- Location
- Australia
The point is kinda moot now, yeah.
Honorguard Ra
(Verified Lizard Dude)
Being pinball Emma is suffering. 
Was Taylor not impulsive? Or is it not impulse enough to kill Sophie? How did she even escape from Taylor?
- Location
- Australia
One, lack of fucks to give does not equal impulsive. It just means you don't second-guess yourself when it comes to certain situations.
Two, she was engaged in getting her dad out of the line of fire, then making sure he was okay once she did (the arrow wound).
Sophia decamped before she'd finished doing the latter.
Taylor was never in direct hand to hand with Sophia.
The next time, however ...
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
The next time, Sophia will find out she's a lot squishier than say, Alexandria.
- Location
- Australia
In all fairness, the list of capes less squishy than Alexandria can be counted on one hand. With some left over.
Also to note: to Taylor right now, they're all equally squishy when she's using her powers. Including Alexandria.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
I was just making reference to the fact that even Alexandria didn't fare so well against the Siberian in canon, let alone someone who can be injured conventionally like Sophia.
- Location
- Australia
That is also extremely true. If she's caught by surprise, Sophia is moderately squishy.
Mmmm, sorta; it likely depends on how "cheaty" their damage resistance is and how one defines "squishy". Alabaster for example both presents as much resistance as the same volume of air to her, and at the same time would presumably just reset every time she ripped him in half. Not that that would prevent her from just picking him up and carrying him off to the PRT of course. And presumably she could rip right through Scion just like canon Siberian, but it wouldn't really do anything to him. It'd also be interesting to see how Gavel's "can only take a fixed amount of damage" power interacts with her irresistibility, given that even Scion took some time to wear him down.
But anyone whose damage resistance is merely of the "I'm real tough" sort is just screwed. Especially since they probably won't dodge...
Part Seventeen: Going Forward
- Location
- Australia
Earning Her Stripes
Part Seventeen: Going Forward
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Taylor
"Wait," said Dad, interrupting the flow of Emma's ongoing … confession, the best word seemed to be. We'd just gotten up to the part where Madison (and boy, was that a surprise) had thrown Emma at the house. "I have a question."
Emma stopped pacing back and forth—she seemed to have a need to do that—and leaned against the edge of the table. We'd moved into the kitchen by mutual unspoken agreement, and I'd made tea while Emma talked. At some point, Madison had parked the power armour in the back yard (in the form of a big metal box that promptly disguised itself as a small garden shed) and come inside; she was sitting at the end of the table, cradling a cup in her hands.
"Okay," said Emma. "What do you want to know?" There was no reserve, no guile, left in her.
"When you three started this amazingly ill-conceived venture," he began, and they both flinched. Neither one protested, though. "It seems to me that you were all on the same page. You were all perfectly happy with forcing these powers in a bottle on Taylor, and having her play the part of the villain in your little masquerade. So how did you get from there to here?"
Emma frowned. "That's … a tough one. I'd like to say, 'I have no idea what I was thinking', but that would be a lie. I know what I was thinking. It's just … not the way I think now. To be perfectly frank, it's a little scary. I can see now my thinking was all screwed up, but then I thought it was normal. When I first got powers, I legitimately thought I was being a hero, despite what we were intending to do to you. It's like there was a disconnect in my brain. But the more we went on, the harder it was to ignore the wrong in what we wanted to do."
"Sophia had no trouble at all, though," Madison observed from where she sat. "This isn't any kind of excuse, or a reason, for what we did. I'm just saying that any time Ems or me tried to talk about how maybe it might not be a great idea to pull that shit on you, she jumped all over us and talked us right back into it. And we caved because … I guess we hadn't climbed all the way out of the hole yet."
"Yeah," sighed Emma. "We weren't quite there when it came time to give you your dose, but we were close. I mean, Madison suggested just talking to you instead of just shoving it down your throat. Offering you the chance to be a member of the Real Thing instead of being our designated villain." She chuckled wryly and shook her head. "Not a hope in hell, right?"
"Damn right," I agreed. "Even if I'd believed you, I would probably have told you to shove it up your ass and see if you could develop a whole new powerset."
Madison snorted. "And we would've deserved it. But we let her talk us back around into doing it, like we always did. Mainly out of habit, I guess? By then we were used to bending over backward every time she had one of her little shit-fits, just to keep her happy. Anyway, after Winslow got trashed, Emma and me got to talking and we both decided that we needed to back the fuck off, because you didn't deserve everything we were trying to do to you, much less what we'd already done. Sophia tried to push back, but this time we weren't taking her crap anymore. Ended up with her trying to pull rank as 'leader' of the team, and me and Emma telling her she wasn't. Somewhere around then, we started figuring out exactly how bad we'd been in the past and how, with whatever progress we'd made, Sophia was still back at the starting line."
"Running hard in the other direction, from what I gathered," Dad interjected.
Emma grimaced and chuckled at the same time. "I can't argue with that. Anyway, we stopped listening to her, every time she tried to push us on this. But that was also kind of a mistake, because then she stopped listening to us. Which is basically what led us to tonight." She drew a deep breath. "But what really scares me is that I used to think like that, and I thought it was normal. And I really don't know why I changed. So, there's a chance I might go back to thinking that way, and not even care."
Madison put her cup down and scrubbed her hands over her face. "Fuck, yeah. That is terrifying."
A helicopter flew overhead; not directly over the top of the house, but not too far away, either. We could see the reflected glow of its floodlight through the windows. As one, we looked up, but the chopper kept going.
"Okay, so you have no idea how you went from psychotic to normal in just a few weeks, except that getting powers from a weird vial had something to do with it. Gotcha." I sipped at my own tea. "We can circle back around to that. What I want to know is, what made you go psycho in the first place? Because there weren't any super-powers involved then, that's for damn sure."
Emma nodded. "Actually, in a bizarre way, there were. Sophia was already Shadow Stalker back then. Dad and me … well, remember when you were at summer camp and you and I got cut off on that phone call? We got attacked by some ABB assholes, looking to initiate one of them. The idea was that she'd cut up my face some, maybe take out my eye or my ears, or whatever made them feel like real gangsters." She paused. "Huh. Used to be, I couldn't even think about that night without shrivelling up inside, but now it doesn't bother me. Anyway, Sophia was watching while they were talking about what they were gonna do, but it was only after I shoved one of them that she came in and kicked their asses."
"She just watched?" asked Dad. "I thought this was back before she went crazy."
"She always was crazy," Madison said suddenly. "But it's a sneaky kind of crazy. Really good at hiding. What Emma went through broke her. I can see that now. Sophia came along and put her back together, but wrongly. Infected her with the crazy. She needed validation. I can see that, too. Sophia always needed the validation. It's probably why she's driven to win. She can't stand being seen to lose."
"And what about you?" I asked Madison. "What broke you?"
"Nothing." Madison shook her head regretfully. "I was just weak, I guess. I had Sophia's need for validation, but without the aggressive streak. Emma and Sophia, they formed this little two-person cult at school, and I basically joined it. Started drinking the Kool-Aid by the gallon. I was so desperate to belong that I didn't care who the target was, so long as it wasn't me." She looked up at me. "I am so damn sorry for everything I did, every last hurtful thing I said. I don't even have the excuse Emma's got. It didn't take an ABB asshole holding a knife to my face to turn me into a psycho. I got there all by myself."
"Yeah, you did." I kept sipping my tea, looking at her. The expressions on her face and Emma's continued to intrigue me. I'd seen them happy, vindictive, and gleeful. Guilt and regret were new looks for them. "The question for me is—"
"We're going to have to shelve that for the time being." Dad was standing now, looking through the doorway into the living room. The helicopter was back, and its floodlight was now shining in through the windows. "In about one minute, we're going to have the police in here, asking all sorts of awkward questions. Taylor, do you want Emma and Madison outed and arrested, yes or no?"
The temptation was very strong to say yes. A month ago—hell, a week ago—I would've said yes. But their actions in the last hour had pulled such a massive one-eighty on everything that had gone before—saving Dad and the entire confession—that I had to hesitate.
"Not yet," I said firmly. "Costume up. We're gonna tell it like it is, except that you've got no idea why Shadow Stalker came after Dad." I would've said more, but red and blue flashing lights were now visible on the road outside. "Go!"
Madison was out the back door like a sprinter. I watched as she got to the 'garden shed'; it dismissed its disguise, then unfolded to allow her access. Emma just took up her helmet and pulled it on, vanishing behind the façade of Firebird once more. She gave me a puzzled look as she fastened the chin-strap. "After what we did to you, I can't see how you can—"
"—forgive you?" I shook my head. "I haven't, and I probably never will." There was a sharp knocking at the front door; Dad went to answer it. "This conversation is on hold until later."
Danny
The police were relatively easy to deal with. He'd done it before on occasion, usually to do with rambunctious members of the Dockworkers' Association. Presenting them with a nice simple narrative, speaking plainly and politely, and showing respect tended to work. They were concerned over the dressing on his neck, but the moment he mentioned that it had been inflicted by a parahuman, he could see the light go out of their eyes.
The police hated parahuman crime, there was no doubt about that. Master and Stranger abilities put the most ineptly written locked-room mysteries to shame, and that was before Breaker and Mover powers got in on the act. But they hated even more the fact that parahuman criminals, once identified as such, were strictly the jurisdiction of the PRT. No ifs, buts, or maybes.
So, once it was determined that the third member of the Real Thing had apparently gone insane and attempted to murder him in his sleep, they did everything but throw their arms up and leave the room. There were no arrests to be made here, no promotions to be had. Still, they followed due diligence and recorded the trail of destruction left by Emma as she smashed her way through Taylor's bedroom window and two separate doors. They also interviewed him about the incident, as comprehensively as they could.
No, he said, I have never met Shadow Stalker. I can't think of any rational explanation she might have for attacking me in my own house.
She wasn't let in. From what I can understand, she can walk through walls.
I watched her leave the same way.
I've never met the Real Thing before either. They said they thought something was wrong with her, and followed the tracking app on her phone.
She's apparently disabled or deleted the app since then. Besides, they wanted to make sure I was okay, and that she didn't circle around and come back for another attempt.
Yes, this cut was indeed inflicted by Shadow Stalker. She shot an arrow at me. Fortunately, Firebird broke the crossbow so the arrow didn't hit me with full force.
No, I don't want to press charges on Firebird for the damage to the house. My insurance might cover it. I'll have to check.
We didn't call 9-1-1 because I was shaken and my daughter was busy dressing the wound. Besides, we saw the helicopter and knew you'd show up eventually.
No, you'll have to ask the Real Thing about Shadow Stalker's secret identity. They never told me.
Taylor
Dad was sitting on a chair in the living room while a paramedic checked the cut on his neck and applied a fresh dressing, when we saw the new flashing lights against the window. These ones were green and white, which meant the PRT was on site. I saw the officer who had been trying to interview Dad (and getting the same answers over and over) shrug and put his notebook away.
Radios crackled, letting everyone know that the big boys had arrived and it was now time to vacate the premises. The general attitude of those leaving the house varied between 'not our problem anymore' to 'why do they have to keep sticking their noses in, anyway', but I didn't give a damn either way.
I'd answered all the questions I could early on, more or less the same way Dad had; truthful, but uninformative. Unless I missed my guess, they suspected we knew more than we were letting on, but so long as we all stuck to the same story, they had nothing. And of course, given that the PRT had jurisdiction, they couldn't threaten to drag us down to the station and sweat it out of us.
As the police vehicles pulled out, along with the paramedics, the first PRT troopers entered the house. Emma came with them, still in costume as Firebird. Madison, piloting the Blockade suit, stayed outside; nobody wanted to find out the hard way that the floorboards wouldn't take the weight of her suit. However, one other cape accompanied them: Armsmaster.
Before I got my powers, I would've been overawed by this moment. Despite being a Tinker, Armsmaster was one of the more visible members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. He was known for patrolling solo on his Tinker-enhanced motorcycle, and his halberd was reputedly packed with more optional extras than the most ridiculously cinematic Hollywood spy's car.
But now, it seemed, I was setting a much higher bar for anything to impress me. Madison, in her Blockade armour, could fly halfway across town in a single jump. Emma, my best-friend-turned-worst-enemy-turned-I-had-no-idea-what had powers of her own that made her into an action movie star. Even Sophia Hess, whom I had merely thought was an overly violent jock with a fixation on Emma, was actually Shadow Stalker, an edgelord villain with delusions of heroism. Oh, and I had powers too, courtesy of a Stupid Supervillain Plot™ hatched up by the three aforementioned.
Or to put it another way, in just one week my life had gone from being normal-ish (with a dash of bullying) to something that even the most avid producer of Saturday morning kids' shows would reject as being too far-fetched. (And, just saying, these were the same people who had brought to our screens the immortal Li'l Mousey's Time Travel Adventures with Li'l Armsy and Ug-Ug the Caveman Cape Kid).
(Immortal as in, as much as you tried, you could not forget that you'd actually watched it).
"Mr Hebert, Miss Hebert," Armsmaster began, breaking into my train of thought. "The police will be turning their findings over to us in short order, so we shouldn't be here too long. What we really need is to verify what Firebird and Blockade have already told us."
Dad and I waited for a moment, but he'd finished talking. Fortunately, we both had a good idea of what Firebird had told them, or at least the bare bones of it. Also, given that most (if not all) of it was the truth, we didn't have to pick and choose details.
I took a deep breath. "Well, what happened to me is that I got woken up by a loud noise over the house and a huge crash as Firebird came in through my window and out through the bedroom door. Honestly, I thought a meteor had hit the house or something." That much was actually true. "I got up and went to see what was going on, and in Dad's bedroom, Shadow Stalker was fighting with Firebird and Dad was near the door. Firebird shouted for me to get Dad out of the room, then Shadow Stalker tried to shoot him with her crossbow, but Firebird hit the crossbow and broke it, so the arrow only cut him a little bit. Then I got him to the bathroom, where we keep the first aid kit. Firebird came and found us, and said that Shadow Stalker had made a bolt for it. Then they stayed around until the police came."
Dad nodded. "That's more or less the same as happened to me, except I woke up to a maniac in a black costume trying to stab me with my own damn kitchen knife. Then Firebird hit the house like a bomb and got between me and Shadow Stalker. Saved my life."
Armsmaster turned toward Emma. "You don't have any Mover powers, do you?"
Emma shook her head. "No, just acrobatics and all the skills. Why?"
"The aerial insertion." Armsmaster shook his head. "You took a risk there. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people would've gotten broken bones out of that."
"As I said," Emma repeated, "all the skills." She folded her arms. "Go ahead, ask me the question you really want to ask."
Armsmaster nodded to acknowledge this. "Shadow Stalker. Do you have any idea why she would've gone off the rails so badly, and why she targeted Mr Hebert of all people?"
"That's definitely a problem, yes," she said, both truthfully and misleadingly. "When she first approached Blockade and me, back before we were a team, we were kind of dubious. But it worked. We did a lot of good."
"That's true," he agreed. "Your takedown of the Merchants was impressive for a newcomer team, and tonight's takedown of Cricket and Stormtiger was good too."
"Thanks." She put her thumb to her lips and chewed the nail pensively. "But after that … it began to feel like we were starting to lose touch with her. We had more arguments, especially about how we were going to be doing things, who was actually the team leader, stuff like that. Blockade and me … we didn't know how to handle it. I thought maybe we could talk it out."
I just stood there silently, trying not to show anything more than polite interest. I'd known Emma could spin a line of bullshit, especially whenever I tried to complain about her latest asshole stunt with me, but this was masterclass fuckery, right there. Every word fitted in with the explanation she and Madison had given us, but the way she phrased it made it sound totally different from reality.
"I know how that can go, yes." Armsmaster was evidently buying the explanation wholesale. "So, what do you think caused her to fixate on Mr Hebert as a victim?"
"That's something we're going to have to ask her, when we catch her," Emma said with finality. "Though to be totally honest, with the way she's been going, you might not get anything resembling a straight answer."
"That's also a distinct possibility." Armsmaster made no sign of writing anything down—he was probably recording everything via his helmet's electronics—he switched to another topic. "One more thing. Shadow Stalker, no matter her previous good works, tried to murder an innocent tonight. I'm going to need you to give us her secret identity, so we can catch her before she succeeds in murdering someone else."
Emma's lips tightened. "I'd really rather not do that, for several reasons. Blockade and I are uniquely equipped to capture her and keep her captured, and that's just what we intend to do."
Armsmaster's tone became slightly harsher. "Firebird, I wasn't asking. Withholding basic identifying information such as her real name risks you being charged with obstruction of justice."
"I know you weren't," Emma replied tightly. "But hear me out. First, how did you intend to contain her? So far, the only thing I know of that stops her is 'good steel', a type of metal produced only by Blockade. Second, Blockade and I are socially connected to Shadow Stalker's civilian identity. Handing over her real name essentially outs us to you with a simple computer search. I'm not willing to go there. Third, even as a hero she was vindictive and more than a little bloodthirsty. If she finds out that we outed her, she's likely to go to our homes and get revenge on our families, and I'm absolutely not willing to risk that."
"We can take them into protective custody—" began Armsmaster, but Emma cut him off with a horizontal chop of her hand through the air.
"What part of 'she walks through walls' did you not get? She's still got one crossbow, God knows how many arrow stashes, and a vindictive personality. She even tried killing me before she left. Whatever kind of hero she used to be, if she ever was one, she's not one now."
"Do you think she'll make another attempt on Mr Hebert's life?" Armsmaster seemed to have forgotten that Danny was sitting right there.
Emma shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. She might decide that someone else is a more worthy sacrifice, or whatever twisted rationalisation is going through her mind. Blockade and I are going to be sticking close to the Heberts for the moment anyway, in case she does come back."
"Understood." Armsmaster didn't look or sound thrilled. "I'm going to repeat myself regarding her civilian identity. It would be far easier for the PRT to apprehend her if we knew who she is and where she lives."
"And I'm going to say this again." Emma spoke flatly. "You are not legally allowed to coerce me into unmasking if I haven't been charged with a crime, and handing over Shadow Stalker's would essentially out me as a matter of course. So, I refuse. With all due respect, of course."
"If we charged you with obstruction for not outing Shadow Stalker, we could unmask you legally, and thus uncover Shadow Stalker's secret identity in the same way," Armsmaster pointed out.
Dad cleared his throat, then winced. "I have friends in the media," he said. "I'm sure Director Piggot would absolutely love to see in tomorrow's headlines that the PRT and Protectorate are deliberately setting out to unmask a teen hero group as a power move. That would go down so well with your public relations department. I'm pretty sure we'd be able to hear the veins popping from here."
I could hear the restrained surprise in Emma's voice. "Ahh … thank you."
Dad tilted one shoulder, carefully. "Well, you did save my life back there."
Armsmaster's lips thinned to the point that they almost vanished. "Very well. Thank you for your assistance. And when we catch Shadow Stalker, we will be unmasking her."
"Oh, I get that," Emma agreed. "But the difference is, we won't have."
Abruptly, Armsmaster turned and left the house, his heavy footsteps making me wonder if he might yet pull a potential Blockade and fall through to the basement anyway. But he made it out of the house without catastrophe, along with the PRT troopers. I went to the door and swung it shut behind the last of them, then came back into the living room and collapsed onto the couch.
"Uggghhh," I groaned. "My life was much simpler before you force-fed me that damned vial."
"Sorry," Emma said almost reflexively, and I gave her a medium glare.
"Saying sorry isn't worth much," Dad added. "It's better to actually show you're sorry. Do something to prove it. Help fix matters. Also, tell your parents. Does Alan know yet, or Zoe?"
Emma shook her head. "No, and no. It … well, it's never really been the right time."
I sat up on the couch. "Well, it's the right damn time as of here and now. You and Madison need to break it to them. Tell them everything."
Up until now, Emma had been taking the strain pretty well, but I saw the colour drain from her cheeks with that one. "Shit," she whispered. "Dad would have a heart attack. And an aneurysm. Mom would ground me until I was seventy."
I raised my eyebrows. "And you think you don't deserve all that?"
Emma took a deep breath. "You're right. We do. We'll do that … but we still need to catch Sophia before she does something even more stupid than she has so far."
"I'll help." I stood up. "Funny, that's the one thing that we haven't touched on so far. I did get powers out of that vial. Some pretty damn special ones." Holding up my hand, I clenched my fist and covered it with a white protective layer, then let stripes run up and down it. "And I personally think I owe Sophia a kick in the teeth or two."
"Uh …" Emma looked dubious. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
I gave her a side-eye. "Remember Winslow? That was me."
Emma blinked. "Shit. Okay, then. You actually have useful powers then. We were wondering. So, how's this going to go? You're actually okay with a team-up?"
I snorted in derision. "Hardly. You two idiots will be my sidekicks. And once Sophia's in the bag … then, we'll see."
Slowly, Emma nodded. "Fair."
End of Part Seventeen
Part Seventeen: Going Forward
[A/N: This chapter commissioned by @Fizzfaldt and beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
Taylor
"Wait," said Dad, interrupting the flow of Emma's ongoing … confession, the best word seemed to be. We'd just gotten up to the part where Madison (and boy, was that a surprise) had thrown Emma at the house. "I have a question."
Emma stopped pacing back and forth—she seemed to have a need to do that—and leaned against the edge of the table. We'd moved into the kitchen by mutual unspoken agreement, and I'd made tea while Emma talked. At some point, Madison had parked the power armour in the back yard (in the form of a big metal box that promptly disguised itself as a small garden shed) and come inside; she was sitting at the end of the table, cradling a cup in her hands.
"Okay," said Emma. "What do you want to know?" There was no reserve, no guile, left in her.
"When you three started this amazingly ill-conceived venture," he began, and they both flinched. Neither one protested, though. "It seems to me that you were all on the same page. You were all perfectly happy with forcing these powers in a bottle on Taylor, and having her play the part of the villain in your little masquerade. So how did you get from there to here?"
Emma frowned. "That's … a tough one. I'd like to say, 'I have no idea what I was thinking', but that would be a lie. I know what I was thinking. It's just … not the way I think now. To be perfectly frank, it's a little scary. I can see now my thinking was all screwed up, but then I thought it was normal. When I first got powers, I legitimately thought I was being a hero, despite what we were intending to do to you. It's like there was a disconnect in my brain. But the more we went on, the harder it was to ignore the wrong in what we wanted to do."
"Sophia had no trouble at all, though," Madison observed from where she sat. "This isn't any kind of excuse, or a reason, for what we did. I'm just saying that any time Ems or me tried to talk about how maybe it might not be a great idea to pull that shit on you, she jumped all over us and talked us right back into it. And we caved because … I guess we hadn't climbed all the way out of the hole yet."
"Yeah," sighed Emma. "We weren't quite there when it came time to give you your dose, but we were close. I mean, Madison suggested just talking to you instead of just shoving it down your throat. Offering you the chance to be a member of the Real Thing instead of being our designated villain." She chuckled wryly and shook her head. "Not a hope in hell, right?"
"Damn right," I agreed. "Even if I'd believed you, I would probably have told you to shove it up your ass and see if you could develop a whole new powerset."
Madison snorted. "And we would've deserved it. But we let her talk us back around into doing it, like we always did. Mainly out of habit, I guess? By then we were used to bending over backward every time she had one of her little shit-fits, just to keep her happy. Anyway, after Winslow got trashed, Emma and me got to talking and we both decided that we needed to back the fuck off, because you didn't deserve everything we were trying to do to you, much less what we'd already done. Sophia tried to push back, but this time we weren't taking her crap anymore. Ended up with her trying to pull rank as 'leader' of the team, and me and Emma telling her she wasn't. Somewhere around then, we started figuring out exactly how bad we'd been in the past and how, with whatever progress we'd made, Sophia was still back at the starting line."
"Running hard in the other direction, from what I gathered," Dad interjected.
Emma grimaced and chuckled at the same time. "I can't argue with that. Anyway, we stopped listening to her, every time she tried to push us on this. But that was also kind of a mistake, because then she stopped listening to us. Which is basically what led us to tonight." She drew a deep breath. "But what really scares me is that I used to think like that, and I thought it was normal. And I really don't know why I changed. So, there's a chance I might go back to thinking that way, and not even care."
Madison put her cup down and scrubbed her hands over her face. "Fuck, yeah. That is terrifying."
A helicopter flew overhead; not directly over the top of the house, but not too far away, either. We could see the reflected glow of its floodlight through the windows. As one, we looked up, but the chopper kept going.
"Okay, so you have no idea how you went from psychotic to normal in just a few weeks, except that getting powers from a weird vial had something to do with it. Gotcha." I sipped at my own tea. "We can circle back around to that. What I want to know is, what made you go psycho in the first place? Because there weren't any super-powers involved then, that's for damn sure."
Emma nodded. "Actually, in a bizarre way, there were. Sophia was already Shadow Stalker back then. Dad and me … well, remember when you were at summer camp and you and I got cut off on that phone call? We got attacked by some ABB assholes, looking to initiate one of them. The idea was that she'd cut up my face some, maybe take out my eye or my ears, or whatever made them feel like real gangsters." She paused. "Huh. Used to be, I couldn't even think about that night without shrivelling up inside, but now it doesn't bother me. Anyway, Sophia was watching while they were talking about what they were gonna do, but it was only after I shoved one of them that she came in and kicked their asses."
"She just watched?" asked Dad. "I thought this was back before she went crazy."
"She always was crazy," Madison said suddenly. "But it's a sneaky kind of crazy. Really good at hiding. What Emma went through broke her. I can see that now. Sophia came along and put her back together, but wrongly. Infected her with the crazy. She needed validation. I can see that, too. Sophia always needed the validation. It's probably why she's driven to win. She can't stand being seen to lose."
"And what about you?" I asked Madison. "What broke you?"
"Nothing." Madison shook her head regretfully. "I was just weak, I guess. I had Sophia's need for validation, but without the aggressive streak. Emma and Sophia, they formed this little two-person cult at school, and I basically joined it. Started drinking the Kool-Aid by the gallon. I was so desperate to belong that I didn't care who the target was, so long as it wasn't me." She looked up at me. "I am so damn sorry for everything I did, every last hurtful thing I said. I don't even have the excuse Emma's got. It didn't take an ABB asshole holding a knife to my face to turn me into a psycho. I got there all by myself."
"Yeah, you did." I kept sipping my tea, looking at her. The expressions on her face and Emma's continued to intrigue me. I'd seen them happy, vindictive, and gleeful. Guilt and regret were new looks for them. "The question for me is—"
"We're going to have to shelve that for the time being." Dad was standing now, looking through the doorway into the living room. The helicopter was back, and its floodlight was now shining in through the windows. "In about one minute, we're going to have the police in here, asking all sorts of awkward questions. Taylor, do you want Emma and Madison outed and arrested, yes or no?"
The temptation was very strong to say yes. A month ago—hell, a week ago—I would've said yes. But their actions in the last hour had pulled such a massive one-eighty on everything that had gone before—saving Dad and the entire confession—that I had to hesitate.
"Not yet," I said firmly. "Costume up. We're gonna tell it like it is, except that you've got no idea why Shadow Stalker came after Dad." I would've said more, but red and blue flashing lights were now visible on the road outside. "Go!"
Madison was out the back door like a sprinter. I watched as she got to the 'garden shed'; it dismissed its disguise, then unfolded to allow her access. Emma just took up her helmet and pulled it on, vanishing behind the façade of Firebird once more. She gave me a puzzled look as she fastened the chin-strap. "After what we did to you, I can't see how you can—"
"—forgive you?" I shook my head. "I haven't, and I probably never will." There was a sharp knocking at the front door; Dad went to answer it. "This conversation is on hold until later."
<><>
Danny
The police were relatively easy to deal with. He'd done it before on occasion, usually to do with rambunctious members of the Dockworkers' Association. Presenting them with a nice simple narrative, speaking plainly and politely, and showing respect tended to work. They were concerned over the dressing on his neck, but the moment he mentioned that it had been inflicted by a parahuman, he could see the light go out of their eyes.
The police hated parahuman crime, there was no doubt about that. Master and Stranger abilities put the most ineptly written locked-room mysteries to shame, and that was before Breaker and Mover powers got in on the act. But they hated even more the fact that parahuman criminals, once identified as such, were strictly the jurisdiction of the PRT. No ifs, buts, or maybes.
So, once it was determined that the third member of the Real Thing had apparently gone insane and attempted to murder him in his sleep, they did everything but throw their arms up and leave the room. There were no arrests to be made here, no promotions to be had. Still, they followed due diligence and recorded the trail of destruction left by Emma as she smashed her way through Taylor's bedroom window and two separate doors. They also interviewed him about the incident, as comprehensively as they could.
No, he said, I have never met Shadow Stalker. I can't think of any rational explanation she might have for attacking me in my own house.
She wasn't let in. From what I can understand, she can walk through walls.
I watched her leave the same way.
I've never met the Real Thing before either. They said they thought something was wrong with her, and followed the tracking app on her phone.
She's apparently disabled or deleted the app since then. Besides, they wanted to make sure I was okay, and that she didn't circle around and come back for another attempt.
Yes, this cut was indeed inflicted by Shadow Stalker. She shot an arrow at me. Fortunately, Firebird broke the crossbow so the arrow didn't hit me with full force.
No, I don't want to press charges on Firebird for the damage to the house. My insurance might cover it. I'll have to check.
We didn't call 9-1-1 because I was shaken and my daughter was busy dressing the wound. Besides, we saw the helicopter and knew you'd show up eventually.
No, you'll have to ask the Real Thing about Shadow Stalker's secret identity. They never told me.
<><>
Taylor
Dad was sitting on a chair in the living room while a paramedic checked the cut on his neck and applied a fresh dressing, when we saw the new flashing lights against the window. These ones were green and white, which meant the PRT was on site. I saw the officer who had been trying to interview Dad (and getting the same answers over and over) shrug and put his notebook away.
Radios crackled, letting everyone know that the big boys had arrived and it was now time to vacate the premises. The general attitude of those leaving the house varied between 'not our problem anymore' to 'why do they have to keep sticking their noses in, anyway', but I didn't give a damn either way.
I'd answered all the questions I could early on, more or less the same way Dad had; truthful, but uninformative. Unless I missed my guess, they suspected we knew more than we were letting on, but so long as we all stuck to the same story, they had nothing. And of course, given that the PRT had jurisdiction, they couldn't threaten to drag us down to the station and sweat it out of us.
As the police vehicles pulled out, along with the paramedics, the first PRT troopers entered the house. Emma came with them, still in costume as Firebird. Madison, piloting the Blockade suit, stayed outside; nobody wanted to find out the hard way that the floorboards wouldn't take the weight of her suit. However, one other cape accompanied them: Armsmaster.
Before I got my powers, I would've been overawed by this moment. Despite being a Tinker, Armsmaster was one of the more visible members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. He was known for patrolling solo on his Tinker-enhanced motorcycle, and his halberd was reputedly packed with more optional extras than the most ridiculously cinematic Hollywood spy's car.
But now, it seemed, I was setting a much higher bar for anything to impress me. Madison, in her Blockade armour, could fly halfway across town in a single jump. Emma, my best-friend-turned-worst-enemy-turned-I-had-no-idea-what had powers of her own that made her into an action movie star. Even Sophia Hess, whom I had merely thought was an overly violent jock with a fixation on Emma, was actually Shadow Stalker, an edgelord villain with delusions of heroism. Oh, and I had powers too, courtesy of a Stupid Supervillain Plot™ hatched up by the three aforementioned.
Or to put it another way, in just one week my life had gone from being normal-ish (with a dash of bullying) to something that even the most avid producer of Saturday morning kids' shows would reject as being too far-fetched. (And, just saying, these were the same people who had brought to our screens the immortal Li'l Mousey's Time Travel Adventures with Li'l Armsy and Ug-Ug the Caveman Cape Kid).
(Immortal as in, as much as you tried, you could not forget that you'd actually watched it).
"Mr Hebert, Miss Hebert," Armsmaster began, breaking into my train of thought. "The police will be turning their findings over to us in short order, so we shouldn't be here too long. What we really need is to verify what Firebird and Blockade have already told us."
Dad and I waited for a moment, but he'd finished talking. Fortunately, we both had a good idea of what Firebird had told them, or at least the bare bones of it. Also, given that most (if not all) of it was the truth, we didn't have to pick and choose details.
I took a deep breath. "Well, what happened to me is that I got woken up by a loud noise over the house and a huge crash as Firebird came in through my window and out through the bedroom door. Honestly, I thought a meteor had hit the house or something." That much was actually true. "I got up and went to see what was going on, and in Dad's bedroom, Shadow Stalker was fighting with Firebird and Dad was near the door. Firebird shouted for me to get Dad out of the room, then Shadow Stalker tried to shoot him with her crossbow, but Firebird hit the crossbow and broke it, so the arrow only cut him a little bit. Then I got him to the bathroom, where we keep the first aid kit. Firebird came and found us, and said that Shadow Stalker had made a bolt for it. Then they stayed around until the police came."
Dad nodded. "That's more or less the same as happened to me, except I woke up to a maniac in a black costume trying to stab me with my own damn kitchen knife. Then Firebird hit the house like a bomb and got between me and Shadow Stalker. Saved my life."
Armsmaster turned toward Emma. "You don't have any Mover powers, do you?"
Emma shook her head. "No, just acrobatics and all the skills. Why?"
"The aerial insertion." Armsmaster shook his head. "You took a risk there. Ninety-nine out of a hundred people would've gotten broken bones out of that."
"As I said," Emma repeated, "all the skills." She folded her arms. "Go ahead, ask me the question you really want to ask."
Armsmaster nodded to acknowledge this. "Shadow Stalker. Do you have any idea why she would've gone off the rails so badly, and why she targeted Mr Hebert of all people?"
"That's definitely a problem, yes," she said, both truthfully and misleadingly. "When she first approached Blockade and me, back before we were a team, we were kind of dubious. But it worked. We did a lot of good."
"That's true," he agreed. "Your takedown of the Merchants was impressive for a newcomer team, and tonight's takedown of Cricket and Stormtiger was good too."
"Thanks." She put her thumb to her lips and chewed the nail pensively. "But after that … it began to feel like we were starting to lose touch with her. We had more arguments, especially about how we were going to be doing things, who was actually the team leader, stuff like that. Blockade and me … we didn't know how to handle it. I thought maybe we could talk it out."
I just stood there silently, trying not to show anything more than polite interest. I'd known Emma could spin a line of bullshit, especially whenever I tried to complain about her latest asshole stunt with me, but this was masterclass fuckery, right there. Every word fitted in with the explanation she and Madison had given us, but the way she phrased it made it sound totally different from reality.
"I know how that can go, yes." Armsmaster was evidently buying the explanation wholesale. "So, what do you think caused her to fixate on Mr Hebert as a victim?"
"That's something we're going to have to ask her, when we catch her," Emma said with finality. "Though to be totally honest, with the way she's been going, you might not get anything resembling a straight answer."
"That's also a distinct possibility." Armsmaster made no sign of writing anything down—he was probably recording everything via his helmet's electronics—he switched to another topic. "One more thing. Shadow Stalker, no matter her previous good works, tried to murder an innocent tonight. I'm going to need you to give us her secret identity, so we can catch her before she succeeds in murdering someone else."
Emma's lips tightened. "I'd really rather not do that, for several reasons. Blockade and I are uniquely equipped to capture her and keep her captured, and that's just what we intend to do."
Armsmaster's tone became slightly harsher. "Firebird, I wasn't asking. Withholding basic identifying information such as her real name risks you being charged with obstruction of justice."
"I know you weren't," Emma replied tightly. "But hear me out. First, how did you intend to contain her? So far, the only thing I know of that stops her is 'good steel', a type of metal produced only by Blockade. Second, Blockade and I are socially connected to Shadow Stalker's civilian identity. Handing over her real name essentially outs us to you with a simple computer search. I'm not willing to go there. Third, even as a hero she was vindictive and more than a little bloodthirsty. If she finds out that we outed her, she's likely to go to our homes and get revenge on our families, and I'm absolutely not willing to risk that."
"We can take them into protective custody—" began Armsmaster, but Emma cut him off with a horizontal chop of her hand through the air.
"What part of 'she walks through walls' did you not get? She's still got one crossbow, God knows how many arrow stashes, and a vindictive personality. She even tried killing me before she left. Whatever kind of hero she used to be, if she ever was one, she's not one now."
"Do you think she'll make another attempt on Mr Hebert's life?" Armsmaster seemed to have forgotten that Danny was sitting right there.
Emma shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. She might decide that someone else is a more worthy sacrifice, or whatever twisted rationalisation is going through her mind. Blockade and I are going to be sticking close to the Heberts for the moment anyway, in case she does come back."
"Understood." Armsmaster didn't look or sound thrilled. "I'm going to repeat myself regarding her civilian identity. It would be far easier for the PRT to apprehend her if we knew who she is and where she lives."
"And I'm going to say this again." Emma spoke flatly. "You are not legally allowed to coerce me into unmasking if I haven't been charged with a crime, and handing over Shadow Stalker's would essentially out me as a matter of course. So, I refuse. With all due respect, of course."
"If we charged you with obstruction for not outing Shadow Stalker, we could unmask you legally, and thus uncover Shadow Stalker's secret identity in the same way," Armsmaster pointed out.
Dad cleared his throat, then winced. "I have friends in the media," he said. "I'm sure Director Piggot would absolutely love to see in tomorrow's headlines that the PRT and Protectorate are deliberately setting out to unmask a teen hero group as a power move. That would go down so well with your public relations department. I'm pretty sure we'd be able to hear the veins popping from here."
I could hear the restrained surprise in Emma's voice. "Ahh … thank you."
Dad tilted one shoulder, carefully. "Well, you did save my life back there."
Armsmaster's lips thinned to the point that they almost vanished. "Very well. Thank you for your assistance. And when we catch Shadow Stalker, we will be unmasking her."
"Oh, I get that," Emma agreed. "But the difference is, we won't have."
Abruptly, Armsmaster turned and left the house, his heavy footsteps making me wonder if he might yet pull a potential Blockade and fall through to the basement anyway. But he made it out of the house without catastrophe, along with the PRT troopers. I went to the door and swung it shut behind the last of them, then came back into the living room and collapsed onto the couch.
"Uggghhh," I groaned. "My life was much simpler before you force-fed me that damned vial."
"Sorry," Emma said almost reflexively, and I gave her a medium glare.
"Saying sorry isn't worth much," Dad added. "It's better to actually show you're sorry. Do something to prove it. Help fix matters. Also, tell your parents. Does Alan know yet, or Zoe?"
Emma shook her head. "No, and no. It … well, it's never really been the right time."
I sat up on the couch. "Well, it's the right damn time as of here and now. You and Madison need to break it to them. Tell them everything."
Up until now, Emma had been taking the strain pretty well, but I saw the colour drain from her cheeks with that one. "Shit," she whispered. "Dad would have a heart attack. And an aneurysm. Mom would ground me until I was seventy."
I raised my eyebrows. "And you think you don't deserve all that?"
Emma took a deep breath. "You're right. We do. We'll do that … but we still need to catch Sophia before she does something even more stupid than she has so far."
"I'll help." I stood up. "Funny, that's the one thing that we haven't touched on so far. I did get powers out of that vial. Some pretty damn special ones." Holding up my hand, I clenched my fist and covered it with a white protective layer, then let stripes run up and down it. "And I personally think I owe Sophia a kick in the teeth or two."
"Uh …" Emma looked dubious. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"
I gave her a side-eye. "Remember Winslow? That was me."
Emma blinked. "Shit. Okay, then. You actually have useful powers then. We were wondering. So, how's this going to go? You're actually okay with a team-up?"
I snorted in derision. "Hardly. You two idiots will be my sidekicks. And once Sophia's in the bag … then, we'll see."
Slowly, Emma nodded. "Fair."
End of Part Seventeen
- Location
- Bowling Green
I'm surprised that Armsmaster didn't counter her claim that they couldn't hold Sophia, because she is definitely not the first Breaker the PRT has had to deal with, and knowing her weakness to electricity makes her super easy to contain.
I get Emma thinking that they can't hold her, because teens think they know better, but Armsmaster really should have pointed out that the PRT can infact hold her.
I get Emma thinking that they can't hold her, because teens think they know better, but Armsmaster really should have pointed out that the PRT can infact hold her.
except nobody knows the electricity weakness yet in this story, and probably wont find out unless someone uses a taser on her.
So… how many seasons did Mouse Protector voice her character in that show? 😇
"She's a strong woman. She lasted three whole seasons before it made her Trigger."
- Location
- Australia
All one and a half seasons of it. She just stuck around to see how bad the trainwreck would get.
Ravager once taunted her with having been on the show, and how bad it was.
MP retaliated by subduing her, tying her up, and making her watch the entire thing from beginning to end.
Ravager never mentioned it ever again.
- Location
- Ohio
Sorry for an earlier post, I was still early in re-reading chapters. Before it got to Sophia latching onto Taylor is the victim, while the others are just like: This plan of dosing her was stupid, we only came up with it while we were on the Kool Aid, but the effects of our vials bolstering our self worth has made us realize this whole fixation on her made no sense.
Why Sophia was all in because she can't stand not being on top and her fixation and mental scarring from her trigger wouldn't let it go.
So it is now a Avengers like team with the Hulk aiding them against a Black Widow/Hawkeye/Shadowcat Expy who is crazy and homicidal
Why Sophia was all in because she can't stand not being on top and her fixation and mental scarring from her trigger wouldn't let it go.
So it is now a Avengers like team with the Hulk aiding them against a Black Widow/Hawkeye/Shadowcat Expy who is crazy and homicidal
I mean, it's only responsible for Madison and Emma to tell their families something, at least to warn them, if only to increase their safety somewhat given their concern that Sophia might try something. Sophia's less likely to do something to them if they're in groups, or in public, and depending on her approach, having them be alert makes certain social attacks harder too.
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
So here's a theory. Shadow Stalker's power includes a certain amount of leakage, her attitudes get applied like a stain to everyone around her when she phases in and out. It isn't noticeable to criminals as they already parallel, but around Emma and Madison her phasing accumulated —think of Glory Girl's family— so they basically got "dosed" with Bitchiness.
When they got their own powers the Shards involved give them immunity to new application but didn't immediately reset them to zero. The kool-aid wore off and reason reasserted.
Sophia is left frustrated that her cool friends lost their coolness after gaining powers. This is all behind the scenes effect so chances are Ack has something else laid out but could easily be seen to be a canon effect that was never documented.
When they got their own powers the Shards involved give them immunity to new application but didn't immediately reset them to zero. The kool-aid wore off and reason reasserted.
Sophia is left frustrated that her cool friends lost their coolness after gaining powers. This is all behind the scenes effect so chances are Ack has something else laid out but could easily be seen to be a canon effect that was never documented.
- Location
- The Midlands.
You mean she has an EDGE aura?
That would explain a lot, actually.
YuffieK
(Verified Ninja Princess)
But, that also sort of removes the responsibility of Sophia's actions from Sophia. Sophia's powers messing with her head is one thing. Having them include a subtle, undocumented Master effect might make for an interesting AU story, but it would probably affect the Wards more than Emma and Madison, unless Sophia used her phasing a LOT more in school.
- Location
- Australia
One tiny problem with that.
Taylor met Sophia about one week after she 'rescued' Emma. Emma was already being a bitch to her.
Once they hit school, Sophia was in Taylor's face daily. Taylor didn't become a massive bitch like the other two.
In fact, there's doubt that Sophia even used her powers in front of Madison. She was a bitch anyway.
It's inconsistent.
- Location
- Attached to a wall
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The master effect could be very specific.
Is there anyone that who Sophia that were truly Sophia's mutual buddies or ally other than Emma and Madison allies?
She was mostly the problem child in the wards. Maybe Blackwell thought of Sophia as her ally and maybe Alaxandria. But Alexandria is said to be immune to master effects, so she might always have been like we know her.
- Location
- The Midlands.
Maybe it's not triggered (no pun intended) by her activating her powers, but has some sort of cumulative effect? Emma and Madison are the two canon characters we know Sophia spends the most time with, even more so than Taylor... who doesn't turn into a complete 90s Anti-Hero type, true, but certainly ends up developing a hell of a ruthless streak.
If that's what's going on here then it's the kind of subtle, low-key Master effect that makes the PRT threat assessors tear their hair out because it's so hard to prove it's happening at all. Especially because Sophia herself is very likely totally unaware of it.
As to why it's suddenly stopped working? My guess would be that Cauldron built some kind of safeguard into the vials. It wouldn't do to have the people they empowered fall under the influence of Masters on someone else's payroll, would it?
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
Taylor was changed less, yes, may only have been exposed to what was left around by Sophia phasing the flute out of her locker. Taylor changed from a limp rag to something else, but saying it was her own trigger covers it, sure. Madison, for this story, we have to assume that at some point Sophia showed off her powers to convince her to follow the plan.
Assume there was a larger dosage of Sophia particles in the air around Emma during her routing the attack, and that Emma was significantly more susceptible. Or just call it natural charisma and their own lack of personality being overwritten by Sophia's. Sometimes it isn't a power effect.
Your story, your take.I just like throwing out possibilities that make things more "monkey paw" like. Like for instance I treat Flashbang's power as doing damage to him that causes his depression to worsen. That makes it like Oni Lee, but less of a direct effect than total rebuilding with errors, but more of an exposure to high energy particles that screw with your hormones.