Complications 3-6

My cape phone rang. Actually rang. It was only supposed to do that in emergencies.

I slapped my hand in the direction of the noise until I found my target. It was the phone the PRT had given me for use as a Ward. I checked the screen briefly before answering.

2:35am.

"Hello?" I answered blearily.

"Wisp? Wake up and get ready there's going to be a PRT van outside momentarily."

"Assault? Wha's going on?" I was still sleepy but I did as he said and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and pulled a hoodie over my bare torso.

"Something happened and we are bringing you in as a precaution." He said something to someone in the background. "Mask on and wait for the PRT kid. I'll meet you in the base garage."

"I could just-"

Assault cut me off. "No. Let's not take chances here kid. I would feel better if you had a squad to watch your back."

What the hell was going on?

"I have to go if I'm going to get there in time to meet you. Good luck kid and be safe." He hung up and I hurried about grabbing my mask and putting it on. I debated getting a shirt to put on underneath my hoodie when I heard a knock on the front door. I teleported to the living room, hand ready to blast anyone that might try to force their way in.

Another knock this time a bit louder.

I checked out the window.

Two armored PRT trucks were idling down the street, lights off. Two troopers stood on the front lawn weapons at the ready, attention focused away from the house.

Holy shit.

Another knock.

Instead of answering I teleported out to the back yard and jogged around the house I didn't have a key to the front door to relock it. "Hey." I called. I wasn't really sure how you greeted armed soldiers on your front lawn.

"Freeze!" One trooper called they al spun to train their weapons on me.

I froze.

"Are you Willow Wisp?" An broad shouldered man with dark skin and greeting hair asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Sergeant Rawlins." The man lowered his weapon. The other troopers returned their attention to the surrounding area.

"Let's get gone." Rawlins said into a throat mic. "Everyone mount up."

Rawlins stayed next to me but set a brisk pace back to the trucks. The two troopers formed up behind us, one to either side. Just as we reached the trucks three more troopers jogged up from down the other end of the street.

"Ramirez?" Sergeant Rawlins questioned the leading man.

"All clear Sarge." The man identified as Ramirez slug his weapon to his back and held out a hand to me. He looked young to be in the PRT

"Carlos Ramirez."

I shook his hand. "Willow Wisp."

"Ramirez quit yer flirtin and mount up." Rawlins barked.

"Yeah, yeah." Ramirez shot me a smile and jogged to the rear truck.

"You too Willow Wisp let's get a move on." Rawlins opened the rear double doors and I hopped into the back with the two troopers that had stood on my lawn with Sergeant Rawlins who climbed in and sat next to me. "Loaded up!" Rawlins called to the front of the truck. "Get us gone Butters and god help you if you try that pooka shit on my radio."

"It's polka!" The driver called back.

"It's an abomination is what it is." Rawlins drawled. "So long as it stays off my radio, I won't have to shoot it and put it out of my misery."

The two unidentified troopers chuckled.

The trooper across from me was a blonde woman, hair braided and hung over one shoulder. She gave me a smile. "Charity Carpenter." She said and reached out a fist.

I bumped it. "Willow Wisp."

She gestured to the broad shouldered man sitting next to her. "This is my husband Michael."

The man gave me a tight smile and a nod. He looked worried.

I nodded back before turning to Sergeant Rawlins. "Um, sir?"

Charity coughed suspiciously.

Rawlins gave me a sideways look. "I ain't no Sir, girly. I work for a livin."

Um. Okay. Don't call him sir. "Sorry. Um, can you tell me what's going on? Assault called but he didn't tell me."

Rawlins frowned. "If he didn't say, he had a good reason."

That wasn't an answer. Not to the question I had asked anyway. "Sooo?"

"Our lips are sealed." Rawlins said.

Charity leaned forward a bit to catch my attention. "We've worked with Assault and Battery a few times." She said. "They're Both good people and know what they are doing when they do it. So we will trust their judgment on this because they have earned that trust."

I sat back in my seat, holding on to the edge as the truck navigated what must have been a particularly rough pothole. I didn't like being in the dark on this but I didn't have much choice. "Is my Dad going to be okay?" I asked no one in particular.

"He should be fine." Rawlins said. "PRT looks after its own and their families. If he was in danger, we would have brought him along too."

So that meant I was in danger. But from who? And how would they know where I lived. It could just be a precaution. I would just have to wait and see.

I hated waiting.

.

"Hey kid!" Assault greeted me in the garage of the PRT building. "Don't you look comfy? New costume?"

I didn't even glance at my worn hoodie and sweatpants. "No some old guy called me in the middle of the night like the world was ending and I had to rush over here to hold his hand." I growled.

Rawlins barked out a brief laugh.

Assault eyed the man. "The ride must have been what 30 minutes? How the hell did you corrupt my ward already?"

"Didn't do a thing." Rawlins said with a smile. "The girl's got fight all on her own and she's got the good sense to think for herself."

Assault nodded sagely. As if it was he whom imparted such respectable traits.

"Which don't make no sense why she got stuck with a guy like you." Rawlins finished.

Assault made an over the top show of mock indignation. "She picked me I'll have you know."

Rawlins huffed and gave me a skeptical eye. "Why would you do a fool thing like that?"

"Hey." Assault protested.

Maybe it was because I was dead tired but I decided to get in on the act. I gave Rawlins a shrug. "Pity mostly."

Assaults jaw dropped.

I tried and failed to suppress a smile.

Assault looked between Rawlins and I before raising his hands in defeat. "All right all right you win. Good to see you in good spirits kid."

Not so much good spirits as a way to relieve the tension I was feeling about being left in the dark. "Whats going on?"

Assault looked around. "Not yet." He thanked the Squad for picking me up and I traded another fist bump with Charity before we left the garage in the direction of the Wards elevator. Assault continued to hold his silence until we boarded the elevator.

"So, I got some bad news and some worse news." He said punching in the code for the Wards floor. "Which do you want first?"

"Right now?" I gestured vaguely to the confines of the elevator. I was distracted by the cold tension in my chest, by the feeling of not having enough air, by having to tell myself that the walls were still where they were supposed to be and that the doors would in fact open once we arrived at our destination. And mercifully they did.

"Sorry, Wisp I didn't think about it." Assault apologized as we exited the elevator.

I shook my head. "I'm fine, don't worry about it." I took a steaming breath. "So what's bad news?

"Shadow Stalker has disappeared."

"What? What do you mean disappeared?"

"Just gone. The troopers on watch are gone too. All five of them. Just gone."

"Fuck what's the worse news?" I asked.

"She was being held in cuffs that Armsmaster designed to keep her from escaping with her power." Assault looked grim. "So, she had help. Which begs the question. How many of the troopers were on her side and why."

Sophia has escaped.

Sophia had fucking escaped!

"She going to come after me." I said quietly.

"That's what we thought too." Assault gestured to the Wards base. "That's why we are here."

"But she knows where here is." I pointed out.

"Yes, buuuuut the PRT building and the Wards base have both been built with defending against capes in mind. She would have a hard time getting in here and she definitely couldn't do it without showing up on camera."

"What about her help?"

"The PRT member that disappeared have all been tagged with mandatory master stranger protocols." He did his best to reassure me. "They wouldn't make it past the front door."

There was no way Sophia was going to let go of the fact I had beaten her.

"Hey kid it's going to be alright we are going to find her." Assault patted my shoulder. "It's going to be alright." He reiterated.

I shook my head. "If you don't find her, she will find me. She's a bitch like that."

Assault didn't seem to have a response for that, and I was kinda glad. I was determined to be negative about this because, no matter what anyone said, If Sophia had escaped then that was most definitely a bad thing. Especially for me.

"You need a distraction." Assault thumped one hand into the palm of the other. "You know what would be funny?"

I sighed and indulged him only mildly thankful for the distraction. "What?"

He smiled widely. "Let's rearrange the Wards base. Clock showed me how to work the controls once."

I rolled my eyes but still smiled a little. The Wards base was pretty bland. "Okay."

.

"What the hell happened?" Dennis stood dumbstruck inside the door, jaw slack as he looked around the base.

I looked down from the balcony off the room I shared with Missy. "Hey Dennis." I called.

He looked up. "Did you do this?"

"Part of it." I shrugged. "Assault and Dragon did the lion's share."

"Dragon was here?" He asked incredulous.

"Still here." A cool feminine voice filtered through the intercom. "In case the changes were not to the liking of the team. I will put everything back the way it was."

Dennis looked around the base again. "It's certainly different. Where's Assaut?"

I pointed to the far corner where a slightly raised section was passing for a TV space. "Fell asleep on the couch."

Dennis ran to his room and darted inside, emerging shortly after with a large marker. "Payback time." Was the only explanation he gave before stalking in the direction I had pointed.

The door opened again and this time Missy and Dean entered, their conversation during off as they took in the room.

"Well it's about time!" Missy smiled.

"Hey," I called down to her. It was only maybe fifteen or so feet to the ground from the floor of our shared room.

Her eyes went wide and she cheered. "Awesome!" The space between us twisted and scrunched up until it looked like the balcony was level with the ground floor. She stepped onto the balcony and reality snapped back into place behind her. "This is so cool!" Her younger age coming to the fore.

Below us Dean smiled at Missy's reaction. "How come you two get a suspended room and the rest of us live on the floor?"

"Cause we can get up here and you can't." I said.

He opened his mouth to argue, paused, noticed there was a distinct lack of mundane methods of ascension and relented. "Touché."

"Besides it was Dragon's idea." I added.

Dean's head rocked a little. "You got Dragon to design our base?"

Dragon's voice came over the intercom again. "I was simply keeping someone from mishandling the controls." She said.

"Who, Dennis?" Dean asked.

"Assault." I clarified.

Dean winced. "That's worse."

"I let him play with the controller while I organized everything." Dragon said.

Dean snorted a laugh. "Taylor do you know why we are being called in so early?"

That killed what good mood I had. "Yeah."

He must have been reading my emotions. "What is it?"

"Shadow Stalker escaped last night on the way to jail. PRT thinks she might come after me." After a moment's pause. "Maybe you all too."

Missy, enthusiasm effectively crushed, emerged from our room. "I never thought she was one that would escape and run but I'm not really surprised either."

I shrugged. The Sophia I knew would definitely do something like this. I was actually surprised she didn't do it sooner.

The red mask lights flashed around the room. Missy and I ducked into our room and grabbed the temporary masks that hung on the wall for times like this. They were full face and featurlessly smooth and coated with a mirror finish. It had the effect both of drawing the eye and directing it elsewhere. Damned effective when you were likely to wear it while in your everyday clothes.

When we emerged it was to a frowning Director Piggot accompanied by a painfully slender man with a severe chin and cold eyes.

Beside me Missy sucked in a breath.

"Wards, if you could join me for a moment." Director Piggot phrased it as a request but her tone gave no indication that it was anything but an order.

Missy gestured and her power twisted the floor to meet the edge of the balcony. She gestured for me to go first. I'd did and it felt, well wrong, was the only way to describe it. Like being weightless and too heavy at the same time. I think I will stick with teleporting. Ugh.

Dennis and Dean came to stand with us, both also sporting the temporary masks. "Are we waiting for Aegis and Kid Win Ma'am?" Gallant asked.

"No. They are otherwise occupied." Piggot's tone was calculated. Behind her the man smiled and it looked false on him.

"Yesterday evening Shadow Stalker escaped on her way to a juvenile detention facility. She was being escorted by four armed and armored PRT personnel all of whom have gone missing. With the, potential, for outside involvement, I have elected to also use an exterior method." She indicates the man behind her. "This is Thomas Calvert. He is former PRT and has since created his own business that is in line with the goals of the PRT and has an excellent reputation for tracking down wayward parahumans."

I didn't like the way she phrased that.

"As such," Piggot continued. "He will be taking over the search for Shadow Stalker while apprehension will fall to the protectorate team. Each of you will sit with Mr. Calvert and provide him with any information he may require to expedite his search. Understood?"

Dean and I both returned with a "Yes Ma'am." While Clockblocker and Vista only nodded.

Director Piggot pursed her lips but didn't comment on the mixed response. "Good. Willow Wisp I believe your mentor is already present. You will go first."

I looked at Thomas Calvert and he gave me a skin crawling smile as he offered his hand. "A pleasure to meet you Willow Wisp."

the way he said pleasure made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I reluctantly shook his hand. It was cold and clammy and I had to force myself not to wipe my hand on my pants.

Mr. Calvert only smiled more. "Lead the way." He gestured like a gentleman indicating his intention to follow.

I didn't like him and I had a bad feeling about him that I couldn't pin down why. "Please Sir after you. I need to wake my mentor."

Author's Note: Thank you for your Fav/Follow and Reviews! I'm sorry this chapter took a while. I came down with a stomach bug that left me not much in the mood to do anything. I hoping it didn't have too much an effect on the chapter as I did rush it a little at the end. But we have the creepy interview with Calvert to look forward to.

Also, I wondered constantly about why Sophia didn't run off and escape in cannon. Her violent tendencies didn't exactly lean towards quiet acceptance and subjecting herself to judgment. I guess that's what fan fiction is for.

Thanks Again!

K. Raiden