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Shadow 2.1

Boogeyman stared at the wrought iron fence with no small amount of trepidation as a rolling ball of emotions churned in her gut. The half-rusted fence loomed over her and for the first time since she had realized the full potential of her abilities she felt powerless.

The sign above the fence looked like it was being held together with glue and spittle. More than a few of the letters were missing, leaving nothing behind but a faint absence of dust and grime that was slowly being consumed by the filth that floated through the air.

Brockton Bay Cemetery.

Had her heart still been beating it would have exploded out of her chest as she pressed against the gate which flung open with an ear ringing creak as rusted joints squealed under the strain. She quickly glanced around to make sure nobody had heard the noise, but there wasn't anyone in sight. That wasn't surprising though, few people came to this place anymore even to maintain it. She used to joke with Emma how she was sure that the caretakers were really bio-tinker creations as it was the only explanation they had for how they had kept their jobs for this long given the state of the cemetery.

The dead grass crunched beneath her feet as she stepped through the threshold that separated the cemetery and the street. Boogeyman drew her shoulders back and let out a breath. She couldn't turn back now or she would never gather the resolve to do this again.

A chill hung in the air as she passed rows and rows of cracked gravestones, many unmarked. It was a sad fact of life in Brockton Bay that people died, but to see the collective efforts of the gangs laid out like this with countless rows of unmarked or bodiless graves was disheartening. Boogeyman clenched her fist in anger as she weaved her way through the labyrinth of graves.

Her footsteps came to a stop as she approached a particular pair of gravestones. She could feel her chest tighten as the names plastered on the stone in a lifeless scrawl stared back at her.

Annette Rose Hebert

1969-2007

"She taught something precious to each of us."

Daniel Alex Hebert

1968-2011

"Gone, but never forgotten."

"Hey Mom," Taylor said, her voice cracking a little, "I-I know it's been awhile since I visited." Her stomach churned in guilt, she had only ever visited her mom's grave once after the funeral, the pain of staring at the headstone and knowing that only a few feet down was the body of her mom had been too much.

It still was, but she needed to do this, she needed to be strong.

"I got powers, and-and I'm going to stop the gangs. I'm going to make sure they won't hurt anyone ever again," she said. The gravestone remained immobile and as lifeless as ever but Taylor felt better. More words poured out of her mouth as she continued her one-sided conversation.

"I'm going to have to do some stuff that I'm probably going to regret, but…" she pursed her lips, "You, you once said that to achieve our goals we need to be willing to make sacrifices, we need to be willing to struggle and fight for what we believe in, no matter what. I-I'm not going to be a good person Mom. I can't, not if I want to make this city a better place."

She swallowed, her throat scratchy and dry as her breath caught. "I-I hope that you'll be able to forgive me one day." She placed her hand against the headstone. The stone was cold and lifeless, even more so than her own hand. Taylor shuddered as she turned to her father's headstone.

"Dad, I know we didn't talk a lot after the accident but…" Taylor trailed off as she took a deep shaky breath, "I never blamed you for any of it. I should have told you about the bullying and everything that was happening but I didn't want to hurt you."

She had considered going to her dad about the bullying once she realized it wasn't going to stop, but she knew that if she had told her dad that she had been friendless for so long without him even noticing he would have never forgiven himself. He had already been so hurt and broken after mom's death, she couldn't put more on his plate because of some discomfort.

"I didn't do anything and you paid the price," she said as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.

She had avoided her father the first few weeks she had been all but invisible and intangible to the world around her. It had hurt to stay away from her dad for so long, but the thought of him looking at her and not seeing her would have broken her. So, she kept her distance as she prepared to let herself fade away into nothingness when the accident happened.

After two and a half weeks of no sign of her from the police, which in Brockton Bay either meant they were dead or not coming back, he went out for a ride after some heavy drinking.

He didn't come back.

And as much as she told herself that it was the trio's fault for putting her in this situation she knew deep down that her dad was dead because of her because she didn't do anything, because she was too much of a coward to think about how her disappearance would affect him. She had known that he had been depressed since mom's death, she should have realized that this would happen.

But she didn't and now he was dead.

"I'm not going to let that happen again," she said as tears streaked her cheeks, the salty liquid glistening in the faint moonlight. She was never going to let anything like this happen again because she decided to do nothing. Enough people suffered because she had chosen to do nothing.

"But… if I'm going to do this then I can't be Taylor Hebert anymore," Taylor said, her voice strained. "I can't be your daughter anymore."

Taylor Hebert was the coward who condemned her own father to death. Boogeyman wasn't. Taylor Hebert was the weakling that let the world stomp on her. Boogeyman was going to be the monster that gangs feared. She couldn't be a coward because cowards weren't scary. They were pitiful creatures that got scared, consumed by their own fears.

She couldn't be that.

"I'm sorry," she said as she wiped tears from her face. There was nothing more that she could say that could possibly make this better. Just standing here was making her chest hurt from the pain and anguish of seeing evidence that everyone that had once loved her was dead or a monster.

With her throat constricting Taylor turned around. The dead leafless trees seemed to close in on her as she walked away from the only family she had ever known and towards the decaying city that wanted nothing more than to strangle what little life she had out into a grinder of misery and suffering.

As she neared the threshold that separated the two worlds she turned back towards the cemetery. She couldn't see their gravestones anymore, but just for one instant, she allowed herself to be Taylor Hebert once last time.

"I love you."

The words barely came out a whisper, so quiet even she was scarcely able to hear them. But for just that single moment the chill that hung over the monument to death seemed to warm up a little, and the sliver of moonlight that clung to the starry night sky seemed to grow a little brighter.

And with that Taylor Hebert joined her parents in the land of the dead.

Boogeyman turned and crossed over the threshold. The brief trace of warmth was gone, replaced by the coldness of Brockton Bay and the slight brightness of the moon was snuffed out by a pack of passing clouds.

The very street seemed to darken beneath her feet as she approached her waiting steed. Phobia glanced at her curiously, no doubt smelling the rolling ball of emotions that she had given into just a few minutes ago.

"It's time to go," Boogeyman said as she mounted the Nightmare. Taylor Hebert was dead but she wasn't going to die alone. Those that did this to her, to her father, they would suffer. She would tear down their little world and leave them groveling in the dirt like the pathetic spineless cowardly worms that they were. She would show the world that she wasn't going to stand for any villain, even if they were on the side of the law.

Boogeyman felt a wide smile spread across her face at the thought of all she was going to do to ruin their self-centered lives.

It was time for Sophia's reckoning.

Boogeyman stared out at the dilapidated city while she stood on the rooftop as she waited for her target to arrive.

The last few days had been busy ones for her. After she had killed Skidmark and Squealer she went to town on the remaining Merchant safe houses and production centers that she could locate. Without any parahumans to stop her it had been almost comically easy to subdue the various Merchants that had crawled back into their hiding holes. She had destroyed most of the various drugs, weapons, and money she had found, but she kept a small portion of the drugs for herself.

She had a very special plan for those.

At any rate, it was unlikely that any of the remaining Merchants who had scattered once they heard of their bosses' deaths would be in any position to rebirth the gang or create a new one from the ashes. They had no supplies, safe houses or any parahuman protection. She would give them all about a week or so before they were found dead in the streets.

But while she had been busy the rest of the city hadn't been idle either. In response to the destruction of the Merchants, the Empire and ABB were starting to stir. Kaiser was rattling his saber about "protection of the white workers" and other such nonsense but he hadn't made any moves yet. There had been far more Empire foot soldiers patrolling their former border with the now defunct Merchants but they had yet to do anything overt.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what Kaiser's game plan was. His whole propaganda spiel about being a protector and savior wouldn't hold up very well if he made an obvious territory grab so soon. Most of the territory that the Merchants held had been filled with more minorities, there was nothing there for Kaiser to claim to be protecting other than his own greed-driven interests. Instead, it appeared that he was choosing to surrender the first move to Lung in order to validate his propaganda that the "chinks" were coming to take everything away from the "white man" to sate their own desires.

As it was Lung appeared to be content to take his time in responding to the death of the Merchants. Oni Lee had been spotted on the edges of the Merchant's old territory a couple of times, but he did nothing. Lung himself hadn't made any appearances yet but it was unlikely that he was going to let an opportunity like this to slip through his fingers. Boogeyman wasn't sure what Lung was waiting for, but she had heard rumors from the Merchants that she caught who were all too happy to talk to her after a little persuasion, that Lung had gotten a new cape to bolster his forces.

It left the city in a very tense standstill, with neither side willing to make the first move. The situation left the Protectorate with their hands tied as well, they couldn't commit to taking down one gang without the other one moving in to pick up the pieces. Oh sure, they had a few more token patrols in the Merchant's former territory than they usually would, but they still weren't doing anything. Instead of trying to help improve the city, they remained focused on maintaining the status quo so that their jobs would be that much easier.

A Nightmare brushed against her shoulder, breaking her out from her musings on the current condition of the gangs.

"Wait," she commanded, patting the Nightmare on its snout. She had spent too much time in this small area the last few days trying to draw the attention of her target to have it wasted because one Nightmare decided that it was too impatient to wait to feed. The creature snorted in compliance and fell back in line with the rest of the herd hiding in the shadows.

Her herd's total numbers had skyrocketed after her tangle with the Merchants. She didn't have an exact count but she estimated that they were close to around two to three hundred strong. A massive boost from the one hundred she had used to tear apart the Merchants. The fact that she was apparently powerful enough that she didn't have to physically interact with every single one of her targets had helped her grow her herd at a much faster rate. And given that her range of about two blocks seemed to be growing, it probably wouldn't be long before she could create Nightmares from halfway across the city.

Her own personal power was growing as well. A few videos that had gotten a clear shot of her speech to the Merchants had exploded on the PHO forums. People all over the Eastern seaboard and beyond knew who she was- the newbie cape who took down a whole gang in one night. She felt more powerful than she ever had before and her strength was only going to continue to grow.

But despite this tremendous growth in her strength she had yet to make her move either. She didn't want to risk giving away her newfound power quite just yet. She had a portion of her Nightmares stalking the Merchant's territory, going after anyone they caught committing a crime and filling them with the fear of god, or in this case the fear of her. In response, crime had dropped by an astounding rate in what was usually one of the more violent parts of the city, but it still wasn't enough. She wouldn't stop until every single gang had been shattered and the Protectorate either did their jobs or got out of her city.

Boogeyman stood up straighter as her eyes caught sight of her prey.

To anyone else the dark colors of Shadow Stalker's outfit would have been near indistinguishable from its surroundings in the darkness, but she didn't have such a problem. To her, the darkest of nights might as well have been the brightest of days.

Her gunmetal grey crossbow glinted in what little light remained and revealed the tip of the loaded broad head bolt that was certainly against whatever regulations the Wards had.

"But when has that ever stopped her," Boogeyman growled to herself as Shadow Stalker drew closer and closer to her position. The cape in question appeared to be totally unaware of her presence, gliding from rooftop to rooftop in her shadow state with what appeared to be an almost leisurely pace. Boogeyman could feel the caution wafting off her as her head twisted on occasion to scan her surroundings, but it was enveloped by a self-assuredness of her own strength. As if she thought that she could handle whatever came her way.

Boogeyman smiled. She'd take that from her first.

She would be lying to herself if her primary motivator for doing this wasn't revenge. She didn't deny that the thought of seeing Sophia rocking in a fetal position as she shivered in fear wasn't appealing to her imagination, but she wasn't going to make Sophia suffer simply for the sake of suffering. Her pain and torment would serve a greater purpose.

Shadow Stalker landed on the same roof she was occupying with a quiet thud as she retook corporeal form. Boogeyman could feel the Ward tense a little under her invisible gaze as if she knew that someone was out there but she couldn't tell were.

"Hello Shadow Stalker," Boogeyman said, altering her voice slightly so that Sophia wouldn't instantly recognize her. She watched with no small amount of amusement as the Ward jumped nearly a foot in the air at the sound of her voice.

"Who's there? Show yourself," Shadow Stalker growled dangerously as she held her crossbow up in a firing position while she scanned the rooftop for threats.

"Don't you know who I am?" Boogeyman asked as she slowly moved across the shadows that covered the building.

"…You're Boogeyman," Shadow Stalker said. Boogeyman watched as the tension on Sophia's frame died down a little as her finger removed itself from the trigger. She could feel the surprise and fear that had just clouded Sophia's mind fade away to allow her curiosity to take its place.

"I am." There was no reason for her to deny the statement, and apparently, Sophia didn't appear to have any reason to fear her, instead, she seemed to almost enjoy the idea of meeting with her. There was still some caution, but that appeared to be more for the general area that they were in than anything that had to specifically do with her.

She would correct her of this mistake soon enough.

"May I ask what a Ward is doing so far in my territory? I would have thought the Protectorate would have you in the safer parts of the city, for whatever the term safer means nowadays?" Boogeyman asked.

Sophia shrugged, "Bored. Wanted to hunt some gang members."

Well, she couldn't fault Shadow Stalker for doing what was almost the exact same thing she was doing, could she?

"I didn't realize the Protectorate allowed their Wards to take such an active role in fighting the gangs?" Boogeyman asked as she drew herself closer to Shadow Stalker, careful not to give away her exact location. She didn't want to spook the girl and have her run off before she was ready.

Boogeyman knew of course that the Protectorate wasn't supposed to let the Wards engage in combat. Their whole pitch was centered around the idea of being able to keep young parahumans safe and out of crime by teaching them to use their powers for the benefit of society. But it was all too easy to see in a city as broken as Brockton Bay that their superiors had let them cut corners and loosen a few regulations to make things easier on themselves.

Like allowing a sadist like Sophia to have free reign of a school because she was "useful".

She was going to show them the error of their ways.

Shadow Stalker snorted in contempt, "Please, like those idiots would ever let one of their precious Wards actually do anything productive. They all think I went back home."

"Really?" Boogeyman had to wonder. Did Sophia really think that she wasn't in any danger here? She supposed she could have given that impression since she hadn't gotten violent with any of few Protectorate heroes she had encountered throughout the week. But still, to announce to a potentially hostile cape that your superiors and teammates didn't know where you were?

"Idiot."

"And I take it you're more…productive?" Boogeyman asked with a slight twinge of anger

Shadow Stalker's chest puffed up a little bit in pride, apparently missing the anger that had edged into the conversation. "Damn straight. I get more done in one week than any of those weaklings do in a month. They don't get it, not like you or I do. People like the Merchants, they only understand pain," Shadow Stalker said, a hint of anger and frustration weaved its way into her voice.

"Yes, you would know about making people suffer wouldn't you Sophia," Boogeyman hissed. She understood what Sophia was saying, she really did, especially since that's what she had been doing for the last week and would continue to do so for the foreseeable future, but it didn't make her feel any less enraged at Sophia for her actions at Winslow.

Sophia reeled as if she had been physically struck. Boogeyman could feel the caution and panic rolling off her as she drew her crossbow back up into a firing position, carefully scanning the rooftop for any sign of her.

"How the hell to you know my name?" Sophia asked, apparently not realizing that if she hadn't known who was beneath the mask her question would have all but confirmed it for her.

"What? Don't you recognize me?" Boogeyman asked as she emerged from the shadows. They washed off her like water as she stepped forward. She could feel Sophia's heart rate increase and her eyes widen in surprise at her sudden appearance. She kept her face carefully blank as she stared at the Ward but the small eddies of black sand that formed and vanished around her body revealed her true anger. Her eyes seemed to almost glow in rage as her dark hair swirled around in a nonexistent breeze while wisps of shadows rolled of her clothing like fumes.

This was the girl that was responsible for ruining her life.

Now she was going to ruin hers.

"I thought we got to know each other pretty well after you tortured me for two years," she said as she continued her slow and steady approach towards Sophia, who in turn was being forced to keep backing up at the sight of the towering cape. She had always been taller than Sophia, or most of her classmates for that matter, but she had always felt so small in comparison to Sophia. Now the shoe was going to be on the other foot.

"…Hebert," Sophia said, the name dripping with disbelief as if she couldn't comprehend what she had turned Taylor into. "Is that you?"

Boogeyman snarled, revealing her sharp fangs. "Yes Sophia, it's me. You know, the girl you left to rot and die in that thing you called a prank. The girl that you spent the last two years of your life doing your best to make her miserable for no other reason that your own perverse pleasure. Yes, I was that girl."

She could feel Sophia tense up, her concern starting to reach a fervor pitch as the back of her feet hit the edge of the roof they were standing on, leaving her with nowhere to go but down. "Listen…Hebert-it, it was just a prank-"

"Just a prank," she whispered, almost completely inaudible, and yet it was enough to silence Sophia's half-formed protest. "Was it just a prank to leave me in there and let who knows how many diseases make their way into my bloodstream as I carved my hands into bloody ribbons while trying to break down the door? Was it just a prank when my limbs started to lose blood flow after being packed into a tight space for so long and left me unable to do anything but lie there waiting for assistance that never came? Was it just a prank when I laid there dying, unable to call for help because I had lost my voice from screaming for help an hour earlier? So, tell me Sophia, do you think that was just a prank!?"

Boogeyman could see Sophia swallow nervously, even through the thick fabric that covered her neck. It appeared that from the concern that was rolling around her empty skull that the Wards had been shown the aftermath of some of her visits and was clearly thinking the same thing would happen to her.

"You can't do this Hebert, if you do the Protectorate will come after you," Sophia hissed in what was obviously a desperate attempt to lessen her wrath. Boogeyman only laughed at her attempt to dissuade her from her goal and the utter hypocrisy of her words.

"I suppose it's only fitting that when confronted with a real challenge you crawl back to your masters like the cowardly weakling you are," she taunted with a wide grin. She could feel a sharp sting of anger at the insinuation that she might be weak.

"I'm not weak," Sophia snarled back, her anger apparently overriding her good sense. She adjusted the aim of her crossbow by a fraction and fired. The broad head bolt cleaved its way through the air as potential energy became kinetic energy. But even as the bolt approached her face Boogeyman made no motion to avoid the attack.

Within a fraction of a second, the bolt was mere inches from her face when a black blur erupted from a nearby shadow and knocked the bolt off course. Boogeyman could feel Sophia's surprise as the Nightmare retook its physical form, crossbow bolt held within its maw. The horse squeezed on the piece of steel and shattered it in two. Boogeyman could see Sophia lining up another shot, but she didn't give her a chance to attack this time.

Instead, she summoned her nightmare sand and form a whip which she lashed out at the Ward. Sophia yelped reflectively as the black whip wrapped itself around her crossbow like a snake coiling its prey.

Boogeyman pulled and the crossbow shot out of Sophia's hands like a bar of soap, her mundane strength unable to compare to Boogeyman's newfound supernatural strength. As the crossbow soared in the air she gave a mental command to another one of her Nightmares who jumped out of the shadows and clenched the crossbow between its teeth just like its brethren had with the arrow. The crossbow held for a moment longer before shattering into pieces under the pressure that the Nightmare's jaw exerted.

"Yes, I can see how you're not weak," Boogeyman said with a mocking edge as her yellow eyes glared down at the fidgeting Ward. Apparently having her weapon disabled had knocked her anger back a peg or two given the newfound nervousness that she was feeling.

She could still feel the anger that wafted off the girl at the comment about her being weak, but it was largely overshadowed by the overwhelming fear she was feeling as the seriousness of her situation became apparent to her.

Her form lost his corporeal nature and became a swirling black cloud that was immune or at the very least highly resistant to most physical impediments, including gravity. She seemed to almost start to float down to the roof of the much lower building below to them in an attempt to escape Boogeyman's wrath. It appeared that even though Sophia was an impulsive sadist she wasn't entirely lacking a brain if she recognized when to run from a fight.

Boogeyman had read on one of the PHO theorist forums that Shadow Stalker couldn't phase through a sufficiently powerful electrical current, but it had never been proven. But that theory didn't concern her as a sand whip lashed out again with blinding speed. Her weapon tore the cloud of black matter that made-up Shadow Stalker's existence in two.

The cloud almost seemed to convulse in pain as it lost its steady pace and virtually dropped like a rock as Sophia Hess retook her physical form, gasping for air. Boogeyman leaned over the edge of the roof as she looked down to the wheezing Ward below who looked like she had just had a heart attack.

"What," Sophia started as she gasped for breath like a fish out of water, "what was that?"

Boogeyman smiled. It wasn't a nice smile; it was the one she reserved for her mind games as she tore their very being apart block by block until nothing remained but a shivering empty shell. She could feel Sophia shudder in a seamless mixture of fear and pain at her slasher smile.

She could see the glint of realization in Sophia's eyes as the full force of the situation she was in hit her. She was alone in one of the shadiest parts of the city without a weapon. Nobody knew that she had come here. Her power had been effectively neutered. And on top of that, she now had a person who she had spent the last two years of her life tormenting for fun and games towering over her like something out of a nightmare and was more than capable of ripping her apart into tiny pieces.

"Your reckoning," Boogeyman said. She watched in delight as Sophia tried to make herself look like she wasn't about to crap her pants, but she could feel the rolling ball of fear that was starting to consume her. "Eight."

"What,\?" Sophia asked as she pulled herself up to her knees in a clearly painful fashion, obviously confused by the sudden change in topic.

"That's how many hours you have to last against us."

"Us?" Sophia asked, her voice small, clearly dreading the answer.

Boogeyman smiled and spread her arms out as if she was going to jump down and give the girl a bone crushing hug. With a mental command, the rest of the Nightmares that she had brought emerged from their hiding places. Some burst forth from the many shadows that surrounded them while others formed up from the cracks that dotted the building's root. Within seconds about three dozen Nightmares joined them on the roof. They didn't completely surround Sophia, instead keeping a single large opening for her to use, but that didn't make them appear any less terrifying.

Sharp teeth and burning yellow eyes glared at Sophia whose own eyes darted around nervously as the herd started to draw in closer, squeezing and hemming her in.

"You can't do this," Sophia said, a desperate edge entering her voice as she tried against to dissuade her from her course of action. "If you hurt a Ward the Protectorate will take the kiddie gloves off. They'll go after your civilian identity and-"

Boogeyman cut her off, "They'll do what? Go after my family? My mother is dead, as you and Emma constantly took pleasure in reminding me. My father is dead because of your actions. I have no friends because you wouldn't let me. I have no life outside of what I am doing right now because you decided that I wasn't allowed to live. So, tell me, Sophia, what do I have left to lose?"

Sophia said nothing, muscles tense and twitching as she was herded towards the edge of the roof once again by the Nightmares.

"You have until sunrise," Boogeyman said, cutting through the tense silence.

"…to do what?" her ex-tormenter asked with as much fear and trepidation as one would expect when faced with a mass of murder horses.

"To do the one thing you've always claimed you were best at," Boogeyman said with a smirk as a sand spear with jagged hooks formed in her hand. Her back arched and her wrist twisted as she prepared to throw the weapon.

"Survive."

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