Theo might not deserve to get eaten alive yet. Burninating his mom so he triggers early might have changed his opinions, but canon version of him hated his dad appropriately.
Maybe, maybe, if Taylor had told her what her powers are, Sophia might not have hit the distress signal. It was probably the smart thing to do, though, faced with a furious Kaiser and an unknown Tinker.
Okay, okay, okay. There's a few ways this can go from here, but my hope, my wish, my secret dream, is:
"And you have no idea why Kaiser would kidnap you, Sophia?"
"Not a one, he must've thought killing a black Ward could rally the troops, maybe? Your guess is as good as mine! I'm just hoping my friend isn't too traumatized by all this. She doesn't know my secret ID, so-"
"Oh, Miss Hebert? We've already given her the standard civilian debrief and let her go with a number for a counselor if she needs someone to talk to.
...
Anyway, we're still looking for Sarin, but hopefully he won't be too frustrated that Kaiser died before he could get to him. We don't want this Stranger lashing out at the Protectorate for 'taking' his prize. For now, we're working to roll up the lingering Empire capes before they can meet similar, unfortunate ends."
Yeah, Emma was her best friend, for all that they hadn't spent that much time together anymore, but the girl was a little obsessed, and she couldn't say she hadn't considered slapping the crazy out of her before herself. And hey, clearly Taylor had been paying attention to her combat lessons.
Sophia looked up at a sudden crack to see the empty street in front of her suddenly had two costumed figures, a crackle of lightning tracing over them. She recognized motherfucking Kaiser immediately; the other one was in a tech harness, blonde, visor, a Tinker, the new trigger.
He did not seem impressed with her hidden weapons, after the collection he'd gathered from Hebert. Only two knives, one at her back, one strapped to her ankle.
He starts monologuing Imp-ing me! I figure it's more... the decade plus of arrogance of being one of the 'top dogs' in the Bay, combined with CEO 'there can't be consequences to my actions?' brain, and the misapprehension that since Sarin's been killing primarily through traps and tricks that if he's disarmed her person, she's no more dangerous than a regular civilian. And the Empire's had a lot of practice pickin' on unarmed civilians.
And then from the fucking walls hissed a voice made of harsh buzzing, hissing and clicking noises. It was inhuman, barely understandable, but the words chilled Sophia to the bone, echoing and nightmarish.
"Alright, Miss, you're saying your lungs got burned?"
"No, goddamnit! I-"
"Miss, do not raise your voice at me. Why don't you go fill out the form again, and we'll see what we can do for you if you can be a little bit more civil. Next!"
Perfect timing to get into this story, I can't imagine the Protectorate's perspective of "Oh shit Kaiser has Sarin, we need to get in there and get them both." into Sophia, a Ward, suddenly being there and getting the kill? I wasn't sure if she called a panic button with the phone or not but if she did they might be able to pass off/lie about some amount of the truth. Taylor was interrupted from using her full power (and I feel like Kaiser might've gotten her before he died) so who knows what'll happen next!
Theo might not deserve to get eaten alive yet. Burninating his mom so he triggers early might have changed his opinions, but canon version of him hated his dad appropriately.
Man, this is a really awkward position to have the Protectorate find them in. Also, Sophia, I know killing Nazis is important but maybe you shouldn't be getting the killshot right in front of a Protectorate hero when you're on probation. Like, don't get me wrong, if anyone is willing to cover for you among them I'd say Assault has one of the best chances, but c'mon. That's a kill that is characteristically and identifiably done by your power.
Have absolutely no clue how Taylor is going to react to any of this. She was moments from getting to eat Kaiser (fucking Kaiser!) with her bugs and I bet that would've been so fucking satisfying before the government sponsored Kool-Aid man pops in and Sophia gets the killsteal. Rough day, girl.
I might be remembering wrong, but didn't Max send him to Germany for a few years so the Guzzleshaft could try to torture him into triggering? That would explain the accent and I can't think of any other kid who would hop on the sinking ship without an asshole dad forcing them into it.
I don't recall anything being mentioned about that - and Theo is nowhere near traumatized enough in canon for that to make sense IMO. Especially as it would require Kaiser to subordinate himself to Gesselschaft to an extent that doesn't fit with his general behaviour.
That would explain the accent and I can't think of any other kid who would hop on the sinking ship without an asshole dad forcing them into it.
Literally anyone that Gesselschaft decided to send from their cape-torture pipeline? They're not limited to local resources, and they don't want the E88 to fall.
Just caught up. This is the 2nd worm anti-fascist fic I've found. Compared to the last one, this appears to be more "propaganda of the deed" type stuff which I guess powers would make possible though I'd still be concerned about the non-powered Nazis as they are most likely still there even if the capes get taken down and there hasn't yet been any antifascist force that has been organized to counter them.
If I remember correctly, when killing Purity, Taylor mentioned waiting for the babysitter for Asther to appear (probably Theo). So she is aware of them and did not attack them.
They would end being gotten by social services and send away. I doubt Theo would separate from Asther willingly, specially if It allowed him to escape Max.