Winslow high was a microcosm of Brockton Bay.

Here were the normal citizens, the gangs in miniature, the authorities.

Those who lived. Those who died. And those who disappeared.

There were always students who just vanish, be it due to a transfer to another school without word or... worse, they fell astray of the wrong people. Such things were known to happen from time to time.

Such as the case of poor Hebert Taylor, months missing now. She was not missed.

The same could not be said for the queen bee of Winslow; Emma Barnes. Wealth, beauty and power were hers to wield in the school, and she had done so with her former friend, now missing for over three months.

Emma Barnes had been missing for but a single week. And that was of concern to her family and friends. After all, her phone had been recovered in the trash as had her GPS pendant.

The search for her with broadcasts on the TV accompanied by such things as amber alerts proved to be less than fruitful.

Anger ate at Shadow Stalker's heart as she peered down at the Merchants' base. She was more of an action person, someone who needed to do something, it was not in her nature to sit idly by and just wait. She couldn't do so and remain herself. Still, it wouldn't hurt for her to shake down some Merchants for information on Emma after beating them up.

The tell-tale marks of Merchant territory were obvious to her; the gang markings on the apartment building declaring the Merchants to be in the House, the hookers manning the street corners as they called out to their customers, the pick-up and drop offs every now and then by the amazingly normal looking cars.

Still, she kept watch and noting down those who went in and out.

Once, she would have just jumped in, crossbows firing away. Wisdom and age had tempered her.

Now, she listened and watched. Patience before striking was a byword for her.

The apartment building was mostly empty with only the top floors occupied, based on the movement about within it and the lights.

As the sunset, Shadow Stalker breathed in and swallowed one last sip of water from her canteen before running for the edge of the roof she stood on before launching herself upwards and forwards.

With cloak fluttering freely for a moment before being pulled around her body as she transitioned into her shadow form with less than a thought, Shadow Stalker had to muse that despite it being decades since the advent of capes that people still so very seldom looked up.

And thus the flutter of shadows crossed from one roof to the other.

It was a sad testament of her skills that no one noticed as she flipped over the side of the building and on to the fire escape, and from there into the the apartment.

The room that she had entered was a bedroom in that it had a bed and clothing thrown about the floor, clearly used before being abandoned as not worth washing. The air was redolent with the scent of perfume, incense, and... Shadow Stalker frowned at the unfamiliar smokey scent. It wasn't that of weed, but something similar.

Crossbows in hand, she wandered the empty rooms, the sound of the TV playing some insipid trash music gave her some guidance as to where she had to go to find a Merchant or one of their whores.

As she drew near the room with the TV, she could hear indistinct voices and laughter.

Familiar laughter.

She didn't think, only reacted as she burst into the room.

"Heyyyy, superhero..." The look on Emma's face as she giggled at Shadow Stalker was almost enough to make her pause. Rather, it was the fact that her friend was dressed only in her underwear as she lay on the beanbag facing the TV that made her stop for a moment.

"Turn around," her voice was tense as she looked at the chair facing away from her, and which someone was sitting in as they worked on something at the table.

Shadow Stalker had heard of a new Merchant cape, a tinker of some kind that dealt in drugs by the name of Bloody Addiction. If the one seated at the desk was lucky, he was said tinker. If not... well, one more dead drug dealer was no big deal in Brockton Bay.

The chair slowly turned about.

What Shadow Stalker saw, she refused to accept. "Hebert?"

"Sophia." There was a satisfied note in Taylor's voice as she looked at the heroine before she stood up, the shawl she wore flared open and- there was a flare of light. "It's been some time, hasn't it?"

As she looked at the glowing butterfly eyes on the spread shawl, Shadow Stalker knew that she had to do something, but found herself unable to move, to say a word, to do anything as Taylor drew closer to her.

She could hear chittering voices and tiny hands pulling at her costume. Stripping her of weapons, equipment and armor.

"Boys, you'll dispose of those nasty things for me, won't you?" There was a smile on Taylor's face and Sophia knew she would do anything to see that smile.

The indistinct chittering voices, the shadows around her that resembled insectile things, didn't matter to her.

She would hear a scream in the back of her mind, but that didn't matter.

Nothing mattered.

Just Taylor.

"Sophia, you'll be a good girl for me, won't you?"

At the voice that crawled into her ears, and reached deep into her mind, Sophia could only smile and nod in agreement.

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Addictive Substances

Goblin Queen Out-take

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Writer's Notes : This one is Cup grace Taylor.

Please note that this is extremely non-canonical and is more a what-if than an actual part of the story.