When it was originally posted, this chapter ended with Sophia shooting and killing Browbeat after he refuses her. One of the major problems with Speak that persisted throughout its run was that I had trouble getting Taylor's character down. Sophia is also pretty difficult to get right, and it showed in the first draft.
After some advice from readers, and a lot of discussion, the ending was changed to a much more nuanced and human portrayal of Sophia.
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Interlude- Browbeat
(No New Messages)
Neil snapped the phone closed. Amanda was supposed to call him with the details. Maybe it was a little desperate of him to check his phone every other minute, but he didn't want to blow his chance. Amanda was worth it. He wouldn't miss her call for anything.
That, and surveillance was pretty damn boring. No matter how much he enhanced his body, the cold still bothered him, and November in Brockton Bay was cold. The wind swept across the rooftops with a knife's edge, piercing right through his jacket. It wasn't heavy enough for the weather. Heavy clothes would be too cumbersome to get off when he replaced Kazuo.
As it was, Kazuo was below in the alley. He was huddled around an oil drum fire with a bunch of the other Asian Bad Boyz. They were supposed to be doing… something. Neil still hadn't quite figured out what exactly. Holding territory, he thought. It seemed pointless though. The streets were all but deserted; too cold for even the homeless to be out. There was no one for the ABB to sell to, harass, rob, or anything else.
The sound of rough laughter floated up to him. Neil peered over the edge of the roof. The tall one… what was his name- Dae? He ought to know by now. Dae… something Korean… Dai. Dai had made a joke, and the others were laughing at it.
Kazuo shouted something back and tossed a bottle into the fire. He ambled off down the alley. Neil followed the ganger from the roof. Kazuo turned a corner into a side-alley and stopped beside a dumpster. Neil positioned himself above Kazuo and waited.
Steam rose in the chilly air as Kazuo relieved himself on the dumpster. Neil cringed as the thug's sigh of relief floated up to him. After a few moments, Kazuo turned, zipped up, and checked his phone. The tiny screen glowed like a beacon in the dark alley.
Neil checked his surroundings once more. The alleys were clear in both directions; all the other ABB had stayed at the oil drum.
Without further hesitation, Neil vaulted over the edge of the roof. Gravel gritted under his palms and wind whipped through his hair. Falling was always a rush. A fire escape was two floors below. He hit the railing with both feet. Even through his TK, the impact was bone-jarring. The railing bent slightly, but he was already moving. He hit the opposite wall of the alley, and then zig-zagged downward between the walls. His TK gave him a grip where there was none, and traction even on the featureless concrete walls.
One of Neil's shoes clanged against a drainpipe, and Kazuo looked up. The look on his face was perfect. His jaw dropped; he actually, honest to god jaw-dropped. Neil hit the ground behind him in the three-point landing he'd learned from Aegis. It was a flier's move, but Neil liked using it anyway. It just said "badass" in a way that few other things did.
"What the-" Kazuo's words cut off as Neil caught him in a chokehold. Kazuo struggled hard, but Neil had no trouble keeping a grip on him. Kazuo slowly went limp, his struggles dying off. Neil held the chokehold for a little longer even after Kazuo stopped moving. He'd taken that lesson to heart after a Merchant had played possum and stuck a knife in him.
Quickly, he stripped Kazuo's outer layer of clothes. The man was about his height- it was why he'd chosen him in the first place. Neil's clothes went into his bag and he stowed it behind the dumpster. Kazuo didn't have one, so he'd have to come back for the bag later. The narrow alley caught the winter air like a wind tunnel, and he turned his back to the wind.
Neil checked Kazuo's pulse- slow but steady, and then zip-tied him. He stuffed the unconscious thug under a pile of bulging trash bags. It was gross, but it was too cold to leave him out in the open air.
The clothes he'd appropriated from Kazuo were too tight. Neil cursed under his breath and ducked behind the dumpster. He tried again. The clothes were definitely too tight. He checked again to be sure that the alley was empty before he began to change.
With a thought, his outer layer of skin rippled and shifted. Underneath it, his muscles bunched up with a horrible itching feeling. The fibers reconstructed themselves, redistributing to be smaller and weaker. Neil fell to his knees as the transformation covered his legs. Dampness seeped into the knees of his stolen jeans, but he ignored it, focusing only on the change.
His face came last. He paused the transformation and moved to sit beside Kazuo. He needed a reference point or he'd never get it right. Faces were just too specific- too detailed. Anything wrong with a face would set people off immediately.
Bodies were infinitely easier. Not just by virtue of being mostly covered, but because people were hard-wired to read faces. Armsmaster had mentioned it to him before. Called it the 'uncanny canyon' or something like that.
There was a small compact he kept in his bag for just such an occasion. It was actually one of Vista's spares. She'd given it to him after he'd had the idea to use one on a mission. It was girly- Hello Kitty themed, but he used it all the same. It was a nice reminder that he was on a team. That even though he wasn't as smooth as Aegis or as funny as Clockblocker, he could still make friends in his own way.
He set the compact in his lap and guided the shift with his fingers. The bigger details he molded into his face like he was kneading clay. Sharper cheekbones, a flatter nose, a change in hair color. The fine features he did with a fingertip; applying little more than a brush or a poke to shape his face. A small scar on one cheek, angled eyebrows, and finally, the little fold in the eyebrow.
"How do I look?" He said to the unconscious Kazuo. He checked his face against Kazuo's. An adjustment to the angle of the nose. Their eye colors were different… Neil's were blue, and Kazuo's brown.
That was a problem. He didn't like changing eye colors during a mission. An error could cost him acuity or vision at a crucial moment. He weighed the option, and then decided to just go with it. It was dark out, and the ABB probably wouldn't notice. Kazuo had already been gone a suspicious amount of time.
He pulled on Kazuo's clothes. They were still tight, but they fit. Tossing some more garbage bags over Kazuo, he headed back toward the ABBs. His nerves grew as he approached the fire barrel. They'd know for sure that something was wrong. They'd see something wrong with his face.
"You get fuckin lost or something, Kaz?" One of the men shouted at him. The rest turned to look. Neil searched his mind for the name of the man who'd shouted. Shorter, close-cropped hair, eyebrow piercing… Han.
"Just visiting your mama, Han." He said with a smirk.
"Ahh, fuck you!" Han said. The other ABBs laughed, and the tension broke. Neil took Kazuo's spot in the circle.
He stayed quiet while the rest of the men bantered back and forth. The changes he'd made to his throat helped him imitate Kazuo's voice. Vocals were one of the things he was worst at, and he wasn't confident in holding any longer conversations with Kazuo's voice.
Time passed slowly, and his nerves slowly grew. What if they noticed something? What if he fucked up Kazuo's voice?
It was nearly an hour later when a phone rang. Neil almost had a heart attack. Amanda! She'd blow his cover! He fumbled wildly for his phone.
"Mine." Said one of the men. It was Ji Woo. Neil stuffed his phone back into his pants, praying that no one had noticed his panic.
Ji Woo stepped a few feet away to take the call. Neil tried to listen in, but Ji Woo was responding in what Neil thought was Mandarin. He didn't know a word of the language, and it didn't make him feel any better. What if Kazuo knew Mandarin or Japanese and the other gang members knew that?
After a minute, Ji Woo walked back to the barrel.
"Lee's coming. We're going to go fuck up some Empire shit." Ji Woo scrubbed a hand through his long hair, looking annoyed. "'s too fuckin cold for this."
"Lee's coming?" Takeshi cut in.
Ji Woo nodded. "I was talking to Hyung. He says Lung was busy and Kaze hates the cold, so we got Lee."
"Shit. I like working with Kaze." Han said. He grinned. "That bitch is fine."
Takeshi snorted. "She'd cut your dick off."
Han opened his mouth to reply, and froze as a hand landed on his shoulder.
Oni Lee stood beside him, his demon mask impassive in the firelight. Neil wasn't the only one who jumped. The cape had come out of the night so silently that Neil hadn't even seen him.
"I will give Black Kaze your regards." Oni Lee said. Han went white. He shoved Han to the side and stepped closer to the barrel. The circle of ABB edged back slightly as Lee approached. If Lee noticed, he gave no sign.
"We are going six blocks west to Sycamore and Westlake." Lee's voice was a monotone; so flat that it ground the accent out of his words. "There is an Empire 88 safehouse there. It is the central drop point for dealers in this area. They are processing a large quantity of money there tonight. We will go and take it from them, and then we will burn the house to the ground."
A sort of collective excitement went around the circle as Lee spoke. Several of the men yelled their approval.
"Quiet." Lee said. "We go in quietly. Let their screams be the noise."
He turned and walked down the alley. He didn't look back; moving as though the ABB would follow him as a matter of fact.
Neil dropped to the back of the group as the gang members fell in behind Oni Lee. He'd thought that this group of thugs was going to commit a robbery, or if he was lucky, lead him to one of their drug dens.
Having Oni Lee show up was a nightmare. All three of the ABB's capes were way out of his league, but Lee was the one he least wanted to meet. If they realized he wasn't Kazuo…
Lung might spare him; hurt him badly, but still spare him. Black Kaze was a coin flip; if he could put up a good fight she might let him go. But Oni Lee killed. Oni Lee always killed. He did it simply, without fuss or even cruelty, just because it was easier to finish someone off than to leave them alive. If Lee knew Neil was there, Neil was dead.
Gradually, he was left as the rearmost member of the group. As soon as Oni Lee got far enough away, Neil would slip off down an alley and disappear. He'd dismiss tonight as a bad go and try again later.
There was a promising alley up ahead. He'd passed it during his scouting trip earlier. There were lots of little alcoves and niches to hide in.
"Hurry the fuck up Kaz." Dai snapped at him. "You wanna die? Lee hates it when people slow him down."
Dai turned back to the group. The only warning Neil had was the faint hiss of air. He ducked aside out of pure instinct. Something struck Dai in the back, and he crumpled with a strangled cry.
The other gang members turned at the noise, and Neil took his chance. He'd distract them, then run for it.
He pointed at Han.
"What the fuck did you do to Dai!?"
The others immediately rounded on Han. No one was looking at Neil. They were all shouting at Han. Neil flexed, letting his transformation build. The seams of Kazuo's clothes ripped as Neil's body expanded.
"Han's gone crazy!" He yelled. "Get him!"
He bull-rushed into the group of thugs with devastating force. Some of them actually flew into the air as he charged. The ABBs were confused, scattering around the alley, and Neil laid into them with his fists before they could react.
"We're under attack! It's the Empire!" He shouted. He wanted to laugh. The gang members were in utter disarray. He'd already clobbered half their number before any of them realized what he was doing.
"That's not Kaz!" Takeshi bellowed. "Fuck him up!"
The remaining ABB were drawing weapons, but he didn't give them the chance. When he hit someone, he put them down. Every blow of his massive fists cracked heads or broke bones. Now and then, another missile would fly out of the darkness and strike a gang member. A few came dangerously close to him.
He tossed Takeshi into Ji Woo, and then grabbed Han. He used the weedy little goon as a shield as more ABB came at him. There was a flash of light on steel, and Neil dodged, throwing Han behind him.
Oni Lee's mask was a spot of red in the darkness; the only color the cape wore. Han was impaled on one of his long knives. With a flick, Lee discarded Han's body. Another Lee walked out of a side alley. Then another from behind the first.
Neil groaned inwardly. He was fucked now.
Oni Lee glanced around at few ABB still conscious and then dissolved into ash. Neil dived blindly to the side. Another Lee swung at where he'd been standing. Neil scrambled for the narrow alley up ahead. Lee wouldn't be able to get behind him there.
He almost made it. He blinked, and there was an Oni Lee standing in front of him. The Lee pulled something off his vest. Neil kept moving and hit the Lee with a two-footed dropkick. The clone sailed backwards and Neil rolled into the alley.
There was a roar of heat and light, and a giant hand bowled him over. His head cracked painfully against one of the walls, and he fell hard. Bursts of light sailed across his vision, and he fought to keep from blacking out. His TK gave him enough grip on the stones that he could pull himself along without moving. He slowly inch-wormed away from the mouth of the alley.
A pair of boots appeared in front of him. Neil looked up in horror. Oni Lee stood blocking the alley. Neil looked behind him. There was another Lee there too.
"Oh fuck." Neil whispered. "Oh fuck."
He dragged himself upwards, using his TK more than his arms. All his muscle was nothing more than dead weight when his body wouldn't respond.
The first Lee stepped forward, raising a knife.
"I'm gonna take you by surprise and make you realize~"
They both froze. It took Neil's mind long seconds to process what he heard. His phone was going off. And it was Amanda's ringtone. Cheesy as hell, but it was hers. Lee started forward, and Neil held up his hands, frantically waving at Lee to stop.
"Please wait! Please!"
Lee kept coming.
"It's important that I answer this!" Neil pleaded. "It's important! She's important."
Oni Lee hesitated.
"You are speaking to your woman?"
"Yes! We- we've got our first date tomorrow!" Neil couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Oni Lee cocked his head at Neil. He almost seemed to be weighing the options. The ringtone played on, backgrounding their conversation with electric guitar.
"Lung would allow it." Lee said slowly. "Black Kaze would allow it as well."
"You mean-" Neil blurted.
"Yes. I believe it is what they would allow you, so I will allow it as well. Answering that phone will serve as your last words."
It felt like someone had kicked Neil in the gut. Last words. Lee was really going to do it.
"Answer." Lee said.
Neil opened his phone with numb fingers.
"Hello?" Amanda's voice came through like something from another world. Something far off from the bloody, stinking alley.
"A-Amanda." Neil gasped.
"I thought you'd never pick up!" Amanda said laughing. "Are we still on for tomorrow? I thought we could get pizza at Marcone's."
Oh Jesus.
"I- I'm going to have to reschedule. Some stuff came up at work."
"Oh. That's- that's really disappointing." Amanda said. "Is there a time that'd work better for you?"
Neil swallowed the lump in his throat. "I don't know. I'll have to find out."
Oni Lee was stock-still. Not fidgeting or moving. Just watching him talk. It was unnerving.
"Okay. Bye Neil."
I love you.
The words burned on his lips, but he refused to say them. He couldn't tell her that. Not now.
"Goodbye Amanda."
Silence.
"You're done?" Oni Lee said.
Neil nodded. He clenched his fists. He was going to go out fighting. If he turned to the side, he could watch both of them at once. He kept the Lee he'd talked to on his left, the other to his right. It wouldn't protect him if they used their suicide vests though.
Something hissed through the air and the Lee to his right vanished in a puff of ash. The remaining Lee darted away from Neil, looking up at the rooftops for his attacker.
Neil ran for it. He pumped every bit of power he could get into his legs. They screamed with agony, the muscles writhing under his skin, but he forced himself through the pain. His strides lengthened, growing until he wasn't so much running as he was bounding down the alley, leaving Lee behind him.
He turned a corner and ran straight into a Lee. The man raised a knife, but Neil shoulder-checked him into a wall. The Lee puffed into ash, but more were appearing. Neil ran on, forcing his lungs to be deeper, his heart stronger.
More Lees came at him, dropping at him from above or stepping into his path. He hit each one like a freight train, grinding them into the concrete without breaking his stride.
Left. Right. Right.
He took the alleyways at random, trying to shake the endless parade of Lees still coming at him.
Right. Straight. Left.
A dead end.
Oh shit.
Neil turned to backtrack, but Oni Lee was already standing in the mouth of the alley. Neil braced himself, preparing for Lee to charge, but the supervillain stayed where he was. Moving with deliberate, sadistic slowness, Lee pulled one of the cylindrical grenades off his belt.
Neil screamed the first thing that came to mind.
"Behind you!"
Lee looked. It was for the briefest instant, only a twitch of his demon mask to the side, but Neil took his chances. He threw himself at Lee, grabbing wildly for the grenade. Another Lee appeared, slashing at Neil from behind with a knife. The blade scored into his back and Neil cried out. He struck out at the new Lee, still trying to keep his hands on the first.
The second Lee slashed at him again. Neil gathered bone under his skin into iron-hard plates. Lee's knife cut into his arm, but glanced off the bone. Neil used the opening to slam the second Lee into the first, dissolving them both into ash.
He looked around wildly, looking for his next attacker, but no more Lees appeared. Neil rushed out of the alley, eating up the ground with long strides. As he ran, he focused on repairing his body; fixing the damage he'd done to his legs and closing where Oni Lee had cut him. Running got easier as he refined the transformations in his legs, his steps becoming smoother and faster, the motions less tiring.
Fixing himself made an excellent distraction from just how close he'd just come to dying. Neil skidded to a halt, five blocks away from where he'd fought Lee. What the hell had all that been about? It was supposed to just be a routine replace-and-switch like he'd done countless times. When a cape showed up, he'd slip off, leaving the gang in disarray. But tonight, someone else had been there. Someone had been shooting at the-
Oh.
Everything clicked together.
"Shadow Stalker, get out here!" He shouted.
"What's up Browbeat?" Shadow Stalker said from directly behind him.
Neil thought his heart would explode.
"Christ, Stalker!" He clutched at his chest. "Make some noise or something!"
Shadow Stalker's laughter was muffled by her mask. After a moment, Neil steadied himself, facing the heroine.
"You were there tonight." He said. "Against the ABB."
"Yep."
"You blew my cover." He stepped forward, towering over her. "I almost died because of you."
Shadow Stalker didn't back down. "I didn't know it was you at first. And anyway, I stopped Lee from killing you a bunch of times. Who do you think got rid of him so you could run for it?"
"You let him stand there with a knife to my throat while I made an entire phone call. What the fuck, Stalker? Where were you then?"
Shadow Stalker met his eyes; the intensity of her gaze made him take a step back.
"I was there. You made Oni Lee to hold off murdering you so you could answer your phone!"
"And?"
"And that's pretty fucking impressive, Browbeat." Her eyes were wide behind her mask.
"He was going to kill me and you just watched because you thought it was cool?" Neil snapped.
"No. I watched because I wanted to see what you'd do. He had you dead to rights and you were still going to go down swinging. That takes guts. You're strong."
"That's my power, Stalker."
Shadow Stalker snorted derisively, her breath misting in the cold air. "Not that kind of strong. Strong because you didn't give up."
She stepped closer to him; uncomfortably close. "I think I get it though. Your power, I mean."
Neil raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Her voice dropped, becoming conspiratorial. "Helps you feel safe, doesn't it?"
It did. Neil hadn't been seriously hurt since he triggered. He wasn't as unstoppable as Aegis or Assault, but he was pretty damn tough. But he didn't see what Shadow Stalker was getting at.
Shadow Stalker continued talking. "You feel safe because of your powers. Because no one can hurt you." Her voice sank to a whisper. "Not anymore."
"I… I don't follow." Neil said. He'd triggered in a boating accident. Did she think he had some weird boat-phobia or something?
"Don't be so fucking dense." She stepped even closer. They were almost touching now. "The other Wards don't get it. They don't get you. But they don't know what it's like. They wouldn't understand why you come out here alone."
"To fight crime?" Neil supplied.
"To prove yourself." Shadow Stalker said. "I saw you tonight and I knew right away. You need it. You have to come out here because you're a predator. It's natural for you."
"I don't-"
Shadow Stalker cut him off. "You do. Be honest Neil, where do you feel more alive? Out here, beating the shit out of people, or wasting your time with that girl?" He tried to speak but she cut him off again. "She's prey. She won't ever understand. You're strong, Neil. A predator. Like me."
Slowly, almost shyly, she ran a finger along the rip in his shirt where Lee had cut him. "Why don't you stop lying to yourself and cut loose? You like being out here because it lets you show your strength. No rules, no laws, no fucking Protectorate. Only law out here is the law of the jungle. So how bout it? You and me, Browbeat. Two predators."
Neil pushed Shadow Stalker's hand away from him and stepped back.
"No." He said firmly. "That's all you. Strong or predators or whatever, that's not me. I don't care about that."
She made to speak, but this time he interrupted her.
"Listen. I don't know what your deal is, but all I want right now is to go home and change my fucking pants, because I'm pretty sure I pissed myself when Oni Lee pulled a fucking grenade. Thanks for getting me into that, by the way. You do your little urban hunter thing, but I don't want any part of it."
Neil turned his back on her and walked away. Shadow Stalker stayed where she was, standing alone in the cold night.
Only when he was out of sight did Sophia react.
"God fucking dammit!" She drove her fist into the wall of the alley.
What the fuck was his problem? Why couldn't he be honest!? The one fucking Ward who was actually a predator was too much of a pussy to admit it!
Dammit. God. Dammit. Now she was stuck for sure on a team of nothing but fucking prey and sheep. Finding Browbeat had been a stroke of incredible fortune. 'Finally, someone who didn't fuck around,' she'd thought.
Nope.
Just another goddamn prey. Not weak in body, but mind. Fucking prey mentality. He was scared of what it meant. Of what he could have. Could take.
Sophia cursed some more and kicked a few trash cans, but her anger burnt itself out quickly, replaced with frustration.
Maybe Emma would understand what had gone wrong. Why Browbeat had refused her. Maybe she could have said something different. Two predators should be able to work together. Strong and strong; like meeting like. Them against all the fucking prey of the world. It was right. The natural fucking order of things.
There were days where she felt like the only sane person in the whole goddamn world.