Something gives under Sophia's fist when she brings it down on the thief's nose. Persistent fucker, but nowhere near good enough to either outrun the hero or fight her. Girl should've picked a better occupation than purse snatching, or at least a better place for it. Maybe the lesson will stick. Maybe not. Probably not. That's how those things usually go in the Bay. Don't much matter to Sophia, as long as she can break a few bones in the process.
Aegis touches down next to her as she's making sure the zip cuffs will be as uncomfortable as possible for her catch. A disdainful smile stretches the corners of her lips. All the muscle, adaptive biology and fucking flight, and still it's her who got the runner. He'd get the girl now writhing on the ground eventually, yeah, but that's powers. Parahumans always have the edge, no matter how good one is at something. It'd be admirable that people still try if it weren't so stupid.
She doesn't see the boy's expression, but she doesn't need to to know how it twists beneath his mask at the sight of blood pouring from the criminal's nose. She straightens up, challenging him to say anything and knowing he won't. Not here, not now, among the crowd of onlookers that are starting to flock to observe heroes at work. He will later, but that doesn't matter. She's already won.
"Move back people! We've got things here under control." He makes to create some space around them. "Shadow Stalker, call this in."
Hmpf. She didn't want to deal with the crowds, anyway.
"Pursuit over," Sophia speaks into the comm. "Send a police patrol to pick the culprit." She looks around to find a plate with the name of the street they ended up on. "We're on thirty-ninth. Hard to miss."
"Will the culprit need medical attention?" Vista sounds about as interested in it as Sophia herself on the other side of the call.
She looks to the thief, whom Aegis is checking for damage.
"Nothing the police can't take care of," the older Ward answers in her stead. Sophia sneers at the words. They should leave it as is. Maybe it'd remind the scum of what happened the last time she tried to rob someone.
Is it any wonder the criminals are feeling so bold? They'd be less inclined to jump into all this if the PRT stopped fucking around with the PR bullcrap and let heroes do what they're capable of instead of turning them into glorified mascots. Show shitheads what they'd be up against. Maybe then the fuckers would think twice before jumping someone. Maybe then fresh triggers would learn to fear retribution of jumping head-first into villainy.
Maybe Emma would still be alive.
She cuts the thought off before moving to pick up the purse the thief dropped. Demigods chasing after purse snatchers. Fuck. Anybody could do this. Doesn't take powers or police training to trip an unarmed runner. So of course everybody stepped out of the way when they noticed the commotion, cheering the hero on as they stood on the sidelines. Useless. They're the kind of people who'd cry for help on the phone while their friends and family were being murdered a room over. Even the stupid bitch who got her shit stolen only had enough in her to yell for someone else to get it back. Sophia wouldn't have so much as lifted a finger if she were patrolling on her own, if she had the option to do something worth her time, if it weren't the only way to relieve some of her restlessness.
The Ward shoves the purse into the just-now-approaching woman's arms and quickly backs off, resolutely ignoring the inane thanks before the urge to sock the useless victim in her too-white teeth wins out over not wanting to deal with Piggy. She's already got enough on her plate without asking for seconds.
Sophia's scowl deepens underneath her mask when some idiot snaps a photo of her with the flash on. The sun's still out, and the flash irritates her itchy eyes even through her goggles' dark lenses. Fuck this.
"I'm taking the roof," she announces to her teammate before going intangible and floating up the building before he has a chance to say anything. Not like he could stop her, slave to the appearances that he is. Arguing with another Ward out in the open would look bad, undermine his authority. Not that he should have any complaints this time. She caught a thief, and with relatively little damage done, too. Besides, forcing her to stay in the spotlight is a hare-brained idea anyway. It was never a secret, but the recent media attention that Sophia Hess received served everyone as a good reminder.
The cold air forces a shuddering breath out of the girl once she drops out of her breaker state, the wind chilling her to the bone. She rubs at her arms before casting a cursory glance at the area below, finding nothing, just as expected. This isn't the Broadwalk, but it sure ain't gang territory, either. Things are finally calming down after it was revealed that it was Madison behind the recent murders. Took the wind right out from the nazi sails to have the Winslow Killer be a white girl and not fucking Lung himself, though it wasn't long before Sophia started getting flak for corrupting poor, poor Madison. As if that girl needed it - but since when did skinheads care about truth? Back to business as usual.
Only it's not. Not without Emma.
For all intents and purposes, she's now a prisoner. Piggy and Armsmaster let her go to school and back on her own so as to not endanger her identity, but that's about it. They say it's for her own safety, what with the attempt at her life, and while Sophia can see the value of not letting just anyone walk up to her front door, she can also see this for what it truly is. A punishment for the shit they dug up about her school life. Only, opposed to all the other punishments she's received until now, there's no Emma to bitch about it to, or even Madison and her endless chatter to fill the time. Just her. Just the base, the patrols, the school, and the occasional visit from her family. That's all of her world now. With another useless fucking shrink thrown into the mix. Yes, Sophia. All our conversations are private, Sophia. I wouldn't betray a patient's trust, Sophia. Fucking idiot thinks she was born yesterday. She'd be sitting in jail the next morning if she told him everything. It's a waste of time, anyway. Just another way of sheep trying to control their betters by making them believe there's something wrong with them. Because, of course, the issue is with her; not the trash on the streets and everyone else who just accepts it as a given.
A black family is found slaughtered in their house? Out of sight, out of mind in a week, and don't forget to barricade your doors. A dragon demolishes a street or two, leaving entire families displaced? Well, shit just happens in Brockton Bay, didn't you get used to it yet? Hope you had parahuman insurance. Your daughter smuggles out even the fucking toaster to feed her drug addiction? Better hope somebody does something about those Merchants. Someone kills your best friend? Oh, best leave it to the police and PRT. To somebody else. Always somebody else. That's good. That's healthy. To roll over and die.
The girl starts walking along the edge of the roof, looking, hoping, for any sign of commotion, something to give herself anything to do other than think. She can't stop it. Not since that day.
She'd seen the sort of person the powers-that-be want to make. The sort of person who takes anything without retaliation. Winslow's full of those and Hebert's the worst of all. If the bitch had done even a fraction of what they had, Sophia would have destroyed her. All that loser could ever do was turn tail and run. But that's what sets them so many leagues apart, isn't it? What worth do such people as Hebert have? What's the point of saving or protecting them, if they'll always need that protection no matter how hard you try? Worthless, wasted effort. She didn't become a hero to make no difference at all. Sheep can't make it on their own, and no amount of encouragement will change that.
Emma understood. She dropped that ballast around her neck as soon as she had the concept explained to her. Really, Sophia just put in words what the other girl already knew. It's rare to find someone like that. Someone who sees how the world really works and is ready to embrace it. A fellow survivor.
So why isn't she alive? She should be alive, not bleeding out on the floor, not-
Sophia blinks the image away. Pointless to think about. Maybe there's some cape out there who can change the past, but that's not her. Emma's dead. So what? Sophia's been on her own before, for far longer than she'd known the other girl. She's a survivor. She's fine, and will be fine. She survived her abduction into the Wards, she'll live through this as well.
It'd just be so much easier, was so much easier, to stand it all, when she was allowed to do her job instead of this... posturing.
With their ridiculous status quo slowly settling in again, the Wards had once more been assigned to less risk-prone routes, to looking pretty. Shit, the others even visited Winslow to pretend they're doing something (and wasn't that a joy to sit through alone). The most she's seen of the gangs this week were the lookouts tracking the heroes whenever they went so that their buddies could avoid the area. It's all wrong. It's the heroes, her, who should be stalking the criminals in their backstreets and alleyways. Not smiling, waving, and posing for photos. Being visible defeats the whole purpose. Oh, right. A hero's mere presence stops crime. For ten fucking minutes it takes them to pass the neighborhood, and then it's back to business because they're not hunting for criminals, just making rounds in hopes of stumbling onto a situation. Almost all of it being small stuff like that dumb cunt down on the street level.
Were it not for her pseudo-house arrest she could at least go out solo, make the sort of difference in one night the entire Wards team can't manage in a week. Whoever they catch is usually out on the streets in a few days due to some or other legal bullshit. Fuck the colors they wear, fuck what they say, and fuck common sense in particular, because we can't be sure they're criminals! It's even worse with capes. Oh, the Protectorate makes arrests from time to time, but actually delivering their detainees to whatever prison they are meant to go to? They might as well just open the holding cells and let all the villains out. It'd save them all trouble.
It's tiring, in a way that somehow just makes her more restless. Tiring to do nothing. Tiring to see others do nothing, just bend over and take it when told to. She'd like to see the gangs be so bold if everyone carried a gun and wasn't so fucking afraid to use it. How hard would it be to track Lung down somewhere, and open-close the whole thing with a bomb? She'd even volunteer to deliver it, not that they'd take her up on the offer (fucking pussies), because she's a Ward. Well screw her, right? Screw what she has to offer. Better yet, lock her up so that she can't even work on her own.
She could at least start looking into things, keep her ear to the ground, beat the info she needs out of thugs. Instead, just like in the time she'd been confined to console duty after losing her leg, she's doing nothing. Nothing. With that fucker still out there!
It takes a considerable effort to resist the urge to just up and leave Aegis to hunt on her own. To not just refuse to go back into her cage. Most of all, it takes effort to keep telling herself it's worth it, that if she runs away, the PRT will put in way more effort into catching her than the son of a bitch who killed Emma.
Yes, Madison killed Emma. But weapons don't kill on their own. She had thought about it, thought long and hard, and the only thing that made sense is that the girl was Mastered to do what she'd done. She'd told the investigators as much. Isn't it too convenient, too neat, that the person who claims to be behind the killing would also commit suicide after her last two targets were dead? If she really were so scared of her and Emma, wouldn't she strike at them and not the others first? Looks more like some coward looking for a way to shift the blame to their own target. Blame them for everything and then get rid of them both so they can't call it out.
Fuck that. She's a survivor, no piece of shit coward will take her out like some second rate-
A memory of unseeing eyes stops her short, cold claws squeezing her heart at the accusation in them. Slowly, she forces her body to relax before moving again.
Being targeted by other capes was a danger she accepted when she first took up her mantle as Shadow Stalker. People will always break rules, written or not, if they can get away with it. She's a prime example of that herself. Being friends with a cape, not just their civilian identity, means accepting that danger. That's why it takes a survivor to be one.
Only Emma didn't survive, did she?
No. Fuck. That's not- that's exactly why the cape behind this picked Madison. They knew it would give them the element of surprise when she pulled out a knife and attacked her. Surprise and shock was what killed Emma. That, and her lack of training. That, and not having a power.
She should've went with her to that door. Should've trained Emma, done more than just take her out at nights to show off. Should've-
Would've, could've.
Not her fault. It's not her job to hold anyone by hand and guide them through life. She mops up criminals. What's the point in saving someone who won't fight for themselves? If someone just bends over and takes it, then why should she care? Useless shits wouldn't help her if their positions were reversed. How could they, if they can't even fight for themselves? It's not her damn responsibility to teach anyone anything. She's learned what she needed on her own. She's a survivor!
Wasn't Emma?
The Ward returns to the point she started walking from, having made a full circle around the building's rooftop. Where are nazis when you need them? She could use something, anything, to do right now other than this. Even another common thief, or protecting some useless prey. Anything at all. Even taking a cat out of a tree would do. She wouldn't normally, but hell. Scion does it. They've only got another hour of patrolling, and then she's back to twiddling her thumbs. Back to looking for distractions that just don't hold.
Back to memories.
God fucking dammit. If she was at least told what's happening with the investigation (if anything's happening at all), she could at least decide whether to stomach this bullshit or just strike out on her own and screw the consequences. Somebody tried to kill her. Somebody had Madison kill Emma. They might not have been the best of friends, she and Madison, but they were still friends. She didn't think when she saw Emma there, bleeding out on the ground. There was... nothing. She saw a threat - Emma's blood - and instead of saving Emma's life, she-
Not like it'd matter. She couldn't do a thing. By the time the ambulance came, Emma was cold in her arms. No. That's not true. If she didn't lose it, Madison would still be alive. For better or worse for the Mastered girl, if she was so far gone as to kill herself after, but at least they'd have something to go on other than that useless letter. Well, not useless. It helped to cement her conviction that this was a Master's work. Madison wouldn't have written something like that. It's not just the contents, it's how it's written down. Sophia can't quite put her finger on it but she simply can't imagine the cutesy, bubbly, vicious girl writing something so somber.
Unless she really felt like the letter said all this time.
Sophia shakes her head. As if. Madison wasn't a weakling. She wouldn't have cared about trash like Hebert. The whole thing stinks of a Master. The problem is, who? There's no shortage of people who'd love to see her gone, both in and out of mask.
Her first thought was the ABB. Clements apparently had some trouble with them at school, why wouldn't they use her? But Lung doesn't fuck around like that. He'd just show up and destroy the whole street if he felt Shadow Stalker crossed him. Second, of course, were the nazis, but it's been weeks and so far, there hasn't been a peep about a new Master joining the Empire. That's assuming they'd go after a hero in her civies again, but so far New Wave hasn't had another causality, and aren't they the easiest target? Nazis aren't the brightest fuckers out there, but they're not completely brain-dead. Going after a Ward would force even the ever-so-hesitant PRT to action. It could be some independent, but why? More importantly, how? E88 and ABB she can understand getting a hold of her identity, they have the resources, but some second-rate villain?
It must be someone at school. Why all the other deaths, other than because they all crossed the same person? Armsmaster and MM brief them about new parahumans the moment they get a wind of them, and since it's been some time since the attack, a new villain would've surfaced already. It makes sense. Who else would have known about her plans for that day than another student who heard about them at school? Moreover, if the Master spied on them there, it'd make sense that they'd make their move at Emma's house. That's where they usually went after school, that or the city. Sophia's own house isn't the best of places to hang out, and she never invited Madison there, either. Someone who knows her identity would also know where she lives, and strike there.
Their trigger must've been a recent thing, too. Sometime soon before the first death. Or maybe the second. It's not that far out of the ordinary for teenagers to get mauled to death in some alleyway in Brockton Bay. Fucking shithole.
Problem is, this leaves her with an unacceptably large pool of possible targets. She never paid much attention to the trash she put in their place, why would she? Though there is one person that stands out like a sore thumb compared to before - Hebert. She doesn't skirt the corridors any longer, doesn't hide in toilet stalls, doesn't run at the sight of her. It grates at Sophia's nerves. She leaves the wimp alone for five minutes and there she goes acting like there's a place in the world for her. But could that be because she's triggered? It's not impossible, Sophia supposes, but doubtful. There's another, more likely reason. It wears the form of an Asian freshman that Hebert took to following like some ugly duckling. Figures she'd cling to the first person that didn't push her away.
It might also have to do with the new principal looking none too kindly on the established pecking order. Worthless scum like Hebert has to be constantly reminded of her place in the world, lest they forget. It seems to Sophia that the wuss had enough time to forget. Not that she cares, not really, and not just because she'd end up in a juvie this time if the word got back to Piggy. Not worth it. Hebert's an eyesore, but she had never been her own target. She was Emma's.
All that aside, apparently she'd already been taken in for questioning when Madison disappeared and came out clean. How much validity those rumors hold, Sophia can't tell. She never cared for school gossip, and this one in particular came from some ABB bitch. Filtering this shit out had been her friends' thing. Sophia always was subpar at extracting information through non-violent means - the only means available to her for now. Having Emma and Madison to look into the losers at school would be real useful. But without them-
But nothing! She doesn't need them! It'll be more difficult, sure, but she'll deal. So what if it's a lot of people to go through? As if shadowing high schoolers home can be more difficult than tracking thugs back to their hideouts. This should be easy in comparison, just time consuming. As if something like that would stop her. She's Shadow Stalker! She's the one who stalks her prey! The one to attack when her target least expects it, not the other way around!
She just needs to be patient. They can't keep her locked away forever. They might keep an eye on her house for some time still, but there's nothing they can do to stop her from slipping away at night. Not unless the PRT could spare a few additional officers to surround the whole of her block. The one patrol that's already there, she won't complain about. Whoever attacked her already proved they don't care about the rules. Who's to say the next time it won't be her family that-
There's not gonna be a next time! The sooner she's off the leash, the sooner she can make sure of that. It's not like the PRT will do it, with their endless fucking posturing. They're not telling her shit. Just the same old tired formula of following up on a lead that they always go for when they have nothing to say. That and the PR stunts. But she's also glad. If they catch the fucker first, the worst they've got to look forward to is a prison sentence, even if it's the Birdcage. What happened to the good ol' death penalty? Though even that would be insufficient in Sophia's opinion. When she gets her hands on that fucker, they'll wish their death was something as simple, pleasant and quick as the chair.
She'll tear them apart piece by piece, and commit their dying eyes to memory, like they made her remember Emma's, so that she has something to tell her when she comes at night.
Maybe it'll finally be enough.
The girl crouches down and pulls her cloak tighter around her to ward off the whips of cold wind.
Maybe.