Sophia waited with Brian in the hallway whilst Aisha bounced off to the toilet. It was late, nearly ten, and despite all her apparent maturity their youngest sister had started yawning not too long ago and hadn't stopped. Brian had chuckled and motioned to Sophia, and despite her protests Aisha was unable to sway either of the two to allow her to stay.
"Hey, a few more things whilst we've got a moment."
Sophia blinked and refocused herself on the present. "Yeah?"
Brian hesitated. "Lisa… recruited someone new. Pretty much a new cape, only been out once before according to her and Lisa agrees. Might help keep the ABB off our backs too, now that I think about it."
"Okay," Sophia nodded, keeping one eye on the door at the far end of the hallway. "Anything I should know?"
"Bug control." Brian grinned as Sophia turned to him in surprise. "Yup, bug control. She's not got a name yet."
Her eyebrows tracked up her face of their own accord. "That new, huh? Damn. Bug control though?"
"Don't knock it, she's pretty good."
"Mmm," Sophia replied noncommittally. "Do I get to meet her?"
Brian hesitated at the sound of the toilet flushing, but hurried his words out anyway. "Soon, yeah - she goes to Winslow anyway so you might know of her. I… well, we all get the impression she's being bullied a bit."
Sophia rolled her eyes, hiding her smile. Brian couldn't help himself when it came to his team-mates or his family. "Guessing you want me to keep an eye out for her, right?"
"Yeah," he nodded, turning to face Aisha as she emerged from the bathroom. "Just.. you know, if you can?"
With a wry shake of her head, Sophia pulled the door open and waited whilst Brian ducked down to give Aisha a quick hug, despite her complaints. From her vantage point, she could see how the younger girl grabbed hold of him just as tightly as he did her. Then Aisha was out of the door and it was her turn.
"Stay safe, okay?" Sophia mumbled, accepting the awkward hug. Brian was always less touchy-feely with her, seeing her as his equal against the world more than his little sister. It always made her feel good to remember that, like she was just as strong as he was.
As they pulled away, Brian nodded. "I will. Do the same, yeah? And keep an eye on her."
Sophia smiled at that. Once upon a time she would have taken offence at the implication she'd forget to do so, or perhaps think he was suggesting she couldn't handle it. Things had changed, however.
"As much as anyone can, I will."
One wave to Aisha later and Brian was pulling the door shut behind them. The younger girl did her best to hide another yawn but failed completely, swaying on the spot. Reaching out idly to ruffle her hair, Sophia started towards the elevator.
"Come on, you. Let's get home."
The return journey seemed to pass in a blur, with Aisha slipping into a light doze for half of the ride. Sophia enjoyed the feeling of her sister leaning against her - it was rare enough for the self-acclaimed rebellious soul to show affection, let alone in public like this. When the time came to wake her up, Sophia couldn't help but smile sadly.
"Hey, we're home."
Aisha blinked several times, before staring out of the misted window blearily. "Oh."
That about summed up her own reaction to arriving back on the development, but Sophia kept those thoughts hidden. The trip through the dark estate took a little longer with Aisha, but they made it back quickly enough. Thankfully there were no loud sounds of arguments drifting down the stairwell when they made it to the ninth floor, so they continued on their way as normal.
By the time they were both inside and Aisha asleep, it was nearly eleven. Sophia hesitated in the middle of her room, eyes drawn to the window. She stood there for nearly a minute, looking between the crack in the blinds and her bed before sighing and locking the door.
Just for tonight, she'd break the golden rule, go out into the darkness with nothing but her power and herself. She needed time to think, to get away from her responsibilities to her sister and her brother, to herself and to the other Wards. Time to… be herself.
It took nearly an hour until the rhythms of the apartment block slowly settled into something approaching sleep. Sophia leant against her half-open window with her elbows resting on the lintel, looking out into the darkness clinging to the city like a shroud. The adults had gone to bed not long before, only a few angry words thrown between them before the door slammed shut and… other sounds started to float through the cracks in the walls.
But now even those noises had faded into silence, and apart from the distant sound of a dog barking in one of the other towers, the development estate was silent. Above, clouds scudded their way across the sky, turning bright white light into pearly gloom as the moon was alternately exposed and covered. It was one such dark patch that Sophia now stared out into, and with a small smile she straightened.
Her power was, for the lack of a better descriptor, comprehensive in its effect. Not only did her body fall away into half-reality, becoming translucent shadow capable of slipping through almost any surface, but her senses changed too. In her shadow state the darkness became enticingly illuminated, pools of light became nearly painful to look at and everywhere she turned she could almost sense the shadows nearby.
Another glance at the clock told Sophia it was nearly half past midnight. It had been a long time since she'd done this; ever since joining the Wards she'd found little cause to escape like this, diving into the intricacies of her power to retreat from the real world for a few precious hours. But now, the tension at the PRT HQ, the tension at home…
It was too much. Taking three carefully measured paces backwards, Sophia tightened the straps on her backpack and burst into motion. This move had been practiced more times than she cared to remember, and for good reason - as she neared the still-open window she threw herself into a full-length dive, balling her fists as they hurtled towards the glass panes between her, the outside world and the eleven story drop. At the last instant she allowed the hungry shadows to roll to the surface, losing herself in the shivering icy bliss of transformation. Barely an instant later she sailed through the window and out, reaching nearly ten metres distant from her room before gravity exerted its weakened hold over her and the ground slowly started to rise to meet her.
Feeling adventurous, she allowed the shadows to recede and suppressed a whoop at the feeling of wind lashing against her face. At the last possible instant Sophia pulsed the darkness outwards from her core and exploded in slow motion against the ground as she met it at last. It felt strange, being stretched like that, but after only a second or so her body had drawn together, and she was off.
Running like this was the most relaxing thing Sophia cared to name if asked. In the darkness of night, the city gave the impression of sleeping - most streets lay deserted, those of good intentions long since tucked safely away in bed whilst others of darker mind knew best the ways to keep from sight. She didn't care about any of that, not now, not this night.
No, tonight is for me.
The route was a well-traced one. Within a minute of her touchdown on the wispy grass outside her apartment block Sophia had made her way through the estate and onto the roof of a nearby gas station, flitting between shadow and normal state to make the bigger jumps. Every time she dived into her power, she couldn't help but turn and stare out over the entirety of the city. It was a freedom she never had time to pursue whilst on active duty with the Wards, and that was something she lamented daily. Even with her brother, there was never the freedom to move like this - he was bound in ways she wasn't, even when their powers interacted.
Unlike many other times, the rooftop trails led Sophia away from the Docks and into the midst of the city, where the roofs were many and the spaces between them varied in distance and drop - or climb, depending on where she was. She allowed herself to fall into her ability, losing conscious thought to the steady rhythm of her feet against the rooftops, the weird but not unpleasant feeling of wind passing around and through her.
Across the city, a painfully bright streak of light burst from between several buildings, climbing higher and higher before sinking back down nearly a mile distant from where it had originated. Sophia scowled, dragged back to the harsh realities of Brockton Bay. Purity.
It only took a single exercise of willpower to send herself falling through the next roof rather than landing on it. The dilapidated looking parking lot was one she'd been in a few times before, enough to know there was a payphone not too far distant. She moved like the shadow she was between the support pillars, barely bothering to jump over the wall at the far end before floating down to land amidst the darkness between the lot and the next building over. It was a short trek to the phone.
"PRT Hotline, please state your business." Despite the late hour, the man - Phillips, if she wasn't mistaken - sounded remarkably alert.
She coughed once, roughing her voice. "I s-saw Purity landing in the East district n-not too long ago. She w-was really bright… I think she… she might be-"
It was an act, of course. Sophia couldn't help but grin to herself as the voice on the other end of the phone became comforting in a heartbeat, guiding her through a process she was probably more familiar with than he was. After he started to get suspicious, probably about the time the phone trace came back and revealed her to be nowhere near the place she'd described, she hung up.
Sophia checked her watch. A PRT non-powered patrol would be swinging by the payphone in the next five minutes to double-check. Five minutes to get clear.
They never saw her, not even when she used their van as a stepping stone to get from one side of the road to the other. Before long, a gentle aching burn made itself known in her legs, and Sophia reorientated herself off the Medhall tower, heading for home.
She enjoyed playing these games, probably enjoyed them a little too much. Brian had told her she should look for ways to vent her anger, and track was one of those. This had it beat hands down. The thrill of knowing how much trouble she'd be in if they ever caught her, yet the safety of knowing they never would was somehow addictive - even though the very idea of addiction brought a sour taste to her mouth - and by the time the development estate was drawing into view Sophia found herself yawning. She'd managed to exhaust herself.
At last, she thought wearily. I can sleep.
She hated that she had to do this, hated that she had to reduce herself to almost exhaustion before she could sleep comfortably at home, but it was just one method amongst many for coping. Until Aisha could move in with Brian, until they both escaped, it was just another way of surviving. As she slipped in through the front door, not bothering to shoulder it open this late at night and safe in the knowledge of the broken security camera, Sophia mouthed her quiet promise to herself again.
I will survive. I am strong enough.
"You look tired," the voice from behind her said, prompting Sophia to sit up blearily and rub her eyes.
"Thanks for fucking pointing it out to everyone," she growled in response, eying the papers she'd been stretched out over in apparent suspicion. "Long night last night."
Carlos laughed quietly. "If I were Dennis, there would be a joke in that."
"Believe me, I am grateful you aren't Dennis," she shot back, stretching her arms above her head in an effort to work out the kinks caused by falling asleep on the Wards' too-comfortable couches. "So what did you wake me up for?"
"Nothing," Carlos shrugged, slipping into the seat opposite with an exertion of his flight. "Just wanted to see how you're doing, is all."
Sophia waved it away, doing her best to suppress the sudden flare of worry in case Dean was somewhere nearby. "Yeah, fine, fine." Stifling another yawn, she looked around the room and frowned. "Where is everyone?"
"All of the Protectorate got called away on something urgent just outside the city limits, but we weren't told what it was or how long they'll be," came the reply.
Behind them, the doors slid open with a soft chime to announce a new arrival. Sophia let her eyes drift to the clock before starting upright. It was almost 3 in the afternoon! She'd been asleep for almost four hours and no one had bothered to wake her up.
"The sleeping beauty awakens!"
Sophia closed her eyes. "Dennis…"
There was a pause as he peeled back his face mask. "Yeah, yeah, I get it - 'shut the fuck up', right?"
"Exactly."
She half-listened as Dennis asked the same question she had a minute before. Carlos gave the same answer, which was apparently prompt enough for the redhead to launch in a tirade at the laziness of the heroes and how they totally deserved more breaks than they got. After five minutes, the discussion - now featuring Missy, who'd emerged from the showers - showed no signs of abating.
"All I'm saying," Dennis postured, "Is what are we supposed to do now?"
Missy opened her mouth to reply, but before she could so much as utter a syllable the large red light in the middle of the ceiling started flashing and an alarm loud enough to drown out almost all thought started blaring.
Sophia shot Dennis a dirty look. "You just had to open your damn mouth, didn't you?"
Moments later Dean and Chris burst in from the dormitory rooms, looking about wildly. Sophia pulled herself to her feet and started towards the doorway behind which stood the mannequins where costumes were stored during downtime, exchanging a blank glance with Dean in the process. Before she even got half way, the door Dennis had entered from burst open again, and PRT Handler Iain McDouglas strode in.
"Wards! We've just received reports of a bank robbery taking place downtown at Bay Central. Dark clouds have been seen inside the bank, and all internal communications are down. Our current main suspects are the Undersiders."
Sophia froze; she couldn't help it, and the moment she did, Dean's head snapped up. Logically she knew that Brian and Lisa would be doing something in the next few days that she wasn't aware of, but something like this? Had this been the reason he'd mentioned the new Bug Girl on his team? She did her best to breathe levelly as Dean watched her.
"Sophia..?"
Shit.
Her emotions must have been all over the place - fear, anger, concern and panic warred for dominance as she struggled to keep her face straight in the face of the other Ward's increasingly intense stare.
"My… my sister," she choked out, the words tumbling over each other in her haste. "She said she was going to the bank today. D-... Downtown."
Instantly Dean's gaze softened, and the others glanced between themselves in shock. Sophia shut her eyes for a moment, quietly praying they would believe her. It was rare for her to show any sort of emotion beyond disdain whilst on the base or patrolling, but when she opened her eyes, Sophia saw Missy looking at her in consternation.
"We'll beat them," the little girl stated confidently, to various sounds of affirmation from the others, and it was all she could do to smile back.
"Yeah."
Ironic, she thought with a carefully hidden, bitter smile, that they finally include me like this when the enemy is my own brother.
The rain drummed against the roof of the PRT response van as it hurtled through the streets of Brockton Bay. Inside, Sophia clenched her fist once and then again before slowly pulling her mask down across her face. Missy had the seat opposite, and the younger Ward watched her silently as she let out a breath and forced herself to press her palms flat against her knees. It was something Brian did, when he was really angry. And she was angry, at Brian and at Lisa for pulling something so dumb and putting her in a situation so dangerous! With Dean in the van ahead of them and the full compliment of Wards present, it would be a high stakes game of keeping things believable.
You fucking idiot, Brian!
"Hey," Missy's voice broke into her thoughts timidly. "It'll be okay."
Sophia let her head fall back against the side of the van. This wasn't good enough - she was being too obvious, everyone could tell she was on edge. The excuse about her sister rang true enough that people weren't paying too much attention yet, but when it came to it things would be different. She had to be perfect the whole way through.
"Yeah, I know. Just pissed." Nice and safe. True, as well.
Missy just nodded, glancing at Dennis expectantly. Uncharacteristically, the boy remained silent, eyes fixed on the shield motif of Aegis's costume emblazoned across his chest - his idea, surprisingly, but one that put him in the line of fire. The mood, already subdued, seemed to die, and the rest of the trip passed with not another word uttered. By the time they arrived on the street outside the bank, the rain had gone from noticeable to downpour, and the asphalt was slick with water. Sophia splashed out onto the road and clutched her two crossbows tightly for a moment, reaffirming their presence.
Carlos, dressed in Dennis's costume, pulled open the door of his van and stepped out into the street, raising his voice to be heard as Chris poked his head out behind him. "Alright, they have hostages but from what we've seen before they'll try to run before confronting us. We've got the numerical superiority, so I think we press that, force them onto the back foot and-..."
"Wait," Dean cut across, subtly pointing to the roof of the bank. Carlos half-turned, eyes widening as he took in the indistinct shape that could only be Glory Girl. "Amy's in the bank too."
Sophia winced beneath her mask as the armoured boy turned in her direction. Outwardly, she hefted one crossbow as absentmindedly as she could manage to appear, and nodded.
"Okay, tell her to wait until we go in. We got here in eight minutes, so there's a fair chance they haven't finished what they started," Carlos continued. "Shadow?"
She nearly started - nerves are getting the better of me, damnit - instead tilting her head to face him. "What?"
"I want you on recon. Vista, move to the back of the bank and try and block up any exits. You," he indicated Sophia, "Go with her and get inside. Do not engage, are we clear?"
She let the challenge stand for a moment before ducking her head. "Whatever."
"Good. Clock, Kid, Gallant, you're with me in front of the bank, alright? Let's get into position, everyone!"
Vista immediately span on her heel, the distance between her and the nearest rooftop dizzyingly dropping to almost nothing. Sophia didn't wait, bounding across the distorted space as the young girl began compressing the gap between them and the next roof, simultaneously allowing the space beneath Sophia to expand at just the right moment. It was a frightening display of Missy's power, but she couldn't help but smile at the obvious payoffs for working as hard as the girl did.
Two rooftops further, Vista slowed. "Here?"
"Do it," Sophia grunted, and watched as a windowsill bent and ballooned outwards into a perfectly formed bridge. "Nice," she acknowledged, doing her best to hide her surprise from the younger Ward.
A blink later and Sophia was mentally kicking herself, turning and darting across the protrusion before shimmering into smoke, passing through the window in perfect silence.
What about Brian?! She angrily berated herself as she landed, taking a few deep breaths to focus before allowing her body to return to normal. One crossbow she clinched to her belt at the back, the other lifted in a two hand grip for balance as she started towards the door as stealthily as she could manage. It'd be easier to stay in her shadow state the whole time, but even with Armsmaster's latest upgrades the earpieces suffered when she used her power for long periods of time.
Inside the bank, it was unnaturally quiet - a side effect of her brother using his power heavily. Sophia stepped cautiously out of the office room she'd arrived in and glanced towards where she thought the stairs should be, racking her brains for memories of brief visits to the bank over the last year.
It didn't take her long. At the next intersection, Sophia turned right and came face to face with the rolling wall of smoke that marked the boundary of her brother's power.
"This is Shadow Stalker," Sophia murmured as she keyed the mic, taking several steps away from the border. "I'm inside, Grue's blanketed the whole fucking place with his power. Can't see a damn thing into it either."
After a second's pause, Aegis replied. "Damn, I was hoping you could find out where they are in there. He's done the same thing to the windows out front. This makes things more difficult-"
"Hey-!" Before Sophia could react beyond a started exclamation, the wall of Brian's darkness bulged outwards suddenly before billowing down the corridor towards her. In moments, she was surrounded completely, forced to revert to her shadow state as the comforting weight of his and her power interacting settled around her bones.
Goddamnit, Brian! What the fuck is he thinking?
In the deluge outside, Aegis turned to Gallant, hand dropping from his ear.
"What-?"
The other Ward was already shaking his head. "I don't know! She was there, as angry as usual and then a burst of surprise and now I can't sense her, just like the rest of the people in there. Shit!"
It was uncharacteristic for the chivalrous Gallant to swear, but Aegis could sympathise. His emotion-sense made Dean a valuable team player in small-sized engagements because he could track down any villains or criminals by sight alone. But here… Grue's darkness rendered his power as useless as it did their communications.
"Yeah," he found himself agreeing. "Shit. Okay, let's assume the worst - Grue or one of the other Undersiders somehow found her. Looks like we can't afford to wait about any more! We need to get in there and get Shadow out - the Undersiders just ran out of time! Clock, Kid, let's-!"
The crash of the bank doors being flung open interrupted Aegis before he could finish, and several terrified looking civilians ran out. Before they could reach the heroes, the darkness rushed outwards after them and they were once again hidden from sight.
Carlos shook his head, emphatically repeating: "Shit." He started towards the edge of the darkness anyway, followed by the rest of his team. It was all he could do not to drift into the air, but the sight of the pure-white costume he was wearing prevented such a move.
The two-tonne monstrous beast barrelled out of the darkness full-pelt and lifted the boy off his feet violently. He barely had time to see a swarm of bugs drop onto Clockblocker before his face met the concrete of the bank steps hard and consciousness momentarily fled.