia leans forward to see – tea on the desk, just beside her feet. She doesn't thank him, he's probably messed the drink up if past experience is anything to go by.

"Good." Go away.

An uncomfortable silence descends upon them, broken up only by the muted, idle chatter between Aegis and Kid Win on their patrol. Well, uncomfortable for one of them at least. For her part, Sophia doesn't particularly care. That, and she has something else to occupy her attention.

- Anything

her parents called me

she hasnt come back from a shopping trip today - She scoffs. It's not even been a full day. Shopping trip. Riiight. The girl is probably in the process of acquiring a hangover right at this very moment. Dumb not to tell anybody, if you ask her, what with the shit going down on the streets, but it wouldn't be the first dumb thing any of them has done.

"That's good." Fucking... what does he want? "Uh, anyway, we're planning to go out tomorrow, you know, the whole team-" She mostly tunes him out while writing her reply, mostly, just enough to still pick up the important parts.

- Prolly some party

tell em u dont know

her mess to sort out - She takes a sip of her tea and scowls. The hell did he sugar it with? Table spoon?

"-so, would you like to go?" Oh? He's finished?

"No."

The boy looks as if he's about to say something, before he breathes out a sigh, his posture sagging.

"Right, worth a shot, I guess." Not really, no. Her team's chatter gets on her nerves even more than Emma's does.

He leaves without another word, and Sophia doesn't watch him go, her eyes focused on the new message.

- What if its another killing – Unlikely, but the question gives her a short pause nonetheless.

The girl shakes her head. Even if it's another attack, they won't know till Madison doesn't turn up sometime tomorrow. And regardless, what is she supposed to do about it? She is not an investigator. She kicks asses and takes names, not this boring investigation bullshit. Not that she couldn't, of course, should the need arise.

- Chill

cant do shut now anyway – she glares daggers at the auto correct before aggressively slurping at her tea. It might be terrible but it's there. She can busy her mind with complaining while waiting for a reply, if nothing else.

- K just promise me youll help me look tomorrow – Sophia's eye tics.

Of all the stupid-ass things to do... of course she'll help if it comes to it, lest the idiot actually finds something. Said something being trouble she won't be able to dig herself out of on her lonesome. Prey she might not be, but there is a big fucking difference between being a predator, and being a parahuman predator. Emma will fight all the same, but as much as Sophia admires it, it also poses a bit of an issue in how it's up to her to drag the other girl's ass out of trouble.

It's not like she cares or anything. It'd just be a bother to find someone else who would understand her the way Emma does.

- Sure -