A new chapter is here annnnnnnnnnnd... were not getting to the Taylor vs. Sophia fight yet, that'll be next chapter. Sorry for those looking forwards to it, but we need to go back and see what lead up to Sophia going of the rails like she did. Hopefully I did this well. While I'm overall happy with this chapter, there are some parts I feel could be improved, I just couldn't think of how to do so. Anyways, on to the chapter.

Chapter 12: Revenge

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Sophia Hess was in an irritated mood. She had been called out of school early. Officially it was a situation with her mom. Unofficially it was the PRT calling her in for some impromptu thing. As was the case, they didn't say anything substantive as to why, not that she had expected them to. It wasn't uncommon for the higher ups to get things last minute, let alone someone on her level. While she didn't care for school normally, her favorite pastime of putting those she deemed weak in their place had been interrupted by the call.

When she arrived there was a bit of confusion when they didn't let her get her costume on and instead handed her a domino mask to hide her identity, but she didn't think much of it. After this she was marched up to the director's office.

Thus she now stood before a heavy set stern woman with short bleach blond hair. This woman was Emily Piggot, director of the PRT East-Northeast, and she had a notable scowl. Flanking her on her left and right were the heroes Miss Militia and Armsmaster respectively.

Miss Militia was an olive skinned woman in her early thirties with dark hair. She wore stylized fitted army fatigues and a sash tied around her waist styled after the American flag. Her lower face was covered by a scarf also styled after the American flag. Unlike the director her expression was one of disappointment.

Armsmaster had a stone faced cold expression, betraying nothing of his inner thoughts. He was the leader of the Protectorate East-Northeast. He was a tall man who wore midnight-blue power armor with silver highlights and a helmet with a silver visor. He had a well trimmed beard. On his back was his signature halberd.

"Tell me Shadow Stalker, do you know why you're here?" Emily asked.

"Is this another lecture about 'getting along with my teammates'?" Sophia replied with a hint of sarcasm. "Cause I think that could wait until after school."

"If it was, I'd call you lucky." Emily growled.

Sophia grew a bit nervous, but also annoyed.

"Then why am I here?" She questioned.

Emily didn't immediately respond.

"Tell me Shadow Stalker, why do you think I tolerate you? My negative disposition to you parahumans is no secret to anyone, even I'm aware of how it colors my view of things. So with a troublesome brat like you in my ranks and my normal disposition, why do I tolerate you?" She asked.

Anger swelled up within Sophia to help squash her nerves down.

"Because I actually do a damn good job." Sophia proudly declared.

"In a sense, it is your usefulness that has kept you on. And it is some perceived notion of usefulness that is keeping me from shipping you straight to juvenile detention." Emily returned coldly.

Sophia froze as her blood ran cold. Emily ignored this and looked to Armsmaster and nodded. He nodded in reply and then took out a small device. He input some commands and Sophia felt something clamp around her ankle. She looked down to see a small bracelet now attached to her with a green light on.

"The device you see is designed to both track your location and give you a small electric shock if you attempt to remove it or use your powers." Armsmaster explained.

"Is this some kind of joke? I haven't done anything wrong!" She shouted.

"I'd hardly call hospitalizing a classmate as not doing anything wrong!" Emily shouted.

Sophia froze, her eyes widening behind her mask.

"That's not even counting the evidence your victim provided and was corroborated by one of your now former conspirators." Emily added. "Which, I might add, I was only made aware of after the school board had begun its own investigation!"

Sophia didn't respond as all this began to sink in.

"You should count yourself lucky that the higher ups still think there's some use for you, lord knows what that would be, and that your actions thus far have somehow not been bad enough to make them overlook this perceived usefulness." Emily explained. "However, don't think you're getting off easy. We'll be doing our own internal investigation, these acts in your civilian life make actions here suspect. While you've had disciplinary issues, you've largely played ball so far. That now seems to be more of an act than something genuine. Depending on the results of our own investigation you might just get the punishment you deserve."

Sophia didn't respond seemingly in a daze.

"Your mother has already been informed of this and is disgusted by your behavior. She's given us full permission for you to be kept on site until the investigation is complete. Until that time, you will not be out on patrol or even on console duty. You will not be allowed to leave the base or even contact anyone outside. The results of the investigation will determine what is done next." Emily added. "Your phones, both your personal and Wards phone."

This snapped Sophia out of her daze.

"You can't do that!" She shouted.

"I can and I will, even if I must use force!" Emily declared.

Sophia growled.

"Militia!" Emily shouted.

Miss Militia nodded and stepped forwards.

"GRRrrrrrrr… FINE!" She shouted.

She took out both her phones and slammed them on the table, just hard enough to make a point but not to break them.

"Hmph… Good, Miss Militia. Take her to her room." Emily ordered. "And don't tell the Wards about this yet, Armsmaster and I will discuss how much to tell them."

"Yes director." The heroine replied.

She walked up to Sophia.

"Come along, Shadow Stalker, don't make this harder than it has to be." She ordered.

With a growl Sophia followed the heroine and was marched out of the room, leaving Armsmaster and Emily behind. The director sighed.

"What a mess." She muttered. "We already have enough on our plate, the last thing we needed was this."

"Indeed, and depending on if the Hebert's accept the offer more trouble may come." Armsmaster pointed out.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does, I may have to talk with them personally and give them a good enough deal for them to keep quiet. The last thing we need is this to go to court. With Carol Dallon on the case, if ties are made between Shadow Stalker's civilian and cape identity, she'll be relentless in her litigation." She stated.

"Quite. Now, what will we be telling the rest of the Wards. Triumph isn't taking things well, given Shadow Stalker was under his watch he's blaming himself for not noticing." He added.

"Foolish, that damn girl tricked us all." Emily noted, before sighing. "Back to the topic at hand, there's no need to tell the rest of the Wards yet. For now we'll just say we're investigating something in regards to her and that she has to stay on site because of that, nothing more. If our investigations turn up something ugly and she's sent to juvy then we'll revisit this topic."

"What about Aegis, he'll be moving up to the position of captain soon." Armsmaster brought up.

"We'll inform him when that happens, assuming Shadow Stalker is still confined here." Emily noted.

She then stood up.

"Now, I need to go for my dialysis. I'll leave you to inform the Wards." She directed.

Armsmaster nodded as the PRT Director lumbered out of her office.

Elsewhere…

Sophia stood in her Wards room, now her cage, with a multitude of emotions swirling within her. The most prominent of these was rage and disbelief. Why… Why is this happening? I've done nothing wrong. I've been doing this for ages and nothing has happened. If I'd been in the wrong, surely something would have happened to me before this. So why now? The image of a glasses wearing, dark haired girl came to her mind.

"Hebert." Sophia hissed out. "It's all that cowardly prey's fault. She just couldn't accept her place in the world and had to stir things up."

She shouted out in rage and punched a nearby wall.

"That weak little bitch just had to ruin things for me!" She shouted.

As she vented a thought came to mind, remembering what the director had mentioned.

"Not just Hebert but an accomplice as well, but who? It couldn't have been Emma, she wouldn't have betrayed me to go back to weak little Hebert. Madison is a possibility, but she showed no signs of betraying us. So that leaves one of the clingers. One of those cowards must have forgotten their place." She growled.

She shouted and punched the wall again.

"Dammit, why do I have to be stuck here?!" She shouted.

She looked down at her ankle bracelet. She bent down to see if she could loosen it. It shocked her the minute she tried to use any measure of force to get it off. She punched the wall again before stomping to sit down on her bed. She took several minutes to calm her rage. While she couldn't get it to go away, she was able to control it enough to think more clearly. I need to calm down. I was careful, my phones shouldn't have anything beyond more proof of what I did to Hebert. I'm already in this cage for that so it shouldn't change anything. The stashes of my old costume and equipment should be sufficiently hidden so I doubt they'll find them. Given I've been careful to play ball they should find me clean of anything here. Once they realize they've got nothing on me I'll be out of here I'm sure of it.

A few days later…

Sophia paced around her room. She hadn't been allowed to leave her room except to go get food in the cafeteria, given her room, thankfully, had a bathroom with a shower. However she was never allowed to leave her room alone, she was escorted by either Triumph, another Protectorate hero or a PRT soldier. She hadn't really interacted with any of the other Wards, not that she cared to do so anyways. It shouldn't be taking this longer. If they'd found something, I'd know about it by now. It must just be bureaucracy being bureaucracy and things going slow. Yeah… that's it. It's just taking a while. It's only a matter of time till they realize they've got nothing and then I'm out of here and back where I belong. Despite her attempts to calm herself, her hand was twitching. Her desire to go out was making her antsy. She looked down at her ankle bracelet and scowled at what it reminded her of.

A few more days later…

This is taking too long. Sophia thought to herself as she paced about the room frantically. They… they aren't planning on just keeping me here… are they? No they couldn't, they… She looked down at the ankle bracelet, a reminder of her situation. What if they are? The bureaucracy can't be taking this long can it? Surely they would have given up by now, Right? They've got nothing. She felt anger well up in her. Unless… unless… they're just keeping me here like some kind of caged fucking animal! Out of sight out of mind! She tried to pry her ankle bracelet off only for it to shock her.

"Grrr!" She growled.

She searched the whole room leaving nothing unturned in the hope of finding something she could use to hopefully break the device. However, as she searched, she found nothing, not even her costume.

"Dammit, they must have cleared out my room ahead of time so I wouldn't have anything to break this damn thing off." She noted. "And even if I did managed they've cleared out any equipment I could use to help me. Grrrr… Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

She punched the wall with each word. She breathed heavily once she was finished with her last punch, her fist resting against the wall. Damn that Hebert and that traitor! Damn those weak cowards! It's their fault I'm stuck in this cage! She continued to breathe heavily.

A few more days later…

Sophia cried out in pain as her latest attempt to get out of the bracelet ended in failure, with the bracelet shocking her for her attempts.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" She shouted as she took the nearest thing and slammed it into the ground. "How the hell I'm I supposed to get out of here if I can't get this damn bracelet off?!"

She breathed heavy, a deranged look in her eyes. Her room was a mess, with things scattered about. She was looking down when she saw it, sliding out from what she slammed onto the ground. It was a slip of paper. She picked up and read it. As she did her eyes widened, a feral grin spread across her face, and she began to giggle like a woman gone mad.

On this slip of paper was written, "If you wish to be free, I can make it happen. In one week's time I can have one of my agents slip you a device to free you from your chains. All I ask in return is for you to seek your vengeance. If you agree to this, tear this message up. Then, tap the side of your neck when the guard who will take you to dinner sees you, he is one of my agents. This is how I'll know if you agree to my help."

Her giggles turned into a full blown laughter of madness as she gleefully tore the message apart. I don't know who you are mystery man and I don't give a fuck. If you can get me out of here, I'll gladly take my revenge. That bitch Hebert and that traitor will regret ever crossing me. I'll make them suffer horribly. And then… I'll kill them. Yes… I'll kill them indeed. She heard the door to her room open and looked up and saw the guard. She smiled and tapped the side of her neck. He nodded.

"Come on now!" He ordered.

She complied, but put on a scowl along with her domino mask. The last thing she needed now was for them to get suspicious of her.

Saturday…

Armsmaster or, given he's out of costume, Colin Wallis was working on a new feature for the helmet of his power armor, a lie detector. Suddenly a call came through on his personal computer.

"Answer." He stated.

The computer complied and a familiar face popped up on the screen.

"Hello Colin." The female voice with a Newfoundlander accent answered.

"Dragon, it's good to hear from you. Anything you need?" He asked as he continued to work.

She shook her head.

"No, most of my projects are at the waiting stage and I figured I could help you with yours or just keep you company." She answered.

"The company is not needed but appreciated. The help too." Colin replied.

Dragon giggled.

"How long were you practicing that one?" She asked.

"Only a few days." Colin answered.

"Hmm… not bad, so what are you working on?" She asked.

"My lie detector. It's currently at about ninety percent accuracy, I'm hoping to raise it to ninety-five percent before I put it to use officially." He answered.

"I see. So… how are things with Shadow Stalker, you mentioned something potentially bad had come up last time we spoke." Dragon brought up.

Colin sighed.

"Other than her poor behaviour at school we've got nothing. She's had disciplinary issues in the past but nothing to the extent that the director can use to throw the book at her. I think she's just been more careful around here, making it hard to find anything damning. However, without proof, we can't pin her on it so we can't use that as justification to fully punish her. What'll probably happen is she's shipped off to another Wards team, passes the buck off and gets her out of our hair." He explained.

"I see, I'd offer to help, but unless asked by the director I can't really step in." Dragon noted.

"Depending on how intent she is on this, she might just." Colin stated.

Another call came through, an emergency one so it was answered immediately.

"Armsmaster! This is Agent Hamil. Shadow Stalker has escaped! I repeat, Shadow Stalker has escaped!" The voice of a man shouted over the call.

Armsmaster stiffened.

"Acknowledged, do we have any idea when she escaped?" He questioned.

"Negative sir, It could be any time between now and breakfast. She could be anywhere in the city by now." The PRT soldier answered.

No, based on the way she'd been acting, I have a pretty good idea where she'll likely be going. Given we haven't heard anything, it's likely she's broken out relatively recently, so we may have time if we're lucky.

"Get in touch with the Heberts and Satos. Inform them there's a high likelihood of Shadow Stalker targeting Taylor Hebert and Rosemary Sato." Armsmaster ordered as he rose to his feet. "Inform every Protectorate Hero, Ward, and PRT agent currently out in the field to be on the lookout for Shadow Stalker and, if possible, find and keep the two girls safe. I'll inform the director."

"Understood sir. Over and out." The other man replied before hanging up.

"Call Director Piggot! Designate as urgent." Armsmaster shouted as he got his armor on.

It didn't take long for the director to answer.

"What's the situation, Armsmaster?" She demanded.

"Shadow Stalker's escaped." He answered.

"WHAT?!" She shouted. "When?"

"We don't know, but I suspect it may be fairly recent. I've already directed our men to inform all currently out agents and heroes to be on the lookout for Shadow Stalker as well as find Taylor Hebert and Rosemary Sato and keep them safe." He stated.

Once his Armor was fully on he switched the call to his helmet before making his way to the garage where his motorcycle was.

"Good, keep me informed as things come in. I want that girl dragged back here before she can cause us too much trouble." She ordered.

"Understood, do you want me to request Dragon's help? I was talking with her before this." He brought up.

"Do it, we need Shadow Stalker back on the base before it's too late. I'll take any help I can get." She answered.

"Understood, Armsmaster out." He replied before hanging up.

He quickly sent out another call and it was answered immediately.

"I take it, you want my help?" The voice of Dragon spoke.

"Yes, do what you can to see if you can find any clue about Shadow Stalkers whereabouts. Also, I'll want your help later. This escape was too convenient for her to be a coincidence and I'll want to look into it more in depth." He directed.

"I'll do what I can. But, what do you mean, 'too convenient'?" She asked.

"Due to people being out responding to incidents, being on patrol, or just not in for personal reasons, the PRT HQ is at the lowest point in terms of staffing for the day." He explained. "And it just so happens that she, with no indication she has knowledge of this fact, is able to slip away at the point where she's most likely to succeed. On top of this, the ankle bracelet she had should have given me a warning it was about to fail, but nothing came."

"You're suggesting it's deliberate then?" She inquired.

"Yes, I believe so." He answered.

Another call came through and he answered.

"Armsmaster here." He stated.

"Console here sir, the Heberts and Satos have been informed. Also Danny Hebert informed us his daughter has dyed her hair recently and it's now all white. I've already relayed the information to those out in the field." The console operator explained.

"Understood, let me know of any new information you gain." He ordered.

"Will do, sir. We'll…" The operator began, but stopped as he seemed to be getting informed of something. "Just in sir, Mrs. Sato has informed us that Rosemary and Taylor are currently at Retro Diner on the boardwalk."

"Do we have anyone near there?" Armsmaster asked.

Console operator didn't immediately respond. Armsmaster could lightly hear people working in the background to gather the information.

"Clockblocker and Vista are the closest sir, shall I have them head over towards the diner?" The console operator inquired.

"Yes, tell them to bring the two to the nearest secure location we have." He ordered.

"Understood, console out." The operator replied.

With the call ended Armsmaster hurried his way to the garage.

"Any sign of Shadow Stalker yet?" He asked Dragon.

"None, yet, I'll let you know when I do." She answered.

He nodded as he continued along his way.

A little earlier…

Sophia was pleased to find that the stash she had left from before being forced into the Wards was still where she had left it. She had checked on them periodically to make sure everything was in working order so she knew everything would work fine. It contained her old costume and equipment, along with a knife. She was alone in an alleyway, hidden from those on the streets. She quickly changed into her old costume. After this, she did a quick check to make sure her equipment was in working order. Once that was finished she took out two photos, one of Rosemary and the other of Taylor with her current appearance. They were "gifts" from the person who freed her to make her revenge all the easier to obtain. Her face contorted into a feral grin.

"Let the hunt begin." She declared.

Before she could head out however, she heard a voice say, "Trust me Taylor you'll love this place."

"If you say so, Rose." A somewhat familiar voice responded.

She peaked around a corner and looked to the source of the voices. Two girls were standing around talking with bags of clothes in their hands. It didn't take her long to recognize them as the girls in the photos she was given. Well well well… today's my lucky day.

She backed away and quickly made her way to the rooftops to follow the two more easily. She was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She followed the girls a little ways and smiled when they entered a diner. Perfect, all I need to do is block off the only exit and I can trap those two. She waited a bit longer before making her move. Since she couldn't see inside, she wanted to wait a bit and make sure that they were seated so they couldn't easily run away. Once she felt the time was right she made her move. She rushed forwards and leapt from the building. As she descended, she shifted into her shadow form and phased through the walls. She materialized just in time to see her targets were already up in a panic. Damn, the PRT must have warned them. Oh well, it's too late. She took aim with her crossbow at Taylor, whose back was turned to her, and fired.

Unfortunately her target was pushed out of the way, fortunately her bolt struck her other target deep in the shoulder. Her initial target snapped her head to look at her and scrambled to her feet. Sophia could practically feel the fear and nervousness coming off of her prey. That's right bitch. It's time for me to put you back in your place.

"Don't think that little cosmetic job can let you hide from me, HEBERT!" She shouted.

She expected her prey's fear to increase even further. She expected dread to fill her and paralyze her. However, something unexpected happened. A look realization then fury replaced any fear and nervousness her prey once had.

"Hess." She hissed out.

Sophia was confused. That's not supposed to happen.

And that's a wrap, hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hopefully it gave a good explanation as to why Sophia's acting more irrationally than she normally does. Anyways, stay tune for the next chapter for the Taylor vs. Sophia fight. Till next time.