Sophia stepped off the last bus and hitched the overfilled backpack into a more comfortable position as she stifled a yawn. It was late - later than she'd usually get home; Assault had taken her aside at the end of the patrol and questioned her about Browbeat. He'd rolled his eyes when she admitted she'd let him go his own way at the end of their meeting rather than ask him back to the base, but otherwise seemed content with her… mostly factual recount of what she'd said. Hopefully Browbeat wouldn't end up in a position to contradict her. As the run-down bus hissed loudly and drew away behind her, she started off into the gloom between her and home.
Home. It was an interesting thought now that Brian had his own place set up. Sophia stayed with their Mom because of Aisha mostly, but there was still that little part of her that kept her awake at nights whispering if I'd been stronger, maybe she wouldn't have got this bad. Every morning came with the hope that today was the day Mom would beat it, and every morning it was shattered. She knew Aisha needed her, but she wasn't sure just how much longer she could bear to watch Mom treat them both like shit only to cling to them in tears moments later.
Maybe if I hide her stash?
No. No, as much as she had considered that option before, Sophia knew what would happen. Mom would go crazy, demanding to know where her stash was, and then he'd come in from the front room.
The lamp ahead flickered twice and went out, plunging much of the rest of the street into darkness, but she barely paused. There was a time when she'd scurry her way home, scared of the looming concrete facades of the packed tower blocks that studded the development in which she lived, but since her trigger it was difficult not to enjoy it. In places like this, people were truly alive.
But those thoughts weren't suitable for Aisha and home. With a sigh, Sophia turned off the road and gave the rusty gate a savage kick, jarring it open. The grimy glass door caught as it always did, forcing her to slam her shoulder against the handle painfully lest she wanted to bring down the wrath of him by hitting the buzzer. After two tries it opened, and she readjusted her backpack before bounding up the stairs two at a time.
The six room flat was on the eleventh floor, but she only slowed at the ninth, stopping to cock her head.
Fuck.
Loud shouting could be heard echoing down the stairwell, a strident male baritone clashing with the high-pitched feminine wail of his partner. Two voices Sophia knew all too well.
Mom, and Evan. Even thinking his name fouled her mood. She pounded up the final flights of stairs four at a time, hesitating only at the door to check the argument wasn't occurring in the hallway. Thankfully, it wasn't - a crashing sound told her Mom was flying about the kitchen in one of her rages whilst he berated her.
Good. Aisha's still in her room. The arguments only moved to the hallway when Aisha was threatening to, or about to, run away. Or at least, it did the times when Mom noticed.
The door opened quietly, and Sophia allowed herself a small smile at the foresight of keeping it well-oiled. If it came to the worst, she could always dart through the thin walls in shadow form, but Aisha couldn't. Given how often her younger sister ran away… Well, a small bottle of WD40 cost hardly anything at the grungy department store half a mile away. The voices became clear once she was inside, but it was easy to ignore them past confirming that they hadn't heard her come in. She darted through the hall, flickering her power once to dive through the wall into her room rather than risk being spotted.
Inside, she allowed herself to breathe out.
"Hey, when'd you get in here?"
Sophia nearly dropped her backpack in surprise as Aisha sat up, pushing aside the covers of the bed and tugging her earphones out. It's fine, she didn't see me.
"Just now. What're you doing in my room?"
Her little sister's hand went to the dyed lock of purple hair, as it always did when she was anxious. When she answered, her voice was quiet - a stark counterpoint to her usual attitude.
"They're fighting again."
Sophia sighed and slung her backpack into the corner, where Aisha wouldn't see her mask poking out of the top, before crossing over to her bed and settling down next to her. "I heard. It'll be fine."
"Yeah? That doesn't sound like fine."
"They always sound like this," Sophia did her best to reassure her whilst not believing a word she said. "They'll be alright in a bit."
In truth she could never tell when the argument would turn explosive and the blows would start to fly. It happened about once every two or three weeks, when things started getting difficult for one of them and tempers started to rise. Evan - and this was the only thing Sophia begrudgingly allowed herself to approve of the drug-addled man - never started it, content to sit in a stupor the whole day until Mom finally got tired of it and managed to stay sober long enough to demand he do something for the household.
She tried, Sophia knew, tried so hard to be a good mom. But the drugs Evan could get through his ties with the fucking Merchants were good, and she couldn't resist the temptation for long. God knew the only reason she hadn't strung the man and every one of his dealers up by their own guts was because Mom would start to suffer withdrawal symptoms, and that was when she was meanest to Aisha. Meanest to all of them.
"Hey, Soph?"
She stirred, smiling at her sister tiredly. "What, squirt?"
"Can we go see Brian soon?"
I need to get out, Sophia translated in the privacy of her own head. I'll run away again if I don't get out.
"Sure thing. His new flat is actually pretty nice, but don't tell him I said that. His sense of interior design is crap, though. You could probably give him some pointers, bet he'd be pleased."
Aisha giggled at the image of Brian following her admittedly eccentric artistic advice, and Sophia allowed herself a real smile, silently reaffirming the same promise she made every night, just to remind herself.
We'll make it. We're strong enough.
If there was one thing that could bore her more thoroughly than two and a half hours straight of Console duty, it was school. Ever since Sophia had triggered, it was more like going through the motions than anything else. She lived for those moments of freedom, all too few and far between, where she could just run from rooftop to rooftop, relying only on her wits and her power to keep herself alive. Aegis had noted it in the first week of her probation and told her she should stop leaving her patrol-mates behind.
Maybe they should learn to keep up.
Track was the one thing Sophia lived for in school hours. It wasn't anything close to real freedom, but damn it she knew she was good. One of the benefits of being on the track team was early access to the canteen, something she'd always been grateful for. It allowed her to get a table, away from everyone else, and eat in peace and quiet. Often, people would come and sit with her - a friend or two from track, who she'd greet happily, or maybe someone from one of her classes. Sophia prided herself on her fairness even to those who hadn't proven their strength; Brian always said it was the mark of a leader to treat everyone properly. Sometimes her anger made it… difficult to remember his lessons, but she tried her best.
But when Emma Barnes sat down opposite her, along with her few attendant hanger's on, Sophia had to repress a sigh. Misha and Christina weren't too bad, but Lauren had about as much sense as the average Merchant thug, and that was being generous. Emma herself...
"Hey Sophia," the girl started breathlessly.
She nodded. "S'up, Em."
It was more a statement, an acknowledgement of 'I know you're here' than it was an invitation to carry on the conversation, but the redheaded girl plowed straight on like she always did. It was easier to nod along and make the noises in the right places than it was to get the idiot to leave her alone, so she tolerated her. After all, Emma did sort of owe her her life, but Sophia didn't really see the point of acting like that meant anything. Emma had proven she was strong, sure, but beyond that?
It was like the girl was stuck. She'd shown strength, felt it for the first time, and now she wanted more. But she didn't know how to go about it. As far as Sophia was concerned, that was her problem, but Emma kept coming back to her. In some ways, it reminded her of her Mom and Evan, going back to the dealer again and again.
"Soph?"
She blinked. "Huh? Sorry, zoned out."
"It's okay," Emma smiled conspiratorially. "Anyway, yeah…"
Oh yeah, that's the other reason I don't get rid of her. Even months later, Sophia couldn't help but grip her cheap plastic fork a little tighter at the thought of what the airheaded girl in front of her had gone and done at the height of her obsession with her 'saviour'. When she'd arrived at Winslow, it'd taken Emma only two days to get her away from everyone else and reveal that she'd somehow worked out her identity, before begging to be a side kick.
"Hey, Em?"
The other girl paused expectantly. Sophia gestured at her empty tray and shrugged apologetically. "I've got track in 10 minutes, and I'm done. Catch you later?"
Emma blinked, face falling momentarily before another smile lit her features again. "O-oh, okay. I'll see you at lunch tomorrow then!"
"Yeah, sure." She stood up, nodding to Christina, Misha and Lauren, and went to dump her tray. Inevitably, Emma would find her tomorrow just as she'd said, but Sophia knew how much effort she'd be putting in to meeting up with the girl. Despite everything that had happened in that alleyway, the desperate girl had never triggered. She wondered if perhaps Emma had started to but had somehow interrupted the process, trapping her in this weird loop of seeking affirmation.
Whatever. Sophia barged out of the cafeteria doors and made for the changing rooms. It wasn't her problem any more. Emma wasn't family, nor a member of the Undersiders or even a teammate on the Wards. Sophia looked out for her own, sure, her friends too, but the girl wasn't even that.
School, she reflected with another yawn, was boring.
Despite the tiredness that dogged her throughout the day, made even worse by a training session for track that left her legs burning, Sophia was a sister of her word. The bus took her home swiftly, and unlike a lot of days Aisha was waiting for her in her room.
"We goin' or what then?"
Sophia grinned at her. Most people found Aisha grating like this, and Brian constantly told her it surprised him that she put up with their youngest sister the best. She always told him she saw too much of herself in her to do anything else.
"Yup, you ready?"
Aisha nodded and patted her latest affectation - a fanny pack. Sophia merely shook her head in disdain, earning gleeful chuckles from the bag's owner, and traded her school stuff for her afternoon stuff. The bag was a smaller one that fit more snugly to the small of her back, and carried only a bottle of water, a small knife, her two phones and a pair of gloves. With a quick gesture for her sister to wait, Sophia opened the door carefully and glanced up and down the hall.
Silence. He and Mom were probably too high to even notice they were gone.
"Alright, let's go."
The pair made it out into the hallway without any mishaps, and with the door shut firmly behind them Aisha seemed to fill up, her smile becoming more real and, regrettably, the attitude returning full-force. By the time they'd made it to the ground floor, Sophia was rolling her eyes at her sister's loud-mouthed commentary.
"Anyways, where even is Brian's place?"
"Across town," Sophia replied as she held the door open.
Aisha immediately pouted. "You mean we gotta take a bus?"
"Deal with it."
She suppressed a grin and mock-frowned at the girl. After a moment of further protest, Aisha slouched her shoulders and started down the path, muttering under her breath. Sophia clipped her round the head.
"Wassat for?!"
"No swearing, twerp."
Aisha pretended to be gobsmacked. "Coming from you?"
"Just get to the damn bus stop, alright?" Sophia growled, reaching out to ruffle the strip of bleached hair in a way she knew annoyed her sister no end.
Thankfully the bus journey was uneventful, and Brian was waiting for them at the stop on the other end. Aisha bounced out of the doors and overdramatically threw herself at him, much to his embarrassment and the amusement of the other passengers, with Sophia following at a more sedate pace.
"Hey, bro."
He smiled at her. "Hey Soph. Gerroff, Aisha, you're causing a scene!"
"So what? Can't a gal greet her brother how she wants?"
Regardless of her protests, she released him and they walked the five minutes to Brian's apartment with Aisha dominating the conversation as usual. Sophia chuckled to herself at the sight of Brian struggling to get a word in edgeways, but the younger teen finally calmed down at the sight of the high-rise block of flats.
"Daaaamn," she breathed, ducking the expected swipe with practiced ease. "Swanky."
Sophia nudged her with her shoulder instead as she walked past. "Thought the same thing, it's pretty cool huh?"
"Swanky," Brian mumbled from behind her. "Of all things, swanky?"
By the time the trio made it up to the actual flat, Aisha was nodding quietly to herself. Brian raised a quizzical eyebrow at her as he unlocked the door.
"Yeah," Aisha seemed to deliberate for a long moment before cackling. "Definitely swanky."
Unlike Sophia's first time in the flat, Brian didn't usher them through into the kitchen. Instead, he was content to let Aisha explore the place on her own whilst the two older siblings hovered by the door.
"We're getting a little more flak than usual," he murmured, throwing a surreptitious glance over his shoulder to confirm Aisha was still in the bedrooms making filthy comments about the king-size in his room.
Sophia frowned. "What kind of flak?"
"ABB. Lung was gunning for us the night he got taken out, and now they're stepping up their game looking for us. Lisa will probably call you later in the week about it."
Anything she wanted to say had to wait, as Aisha emerged from the bedroom and propped herself up against the wall next to us, eyes darting between each of us in turn.
"So, anything to drink in this place? And whatcha talking about?"
Brian shot her a look, before giving Aisha a gentle shove in the direction of the kitchen. "Yeah, there's a fridge. You'd know that if you could keep your mind clean for more than five minutes."
"Sweet," she replied, leading the way. "How come you got this place anyway? Bored of Dad? I get that Soph will stay over a few times, but what's with the three rooms? Planning on having too much company for just one king-sized bed?"
Sophia saw the wince on Brian's face even from her position behind him as he ducked behind the counter and rummaged through the fridge. It'd been something she'd told him to tell Aisha a long time ago, but his sense of pride meant he wanted tangible evidence, proof he could show her when the time came.
"Actually," he replied, sliding a can across the counter to each of them and giving Sophia a long look. "I've been meaning to talk to you about it for a while."
Brian gestured to the couches in front of the television and waited whilst they settled themselves in. After waiting for a moment, he set his unopened can down on the coffee table and folded his hands in his lap. Sophia nodded to herself. Good, about damn time.
"Aisha…"
She loudly slurped her drink. "Come on already! I wanna start the films."
Brian suppressed a sigh, and their youngest sister looked between them for a second before lowering her drink.
"Alright, geez. What?"
"If… If everything goes right, and this job pays off like I'm hoping," Brian started, before stopping and composing himself. "If things go well, I'm hoping to file for your custody."