"Fuck!"

The door slammed open and Sophia limped through, throwing her mask in the general direction of the couches and ignoring the concerned look Carlos shot her from the console. The door between her and the showers fared little better, crashing open as she barged through, overloading the automatic compensators Armsmaster had installed to prevent just such a thing from occurring.

As she started tugging off the top of her costume, revealing the plain black sports top beneath, Missy poked her head around the door. She was sans mask which meant no blonde wig, allowing her brown hair to tumble everywhere in a messy mane, but the rest of her costume flashed green in the harsh light of the locker room.

"Uhm… is everything okay, Sophia?"

She angrily slammed the locker door open and dumped the nest of black fabric inside, turning with a grunt. "Regent fucking tasered me."

"Oh," Missy mumbled, eyes wide. "Are…"

"I'm fine!" Sophia took a deep breath, and then repeated herself in a calmer tone of voice. "I'm fine. Fucker tripped me and then tased me. Hurts like a bitch."

She could sense the younger girls disapproval as she swore again whilst trying to strip the second layer of leggings off. Try as she might, Sophia couldn't quite bring herself to tug the leathers away from what she knew was going to be a nasty welt. The taser had gone right through the thin protection.

"Shit…" She allowed her head to fall back against the metal behind her before cocking an eyebrow at Missy, who was still watching her cautiously. "What are you looking at, squirt? Wanna do something helpful?"

For a moment, it looked like the other Ward would shake her head, but she eventually jerked her head once. Sophia frowned, trying to work out how best to phrase her next question.

"Can… shit this is gonna sound weird… can you help me get these leggings off?"

Silence.

"Uhm."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Not like that, this isn't one of Dennis's weird fantasies. Regent… tased my..."

"Your what?"

"My ass…" Sophia mumbled, her dark skin flushing slightly.

Missy stepped closer tentatively. "I can't hear you."

"MY ASS, FUCK! HE TASED MY FUCKING ASS!" Sophia yelled, before immediately covering her mouth. It was too late. She slumped backwards in defeat as the doors from the common room slowly opened a crack and a mop of red hair poked through.

"The mighty Huntress returns! And what's this I'm hearing about- hey!"

Missy smirked, but a moment later the door slammed shut to the sound of a startled yell, and space quickly reverted to its normal dimensions. "I'll help. Um…"

The next few minutes were spent in an awkward dance until the smaller girl finally gave up and yanked the tight-fitting leggings down, prompting a hiss of pain from Sophia.

"Jeeeezus, watch it!"

Missy eyed her quizzically. "Stop being such a baby."

She contemplated swearing at the girl, but decided against it. With a grunt of thanks, the leggings hit the back of the locker and Sophia turned away, raising a hand in a half-assed wave to Missy before heading for the girl's showers.

Console duty. If there was one thing Sophia wished she'd known about before signing on with the Wards, it was console duty. As boring as Dean was slow, all it entailed was sitting at a desk in front of three large screens and a keyboard with a headset on, listening to the occasional burst of chatter from whoever was out on patrol at the time.

For two and a half hours straight.

Rolling her shoulders to try and put off the inevitable cramp, Sophia slowly pushed herself off of the desk and sat up straight. Apart from her, the common room was empty; Kid Win was somewhere on the base, but as usual he was tinkering, and Vista had gone home early. Sighing quietly, she dragged a finger across the sense-pad and checked the BBPD reports for anything of interest.

"Aegis, this is Console."

A moment of silence, and then the headset crackled softly. "Aegis here, go ahead."

She double-checked the screen before replying. The address in the report she'd highlighted was actually one of the ones Lisa had given her a few days ago. "Police report illicit activity on... Bay Hill Rise, Merchant colours on scene and possible Squealer vehicle." She paused to yawn expansively before continuing, "You and Clock are ten minutes out, and the responding officer requested cape backup just in case. Your call."

Aegis replied, doing a fair job of concealing his disapproval at her lack of decorum. "We'll check it out, boring so far."

"I'll confirm with Control," she replied by way of acknowledgement, and killed the link. A few strokes on the keyboard later and a new voice filled her ear.

"Miss Militia."

"Aegis and Clockblocker are moving to aid the cops on Bay Hill Rise."

The sound of an engine idling filled the silence as the hero checked her own report of the incident. "Understood, I'll swing around the Bay loop road and join them. Out."

Sophia waited for the link to die out before slumping back over the desk. One click greenlighted Carlos and Dennis, alerting them they were cleared to move to assist the police. She had to suppress a sneer - it was a miracle they let the Wards do anything, and what they were allowed to do had any number of restrictions and rules in place to make it even more difficult. Brian doesn't know how easy he's got it.

Five minutes passed, in which time Sophia shifted uncomfortably whilst drumming her fingers against the desk. It wasn't that she couldn't get comfortable - oh no, she'd long since worked out the most ergonomic sprawl for dozing off on the console - the problem was the irritating pain radiating from her ass. When Lisa had told her Alec would tase her, she'd given the impression the other Undersider would at least take pains not to hurt her too badly when they had their planned 'encounter'.

Turns out he'd cackled wildly whilst tripping her with his power before ramming that sceptre of his straight into her buttcheek. Obviously, the electric current prevented her phasing straight through it, but that didn't stop her trying on instinct. The resulting yell and the following stream of curses when Kid Win finally reached her had the other Ward wincing in sympathy. That was two days ago, and it still hurt like hell to sit down. Knowing Alec, there'd be a lewd joke in that somewhere - God knew Dennis had enough of them ready every time she saw him.

"Console, this is Aegis. Turns out there were a couple of Merchant gang bangers on scene, all wrapped up now. We're heading for home."

With a brief shake of the head to clear her thoughts, Sophia keyed the mic. "Whatever."

"Shadow Stalker, can't you at least try to be professional?" Aegis sighed in her ear.

"Whatever, sir. How's that?"

He snorted. "It'll do. Out."

Again, Sophia was left alone with her thoughts. After a moment's glance at the screens to check she wasn't missing anything, she pushed her chair back and slumped as comfortably as she could manage, losing herself in her thoughts.

The base was… tense. A week and a half after her visit to Brian and by extension Lisa the rumours flying around about a suspected mole had been confirmed in a debriefing after the Wards' last encounter with the Undersiders - the same one in which Alec tagged her with the taser. Armsmaster had stomped in looking particularly displeased, and asked for a recap. After telling Clockblocker to stop cracking jokes about Sophia struggling to sit straight, the older hero had gruffly announced the PRT was looking for moles with links to the Undersiders and that they should remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour.

Thinking about it made her smile. For all his success as a cape, Armsmaster wasn't a people person. Hell, he probably generated more ill will amongst his teammates by merit of missing any sort of social cue than she did, and that was saying something considering how much of a bitch she'd been in the first month of probation. Missy was still only just starting to view her in a non-negative light.

Sophia paused in her ruminations. Now that she thought about it, she kind of felt… bad about how she'd treated the little twerp. Sure, she was annoying and cheerful and small and… She was just a kid after all. Maybe she could offer to train with her or something, show that she wasn't just a cold-hearted bitch.

What am I thinking? Sophia mentally chuckled. Next thing I know I'll actually be fucking going to one of those ice cream nights she suggested.

Checking the console clock again, she yawned. Only half an hour remained, and then she was due on patrol herself, this time with Triumph. The older boy had transferred on up to the Protectorate at the start of December, but he still liked to keep in contact with his old team mates.

And you gotta give him credit, he even tries with me.

As usual, the patrol found Sophia dressed in costume, standing on a rooftop and waiting for her partner to catch up. Unlike Gallant, Triumph was actually quick, but despite some weird kind of healing factor he wasn't that much stronger than a normal, fit human being.

To punctuate that thought, the Protectorate hero landed on the roof next to her, and straightened, taking a series of deep breaths.

"You're fast," he managed, breathing quickly back under control.

"Yeah, I do track. Pays to be fast."

He just nodded before moving off, grabbing an escape ladder and sliding down it. For her part, Sophia waited until she couldn't hear the rattling metal before breaking into a jog and throwing herself off the roof after him.

Triumph was waiting at the entrance to the alleyway, and together they moved out onto the street at a steady jog. Foot patrols with the Wards were more about showing the colours than actually doing any real crime prevention, and although his position in the Protectorate proper gave him a little more leeway, Roy was still being kept back from the more front-line operations until he had more experience.

A few people stopped and waved, or asked for autographs - Sophia pretended not to be irritated when more people asked for his than hers - but for the most part people let them be. Out of the corner of her eye she was sure she saw one or two people scuttling away, but they couldn't pursue without due suspicion. More's the pity. Her finger itched to rest against the trigger of one of her crossbows, but it was 'bad PR' to be seen wandering around brandishing weapons, according to some stuck up prick behind a desk.

"You're quiet," Roy observed, slowing the pace slightly.

Sophia considered the question. It didn't feel like a trap, so maybe it was safe to answer. "Just thinking about how quiet it is."

The other hero nodded and smiled. "Gunning for a round two with Regent?"

"Hah," she spat, hoping he didn't notice the way she twitched at the topic. "Next time he'll eat dirt."

God, I hate second-guessing everything I say.

Roy, for his part, just nodded and soon enough the conversation lapsed back into silence. By mutual agreement Sophia made her way back onto the rooftops whilst he made use of that little bit of super-strength to keep up with her on the sidewalks below.

It was almost the end of the patrol, with night settling swiftly around them, when eyes made sharp from months of vigilantism and then months of Wards training spotted something amiss in an alleyway below.

"Triumph, here."

"I'm not a dog, Stalker. Where?"

She dropped to the ground, phasing through the fire escape to keep her descent controlled, and strode to the edge of the street. "Just off Lincoln Avenue, I'll flag you down."

Whilst she waited for Triumph, Sophia turned back to the alleyway behind her and chuckled at the seven thugs spread out across the floor, arms and legs zip-tied together. One of them tried to spit at her, but the effort of lifting his head from the ground proved too much and a crack rang out as he smashed his face into the floor.

"Great work, genius," she commented, swinging a kick in his direction only to pull it at the last moment. Brian had got on her case about needless violence - treat your enemies well and they'll remember it or some bullshit, she was never quite sure - and… well, her brother wasn't a complete idiot, so she did her best to keep her anger caged for when she really needed it.

Triumph arrived not long after and stopped. "Wow, you work fast. Aren't Wards supposed to call it in before you engage?"

"We are," Sophia shrugged, before elaborating. "Wasn't me, found 'em like this."

"Oh, well then," he blinked. After checking to make sure they were all secured, he stepped back and clicked his comm. "Triumph to console, Shadow Stalker picked up a group of thugs in ABB colours hogtied and left out for collection. Could be a new independent on the scene."

Beneath her mask, Sophia smiled and bent down next to the nearest thug, dragging him upright and setting him against the wall. Now this will be something interesting to tell Lisa.