2.1

Hannah idly toyed with the green revolver. It had been several hours since Samedi's escape and she was sitting in one of the Protectorate's conference rooms waiting for the Wards who encountered the killer to arrive. While there was some urgency to the debrief Hannah had long come to understand the benefits of letting her allies sleep. She had informed them to be here at 7:00 am as it would allow for some rest and give them the chance to attend school that day. Though Hannah doubted that any of them would.

Chris was the first to arrive. He greeted Hannah politely before sitting at the table. He seemed to be trying to keep from falling asleep. Missy was next. The young girl likely was as tired as Chris. Years of late nights however had trained her to ignore the lack of sleep. Unsurprisingly Sophia was last, and nearly five minutes late. Confronting her wouldn't get anywhere so Hannah choice to ignore it.

"Good morning." Hannah started "I understand that it is early. With luck we can finish here quickly."

"What's this about anyway?" Sophia asked as she took her seat.

"Last night."

"Samedi," Missy stated.

"Yes, We are hoping to gather as much information on her capabilities. You three are the only ones to have fought her successfully. Anything you can give us would mean a great deal."

"Why?" Chris asked "We have her in custody."

Hannah glanced away from him.

"She is in lock-up right?" Chris asked nervously.

"Samedi escaped last night during her interrogation."

The Wards stared at the older hero mutely. Then Sophia burst out laughing. The others stared worriedly at the cackling girl. The teen slowly regained her composure.

"Shit" Sophia muttered between gasps.

Hannah narrowed her eyes at the obscenity. There were bigger issues to face at the moment. Turning toward Chris and Missy she asked them to go over the events of last night. Chris began:

XxXXxX

It was a bit past 11 when I first smelled the smoke. About a block up was an alley. I had gone down it before on my way back from base. Anyway there was this light coming from it like fire you know. I figured you know a house fire or something. So me and Vista ran to help, and then we heard the shouting like people were fighting. Then more fire. At this point you know it was obviously a cape fight.

"You take them from the front" Vista told me. "I'll go around and cut off anyone who tries to get away."

So she took off. I figured it'd take like a minute for her to round the block. I kicked my board forward at this point.

That's when I got my first look at what was going on. There was all that black smoke stuff Grue spreads around covering the back alley. Like the corner where it turns up. Anyway then I saw all the fire. It was making this circle around This one girl. Samedi though I didn't know that at the time. She had the girl that shoots fire out of her mouth in the air. Hellhound's dogs were all over the place but I guess they couldn't really get at Samedi.

"Everybody stand down." I said

That's when one of them shouted at me.

"Run! It's Samedi." I guess it must have been the blond one. Anyway at that point I kind of focused on her rather than the others cause you know Samedi's the really dangerous one. So I fire off a few stun rounds at her, but she throws the green shield thing up. Totally blocks my shot. Then she's all like:

"Why are you shooting at me?"

It's really weird because she like trying to kill people. Of course I'm going to stop her. I don't say anything though because Armsmaster is always on Dennis for talking too much in fights so I try and stay focused.

So I try again to hit her. The shield is up again. It's around her that the Undersiders must have taken off. Anyway Samedi tries to throw this dumpster at me. Like who does that? She's like: "I don't want to hurt you" but she tossing dumpsters at me? Doesn't she know how dangerous that is?

Anyway the dumpster lands like way short 'cause that's when Vista gets there. Then it's the normal game of stretch space to make range fights work better. Then like a minute in Shadow Stalker shows up and does her thing and down goes Samedi.

XxXXxX

"How did you know to show up Sophia?" Hannah asked.

"I got the emergency beacon on my little radio thing"

Hannah nodded, but then a thought came to her.

"Chris when did you have time to trigger the emergency beacon?"

The boy looked started.

"I didn't. Missy did right?"

"Not me. I didn't even know she was Samedi until it was all over."

That was...troubling to say the least. The only people that had access to the emergency beacon were PRT members. If they were able to send the signal than surely they would have come forward to aid in the fight. The only other explanation was someone else must have gained access to their systems. Hannah resolved to bring it up to the security director after they finished here.

"Sophia how did you manage to bring down Samedi anyway?"

"With my crossbow." The Ward said in a tone managed to convey the unspoking moron.

"Was Samedi's shield up?" Hannah hoped she was right about this.

"Yeah I guess. Why?"

"The green shield is reminiscent of a man named Salvador Romano. Better know in some circles as 'Bubble Boy'. His force field is supposed to be one of the strongest in the world. If your bolts can go through it then it's a weakness we can exploit." Hannah explained.

That seemed to bring up the Wards. Pride at taking down such an enemy was certainly warranted. Now however came the harder part.

"I first want to say you three handled this whole situation very well. However, due to Samedi's escape the director believes it would be best if the public didn't know she was captured in the first place. She feels it might cause a panic that-"

"Bullshit." Sophia growled. "She's just covering her fat ass."

"Sophia control yourself."

"No. I take down the fucking Grim Reaper, and your telling me I got to keep it all hush hush just 'cause you couldn't hang on to a villain if they were stapled to your hands." Her anger was so thick it could be cut with a knife.

"Look I get it. Really. If it was up to me you'd be getting a medal. You've more than earned it. Unfortunately sometimes the greater good calls for us to give up the things we deserve."

Sophia glared for a few moments more. Abruptly she stood up and marched toward the door.

"Fuck the greater good." She growled out without turning around.

XxXXxX
A few moments later Missy found Sophia changing in the locker room. The older girl was angrily shoving her costume into her gym bag. Normally Missy would ignore the other girl but a part of her felt compelled to talk.

"Sucks about the cover up." Missy started cautiously

Sophia merely grunted in response. Not good. Missy tried again.

"So you knew Samedi from school?" She asked

"Yeah."

"Well what was she like?"

"She was a loser." Sophia smirked a little "A total coward. I guess you never really know a person."

Sophia zipped up her bag and paused, then turned to face Missy for the first time.

"Did you want something squirt. I got shit to do."

Missy ignored the insult in the name of camaraderie. Battery kept telling her that it is important when dealing with difficult people.

"I just want to say thanks. You really saved us last night. It was kinda cool actually."

"Everything I do is cool kid. You should know that by now." Sophia said, standing and leaving.