Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Sophia and Emma weren't in school on Monday, and, for a few terrible hours, Taylor thought Jaya had carried out her threat. It was only Taylor's complete lack of any form of communication device, that prevented her from calling Jaya and begging her to undo whatever insanity she had put into play before the police found out.
It was a shortcoming Taylor felt an urgent need to fix.
The revelation that her friends were capes did little to help Taylor's panic. She spent most of Saturday night going over her notes about the active capes of Brockton Bay. If Jaya and Lisa were running around in costume, they were keeping it very quiet. The Bay had few female capes, and there was no public duo that she could find, aside from Uber and Leet, who were obviously men. This meant that, if they decided to do something nasty to punish Sophia and Emma on Taylor's behalf, the results of whatever powers they used would likely draw some apparently unwanted attention. The fact that Taylor was more worried about her friends being caught, than whatever it was they did to her bullies, bothered her less, perhaps, than it should.
Regardless, she wallowed in guilt and misery until her World Issues class, where her thought processes came to a screeching halt, as they discussed the death of Shadow Stalker
"As I'm sure you all know already, last night Shadow Stalker was found, shot dead, in an Empire drug depot," Mr. Gladly explained, raising his voice over the clamor of the classroom, "I thought it would be good to take some time today, to discuss the possible consequences and how it will effect us as citizens."
Taylor did not know. She did not know at all. Last night was spent working on her costume, putting the final touches on the armored carapace, while experimenting with her powers. The costume itself, while incredibly armored and well-fitted, was a bit edgy for her tastes. Taylor hoped adding some color would help, though she had no idea what shades to use, as it was far too late for her to change the design. As far as her experimentation went, well, her ability to hear with her insects while doing other things had progressed from mmrfh mrrgh mrph to -eate- -ts -ver ba--ard. She was learning far more about her neighbor's sex life than she ever wanted. On the bright side, she was usually able to make out one word in four.
The combined discomfort of creating a hero costume that walked off the set of a horror movie, and learning just how many women Ms. Frasier's boyfriend was sleeping with, gave her a fitful enough sleep that she completely ignored the morning news in favor of being grumpy.
"In its decades long history, the Brockton Bay Wards program has never lost a Ward to street level criminals," Mr. Gladly continued, "Much less to a non-parahuman, which Shadow Stalker was speculated to have been shot by."
A girl raised her hand, Susan- Samantha? Something that began with 'S', "The news this morning was saying Victor did it." she stated with confidence.
"Thank you Sarah," Mr. Gladly said with a nod, "but the PRT later stated they didn't know for certain who the perpetrator was, as they had fled the scene. All we know is she was killed with a pistol at close range. Literally anyone within the Empire Eighty-Eight could be responsible, therefore the entire organization will likely be receiving the backlash."
A few people shifted nervously in their seats. It was no secret that Winslow was filled to the brim with current, and prospective, gang members of every variety. The Empire had its own following here, and it was by no means small. Taylor suspected recruiting would slow down dramatically in the coming weeks, for caution's sake if nothing else. It might even, finally, be an end to the Nazi capital of America. It was difficult to moralize an organization that murdered kids after all.
Taylor's thoughts drifted throughout the rest of the class period, as her fellow students speculated wildly about the Protectorate's response to their dead Ward. The most popular guess seemed to be along the lines of 'complete annihilation' for the Empire, complete with kill-orders given out for every member.
Taylor doubted the Protectorate was willing to turn the Bay into a war zone, herself. She couldn't help but wonder, though, if there was some way she could assist the Protectorate in bringing the Empire to justice. Taylor had little confidence in winning a fight with the majority of the Empire's capes, not without the entire city's bug population, but her powers had some other applications didn't they? If she could track down Empire capes, figure out where they were hiding, she could tell the Protectorate! Her bugs were uniquely suited for this kind of work, and nobody would ever suspect her. Taylor had yet to make an official debut, after all. Bringing the Protectorate that kind of information would be a tremendous boost to her reputation as a rookie hero.
Taylor rolled the idea around in her head for the rest of the day, taking full advantage of, and even enjoying, her tormentors' absence. Madison, without anyone to brown nose, barely paid Taylor a glance, seemingly content to ignore her when there was no social profit to be had. The small pangs of worry still existed in the back of Taylor's mind, prodding her conscience every time someone failed to menace her, but she was far too excited to pay it much mind.
It was entirely possible, likely even, that the Empire lieutenants would know exactly who murdered Shadow Stalker. At the very least, the higher ranked capes should know something. If Taylor could get bugs on them, she might be able to listen in, might be able to discover exactly what happened. If there was a chance to get justice for Shadow Stalker, to actually identify her killer rather than indiscriminately arrest everyone associated with the Empire, then Taylor would do her best to achieve it. The girl was a hero, after all.
It was always a tragedy when a hero fell. The fact that Shadow Stalker was a Ward made things even worse. It seemed that Wards, as a general rule, were kept out of the more violent aspects of the cape lifestyle. They were more of a deterrent than actual crime fighters, forced to patrol the peaceful areas of the city in a blatant attempt to look impressive. It was one of the primary reasons that Taylor didn't immediately sign up with them, after she gained her powers. Well, that, and her unwillingness to deal with yet another high-school clique.
It was baffling to discover that Shadow Stalker was allowed to patrol alone, in gang territory no less. Rumors were flying around the school, indicating that Armsmaster was being blamed for the, admittedly tremendous, screw up, and would lose his leadership position. It made Taylor sad to hear. Armsmaster wasn't her favorite Protectorate hero, but he did guard her crotch during her formative years, a sentence that she was sure she would never say out loud. There was little doubt he deserved the demotion though, as the Wards were ultimately his responsibility. She wondered if Jaya had perhaps had a point about the man's 'staggering arrogance', and if so, just how the boisterous girl had known. It was one of the few times Taylor regretted not listening to one of Jaya's rants.
These surreal thoughts were interrupted during Computer Science, her final class for the day, as she idly browsed PHO after finishing her assignment. On the Brockton Bay board, under Announcements, was a thread currently skyrocketing in popularity. Taylor opened it, curious what all the fuss was about, and watched the video within.
It took Taylor nearly five minutes, after watching Kaiser's angry rant along with several recordings of Shadow Stalker, to realize that one of the girls who had tortured her for the past year or so was, in fact, a hero. Taylor was honestly surprised that, in her fury, she hadn't buried the school in a swarm of locusts. No, instead, as she discovered once her vision cleared and her rage faded, she had excused herself from the classroom, went to the bathroom, and screamed herself hoarse.
It was the kind of revelation that would have destroyed her a month ago, hell, even a week ago. Even now, bolstered by the knowledge that she had friends, that her life was turning around, that things were finally going right, even now, it felt like she was drowning. It was a betrayal, a blasphemy, the antithesis to her dreams; a cold truth that explained everything that had happened to her.
Sophia was a Ward. It was why the teachers looked the other way, why every complaint went unheard. Emma had to know. She clung to Sophia like a shield, somehow convincing the sociopath that they were friends. Taylor assumed the teachers ignored her because she was alone, the weird, friendless, nerdy girl. This, this, was so much worse.
Taylor took a breath, slow, deep, calming, and choked back a sob. She couldn't be certain. She couldn't. But she also could not deny her eyes. Shadow Stalker moved like Sophia, like a coiled snake, ready to strike at any time. The way she stood in her wiki picture, hands crossed, shoulders tense, mirrored the angry girl perfectly. Her sadism matched Kaiser's claims, and wasn't that a surprise, and complemented the callous disregard the Protectorate apparently had for basic decency or supervision.
The real kicker, though, the part that made Taylor truly angry, was that it didn't matter. It did not matter one bit. If Sophia was Shadow Stalker, if the Protectorate covered up her actions, it wouldn't change anything. Shadow Stalker was dead, the Protectorate was going to war with the Empire, and Taylor would not let her personal issues stop her from helping. She was a hero dammit, which meant she was obligated to help whatever side was fighting the literal Nazis.
Didn't mean she had to like it though.
She returned to the computer lab, incredibly grateful to Jaya for inviting her to attend self-defense classes. This afternoon was her first lesson, and it couldn't come soon enough.
Taylor really needed to hit something.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone