Worm/Ward/The extended Parahumans universe & All associated trademarks are property of John C. McCrae aka Wildbow.
I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.
I am making no money from this.
Chapter 04: Adults Are Useless
Emma Barnes tried to scream despite the warning the shadowy figure, a cruel mockery of her own appearance had given her and yet found herself unable to. Air would enter and leave her lungs but she was powerless enough to control that process enough to make any sound at all. The living shadow which still held her seemed to sense her futile attempts at struggling however and Emma's terror reached a new height as the thing let out a distorted and crackling laugh before moving the hand covering her mouth, not removing it entirely and instead pressing a single finger to her lips.
Shushing her after already stealing her voice.
The shadow moved away and Emma felt a brief flicker of hope that she might be able to move or speak, only for that hope to implode as she found that she was still paralysed and silenced even as the thing that had attacked her released her, held upright and silenced by some unseen force. As it drifted in front of her she saw that she shadow was well and truly her own, matching her size and build perfectly even whilst being featureless and with no sense of depth even whilst three dimensional; a bizarre state of being which tricked the eye and made the shadow even more unsettling to look at.
Emma wanted to scream as the shadow strolled towards her closet with a gait and posture that was so unlike her own, opening the door and making a show of moving things around and messily searching before revealing that it had known where whatever it had been looking for was the entire time. Knowing that this thing, or whoever was controlling it might have been watching her, stalking her for some time left her more desperate to scream than ever; her body responsive enough to allow her to begin crying. Truly sobbing was impossible however tears streamed down her cheeks and her inability to blink left her vision so blurry that she couldn't see the shadow when it returned.
As she felt her frozen arms be manhandled and pinned more closely to her sides and then felt every belt she owned be fastened around her arms and torso she realised what the shadow had taken from her closet.
"I'm going to let you move and talk now….Don't scream" the warping and distorted voice of the shadow announced, its' voice directly in Emma's ear letting her know that it was lurking right behind her once again. A moment later she felt the cold, numbing pressure flood away from her limbs and sucked in a single, choking, sobbing lung full of air despite the belts wrapped around her restricting her; frantically filling her lungs before attempting the only thing that made sense to her frenzied and terrified mind
"HEL-" her attempt to scream and alert her parents was cut short, her body left frozen and paralysed in a hunched and doubled over position and her jaw locked open mid-yell as her voice and ability to move were once again stolen. The shadow wandered over to Emma's radio which had remained playing the entire time and let out a crackling, distorted note as it did so which the frightened girl realised might be an annoyed sigh. The radio was turned slightly, the louder music clearly intended to muffle what ever came next as the shadow made its' way back over to her.
Emma wanted to scream as she looked into the blank void where its', or her own face should have been and found nothing there to read and gauge its' reactions.
The shadow reached out and grasped her manipulating the redheads' muscles whilst denying use of them to Emma herself, keeping her frozen whilst at the same time pulling her up into a standing position so that she could stare eye-to-eye into her own shadow.
Then the being of pure darkness punched her in the stomach.
Sensation returned to Emma even if mobility did not, her body crumpled as if boneless and the shadow caught her so that it could drag her and press her into a sitting position against the frame of her own bed; sobbing and shaking uncontrollably as pain washed over her to accompany the fear whilst her limbs remained limp, this time in a floppy and useless way in contrast to their previous rigidity.
The shadow loomed over her, dropping down into a squatting position over her legs so that Emma was once again forced to stare into the darkness where a reflection of her own face should have been.
"The most insulting part of all of this is that you probably don't even think you deserve it" that same distorted, shifting and yet hauntingly familiar voice hissed, the venom carrying through the warping quality "I'm going to let you talk again….Now answer me Emma, why do you think I'm here?"
Emma found that she could talk, quickly realising that going along with the insanity that had invaded her home was now the only option; running and trying to fight the darkness were impossible.
"I don't know" she admitted in a feeble squeak, barely coherent between tears.
"You don't know?" the shadow demanded, voice wavering with an anger that Emma realised could turn into violence at a moments' notice and that she would be powerless, quite literally to stop it.
"I don't know" she repeated, kept from flinching or huddling into herself only by the paralysis.
"No, you know exactly what this is. You just don't know which specific thing you deserve to be punished for this is about" the shadow hissed "How many people have you and your friends hurt, tormented, ruined with lies and used Emma? You can't help yourself can you? You hurt people every day for no reason, you even hurt and use each other….Did you think that you could never push too far, that nothing would ever happen?"
Emma felt as though her heart had stopped as comprehension had washed over her.
She had caused a Trigger Event, she had made a Parahuman and now a Villain had sent this monster to her house to exact revenge.
"I'll do whatever you want, I'll give you whatever you want, I promise I'm so sorry-"
"How can you be sorry when you don't even know who I am?" the voice demanded, a faint garbled laughter spilling from it which terrified Emma as much as everything else about it "But you do have something I want Emma, you have the truth. I want to know how you keep getting away with it, who's protecting you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about" she blurted out quickly, though the shadow seemed not to hear her or react at all; it was hard to tell given its' lack of a face and the body language so different from her own being expressed by the copy of her own body. What Emma did know without a shadow of a doubt was that her poker-face had been terrible, at the mention of being protected her eyes had widened and she had let out a small gasp whilst what little colour had been left in her face drained away.
"You don't" the shadow murmured quietly, distortion reducing the words almost to a buzz "That's okay because I have my own ideas. I know your Dad is a lawyer Emma and I think that's how you get away with everything you do, I think he's got enough dirt on a teacher, maybe even Principal Blackwell or some of the admin staff and that's why you and your friends can't be touched….Well Alan is downstairs Emma, he's in the dining room looking at paperwork. He has a shadow too, maybe I'll talk to him-"
"No please" Emma sobbed "Please, I'll talk, I'll talk"
"Talk" the simple demand seemed to freeze Emma again, the only thing suggesting that she had not been paralysed once again being that she could hear her own frantic, ragged gasps for air. Her head span as she contemplated what she was about to, knowing that it would ruin her and that it could even have the PRT involved.
But there were extenuating circumstances, her life and her families' lives were at risk.
Her parents weren't strong, they hadn't been strong enough to stop her from being mauled in the street by ABB.
Sophia was strong. Sophia would survive.
"I'm not the one who's being protected. Sophia is" Emma finally breathed out.
"That doesn't make sense. Track team isn't that important" the shadow cocked its' head.
"It's the truth" Emma pleaded "That's why she's always the one to trip people or knock their trays or take their stuff. Sophia Hess is protected but I can't tell you why-"
The shadow leaned closer, menacingly.
"Please!" she begged "I can't tell you anything else, she'll kill me! Look….Look, I can't tell you but there are records, there have to be records. Look in Principal Blackwell's office"
The shadow seemed to pause and consider.
"Thank you Emma" It whispered "Thank you for being a terrible person and an even worse friend"
The shadow sank bank into the floor and with a strange glitching, swirling effect seemed to reset itself so that Emma's shadow was finally back where it should have been. After almost a minute the petrified teen girl felt her ability to move slowly return and promptly struggled out of her impromptu restraints before curling into a ball and weeping uncontrollably at the base of her bed.
She couldn't tell her parents or the authorities, the thing that had attacked her would find out and return.
She couldn't tell Sophia and yet she realised that she would have to; whoever this new Cape was would clearly be looking for Sophia and also for Shadow Stalker soon enough which left Emma, with tears still steaming from her face and the party she had planned to go to utterly forgotten trying to come up with a lie which might serve to warn Sophia without giving away too much.
As she lay on the floor, utterly harrowed and broken by the experience it never occurred to Emma Barnes to cross her room and look out of her bedroom window; though even if she had done so there would have been nothing for her to see.
Taylor Hebert had been wearing her street clothes and was entirely unassuming as she sat on a bench several streets away.
By the end of her day at school Sophia Hess wanted to murder someone, a statement that would surprise no-one if she uttered it aloud however what was different today was that it was no longer hyperbole and that whilst Shadow Stalker did not know her quarries' name there was most definitely someone specific in mind.
Things had begun ordinarily enough, whilst stuck on console duty the night before Sophia had intermittently watched prank videos on her phone and seen some fun ideas to inflict on Hebert or simply anybody who she and Emma decided that it would be entertaining to watch suffer for a while.
The first minor annoyance had been finding that Taylor Hebert was absent and apparently ill, though Sophia supposed that the gangly and spineless girl had looked more pallid and closer to simply fading away than usual over the last day or two and that it was unsurprising. From there Sophia had learned, through passing gossip that was eventually shared with her by a hopeful looking boy that Madison had tripped and broken her ankle outside of school the previous afternoon and would be absent for at least a few days and also that Emma had never made it to the party that she had planned to attend.
Sophia assumed that these two facts were connected, yet the fact that Emma had not mentioned anything to her had demanded investigation and so she had set out looking for her friend.
The answers she received were troubling.
Emma had explained, tearfully and trembling much the same way they had been when the redhead had first encountered Shadow Stalker, before knowing who Sophia Hess was, that she had been accosted the previous evening. According to the redhead she had been grabbed by someone wearing all black, with no easily identifiable markings and no visible gang colours and this individual who had restrained her had proceeded to both interrogate her for information and give a warning.
They were looking for Sophia Hess.
In Emma's mind it was one of the many people that the two of them along with Madison had pushed and needled, a victim who had finally reached a breaking point and lashed out. Sophia had scoffed at the idea however any bleak humour to be found in the situation had been stripped away when Emma had revealed, through a mucus-laced cascade of tears and apologies that her attacker had wanted to know how and why the trio were insulated from any consequences for their actions and had been working on the assumption that Alan Barnes was the reason.
Emma had told them that answers could be found in Principal Blackwell's office; effectively giving Shadow Stalker up if the attackers were brave enough to follow through.
Sophia had been furious, she had been terrified and she had been grief stricken.
She had allowed herself to think Emma was stronger than that.
Her friend had pleaded and stammered until it threatened to cause a scene and Sophia had assured her that they would speak later, a promise she was yet to make good on and was giving serious consideration to breaking entirely. She had needed space to keep her temper from pushing her to do something that could not be undone, like shattering Emma's perfect teeth for the betrayal and had instead spent the day trying to come to terms with what had happened; directing her thoughts towards the more deserving, albeit unknown target.
Someone had hurt Emma, someone had attacked Sophia's best, only friend like a coward rather than face Sophia directly and that demanded a response.
She was going to break their knees when she found them.
She was going to skin them, crotch first and leave them hanging from the nearest building by their ankles just to send a message.
She was going to take her crossbow bolts and hammer them into the cowards' eye sockets as if she were pitching a tent-
"Um, Sophia?" a concerned voice snapped her out of her building rage and violent fantasies and forced her to remember where she was and more importantly who she was surrounded by.
"I'm Shadow Stalker. We're at work and we're not friends" she spat in Gallant's general direction, a resigned but still hurt expression flitting across Dean's features only to be hidden a moment later as he donned his helmet and prepared to depart for a patrol with Aegis.
Being relegated to console duty, a consequence of voicing her opinions the previous evening was doing nothing to improve her mood and nor was the fact that the Wards' base of operations was more populated than it should have been.
Kid Win and Vista had recently returned from their own patrol, during which Browbeat had been manning the console; made possible by the fact that unlike Sophia herself whose probationary status made her a special case the other Wards were able to miss school under the guise of 'vocational studies'. Browbeat had already disappeared and his presence had not been missed however both Kid Win and Vista had chosen to linger behind, the former apparently planning to work on homework and then disappear into his lab.
Vista was simply avoiding her parents by spending as much time away from home as possible, something Sophia could sympathise with.
Clockblocker was also present and seemed to be in a similar situation as far as Sophia could tell. Allegedly the redhead boy had a scheduled ride-out with paramedics later that evening which he had arrived early to file paperwork for and yet, whilst she made an effort not to learn her team-mates' personal business Sophia could tell that something was bothering Dennis even as he absorbed himself in a computer game and distract Chris.
She reminded herself that it wasn't her business and that she didn't care before turning back to Gallant and Aegis, who were still present.
"Any problems, oh fearless leader?" she sniped, studying the small slip of Aegis's features that his mask left visible and watching vague concern be replaced with mild annoyance before he finally let out a gentle sigh.
"Don't forget to file your end of shift report this time. Messing it up will only mean you get put on console until the director is certain you've learned" there was a clear threat in that supposedly friendly advice and Sophia did not care for it "Also keep an eye out Glory Girl on your screens, we're expecting her to tag along"
"Of course you are" Sophia rolled her eyes beneath her mask, her biting tone doing nothing to fix the way that Dean's gaze seemed to be fixed on her even beneath his helmet.
The fact that Gallant could read emotions would always unsettle her.
"Have a good shift Shadow" Aegis sighed seemingly giving up on convincing her to act as though she were a willing member of the team, at least for the time being. Aegis and Gallant left and Sophia kept her focus on the console, eyes darting towards areas that she knew to be hotspots for gang activity even if they were not part of the patrol route. After several moments filled with a silence broken only by the sound of Dennis and Chris gaming, the latter having been easily distracted from his studies Sophia let out a sigh and finally turned away from the screen to face Vista who stood with her hands on her hips and wore a deep frown.
She had felt the younger Ward's eyes boring into her for the last few minutes and it had finally grown irritating enough to warrant a response.
"Speak up then" she demanded expectantly, forceful enough to make Vista falter "No seriously kid, say whatever's on your mind. Getting punched in the face will hurt but it'll bother you less than being a little bitch in the long run"
That was enough to get Dennis and Chris to stop gaming and pay attention. Sophia cursed internally as she realised this would be another problem to deal with, however before either of them could speak up the youngest Ward found her voice.
"Dean and Carlos didn't deserve that" she said simply, ears already turning red "I don't get why they keep bothering but they're trying to make you feel welcome here. They're trying to be your friend-"
"Why don't you go and be Gallant's friend then" Sophia couldn't help but let out a laugh at the thought "I'll contact him now, ask him if you can tag along on his patrol-date with Glory Girl"
Vista actually took a step forward and Sophia braced herself, this might actually be it, the moment where Vista stopped being a goody-two-shoes.
"Stop trying to bully her Stalker. She's twelve" Dennis huffed.
"And she's the most dangerous one of you!" Sophia exclaimed, unable to keep her irritation in check any longer as she addressed Vista "Seriously, take a swing at me if you want to try it! It'll be good for you to actually have a real fight, stop letting everyone here coddle you because you're younger! You're the only Ward with as much experience as me in the field, why are you letting everyone hold you back….Aren't you even curious about what you're really capable of, or is impressing Gallant by being a good little trooper more important?"
"HEY!" Vista stamped a foot indignantly and Dennis made to intervene, prompting Sophia to wonder what would happen if their powers were to interact.
"Wait….So-Shadow Stalker" Kid Win looked at her with a strange sort of confused optimism "Are you doing a whole 'Fight Club' thing right now?"
"What?"
"Y'know" the Tinker sighed "The whole 'How much can you really know about yourself if you've never had a fight' speech….'cos that's what it sounded like"
There was a moment of utterly stunned silence as all four of them, especially Sophia herself seemed to turn those words over in their minds. Realising that she was still expected to answer Sophia turned to Vista and found words leaving her mouth of their own accord.
"Sure. When I'm allowed back on the street I'm taking you on patrol with me and you're gonna learn how to do more than smile for cameras" Vista actually smiled, a disarmingly bright expression which spread from one unfortunately oversized ear to the other whilst Sophia was left wondering why on Earth she had made such an offer before simply accepting it.
Emma had disappointed her today, perhaps it was time for a new pet project; someone who would actually learn and become strong.
"That's cool and all" Dennis noted with a deadpan expression before deciding that this might be a good time to air his own issues "But do you have to bite peoples' head off all the time though?….Self improvement is cool, but you are genuinely upsetting sometimes"
"Today has been hell" Sophia answered simply, explaining herself without apology.
"Aint that the truth" the redhead sighed, alluding to his own problems before dramatically flopping back on the sofa he had commandeered "You do need to relax though, there's a guided tour coming through in less than an hour and if you snap at someone it'll be Piggot on your case instead of Carlos"
"Fuck" Sophia breathed out, summarising her opinions of those tours in one word.
"Yeah….Hey have you ever played this game before?" he gestured to screen he and Chris had previously been focused on.
"I've been thrashed by brother a few times" Sophia admitted, so used to keeping every possible weakness hidden that even that felt as though it gave away too much.
"You've got a brother? Huh, learn something new about you every day. Anyway come on" he patted a space on the sofa.
"I'm riding console, genius"
"I'll swap with you for a little while….Gaming isn't gonna help me with this assignment" Chris offered, already standing up and stretching to allow Sophia to take his seat.
"Fine" she shrugged before pointing an admonishing finger in Kid Win's direction "But listen nerd, don't download anything involving elves or tentacles onto the console"
"How do you know about the tentacles?" he replied, far too innocently.
"Fuck you" with that she took her seat and removed her gloves so that she could actually use the consoles' controller properly. Dennis passed the controller and a bowl filled with potato chips into her hands.
"I left a full bag out for the new guy and I don't even think he noticed 'em" was all the explanation Dennis needed to offer and without thinking about it Sophia removed her mask to eat a handful of chips, realising what she had just done a moment later when she felt everyone's eyes on her.
"Wait….Is this the first time you've actually fully unmasked around everyone, I mean without one of the disposable masks?"
"Don't draw attention to it. I'll deny it ever happened if anyone asks" Sophia snorted, debating slipping her mask back on but ultimately deciding that doing so would only be taken as a victory for Clockblocker in of itself.
Instead she allowed herself to distract herself from her problems by being utterly humiliated in successive rounds of a video game.
By the time the expected tour of the Wards base arrived, forcing them to pause their activities and look professional Sophia had come to the begrudging expectation that for all their flaws and weaknesses that would have to be ironed out her fellow Wards might not be so bad.
Their presence certainly made console duty more bearable.
Taylor had avoided school, feigning illness as her mental state had finally reached a point where she was unable to countenance the idea of being trapped inside Winslow High for any amount of time.
With her father being at work she had been able to simply make the relevant phone call herself, with Winslow's administrators handling the matter with their usual sense of disinterest which Taylor herself was no longer feeling generous enough to simply chalk up to their being overworked, underpaid and underappreciated.
Taylor had been told that she would need to provide a note from either her parent and a doctor within the next week unless action would be taken, something which she had politely agreed to whilst thanking the person on the other end of the phone for being so understanding even as she rolled her eyes and dismissed the idea of getting such a note entirely. The threatened action against her would be nothing more than a note in a file somewhere which she no longer cared about, her grades had suffered so much under the stress that the last few years had inflicted on her that getting into a good college had felt like a distant fantasy for sometime; even more so in the wake of the last few days as Taylor was still not entirely convinced that the Protectorate wouldn't find her.
Though there was a chance that the administrators would forget to follow up on her sick day completely.
She understood now that she mattered so little that she could slip through the cracks of a system which did not care about her in the slightest, she was as much of a shadow as her creation.
Deciding to spend the day trying to gather her thoughts and clear her head enough to decide what her next move would be Taylor had gone to the park, enjoying watching street performers until the arrival of a decidedly imposing girl with auburn hair, barely any older than Taylor herself and with an apparent legion of barking and snapping dogs of all shapes and sizes in tow had caused the small crowd to briskly get away the area.
Taylor had learned from a passer by that the girl was in fact one of Brockton Bay's lesser-known, small-time villains and that the dogs around her were her weapon of choice.
Approaching her fellow villain as a kindred spirit had briefly crossed Taylor's mind before she was forced to reckon with her own lack of confidence.
From there Taylor had drifted aimlessly around Brockton Bay, taking care to avoid the places that every local knew to be dangerous and any of the few places she might be recognised until finally making her way home at a time that would give her father no reason to suspect that she had been anywhere other than school. That had been several hours ago and Danny Hebert was currently, once again sat on the sofa with a bottle in his hand. He and Taylor had managed to enjoy a quiet dinner together with conversation between them being brief and a little stilted and awkward as Taylor tried to avoid several subjects, including how her day had been and the bruises that were visible. Now he was staring listlessly at the television screen with work that he had brought home with him scattered on the coffee table in front of him, somewhere between a depressed and exhausted fugue and truly falling asleep.
Taylor's powers allowed her to watch him from the basement.
Lingering and watching her father for a little while longer before pulling her consciousness back towards her own body, sat on a wooden stool in front of the workbench where her costume, such as it was had been arranged whilst she tried to make a decision.
Her mask called out to her and taunted her all at once.
"So are we doing this?" she breathed out and asked nobody in particular, taking a moment to heft the mask and hold it aloft as though she Hamlet lifting Yorick's skull; a comparison which reminded Taylor of her mother and left her deeply uncomfortable for a moment as she considered what the late Annette Hebert would think of how her daughters' life was going.
Not just that she was a Villain with a confirmed kill, but primarily that part.
As she set the mask down again she found that her hands were trembling.
Attacking Emma in her own home had scared Taylor firstly and understandably because of the risk involved, if her tormentor had managed to scream for help or had proceeded to call the police and the PRT before Taylor could get even further away from her house the situation could have quickly spiralled out of control. What truly frightened Taylor however was how easy it had been and how natural in had felt to terrify, hurt and punish her former friend until Emma gave her the answers she wanted.
Oni-Lee had been an accident, this had been something else entirely.
Taylor had gone from wanting to be a hero to escape her problems to becoming the kind of hero she had needed, a saviour to herself and for herself and that had seen her punching Emma in the stomach and threatening her parents in a show of brutality and ruthlessness she had never thought herself capable of.
And it had been cathartic.
Now, as she stared at the mask and noted the various scuff along its' beak and the slightly cracked right lens Taylor realised that there was a decision to be made and there would be no going back.
Emma had thrown Sophia under the bus to save herself, another friend the redhead had discarded at a moments' notice and had told Taylor where to find the answers she sought; an explanation for why the trio had been free to persecute her and likely the names of those responsible for the decision written by their own hands.
But she was scared of what the answers might be.
She was scared of what she might do, or might stop herself from doing when she learned the truth and received her final vindication.
Yet, as she stared into the green-tinged lenses of her mask Taylor realised that what she was most afraid of was not knowing; of giving up and allowing things to return to a baseline level of misery where she simply withered away in silence until the consequences of her actions finally caught up with her in a way that they would never catch up with her tormentors unless she chose to become the consequences.
She hadn't lost her mind to such an extent that she thought her mask was actually speaking to her and yet she answered it's call all the same.
"Let's put some new lenses in you" she murmured before turning her eyes towards the sleeveless and studded leather jacket she had worn, tutting when she saw the tears Oni-Lee had left in it "I can fix that another time….I doubt I'll need it tonight"
Taylor had made her decision, it looked like she was going to school today after all.
Sophia's shift on console duty would be coming to an end shortly and as much as it pained her to admit it things had actually gone reasonably well, it was far from the worst evening she had spent in the PRT's building and it had allowed her to distract herself for a few hours.
She had been unable to regain any semblance of dignity or self respect after being beaten in successive rounds of a first person shooter of Dennis's choice and yet the repeated and thorough losses had bothered her less than they normally might. Her insistences that if and when she picked the game were joking and entirely empty as Sophia had never cared for video games, something which Dennis seemed to sense given that he immediately called her bluff and challenged her to a dance-off at the arcades using on the rhythm games there. The back and forth had continued until a faint beeping alert had warned all the Wards present that there would be visitors touring their headquarters within seconds, giving them just enough time to don their respective masks and helmets; the alert also announced that it was Clockblocker's time to leave.
His power could have life or death applications for first responders and paramedics, with the act of being frozen for minutes at a time having been the deciding factor for more than one person Panacea had healed recently and his semi-regular ride-outs with ambulance crews were something Dennis took very seriously.
It was the most focused Sophia had seen the redhead and she found that she could respect him more for it.
Once the tour was concluded Vista and Kid Win found their excuses to leave. The former noting that she would have to return home at some point with inexplicable glumness; though she also took care to remind Sophia of her offer to partner up with her on a patrol some time, dropping hints about a possible sparring session in the gym before then.
Sophia decided she would oblige, someone needed to teach these kids how to throw a proper punch after all. Kid Win had finally disappeared into his workshop as soon as he was free to do so without being interrupted by tourists and emerged some time later, with Sophia noting several burns and singes on his clothing as he waved in her general direction; still clearly deep in thought as he departed.
So much so in fact that he had left his homework behind, leaving Sophia debating asking Carlos for Chris's number so that she could tell him.
Thought she quickly shook that thought out of her head, admonishing herself and forcefully reminding herself of who she was before turning her attention back to console where she watched an utterly, disappointingly uneventful patrol where Aegis and Gallant were in fact joined by Glory Girl and also Shielder, with the youngest member of New Wave visibly cramping his cousins' style much to Sophia's amusement.
Now however her shift was close to an end. Aegis and Gallant were back in the PRT building and heading towards the Wards' command centre which allowed her to stretch and relax muscles that had been tense all day.
"Shadow Stalker, can we talk for a moment? My office?" cursing herself under her breath for her lapse in focus and awareness Sophia realised that she hadn't notice her two team-mates return. Looking in their direction she noticed that Gallant looked somewhat sheepish as he removed his helmet, more importantly however she realised that Carlos had been instructing rather than requesting her to join him.
"Sure" she shrugged, following the reasonably well built Hispanic teen into the Wards leaders' designated office, in truth barely more than a Spartan cubicle formed by the adjustable and modular walls of the headquarters where personal effects were limited simply because of how often the leadership changed hands. Aegis paused for a moment, waiting until the door was closed behind them and taking off his helmet; fiddling with it silently for a moment as he worked up the nerve for whatever he wanted to say.
"I know you don't think of any of us as friends" he began, holding up a hand to keep her from interrupting "And that's, well I wish things were different but that's your call. As a leader though I have a responsibility to you and if something comes to my attention I have to act on it….So this is me being direct with you and being fair; are you okay? Are you in some sort of trouble?"
"What?" Sophia demanded her confusion pushed aside only by a spike of fear and anger as she considered what had happened to Emma and what had supposedly been said.
"Dean" Carlos said simply and Sophia's blood ran cold, icy dread flooding through her as she realised what would come next "You zoned out earlier and….Look it wasn't deliberate, he can't turn that power off and he said that just being in the same room as you felt like having someone stood on his chest. He said that you were worried about something and that you might have been the angriest that he's ever seen anyone outside of an actual fight"
"Fuck" Sophia hissed out through gritted teeth, thankful for the fact she kept her mask on out of habit in the headquarters.
"Sophia" Carlos seemed to consider placing a hand on her shoulder but thought better of it "If you're in trouble, we can help"
It was a sign of just how fraught she was that she actually considered it.
Reality asserted itself a moment later. She was the problem child of the Wards and she had been recruited so that the PRT could appear as thought they were doing something meaningful in the city; parading her and her reputation around for the cameras as an unspoken threat while at the same time keeping her on a leash, all whilst the Nazi and people smugglers continued their business as usual. Sophia understand perfectly that the moment the costs outweighed the benefits of having her around Piggot would send her to juvie on some pretext or another and she understood that if whoever had attacked Emma actually ventured into Principal Blackwell's office and found out her secret identity Shadow Stalker would officially be damaged and tainted goods.
"I'm fine" she ground out after a moment of hesitation, which Carlos answered by giving her a long and meaningful stare as he ran his hands through long hair which had been plastered to his scalp by his helmet.
"Nothing that you say in here is recorded" he finally murmured and whilst Sophia didn't quite believe him she found herself tempted just enough to give him an opportunity to prove her wrong; she would give him just enough information to satisfy his curiosity and judge him by how much of it she heard from another persons' mouth later.
"I was supposed to go to a party with two friends last night. One of them slipped and messed her ankle up after school and the other friend, my best friend went to the party alone" Sophia sucked in air and found her fists clenching of their own accord "She didn't even make it there. She got jumped and choked out on the way-"
"Fuck" Carlos breathed out "Does she know who-"
"No" Sophia interrupted "But she's been attacked by ABB before. She's done some modelling work, guess that makes her their type so it might have been them….She was on her own, because I was here. If I hadn't gotten stuck on console duty then I would have been there-"
"You can't blame yourself for this" Carlos shook his head "The gangs in this city are scumbags. The fucking worst of the worst….Blaming yourself for the shit they do takes the blame away from them, they don't deserve to get off so lightly"
Aegis had finally said something Shadow Stalker agreed with.
"We don't know if it was the gangs" she noted pointedly "It could have just been someone that one of our group of friends has managed to piss off….Winslow is Winslow y'know?"
"I hear the stories and I'm glad I don't go there" Carlos muttered "That why you never transferred to Arcadia, you wanted to look out for people?"
"If you're implying I have a soft side then we're gonna see how your body handles a dislocated jaw" Sophia's answer was just playful enough that she hoped Carlos wouldn't immediately start filing a report about it. Her hopes faltered for a moment as her team leader became visibly serious and focused, fixing her with his most authoritative stare.
"I won't tell you not to go out there and find out what you can the moment you're free to….I know you wouldn't listen and I'd just piss you off" he sighed "But don't get yourself into something you can't get back out of and remember that you can always call your team. People might get put in cuffs rather than loaded onto stretchers that way but we've got your back"
"Where the fuck did this come from?" Sophia asked, genuinely confused and more grateful than ever for the fact that her face was covered. As he answered her Carlos's expression visibly darkened.
"I'm a queer Puerto Rican in Brockton Bay. Trust me I know what losing people, or not being able to help when your friends get hurt feels like so-"
"We're not swapping Trigger stories" Sophia cut him, a breathless anxiety being beaten back before it could fill her voice "Not happening, not tonight"
"Of course" Carlos nodded "Just handle your paperwork before you leave and remember what I said….About this and about blaming Dean for his powers"
"Sure" she nodded as she turned and left the office, an unfamiliar sense of relief washing over her and leaving her feeling lighter somehow.
She was still going to strangle whoever had hurt Emma until their eyes burst, but talking about it had at least been cathartic.
Taylor had reached Winslow High School under cover of darkness.
The journey had taken her longer than usual, owing to her taking several diversions and detours, both out of a sense of paranoia which saw her taking pains to not be seen and at the same time to not look suspicious or as though she were trying not to be seen and also out of a desire to avoid streets and areas that were genuinely unsafe once the sun had set, areas on the edges of gang territories where small sub-factions which rarely amounted to more than handfuls of teens spoiling for a fight often roamed.
A definition of unsafe which Taylor was too focused to truly consider, if she had done she might have decided that it no longer applied to her.
Making her way to the school had been easy, finding somewhere to change into her costume which was currently missing its' sleeveless and studded leather jacket had likewise been a simple matter, given how many of the security cameras in the general area had been broken over the course of several years and simply never replaced due to the restrictions of the school and the cities' budget.
The first difficulty had come from getting inside.
In truth Taylor had not originally planned to enter the building herself. She had first climbed carefully over the chain-link fence which marked the end of the schools' property and approached from the rear, sticking to darkened areas and the places she knew smokers to accumulate and where couples ventured to find privacy until finally she slunk close enough to the part of the campus closest to Principal Blackwell's office.
From there Taylor had stuck close to the wall and found a small nook to position herself in as she used her powers and summoned up a copy of her own shadow which she attempted to have phase through the walls of the building much the same way the shadow she had used to escape her locker had managed to walk directly through its' door; she found herself painfully hindered however and lost her concentration enough for the shadow to fade away entirely when an electric shock caught her by surprise.
A limitation of her power that she had not been aware of.
Her second attempt had appeared to be more successful at first as Taylor sent forth another living shadow and simply had it clamber up and phase through the glass of the nearest window as though it were climbing through the open frame. From there Taylor had been only passively aware of her own body and surroundings as she peered cautiously through the eyes of her shadow, metaphorically of course given that its' beaked face was entirely featureless. The shadow had moved stealthily through corridors and up staircases until it had reached the principals' office and phased through the door, with Taylor approaching the computer waiting on the desk.
Only to be halted by her powers' unexpected limitations once again.
Interacting with the computer was disorienting for her. It seemed that she could disable a Hero in full Tinker-Tech armour, but a simple desktop computer would defeat her.
Frowning beneath her mask Taylor remained in the darkness for sometime as she considered her options, resolutely refusing to give up and deciding that she would break a window and climb into the school if needed.
Then she realised that was stupid.
Instead she first cast her powers outwards, making herself dizzy as she peered through countless shadows within the darkened school all at once and was left staring into her own figurative eyes from so many angles that it became uncomfortable before finally finding what she was looking for.
An ageing Hispanic man who was both Winslow's janitor and the person in charge of maintenance, or more specifically his shadow.
In the dark he barely noticed his shadow rise up from the ground behind him and depart. Taylor chose not to use her powers on the man, she couldn't think of a time when he had directly contributed to her bullying and she wanted to maintain some semblance of fairness and decency; she wasn't going to simply hurt everyone in her way just because it was easy. Her plan was simple enough, when fighting with ABB the shadows of gang members she summoned up also carried their weapons and the same principal held true here, the janitor had been holding a collection of jangling keys on a large metal ring as though he were the clichéd warden of a jail and now Taylor had access to a copy of those same keys.
She didn't have to break in, she could simply open the door.
It took longer than she would have liked but finally she had managed to have her shadow unlock the nearest entrance from the inside and escort her to Principal Blackwell's office which it had also proceeded to unlock, from there the janitors' shadow had joined Taylor's own, flanking her like security guards as she accessed the computer.
Blackwell was sloppy enough to leave password on a note taped to the back of the monitor.
"Come on, come on" Taylor whispered frantically as she searched for the relevant folders, squinting as she peered through the tinted lenses of her mask at the screen which glared annoyingly in the darkness. She knew it would be easier to see if she turned the light on or removed her mask and wore her glasses instead but neither of those options were ones she was willing to consider.
"There" she finally breathed out as she found the records of current students and began searching. It took her no time at all to find Sophia Hess's files and the truth of Emma's words seemed to be proven even before Taylor opened the files, there were simply far more more documents regarding the athlete than the students whose files were nearby and Taylor sensed that the truth was almost in her grasp.
"What the fuck?" she muttered as she opened Sophia's files and was confronted with lists of files with titles such as 'Weekly schedule' and 'Weekly performance update'. Unable to contain her curiosity Taylor opened one of the most recent file and recoiled away from the computer in shock as it loaded.
"No!" she yelled, cursing herself a second later as she realised that she had been far too loud. Her main focus however was the document in front of her, a professional report which seemed to have been sent by email and featured a header which incorporated a logo which Taylor would recognise anywhere; especially after staring at it almost longingly for so long after first gaining her powers.
It was the logo of Protectorate and PRT and their involvement in Sophia Hess's life and education could only be for one reason, which Taylor scarcely needed to confirm by scanning the contents of the document.
Sophia Hess was a Ward.
The same team of Wards which Taylor had planned to join, as an escape from her tormentors.
Tears filled her eyes and a cold, hateful fury filled every fibre of her being.
"They were supposed to be heroes….They were supposed to help" Taylor choked the words out as she turned the computer off and remained in the darkness for a length of time she was too distraught to properly measure. She had been bullied and her bully was a hero, her school had allowed it to happen because her bully was a hero and the heroes themselves would never help her in any way shape or form; they were already looking for her and when her identity was uncovered Sophia would no doubt be able to hold the moment up as a final victory and proof that Taylor had always deserved everything that had been done to her.
She had deserved to be stuffed into her own locker, she deserved to be harassed by Shadow Stalker until she had cracked.
A furious refusal to accept that idea brought Taylor back to the course of action she had already decided on; that she would be her own hero.
For a fleeting moment she considered simply destroying the office and the computer and then setting the school ablaze before she pushed the urge down. It would affect too many people who did not deserve it and it would not inflict anything close to what she had suffered through on the people who had taken part in it or simply allowed it to happen because of who Sophia Hess truly was.
It was not justice, not to Taylor.
"They're gonna pay, they're all gonna pay" Taylor half-sobbed and half-snarled as she left the office with a decision in mind. The cities' heroes had not simply failed in their duties, they had deliberately abandoned them, abandoned her and if the Wards were willing to accept Sophia Hess into their ranks, to promote her as something for others to aspire to then it was clear that the entire team was rotten to its' core; Taylor couldn't imagine them as anything other than more bullies who would have continued to make her life hell even if she had been accepted onto their team.
She would be her own hero and reacquaint the city with the idea of proper justice and consequence.
Shadow Stalker and her fellow Wards would be the first to feel it.
Author's Notes:
Four chapters down, five to go.
And this is where the fun starts, because Taylor knows the important details and has officially decided "Fuck it".
Also, welcome to 2024
...One other thing that I feel I've gotta mention: If you're gonna drop this story then just do it, just leave. If you feel a need to leave a comment talking about "I don't wanna carry on reading this because you don't like Armsmaster as a character" or whatever else then I'm just gonna call you a dickhead and block you.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
Picking up right where we left off….And Taylor is already learning to use her power to be creepy and dramatic, just like she did with the bugs.
In my head when I think of Taylor's power I think of the shadow people from RWBY Vol.01.
I think it makes sense that the shadow copies don't keep the body language of the person they're a shadow of; it's Taylor controlled them so they all move like Taylor.
Of course the shadow knew where things were in Emma's room, how many times has Taylor been in that room.
Was the punch in the gut a little much? Probably. Does Taylor deserve at least one free shot at all of the Trio? Absolutely.
Emma knows that she knows the voice from somewhere but can't place it, she's not gonna figure out it's Taylor any time soon.
Whether Taylor would actually have gone down there and terrorised Emma's Dad is open to interpretation but I think after how much the trio have said about Taylor's parents so far the threat was fair.
Look the track team comment sound stupid, but the trope of "Jocks get away with it" exist for a reason, sports teams win the school trophies and prestige so they can basically do whatever they want. Hell I'm in the UK and it's the same over here.
"Thank you for being a terrible person and an even worse friend" I mean she's not wrong, but ouch.
So now it's the next day and Sophia has learned at least some of what happened; she knows Emma was grabbed, she knows that someone might be coming for her in both of her identities soon enough but she doesn't know that there's a Cape involved.
Sophia's inability to process her emotions here was an interesting one to write because on the one hand yeah, Emma has really thrown her under the bus and Sophia is both angry and a little heartbroken….On the other hand someone hurt Emma now it's war.
Also RIP Dean's peace of mind for the next few days, I imagine being able to read emotions whilst being stuck in a room with Sophia in a bad mood is pretty close to being waterboarded.
Clockblocker doing ride-outs with ambulance crews is something I borrowed from the story "Mixed Feelings" by Kithri which I think is honestly my favourite Worm fic and one I'd recommend to everyone.
Vista is absolutely the powerhouse of the Wards team and I think with the way Sophia views strength she definitely try, at least a little bit to bring Vista around to her way of seeing things and having it happen on a day when Emma had already shown that she's still 'Prey' kinda makes it make more sense; the fight club analogy felt fitting.
It is the duty of younger siblings to get thrashed….Except for my younger sister, I will admit she has routinely hammered me since Dragonball Budokai on the PS1.
I feel like Sophia definitely kept her face hidden and protected her identity for as long as possible with the other Wards, first out of practicality and then carried on just because it annoyed them.
Skipping school, if Annette were still live she would tell Taylor that this is absolutely the worst crime she has committed so far.
So Bitch was in the park, because the Undersiders (well Bitch and Tattletale) saw Taylor as Invidiak but didn't interact, now she's seen one of them….Of course she was too nervous to go over and say hi.
Taylor is a dramatic dork and her mother was an English teacher, I promise you she has done the "Alas poor Yorick" with her mask in every continuity.
But yeah, now she's a jumpy mess because premeditated violence hits different.
Of course she went to Winslow for answers, the story would have ended here if she didn't.
It is so Sophia to hate admitting that she actually enjoyed someone's company...Also, yeah her worst night in the PRT would definitely be right after she ended up in their custody before joining the Wards.
Shadow Stalker vs Clockblocker DDR Dance Off would be an Omake in a Worm anime.
I had these scenes of Sophia's facade cracking around her team a little more and her actually having conversations a) because it gives Sophia someone to actually interact with, Taylor has no friends here and she's pretty much stuck in her own head, having Sophia in the same state would make this tedious and b) because it was honestly enjoyable.
With the way the Wards HQ is described in the Wiki, with modular walls/rooms it really does feel like it would be mostly cubicles.
And this Carlos acting on what Dean felt, because no matter how Sophia acts around people Aegis has to do his job.
Shadow Stalker is cynical as fuck but I don't think she's strictly wrong either; if her identity got outed then Piggot would definitely take some sort of action to make sure that Shadow Stalker wasn't her problem any more.
"Winslow is Winslow" every city has at least one school like that….I went to one of the ones in my city, fun times.
So yeah, Emma watered the story down and now Sophia has watered it down again; Aegis is aware of just enough to be of no help at all.
Carlos being gay and that tying into his Trigger Event is another thing I'm borrowing from Mixed Feelings by Kithri. In that fic Carlos triggered after he and his boyfriend were the victims of an Empire hate-crime, in typical Worm-Power fashion Carlos developed the ability to survive everything that was happening to him but not to save his boyfriend.
So now we've got Taylor being stealthy and using her powers for something other than breaking ankles and fighting people….Because she's got the versatility.
Every school has "Those" spots.
With Taylor's powers here being derivative of Sophia's then it's only fair that she has the same "No electricity" limitation. The fact that her copies can't use computers is an extension of that, it's some unfair bullshit but so are her powers really so….Balance.
General rule is Taylor's copies can copy something that's visible on the shadow, so the keys or the ABB guys' baseball bats….They can't pull something out of a pocket; which means if Taylor wants a shadow with a weapon then she needs to either have one herself or wait until somebody pulls one out.
People leaving their passwords literally taped to the computer makes my eye twitch whenever I see it.
Was that a strong reaction from Taylor, yes….But again, consider where she's at mentally and just how crushing that this actually is.
We all knew that this was coming, Taylor/Invidiak Vs Sophia/Shadow Stalker and the rest of the Wards.
Thank you to WispInABottle, Sebine, ImGonnaDie, Glrasshopper, Okami23, MaskedKeeper, FieldMarshal1915, PhantomMan, DaCoolEntity, Drefferd, NecroGod, JanessaVR, Blaze1992, TheUnknownSpartans and Ryo Oh Ki7 for their reviews on the last chapter.
Yeah she's definitely not heroic this time.
The interactions between the bullies just felt natural, all of those kinds of friend groups have one runt of the litter who would be getting picked on by everyone if they weren't friends with the mean kids and that's who Madison is at her core.
Well shit, that's more than one night I lost sleep when I didn't have to then.
No this isn't going to be an S9 gore-fest...Honestly without going into spoilers Oni-Lee getting blown up is actually the most graphic violence; Taylor has other forms of escalation open to her.
As far as Taylor's approach goes, she's not just gonna butcher the Trio because that's a trip to the Birdcage and besides she went through years of psychological abuse...But what if I told you her methods are actual gonna be smarter than Sophia's?
She's had two years of getting physically and mentally broken down by Emma and co, swinging back was something she had to work up to...But she's definitely retaliated now.
And as for Amy not healing people, if any of the Trio showed up savaged by a Villain or seriously injured she'd heal them but stuff that's not serious like Mads's Ankle...Yeah they can't wait for a while and think about what they did.
But I hope I delivered on the angst.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.