Tyrant Interlude: Sophia Hess

Bullshit. No other word for it.

Shoulda seen it coming. Things going right for once meant it was a pretty safe bet life was about to get totally fucked. It was the pattern.

Things start to settle down after bouncing all over the country from school to school and house to house? Of course the family situation blows up all over again because some shitty asshole needs to feel powerful.

Get powers and actually try to do something good? Cops come in and make you out to be the criminal.

Finally find someone worth a shit in the cape biz and they end up being TAYLOR FUCKING HEBERT.

I glanced across, still able to make out the dark silhouette of her body on the sand. It was dark, even darker in my shadows, but I really hadn't felt like being out there in the cold and the wind, where every bug that flew past or crawled on me could be ...

Fuck.

Her chest was still moving. Hell, she was still alive with the back of her head blown out, it wasn't like she was going to drown.

Why would I even care? This was the loser that it had taken months of effort to get out of Emma's system. Even after Emma fought back against those filthy junkies, she wouldn't believe me that she had proven she was better than those other girls. Better than Hebert.

My eyes flickered across the sand. Still breathing.

Ugly, awkward, spineless little Hebert. Never even gave me an angry look after all the shit we did to her. Emma had always said she was stronger than she looked. Guess I owed her a Coke or something. I'd have to remember to square that up if Skitter didn't gut me the next time my back was turned.

Why the hell was I even still here? Totally time to skip town. I'd run before for less, a lot less. A drunk asshole with a knife had nothing on the girl in front of me.

Maybe I was still here because I was curious, and I just needed to figure her out first. Work out her angle. Was she just playing with me all along?

She couldn't, right? No way that monster that had been splashing corpses all over mainstreet would be able to hide something like that.

But she had been hiding it, hadn't she? Even if she didn't know I was a cape, that Lung thing happened weeks ago. She had her powers when I choked her up against the locker at school, and by then she already taken Armsmaster down a peg.

Had she really been struggling in fear, or just struggling to control herself?

Had I almost died, and just not realised it?

Fuck it. We all almost died any number of times in the last twenty four hours. If it hadn't been for Hebert we would be dead for sure. Maybe I could have gotten away, but the rest were goners. Stick-up-his-arse Aegis, whitebread Gallant, even Kid and fucking Clockblocker. Missy. They didn't deserve to die.

They wasted their talents, but at least they tried. At least they fought. That was worth something.

And she saved them.

And then I saved her. What a joke that was, irony on some cosmic scale. I could just imagine Emma's face if I told her I had saved Hebert's life.

Actually, I could picture it, if I was being honest. As much as we fucked with her, Emma would still smile if she heard Hebert survived. Even after all that cold shit she pulled, I knew that Emma was holding onto a hope that Hebert would grow a spine and join the real world.

I never would have thought it was possible, but here we were. I was sitting in the dark next to a girl who was so far from the Hebert I knew they seemed like different species.

Maybe they were. Maybe this wasn't Hebert anymore, maybe it was just Skitter I saved from the bomb-blast?

Maybe it didn't matter. Whoever she was, she was a predator. Those things tried to fuck with her and hers, and she tore them apart with her bare hands. I couldn't deny that.

And that was the rub right? That was why I was sitting here instead of running as far as I could and never looking back? For the first time I could remember, here was someone who got it. Someone who didn't hesitate to tear this fucked up world a new asshole. Sure, maybe she was a bit too idealistic and selfless, only throwing it all-in when they came for her friends, but hadn't I just put myself in harm's way for her? Didn't I chase her out of the vault when Missy was sliced open?

Maybe I was more like her than I thought. Nothing wrong with fighting to protect someone you thought was worthy. I had done that for Emma, eventually. After the junkies had pushed her far enough to fight back.

If Skitter found that in Missy or the others, who was I to judge? I probably agreed with her about Missy anyway, that little kid ran right into the jaws of those monsters when she saw Gallant go down. Goddamn awful decision, but brave as fuck. Even at her age she had been fighting for *years* already, longer than most of the Wards. Longer than me.

Can't say I didn't feel something when Missy went down.

Skitter even fought for me, walked out of that vault thinking I was going to sit there and let her just fucking handle it. I couldn't remember having anyone I could count on like that. Emma was strong, but she was a rich girl from a good home. Would she go that far? Put her life on the line for me?

Skitter did, and I had to admit it ... I didn't want to leave that behind.

I watched her chest rise and fall for a bit. Maybe her breathing was evening out, getting stronger? Was I gonna run off, let her wake up alone, not even knowing if anyone else made it?

The light of the Rig burning was muted in my shadows, but it was still the brightest thing around.

Being locked up on the Rig always messed with me, gave me too long to think without any distractions. This time it made me realise a few things.

Truth be told, I had been coasting. Life had got complicated. The Wards tied my hands and made me too safe. Emma showed me a comfortable life, made me too complacent. I had almost given up on that promise I had made myself. Almost became one of them. The prey.

I'd fucking kill myself first.

And then Tattletale opened my door, said she was getting the others out. Smiled like a fucking cat and told me where to find Skitter, like she knew what I would do before I did it.

She hadn't been wrong.

Skitter had set me free. Fuck giving that up now.

AN: Hello! I haven't left Tyrant, life is life is all. Exams. You know the drill. Still got some to come in about 6 weeks, but will try to keep something coming around here. Won't be the previous release schedule till after though.

So, yup. Not only has Tattletale stopped Taylor killing herself, she also helped Sophia here. Racking up those redemption points, TT.

To be honest wasn't sure I would write this interlude, but I really do like Tyrant!Sophia, so the perspective was fun. More manageable than really digging into the next part of the story in my current state as well. Let me know what you think in the reviews!