Interlude 2.b Sophia
- Location
- PA
Hymn of Harmony
or Melody of Escalation
Interlude 2.b Sophia
-January 27, 2011-
-Undisclosed Location-
She sat a large room. The area recognizable as a warehouse, but one that had seen better days. Brockton Bay had plenty of these places. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling. The black hockey mask that covered her face revealed nothing of her thoughts. She shifted slightly on the uncomfortable steel chair as she waited for the one that called her. The black clothes and charcoal armor plating gave her a dangerous appearance. Shadow Stalker would have loved this kind of thing. It was a more intimidating outfit than the Wards had allowed her. The crossbows at her waist her smaller and much more powerful. Her appraising eye had easily identified the little things that spoke of care in their creation.
When Coil wanted someone he provided well. She grimaced under her mask in distaste. Her working for a villain just filled her with all sorts of negative thoughts. Normally her negative thoughts were of how to make the next bottom feeder squeal, but these forced her to think. To think of how she got here. She gazed off into the distance as she remembered her fall.
Aria. A pretty and insignificant sounding name was what she thought. Taylor Hebert had never been pretty, but she had been insignificant. She scoffed softly. Personally she hadn't cared about Hebert at all. If not for Emma wanting to screw with her then she would have ignored her. Predators didn't harry their prey when they didn't need to feed. Shadow Stalker had plenty to feed her. She didn't need a morsel.
If she hadn't a reputation to maintain she would have facepalmed. Her old thought processes sometimes embarrassed her now. She wasn't much for introspection, but her thoughts wanted to go back to those days. She cut that thought off at the root. Suffice to say the name that Taylor picked for her cape persona was anything but insignificant. The aria of a musical performance was the most important part. There was no lack of confidence now.
She had no hesitation in her gaze. She was afraid and angry, but that steel in her eyes told Stalker she had lost. Even if she had shot her, Aria had won. She barely acknowledged Piggy and Halbeard pressuring her for information. Weak little Hebert had grown strong. Even with fear she was stronger than Stalker. Stronger than Sophia. It was a blow to her worldview. Confront everything. Let nothing hold her back.
There was time while waiting for transport to think. She shook away the thoughts again with a faint growl. Time to think later. Coil had her mom now. Time to think about how she got here later. A mercenary dressed in Coil's colors and wielding Tinker tech weapons gestured for her to follow him. She followed him down a dusty hallway. Sophia had already figured that this warehouse was being used for this meeting. He wasn't stupid. As long as he held her mother then he held all the cards. She simmered with hate and used it as a shield.
Shadow Stalker was built on fury and hate. Rage at her past weakness and hate of a world that took her dad from her. She survived that car crash not because she was strong, but because her dad covered her with his body. Somehow she had forgotten that little detail. No. No weakening. The fury felt like an old friend and embraced her. Her rhythm steadied as she stalked into the office. The smug bastard sat behind an impressive desk that was clearly brought in for this meeting. Damn theatrics she thought with a strange twist of self deprecating humor.
"I am glad you accepted my invitation." Coil spoke in a carefully modulated tone so as to give nothing away. She barely nods in acknowledgment. He was a very thin man in a black bodysuit that had a white snake winding its way up his body and topped by a serpent mask. She knew him. The rage banked higher, but was held within a steely grasp. Two mercenaries were in the room with him and no doubt there were more watching.
"What do you want from me?" Her voice came out eerily calm. He sat back in such a way that it would have driven her to something rash. That arrogant posture. He was what was wrong with this city. The snake that hid and called the shots from the shadows. This clarity was welcome.
"We have a mutual enemy. Someone that, just by her very existence, has thrown our plans off track." He finally says after giving her sufficient time to stew in her rage. Surprise briefly threads through her as she realizes that somehow he's missed her calm. She tamps it down to pay attention.
"Aria. In just one day she has inconvenienced me greatly. I lost several high value operatives and stand to lose much more. You lost your freedom." She can hear the smirk in his voice, "Now you stand to lose much more. I have a job for you. It is beneath your skill, I know, but it is necessary. Do this for me and I will gladly pay for your mother's treatments." The rage almost boils over, but there is a rhythm to this. The beat shifts and she nods.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked, but knew that it didn't matter. He would tell her. There was a rise and fall to this. A cadence.
"Aria has become close to a pawn of mine. My Tattletale has been straying and I need her to remember her place." He states flatly. The annoyed tone of voice makes her feel warm and tingly inside. "You will join a group that I bankroll. They are the Undersiders." She knew the Undersiders. She knew one in particular, Grue. He could create a darkness that interfered with her power and felt strange to her.
"What do I do about Grue?" She finally asked once she felt the shift.
"He is the leader, but is just as much my employee as the rest. I will remind him of that if need be. Do as he says, watch Tattletale, and you will have your revenge." He finally said after taking time to give it some thought. Her rhythm had changed. His offer hadn't excited her. "We will take away Aria's pillars of support slowly. Drive her into despair. Once she is there we will offer mercy and crush her at her lowest point." The terrible thing was this might have enticed her at one point.
Enemies existed to be destroyed. She nodded slowly in understanding. He leaned back with such smug satisfaction it was hard to believe that he missed how off the mark he was. If he didn't have her mother she would have enjoyed disabusing him, but he did have her. He gave a wave of dismissal and she left. There was no hurry in her step as she changed into civilian clothes. One more black girl in a melting pot like this. She climbed into the car that would take her to where Coil had moved her.
"Hey mom." She said into the burner phone that Coil had provided. He gave her several that she could use to check and make sure he kept up his end of the bargain.
"Sophia..." Her mother's voice was so tired. She was a former druggie that was fighting her way to sobriety. Her dad's death hadn't just hit her hard, but her mom as well. She started using and it only got worse as time went on.
"How are ya doing?" Sophia asked. She wanted to see her mom, but that would be a bad idea. Just because Coil had her in a private facility it wouldn't do to get caught now. When her mom was sober she was the woman that she remembered. Her times sober had decreased sharply. Now she was a pale shadow of what she was.
"I'm so cold and shaky...where have you been? Why haven't you been by to see me?" Her mother sounded spaced out. Detox was hard and her mom had been through it before, but Coil promised that the treatments would take. A little light that she hadn't realized still existed wanted to believe that.
"Sorry mom, but you know how it is. Doin' the hero thing, right?" She teased even though it didn't fully reach her eyes. Her mother hummed and muttered something. They talked on the drive, but her mom's attention waned. She hung up from the call as they reached the apartment and dismantled the burner before tossing it out in the car.
The man held the door for her and she climbed out. Her bags were already piled neatly on the sidewalk. She noted coolly that it was her belongings. Coil apparently still had some serious pull if he could pull this off. She drags her things inside and heads up to the apartment. It was just across the way from Lisa Wilbourne's apartment with surveillance equipment already prepared. She clicked her tongue in irritation.
She flopped down on the sofa and gave the finger to the gear. The equipment would record what happened and the directional mic would catch what was said. The only reason Coil needed her was one more agent in the Undersiders. She absently looked over the files prepared on each of the villain team. It read like a fucked up Lifetime movie or some shit on Spike.
Regent, formerly Hijack, now known as Alec was apparently one of Heartbreaker's children. Made to kill a man as an initiation he ran away from home and Coil contacted him to join the Undersiders. He could control the bodies of people that he has spent time with. Just brief exposure let him make their muscles twitch.
Rachel Lindt, aka Bitch, aka Hellhound, was a foster child before her triggering. No one knows what set her off, but she's wanted for killed her foster father and numerous injuries that she caused.
"Yeah let's hunt her down after the worst day of her life. Real bright." She read that it was the PRT looking for her and concluded that it was because they were idiots. "How the hell do you not find someone that isn't even hiding?" She groaned.
Tattletale, aka Lisa Wilbourne, aka Sara Livsey. Lost her brother to suicide and ran away due to parents forcing her to use her powers to help them succeed in business. She grimaced at what she was reading. Sparse knowledge and lack of recruiting details added up to something close to her own situation. The old Shadow Stalker wouldn't have allowed such thoughts. What was the point? Keep moving forward. She shook her head.
Grue, aka Brian Laborn, was the child of an addict mother and an absentee father. He has a younger sister that he provides for and wants to get custody for. She stares at the ceiling. These files didn't give her information. Dry and impersonal data. They gave her faces. She could see these people. Each one fucked up and similar to herself.
Is that why they worked? They were so broken that they somehow clicked together? She was broken with nothing to click to huh? She had Emma and their broken pieces had meshed. Now the redhead was as far away as the moon. She didn't dare call her now.
The locker was her wake up call. Using her powers to punish a civilian drove home just how fucked up she'd become. She still went through with it, but more through force of habit. The screaming didn't make her feel good, but she laughed anyway. There was a strange split, a tearing feeling inside, and she staggered. She didn't think about what it could be.
It was a small thing really. Something insignificant, but it mattered. Taylor had come back to school after being put in the locker and that was when everything changed. She wasn't weak. She wasn't a timid little worm rooting around in the dirt. It wasn't even that she had come back looking more beautiful than Emma. There was confidence. A look of "stay the fuck out of my way" that she could respect.
She took control of her life. She wasn't hiding because of fear. She just didn't care about the Trio's antics. She was above them all. At one time that would have pissed Sophia off, but instead she just let it fly. She was curious though. Those sudden good looks? That way she moved like her every step was destined to land perfectly? She had to test it. The No Contact order was still in effect, but she would be damned if the curiousity wasn't satisfied.
She tried to knock Taylor down the stairs as she had done before. Before her eyes she saw Taylor twist, vault off the stairs, and land with an easy grace. She was a parahuman. She had to be. The worst moment of her life was a filthy locker. Drenched in filth and waste. Sophia grimaced at the memory. Getting caught out at Wards HQ didn't even rate.
She knocked the heel of her palm against her head to bring her thoughts back into order. Her mind was clear. The incessant drive to move forward was gone. The fury she felt was hot and it brought comfort, but it didn't control her anymore. The old Shadow Stalker was gone. She would not go back to that. Those that controlled her before would find none of the original triggers. No buttons to push. She would get her mom out of this and turn that snake into boots.
Aria had unleashed something that day. Shadow Stalker would rise. She would not fail her mom or this city.
or Melody of Escalation
Interlude 2.b Sophia
-January 27, 2011-
-Undisclosed Location-
She sat a large room. The area recognizable as a warehouse, but one that had seen better days. Brockton Bay had plenty of these places. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling. The black hockey mask that covered her face revealed nothing of her thoughts. She shifted slightly on the uncomfortable steel chair as she waited for the one that called her. The black clothes and charcoal armor plating gave her a dangerous appearance. Shadow Stalker would have loved this kind of thing. It was a more intimidating outfit than the Wards had allowed her. The crossbows at her waist her smaller and much more powerful. Her appraising eye had easily identified the little things that spoke of care in their creation.
When Coil wanted someone he provided well. She grimaced under her mask in distaste. Her working for a villain just filled her with all sorts of negative thoughts. Normally her negative thoughts were of how to make the next bottom feeder squeal, but these forced her to think. To think of how she got here. She gazed off into the distance as she remembered her fall.
Aria. A pretty and insignificant sounding name was what she thought. Taylor Hebert had never been pretty, but she had been insignificant. She scoffed softly. Personally she hadn't cared about Hebert at all. If not for Emma wanting to screw with her then she would have ignored her. Predators didn't harry their prey when they didn't need to feed. Shadow Stalker had plenty to feed her. She didn't need a morsel.
If she hadn't a reputation to maintain she would have facepalmed. Her old thought processes sometimes embarrassed her now. She wasn't much for introspection, but her thoughts wanted to go back to those days. She cut that thought off at the root. Suffice to say the name that Taylor picked for her cape persona was anything but insignificant. The aria of a musical performance was the most important part. There was no lack of confidence now.
She had no hesitation in her gaze. She was afraid and angry, but that steel in her eyes told Stalker she had lost. Even if she had shot her, Aria had won. She barely acknowledged Piggy and Halbeard pressuring her for information. Weak little Hebert had grown strong. Even with fear she was stronger than Stalker. Stronger than Sophia. It was a blow to her worldview. Confront everything. Let nothing hold her back.
There was time while waiting for transport to think. She shook away the thoughts again with a faint growl. Time to think later. Coil had her mom now. Time to think about how she got here later. A mercenary dressed in Coil's colors and wielding Tinker tech weapons gestured for her to follow him. She followed him down a dusty hallway. Sophia had already figured that this warehouse was being used for this meeting. He wasn't stupid. As long as he held her mother then he held all the cards. She simmered with hate and used it as a shield.
Shadow Stalker was built on fury and hate. Rage at her past weakness and hate of a world that took her dad from her. She survived that car crash not because she was strong, but because her dad covered her with his body. Somehow she had forgotten that little detail. No. No weakening. The fury felt like an old friend and embraced her. Her rhythm steadied as she stalked into the office. The smug bastard sat behind an impressive desk that was clearly brought in for this meeting. Damn theatrics she thought with a strange twist of self deprecating humor.
"I am glad you accepted my invitation." Coil spoke in a carefully modulated tone so as to give nothing away. She barely nods in acknowledgment. He was a very thin man in a black bodysuit that had a white snake winding its way up his body and topped by a serpent mask. She knew him. The rage banked higher, but was held within a steely grasp. Two mercenaries were in the room with him and no doubt there were more watching.
"What do you want from me?" Her voice came out eerily calm. He sat back in such a way that it would have driven her to something rash. That arrogant posture. He was what was wrong with this city. The snake that hid and called the shots from the shadows. This clarity was welcome.
"We have a mutual enemy. Someone that, just by her very existence, has thrown our plans off track." He finally says after giving her sufficient time to stew in her rage. Surprise briefly threads through her as she realizes that somehow he's missed her calm. She tamps it down to pay attention.
"Aria. In just one day she has inconvenienced me greatly. I lost several high value operatives and stand to lose much more. You lost your freedom." She can hear the smirk in his voice, "Now you stand to lose much more. I have a job for you. It is beneath your skill, I know, but it is necessary. Do this for me and I will gladly pay for your mother's treatments." The rage almost boils over, but there is a rhythm to this. The beat shifts and she nods.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked, but knew that it didn't matter. He would tell her. There was a rise and fall to this. A cadence.
"Aria has become close to a pawn of mine. My Tattletale has been straying and I need her to remember her place." He states flatly. The annoyed tone of voice makes her feel warm and tingly inside. "You will join a group that I bankroll. They are the Undersiders." She knew the Undersiders. She knew one in particular, Grue. He could create a darkness that interfered with her power and felt strange to her.
"What do I do about Grue?" She finally asked once she felt the shift.
"He is the leader, but is just as much my employee as the rest. I will remind him of that if need be. Do as he says, watch Tattletale, and you will have your revenge." He finally said after taking time to give it some thought. Her rhythm had changed. His offer hadn't excited her. "We will take away Aria's pillars of support slowly. Drive her into despair. Once she is there we will offer mercy and crush her at her lowest point." The terrible thing was this might have enticed her at one point.
Enemies existed to be destroyed. She nodded slowly in understanding. He leaned back with such smug satisfaction it was hard to believe that he missed how off the mark he was. If he didn't have her mother she would have enjoyed disabusing him, but he did have her. He gave a wave of dismissal and she left. There was no hurry in her step as she changed into civilian clothes. One more black girl in a melting pot like this. She climbed into the car that would take her to where Coil had moved her.
"Hey mom." She said into the burner phone that Coil had provided. He gave her several that she could use to check and make sure he kept up his end of the bargain.
"Sophia..." Her mother's voice was so tired. She was a former druggie that was fighting her way to sobriety. Her dad's death hadn't just hit her hard, but her mom as well. She started using and it only got worse as time went on.
"How are ya doing?" Sophia asked. She wanted to see her mom, but that would be a bad idea. Just because Coil had her in a private facility it wouldn't do to get caught now. When her mom was sober she was the woman that she remembered. Her times sober had decreased sharply. Now she was a pale shadow of what she was.
"I'm so cold and shaky...where have you been? Why haven't you been by to see me?" Her mother sounded spaced out. Detox was hard and her mom had been through it before, but Coil promised that the treatments would take. A little light that she hadn't realized still existed wanted to believe that.
"Sorry mom, but you know how it is. Doin' the hero thing, right?" She teased even though it didn't fully reach her eyes. Her mother hummed and muttered something. They talked on the drive, but her mom's attention waned. She hung up from the call as they reached the apartment and dismantled the burner before tossing it out in the car.
The man held the door for her and she climbed out. Her bags were already piled neatly on the sidewalk. She noted coolly that it was her belongings. Coil apparently still had some serious pull if he could pull this off. She drags her things inside and heads up to the apartment. It was just across the way from Lisa Wilbourne's apartment with surveillance equipment already prepared. She clicked her tongue in irritation.
She flopped down on the sofa and gave the finger to the gear. The equipment would record what happened and the directional mic would catch what was said. The only reason Coil needed her was one more agent in the Undersiders. She absently looked over the files prepared on each of the villain team. It read like a fucked up Lifetime movie or some shit on Spike.
Regent, formerly Hijack, now known as Alec was apparently one of Heartbreaker's children. Made to kill a man as an initiation he ran away from home and Coil contacted him to join the Undersiders. He could control the bodies of people that he has spent time with. Just brief exposure let him make their muscles twitch.
Rachel Lindt, aka Bitch, aka Hellhound, was a foster child before her triggering. No one knows what set her off, but she's wanted for killed her foster father and numerous injuries that she caused.
"Yeah let's hunt her down after the worst day of her life. Real bright." She read that it was the PRT looking for her and concluded that it was because they were idiots. "How the hell do you not find someone that isn't even hiding?" She groaned.
Tattletale, aka Lisa Wilbourne, aka Sara Livsey. Lost her brother to suicide and ran away due to parents forcing her to use her powers to help them succeed in business. She grimaced at what she was reading. Sparse knowledge and lack of recruiting details added up to something close to her own situation. The old Shadow Stalker wouldn't have allowed such thoughts. What was the point? Keep moving forward. She shook her head.
Grue, aka Brian Laborn, was the child of an addict mother and an absentee father. He has a younger sister that he provides for and wants to get custody for. She stares at the ceiling. These files didn't give her information. Dry and impersonal data. They gave her faces. She could see these people. Each one fucked up and similar to herself.
Is that why they worked? They were so broken that they somehow clicked together? She was broken with nothing to click to huh? She had Emma and their broken pieces had meshed. Now the redhead was as far away as the moon. She didn't dare call her now.
The locker was her wake up call. Using her powers to punish a civilian drove home just how fucked up she'd become. She still went through with it, but more through force of habit. The screaming didn't make her feel good, but she laughed anyway. There was a strange split, a tearing feeling inside, and she staggered. She didn't think about what it could be.
It was a small thing really. Something insignificant, but it mattered. Taylor had come back to school after being put in the locker and that was when everything changed. She wasn't weak. She wasn't a timid little worm rooting around in the dirt. It wasn't even that she had come back looking more beautiful than Emma. There was confidence. A look of "stay the fuck out of my way" that she could respect.
She took control of her life. She wasn't hiding because of fear. She just didn't care about the Trio's antics. She was above them all. At one time that would have pissed Sophia off, but instead she just let it fly. She was curious though. Those sudden good looks? That way she moved like her every step was destined to land perfectly? She had to test it. The No Contact order was still in effect, but she would be damned if the curiousity wasn't satisfied.
She tried to knock Taylor down the stairs as she had done before. Before her eyes she saw Taylor twist, vault off the stairs, and land with an easy grace. She was a parahuman. She had to be. The worst moment of her life was a filthy locker. Drenched in filth and waste. Sophia grimaced at the memory. Getting caught out at Wards HQ didn't even rate.
She knocked the heel of her palm against her head to bring her thoughts back into order. Her mind was clear. The incessant drive to move forward was gone. The fury she felt was hot and it brought comfort, but it didn't control her anymore. The old Shadow Stalker was gone. She would not go back to that. Those that controlled her before would find none of the original triggers. No buttons to push. She would get her mom out of this and turn that snake into boots.
Aria had unleashed something that day. Shadow Stalker would rise. She would not fail her mom or this city.