Arrival
Going back was the worst.
I had hoped that, after a case like mine, I'd be moved to another school. No such luck. My trip in the locker had no positive consequence whatsoever, and I was back in school after more than a month outside of it.
I forced my feet one after the other, pushing the class door open.
Don't give them the satisfaction, I told myself.
The whole class turned toward me as I came in, along with Mr. Gladly. Mrs. Knott stepped from behind me, going to the history teacher and speaking in hushed tones. I looked over the crowd, spotting the faces of my tormentors. Madison looked like Christmas had come earlier. Emma smirked knowingly, visibly planning something. And Sophia scowled like I'd just stolen her wallet and taunted her with it.
Oh, and she was glowing.
What? I said on the inside.
I thankfully didn't react outwardly, as that might have repercussions.
As luck would have it, the only open place for me to sit was right to the left of Sophia. I made sure to take my seat from the other side of the desk, leaving her no chance to trip or push me.
Class restarted, and I couldn't help but sneak a few glances to the girl at my right.
Yup. Still glowing.
I barely paid attention to Mr. Gladly's words, focusing on that issue. What did Sophia have that was so special? Why her and not anyone else in the class?
One thing came to mind, and I had to resist puking on my desk at the image.
Nope. Not happening. None of that soulmate or true love stuff here. Not happening. Ever.
I pushed that thought out of mind and focused on other stuff. Hopefully, the trio would have gotten their jollies with the locker incident, and I would have some peace for the next few days. The looks they'd given me wasn't giving me much faith in that idea, but one had to hope.
The bell rang. Everyone gathered his or her things, and I was no exception.
Then Madison pushed my last schoolbook off my desk, where Sophia grabbed it and held it up, dashing what little hopes I had.
"Give it back," I said, rising.
She glared at me. "Or what?"
I reached for the book, only to grab her wrist. "Give it…" I started, only to stop as a feeling rose in the back of my head as soon as my fingers touched her skin. Something taut, like a fishing line. I had an impression that I could pull up something, but what I didn't know.
Then Sophia shook me off and the feeling passed. She tossed the book in the farthest corner of the class, then left without a word. Emma and Madison followed, but not before the second bumped me harshly.
I made my way back to the book, thinking all the while. Was the reaction I had linked with that light? That might explain why I hadn't reacted to Madison (or to anyone before then), but I didn't have much data to go about. The only thing I knew was that only Sophia had such an effect.
I then shivered as my previous thought on the subject came back to me. Nope. Still not happening.
Walking out, I barely made it out the door before someone grabbed me by the back of the head and slammed me against the wall. It hurt, but once again there was that pulling feeling inside my mind.
"You should've stayed away," Sophia's voice came from behind me. "Should've known your place. Seems you need a reminder."
I managed to put my arms against the wall this time, but it still hurt. Twice, three times she smashed me on my arms, the feeling teasingly remaining present in the back of my head.
I pulled.
I didn't care what it did. Barely an hour back in class and it was already hell. Whatever it did, anything was better than the current situation.
Something pulled up, I don't know what, but the feeling disappeared as another took its place.
Sophia went for another two blows, and then went away huffing. I was left on the ground with that sensation in the back of my head, not knowing what had really happened.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I went through math class trying to put a name to the feeling now lodged in the back of my head.
It somehow felt somewhat alive or sentient, so I didn't try poking it, just getting impressions.
It felt like darkness. Like shadow. It managed to give the exact opposite impression of the sensation of sunlight.
Somehow.
I also had the felling that it was missing a part, like it was broken. That break didn't feel recent, more like an old wound.
Needless to say, I didn't do much work in that class.
I also didn't miss the bell this time, dashing out as soon as the first ring sang out. I took refuge in one of the bathrooms opposite the classroom. Normally, I found doing this to be shaming, but this time I relished the solitude.
I had something to test.
Before Math class was halfway done, I'd realized there was only a single reason for the bizarre feelings and the shining.
I had powers.
Probably it was due to the locker, but I had no idea what my power was.
And that's why I wanted to be alone. I was going to try finding out.
I ate the lunch my father had made me in record time, and then brought out pen and notebook. And I poked the thing lodged in the back of my brain.
Nothing.
I waited a few seconds, just in case it had some form of startup time, but zilch. I didn't even feel it react.
Second try.
I started trying to prod it from different sides, in different ways. Pushing and pulling and stretching and…
Whoa.
Abruptly, my point of view changed. I went from looking down at my knees to a view of the ceiling from the floor. A very shadowed one.
It was also itchy? Annoying? Painful, maybe? I tried moving away, to find a more comfortable place, and found myself with a close-up of the back of the toilet bowl, looking at the dust and webs there. The irritation was gone, and I could see clearly from here.
I took a moment to think and catch up with what was happening. My field of vision was wider than usual, nearly 180 degrees from where I was. With the space available behind the toilet, my body had at least shrunk or become immaterial.
Moving back to my previous spot was easy and fast. Now that I was expecting it, the feeling that came with that position was bearable, even if uncomfortable.
It took two tries before I managed going back to my normal shape and size. It was easy now that I knew how, and I turned back and forth a few times once I got the trick. Checking the back of the toilet in my normal state, I found that there wasn't even a square foot of free space there. That piece of data, combined with the sensation of the thing in my mind and the field of view I had then made me pretty sure I had what I just did.
I could turn into shadow.
Not the dark, mist-like stuff you saw in movies, but a real two-dimensional shadow. I had the feeling I was faster in that form, and I was pretty sure the reason I could see properly from behind the toilet and not from the middle of the stall was that light polarity was inverted for me in that state.
I was about to grab the notebook I had left out and write out those conclusions when the door banged open. "Pretty sure she's in here," Madison's voice rang out.
I didn't freeze, like I expected. My point of view switched as I instinctively shifted into shadow in the middle of the stall. I didn't move, hoping they wouldn't see me.
They knocked on each door in turn, then forced mine open once they realized it was locked. Sophia stepped in as it swung open.
I found out then what it felt being stepped on while in my other form. Nothing. Not a thing. It was even refreshing somewhat, as Sophia came and blocked the light, diminishing the irritation I felt. I could see under the soles of her shoes, could point out the remains of long-scrapped gum there. She then passed over me, and I found myself in her shadow.
And she dragged me along with it.
I was surprised for a moment, but relaxed as I found I could still move around just as easily. I could leave and enter her shadow without a problem; I was just dragged along if I didn't focus on staying in place.
The trio found my pen and notebook, and I was glad right then that I hadn't written down a word yet. The three talked for a few moments while I practiced, moving from Emma's shadow to Madison's, and back to Sophia's. They then made their way out, notebook still in hand. As the last left, I moved into the shadow under the door, then returned to normal form inside the bathroom.
I had a big smile on my face.
Not only did I have a real power, I now had an efficient way of escaping the bullies. It wasn't perfect, as classes would still be a pain, but I now possessed a way of disappearing that they wouldn't be able to break.
I went and withdrew from my backpack the novel I had brought to read. I had some time before the bell, and a chapter or two was just what the doctor prescribed.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It was during my last class of the day that I realized two things.
First, Sophia was no longer shining. The glow had been dim enough before that I hadn't noticed it was gone until now, especially since I tried not paying attention to her. I didn't want to attract her own right here in class.
Second, why shadow?
I turned that question in my mind for a few minutes, thinking about the time, area and emotions, before another possibility came up, one that I disliked instantly. I minimized the program I was working on, opened a web page, and booted up the parahuman wiki. A quick search there for Brockton Bay plus Shadow gave only five results.
The first, Shadowhawk, was an old cape from the earlier times of Brockton Bay. Dead too, killed in action against the forces of Empire 88 under Allfather. As a broad-shouldered dead man, he didn't fit the profile.
The second was Shadow Stalker.
She fit all the criteria: Female, Ward, which meant in high school, shadow powers. There were a few images of her in action, and even one video, and nothing there disabused me of the conclusion I had gotten to. The heights were similar enough, the body shapes close enough. It made sense.
Sophia Hess was a cape. A ward, one of the so-called good guys. Shadow Stalker.
It hit like a punch in the guts.
Like most kids, I'd idolized capes. Younger, I'd been proud to say that I'd owned an Alexandria lunchbox. And the Wards were the youth version of the Protectorate, the largest cape organization on earth. The good guys.
And Sophia was one of them.
The facts did not match. She, the most physically abusive of my three bullies, an official good guy? There had to be an error. Something had to be wrong.
Maybe… I thought. Maybe she's only like that in school. Maybe she only lets her true nature out here, for one reason or another.
I had to know, had to find out.
If she was fooling the Wards, that was even worse. She was a danger in the general public, not only at school.
I stopped for a moment. Deep breaths, one after another. Then started planning an espionage mission.
Look out, Shadow Stalker, I said to myself. Your actions won't poison the Wards. I won't let it happen.
I'll get you first.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Following Sophia was actually easier than I expected. Running out as soon as the bell rang, I ducked in an empty bathroom. Seconds later I was a patch of shadow on the ground, waiting under a broken light directly in the path between the classes and the exit.
The tough part was actually recognizing my target with a view from that angle. I nearly missed her, but managed to recognize the soles of her shoes right before she stepped out of my patch of darkness.
It was only when she was alone on the bus that I realized I might have made a mistake. Even if she was a ward, she might not be going there today. I had no idea how wards came and went, of what their schedules were, and I wasn't even 100% sure that Sophia was one of them. She might right now be riding home, and I had no desire to meet with Sophia's family.
However, I kept on, since what little I could notice and hear indicated that, yes, she was going in the direction of the Protectorate building. I had no idea how one might get there, especially incognito, but until Sophia arrived at whatever her destination was, I was going to follow. I had to prove to myself that I had it wrong, that Sophia wasn't part of the Wards.
I was still hanging in her shadow when she dropped of the bus and turned into a side street. She entered what was visibly from my point of view an apartment block, then made her way through a door on the first floor.
I was dismayed. This sure wasn't the Wards.
Time to abort the mission, then, I told myself with a sigh.
Something made me wait an extra few seconds, for which I will be forever glad. During that time, Sophia slipped open a panel on the wall, revealing a palm reader with attached camera and microphone. She scanned her hand, looked at the camera and took a deep breath.
"Shadow Stalker, reporting from school," she enunciated clearly.
I was smirking as her shadow dragged me into an open elevator. I had really figured her out. I knew the truth.
Now came the tough part: Actually spying on her within the Wards. All without getting caught.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Then came another handprint scanner, this one leading to a locker room. There Sophia went to the door with her cape name, and withdrew the costume she'd worn on the video I'd seen.
This change of clothes meant I had quite a few more spots to hide in, like the inside of her cloak, but none gave me a good enough range of vision. I kept my spot between her feet as she made her way deeper in the building.
"Watch it, squirt," Shadow Stalker said above me, pushing someone with an elbow.
"No need to push."
I couldn't see much of what was happening above, but a flash of yellow along with the young seeming sound of the answer tentatively identified the person as Vista, the smallest of the wards.
"Bite me," was Sophia's answer as she continued on her path.
It doesn't sound like Sophia's hiding who she is. I mused.
It was only the start.
In the next few minutes, she verbally abused, insulted or was vulgar to pretty much every ward I noticed. Aegis, Clockblocker, Kid Win. The only ward I knew she spared was Gallant, and only because he didn't seem present.
I finally left my ride, hiding under the table at the center of the wards meeting room.
I didn't know what to think.
Sophia wasn't hiding anything from her fellow capes. She was as unpleasant with them as she was in school.
And she was still a Ward.
The faith I had in the Wards and the Protectorate took a big hit right then. They let such a thing happen right under their noses, and did nothing.
I had thought about joining the Wards, before I reached my conclusion on Shadow Stalker. Now, it was the last thing I would do.
I had enough of bullying at school. Not happening in whatever cape life I would have.
There had to be a better option somewhere.
I had enough of the Wards for now, so I started planning my escape from their building.
It ended up being much easier than expected. I simply hitched a ride on Aegis. But as soon as my lift left the building, I completely forgot about getting home.
I could see so much.
I'd not seen the night in this state, and it was glorious. Gone was the mist-like darkness that had been everywhere. I could see 180 degrees, which from my position meant the whole city, from a bird's eye view. It was something I wouldn't forget.
I swore right then I'd find a way to fly one day.
"This is Aegis. I'm on my way. ETA two minutes."
I only realized Aegis had changed his flight path at those words. Instead of coming and going like he did earlier, he was diving straight toward something.
A building.
"This is Aegis. Building interior covered in darkness. Suspecting Undersiders. I'll need backup as soon as you can give me some." My ride spoke to whatever central control the Wards have.
I decided to tag along. I was curious about who exactly those villains where.
I had heard about them before. They were one of the newest gangs in Brockton Bay, but outside of that not much was known. They weren't front page material.
Anyway, from what Aegis had just said, they had a darkness generator. That would make going around easy, at the very least.
Aegis asked and received clearance for going in. He charged through a window and landed inside. I also touched down right there, moving from shadow to shadow until I had a good vantage point.
Let's see now how a real cape fight goes live. I told myself.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Aegis breaking in didn't take long to get a reaction from the villains there. I was barely in position in the shadow of a hanging light that a trio of dogs charged in. I heard them before I saw them, but when they came in range of my shadow senses I easily took notice.
They were huge.
They were more than a meter high and nearly a meter wide, barely managing to pass in the corridors between the desks. A teenage woman stood a little further behind them, whistling what I supposed were orders.
For all of their size and ferocity, Aegis didn't react an inch, which I supposed meant he'd already faced them. He intercepted the first one mid jump and tossed him further back, blocked the second's bite with his forearm, and used said dog as a bludgeon on the third. By the second hit, his arm was once again free, and he'd made his way past the beasts. He charged through the air, intent on the girl there, when a boy stepped out from behind her.
A pretty boy, with toussled hair, mask and even a scepter. He made a wide gesture with his arm, and Aegis suddenly banked to the side, now in a collision course with a computer desk. A telekinetic? I asked myself.
The ward proved he had his head in the game when he grabbed the screen there and lobbed it right at the boy even as his face hit the piece of furniture. The pretty boy tried dodging, but still got nailed in the arm.
Then the entire room was filled with darkness.
I couldn't see anything anymore. However the power of the Undersiders' darkness generator worked, it didn't have any synergy with mine. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. The irritating sensation came back, a hundred times worse, at a level that was right past painful. I nearly changed back to normal automatically, and held back through sheer willpower only because I would be doing a faceplant on the ground if I did so, something that could be deadly in the middle of hero-villain battle.
Also, moving in that darkness was, for some reason, slow going. Where earlier I dashed from place to place, this time I felt like I could only walk with everything that was pressing on me. With no senses to rely on, I simply went forward, intent on finding a spot the darkness didn't cover. I stubbornly held back from returning to my real body, not know up from down. I could be outside the building and falling to my death from there. I had no way to tell.
It felt like a hour when I found my way out. The place I arrived in was alight enough that I couldn't see much, but the pressure on my senses wasn't present anymore. Anyway, there was enough darkness that I could tell someone was there, working on something like a computer screen. I needed to recover, so I slipped inside that person's clothes, hiding on his or her back.
There I took a metaphorical breath, since my lungs seemed non-existent in this state. I'd nearly made a big mistake here. a possibly deadly one.
Note to self, I told myself. Do not take the effect of two powers coming together for granted. That way lies pain.
I couldn't tell much about the person I was on. The bra and lavender clothes implied a woman, but I couldn't tell much more from here. My shadow form had no sense of smell or touch, so I had to rely on my eyes.
"Tattletale, we got everything?" a strong but young-seeming male voice called out.
"One second..." a female voice answered. It seemed to be coming from my current ride, so I mentally labeled lavender woman Tattletale. "Done," she said, and then I was moving.
As she moved, growling sounds like two dogs fighting for a bone got stronger. I decided to take a risk and repositioned myself between my ride's feet, and I as such was granted a view of said dog combat.
With Aegis as the bone.
The two dogs were even bigger than before, and nearly stuck in position by their mass, though they seemed to be slowly shrinking somewhat. Tattletale came to stay beside a tall man in motorcycle leathers, who seemed to sweat black mist somehow.
The darkness generator, I took note.
"You'll never escape," Aegis said. "Clockblocker, Gallant and Browbeat are right outside the building, with Armsmaster and Velocity as a bonus. Surrender, and it'll be much less worse for you four."
"And I suppose Shadow Stalker is right out the window, and has me in sight?" the boy in leather noted sarcastically.
The ward twitched. "No. She's covering the roof."
"He's alone and buying time," Tattletale replied without a trace of doubt in her voice. "The five he named first are on their way, though."
"We got how much time?" darkness generator asked.
"Not even a minute," Aegis spat out.
"At least five before Armsmaster's there," the girl above me corrected.
"Let's be quick, then," he said, then grabbed a length of optic cable. Whistling girl did the same, and before the minute was done they'd trussled him up in wires. Pretty boy even attached a desk to a cable around his neck, for good mesure.
He wasn't going anywhere easily.
"Good. We're gone then. Bitch, take Regent with you and go east. Tattle, with me the other way. Meet up in three hours," the tall boy said. I noted he pretty much seemed the leader.
The girl with the dogs, Bitch, looked at him like she wanted to say something, but instead went up the stairs with her hounds following, the pretty boy in tow. I supposed he was Regent, then. My ride did the same.
When Tattletale arrived on the top floor of the building, Bitch and Regent were bounding off one of the large dogs, with another right after them. Darkness boy was on the last, holding his hand out.
I had to make a quick decision right there. Follow them or not? There were only two, so that wasn't much, but one of them was the only one who'd been able to do anything to me. On the other hand, staying here was also dangerous. The Wards and the Protectorate were sure to be there in the next few minutes, and an unknown cape on a crime scene wasn't the best way to come out. I didn't known about all of them, but the local Protectorate Leader, Armsmaster, was sure to be there, and whatever sensors he had might very well detect me. And I wasn't confident enough in my power to try scaling down the building right there.
In the end, I let myself be dragged on by Tattletale's shadow. The ride on the giant dog wasn't as interesting as the one on Aegis, but they still did good time. I recognized a place close to the trainyard, a storage facility full of containers. Made sense a group of villain would use those. As a cache for stolen goods, it was perfect.
Darkness boy went toward on in specific and unlocked it, opening the door. "After you..." he said to his female partner in crime. I followed along, curious. I wondered what (and how much) a group like the Undersiders could have hidden here.
But it was empty, I found out a second later. Right then I heard the door closed behind me, and the room filled in the oppressive shadows made by the darkness generator.
"Come out, Shadow Guy. We know you're there," his voice rang out in the room, echoing strangely through his shadow.
I'd just been caught.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I hated coming to the wards.
It beat Juvie, sure, but everyone here was a fool at best and an idiot at worst. They were the people with powers, the ones who could make the rules. And they did nothing, except enforce the laws under some fat bitch who couldn't even walk right.
Disgusting. Even Emma was better, and the only powers she had were a good grasp of social skills, money and a lawyer father.
I was reading the news on my laptop when the call came. "We got a break-in at Armstrong & Smith Corporate headquarters. Capes," Kid Win's voice rang overhead. He was the one manning the console today. "Gear up. We leave as soon as everyone here's ready."
I groaned and rose. I had no issue with a good fight, but a team deployment meant no fun at all. I hated having people looking over my shoulder, criticizing how I did everything. No chance to cut loose, no opportunity to put people in their place.
But my terms were clear. I was to participate on every team deployment while I was available. And today counted.
I had my first crossbow out and loaded when the intercom rang again. This time, it wasn't Kid Win. "This is Aegis. Building interior covered in darkness. Suspecting Undersiders. I'll need backup as soon as you can give me some," the ward leader's voice said on the system.
I smirked. Undersiders, eh, I said to myself. That was another thing completely. Darkness generator meant Grue. Seemed like the boy hadn't figured out I didn't want him in my city. I'd have to remind him.
No one messed with my power and got away with it.
I had a cache of my original bolts just for such occasions. They were hidden inside the wall behind the locker itself, so they needed powers like mine to be reachable. Anyone else would need to break down the lockers and drill into the wall to find them.
Shifting into my breaker state I reached out through the wall, only for my fingers to smash into the metal back panel.
What?!
The next three tries weren't any more fruitful. I couldn't reach my other form for some reason.
"The hell?!" I shouted out. What had happened to my powers?
The only way I knew someone could lose access to their abilities was overuse. It generally came with headaches, muscle pains or similar stuff, depending on the power. I never had an issue with that. In fact, I hadn't even used my powers since patrol yesterday.
"What's your issue this time?" Clockblocker said as he came in the room.
"Power's not working," I growled out.
"Really?" he replied. He didn't have his mask on, so I could see his smirk. It infuriated me even more. "If you don't want to go, you just have to say. I can ask Miss Militia to give you a bye."
"I said, power's not working!" I cried out this time, and started walking away.
"Where are you going?" the time stopper asked.
"Infirmary!" I yelled as the door closed behind me. All the doors in the building were automatic, so I didn't even get the satisfaction of slamming it in his face.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I ended up with a full medical battery of tests. One after the other, interspersed with innate questions that they already knew the answers to. It was clear that they didn't believe what I was saying. Worst part was the tests were proving them right. I had nothing that could explain my missing powers, no sickness, no drugs, not even a cold. I was as healthy as I'd been on my last checkup, which hadn't even been a month ago.
The medicals techs were arguing on what more tests they could do, clearly resenting the waste, when Armsmaster came in medical bay.
"You better have a good explanation why you weren't part of today's operation, Sophia," he said. He was still wearing his combat suit, probably having just come back from the attack.
"No power," I ground out for the twentieth time this evening.
It visibly wasn't the answer he was expecting. "What?" he said, then fiddled with his helmet a little. "Can you repeat that, to be sure."
"I. Have. No. Power." I said, enunciating each word in turn. I wanted to yell in his face, but he was the head honcho here, and that would have brought down worse on my head. "Heard it this time?"
"She's saying the truth," he said, turning around toward the techs. "I want every test done. Every single one. I don't care if people have to do overtime, or if we have to have something shipped tonight. All of them. Now."
He has a lie-detector in his suit? I suddenly realized. That was bad. Class A bad. I'd better be careful around him in the future. There were some things I did the Protectorate would have an issue with.
"You..." Armsmaster said, turning back toward me. "I want a report of your last days. Last three patrols, plus everything that happened between them. Here, school, home, I don't care. Every detail. I want the color of your classmates' shirts and what your mother had for dinner two days ago. And I want it on my desk before you leave the building." He moved out of the way the techs came forward, pushing a big device on wheels. "Deliver it to my workshop. No patrols tonight, even if your power comes back," he finished, then walked out resolutely.
I had to hold back from yelling out. He'd given me homework.
Fuck you, Armsmaster, I screamed inside. FUCK YOU!
The techs continued on, attaching something to my left arm. I readied myself for a long night.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Somehow, this time was even worse than the last. I somehow managed to abort retransforming just as it was about to happen and tried thinking for a moment. Staying in place was an issue, my instincts were trying to make me move anywhere but here, but I held on my spot.
First off, escape. With all my senses blocked as they were, I had no clue how to find an exit. I belatedly realized I didn't even have a clue of how much space I needed to be able to get somewhere. I could sneak under a door, true, but would a hole be enough?
Without sight, I didn't even have a clue of how fast or far I'd be moving. I knew I moved faster as a shadow, and that this darkness slowed me down, but did they cancel each other? Was I faster, or slower than normal? I had no way to tell, no point of reference.
Transforming back was the only other solution. There were only two of them, and not offencive powers from what I'd seen. They'd been violent with Aegis, but not any more than needed to restrain him. Outside the dogs, which weren't present.
In the end, my choice ended up being made for me. I lost focus, and turned back instinctively to evade the pain. I made a last shadow step at the final moment, just enough hopefully not to appear right beside the two of them.
"Good," the boy's voice rang distorted through his shadow. "Now turn around."
I did so, but not before pulling up the hood of my shirt and hiding my face within. I kept my face lowered, hoping to preserve whatever anonymity I could.
The mist-like darkness slowly vanished, pooling down at my feet, revealing light coming from a lamp bolted in the ceiling of the cubicle.
I couldn't see much, but I noticed the two Undersiders were still cautious. While most of the darkness was gone, there was still a wall of it behind the two of them, obscuring the exit. That path was blocked.
My eyes widened for a second before I managed to blank my face. They were also glowing. They hadn't been before, in my shadow sight.
Looks like the glowing only works with my normal sight, I made a note to myself. By now, I was pretty sure this shining was because they were capes.
"Talk," the boy in leather said. "Who are you?"
I said nothing. I focused instead on trying to stop the few shakes I still had, phantom pains from the misty darkness.
"Who sent you?" he continued.
Still, I kept silent. I ran scenarios in my head instead. Maybe I could grab their powers like I'd done to Sophia, but that didn't fix the issue of numbers. Even with power taken off, it was two against one, and the boy looked like he could break me alone if he seriously tried.
"How did you notice her?" Tattletale asked her companion.
He turned toward her. "She was right above Aegis when I got in the fight, and she bolted as soon as I filled the room with darkness. Like a certain ward, she was visibly affected. She twitched for a moment, then bolted straight in your direction."
The girl's smile grew wider, and she turned once again toward me. I lowered my head a little more, and hid my hands behind my back.
The boy also turned. "We can stay here for as long as we need. So who..." he started, then was interrupted by his companion.
Who started laughing.
She did so for a good ten seconds, before looking up at me with a fox-like grin. "Grue," she started as if presenting something. "Allow me to introduce the person who removed Shadow Stalker as a threat."
The boy, who I supposed was Grue, faced her way instantly. "Really? Shadow Stalker's dead?"
Tattletale hadn't taken her eyes from me. "No, but she isn't gonna be coming back." She pointed toward me with her thumb. "She's a new cape, first day on the job. Rode in on Aegis. Guy didn't have a clue she was there."
"Hero or villain?" Grue asked.
Tattletale stared at me for a moment. "Not sure. Not a ward or Protectorate, for sure, but not really a villain either. Doesn't know the score, really."
My eyes were wide under the brim of my hood. Where is she pulling that info from? I asked myself. I thought for a moment telepath, but realized she was even pulling stuff I didn't even know myself.
"Are we in any danger from her?" Grue asked.
"Nope," Tattletale said with a smile. "Girl's just looking around, trying stuff. This whole thing wasn't anything she planned."
"Good," Grue said, then came forward. He rolled his shoulders as he did so, as if he was testing his limbs for soreness. I tensed, preparing for an attack. It never came.
Instead, he stuck his hand forward for an handshake. Surprised, I clasped his hand automatically, and we shook twice. His grip was tight but not painful, and seemed genuine.
"However you did it, thank you for Shadow Stalker," he said, and again his voice made him seem younger than he looked. "You have no idea how violent she could be with those crossbows of hers."
"I'm pretty sure I have a good guess," I found myself saying.
"She talks!" he replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Well, good luck with those powers of yours. A tip, as payback for Shadow Stalker…" He came close. "You're not as invisible as you think in shadow form, even when hiding in another one. Someone who knows you're there can track you," he whispered right next to my ear.
He then turned around and started walking out. I only realized then that he'd dispelled the rest of his shadow. "Tattletale, you coming?" he said, opening the door.
"Nah, I'm gonna talk with the newbie a little more. Girl stuff. I'll catch you later."
He nodded, tossing her a backpack. "See you, Shadow Girl." He then left with the now regular-sized dog on a leach.
Tattletale turned back toward me once Grue was out of sight. "Now what do I do with this bomb that's been dropped on my knees…?"
"What?" I said. I didn't get what she was saying.
"You, girl. You have no idea how bad that power of yours can make things," she explained. "You're an explosion waiting to happen, if anything goes wrong."
"What do you…" I started, only for my stomach to interrupt. It gurgled loudly, making me realized I hadn't eaten since diner. Having been a shadow all the while, I hadn't noticed.
Tattletale smiled that vulpine grin of hers. "I can spring for supper no problem," she said. "No manipulation, no allying, no anything. Just talking. Your power could have global repercussions, and you need to know about it pronto." She removed her mask, then crouched to look at me in the eyes. "You don't know much about cape politics, don't you?"
I shook my head negatively.
She smiled again. "Dinner and an education," she said, withdrawing normal-looking clothes from her bag. "I'll even let you choose the restaurant, if you want. How about it?"
I thought about it, and she let me. She was a villain, true, but horribly well informed, so the offer was tempting. Also, now that I thought about it, she coached her words to get the results he wanted from her partner. She'd made sure that this encounter didn't turn into a fight, just by saying the right words.
"I can leave whenever I want to?" I asked.
"Anytime. No pressure."
Very tempting, I said to myself. Then an idea came to mind. "Tell me your name."
"Lisa Wilbourn." No hesitation, no stuttering. Either she'd been expecting the question, or it was a name she used often enough.
It would have to be enough. "Call me T," I said, then extended my hand as Grue had done earlier. We shook. "Lead on."
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The restaurant Lisa brought me to was a somewhat high-scale French one, just off the Boardwalk. She'd changed her hair style and removed her makeup, and without those she looked like a totally different person. If I hadn't seen the process myself, I wouldn't have recognized her at the end.
The reason she chose that specific place became clear when we were brought to an isolated booth, far in the back of the building. It was the perfect place to talk privately.
Lisa ended up ordering as soon as she sat down at the table, and I did the same based on her recommendation. She then waited until the waiter was out of sight, then turned toward me. "First, I have to verify something. Just one second." I nodded.
She reached out and poked my bare hand. The line feeling from before came back and vanished as soon as she removed her touch.
"Knew it. You're a striker," was her reply.
"Sorry?" I said, questioning.
"Power classifications. I won't go over them all, since we have a lot to go through, but you're a striker, which means you do something by touch, and a trump, which means you affect powers," she explained.
I nodded again. "So, explain then. How am I a bomb waiting to happen?"
Lisa smiled. "First, a little context. You saw Ocean's Eleven, right?" I nodded. "Would you rate that group the same way you rated Nazi Germany? Like you would serial killers?"
"No."
"It's the same thing with villains. Some of them, like the ABB and the Empire here in Brockton Bay, are groups with goals. They want to change the world, and they aren't afraid to use to powers to do that. Some, the Slaughterhouse Nine being the best example, are simply killers on a power trip, wanting attention."
She grabbed a piece of bread from the basket at the middle of the table and nibbled on it. "And some are like the Undersiders, playing cops and robbers with the Protectorate. They aren't there for the politics, or for the fame. The money's good and they're having fun trying to outmatch the opposition."
"It isn't like that," I countered.
"Sure it is," Lisa said, smiling her vulpine grin. "The Protectorate even knows it. The small-time villains, the ones like Uber & Leet, they don't go to the Birdcage. They end up in regular jail, out of which they'll invariably escape. The Protectorate sometimes even recruits villains upon capture. You know Assault, right?"
I nodded. I'd seen the name a few times in news articles referencing capes.
"Ex-villain. He broke at least seven people out of the trucks transporting prisoners to the Birdcage."
"You're kidding," I said, visibly surprised.
"Nope. Previous name was Madcap, and it's Battery that ended up catching him. He got a good deal out of it, right?" She raised her hand in a signal to stop. Thirty seconds later, the waiter arrived with the food.
The conversation stopped for the moment, the both of us turning toward eating. My own meal was simple, pepper steak with fries, but I'll admit the quality was surprising. There wasn't a single bit of food left on my plate once I was done, and I saw that Tattletale's was no better.
"You still haven't told me why I'm so important," I pointed out.
"Bear with me, I'm getting there," she replied, then continued on her earlier subject. "The reason the Protectorate does that is because they don't want all out war. They don't want to push those that respect the lines in the sand to say 'Screw the rules, I'm going all out'. By being lenient, they can dodge the villains allying against them, and then deal with them on a case by case basis."
"And that's where you come in." She pointed toward me. "To a cape, his power IS his identity, at least in part. And you can take that away. A lot of capes were nothings before triggering, and they don't want to go back to that. They'd rather die. If anything can push them beyond the unwritten rules, it is that."
"And that goes for both heroes and villains. If you were to join a villain gang and your full power became known, the Protectorate would hit the place so bad its builders would feel it," she said, face serious. "The Protectorate would love your power if you joined them, love that you could disable those who cross the lines. You'd be put in a gilded cage, protected at all time. You'd be too valuable to replace."
"When your power would become public, which it would for sure, the villains wouldn't sit still. You'd have the biggest alliance of supervillains after your skin. There would be a price on your head beyond any ever seen."
"Come on," I said. "It can't be that bad."
"I haven't even gotten to the worst possibility," she answered. "Do you know which cape has the power closest to yours, T?"
"No." I replied.
"Glaistig Uaine, the Fairy Queen." Lisa smiled once more. "Heard about her?"
I did. I remembered the papers at her last battle, which had said she'd surrendered instead of facing the full might of the Protectorate. "But she was a killer!" I voiced.
"That's not what made people afraid of her. There were and still are at least a dozen capes with bigger kill counts, even counting only capes deaths. What made cape fear her and hit her with everything they had was the fact she could steal the powers off dead capes," Lisa pointed out. "You can do the very same, even more easily. Just a touch." She raised a single finger in the air. "You'd either die, if it's a villain getting you, or the Protectorate would send you straight to the Birdcage out of fear. You'd be too big of a deal."
"And that's not even getting into the other big groups over the world, like the Yangban," she finished.
Worst part was I could now see where she was going. People feared weakness, feared getting weak. To capes, I was now the boogieman, the story they would tell themselves when they wanted to scare each other.
My face fell. "What can I do?"
"First, and most important: Never let your power known. Never allude to it, show it. I'd say never use it, but I wouldn't respect such an order if it was given to me. Just choose your targets carefully if you do so."
"Explain that in more detail, please," I asked.
"Let's take Brockton Bay for example. Removing the Undersiders, there are five groups: The Merchants, Empire 88, ABB, Coil and Faultline. Out of those, three are really a danger to the city at the moment: the Merchants, E88 & ABB. Problem is, in cases like this, there's a balance to the city. It's tenuous, true, but it keeps this stable, and limits the altercations. There's a few raids, here and there, but it's generally limited. All-out war profits to no one, in the end."
"In this scenario, let's say you remove Lung, the head of the ABB. Here's how it would probably go..."
"First, a very short time after he loses his powers, he'd strike hard. All his forces, all his capes. Maybe even mercenaries. He has nothing left to lose, and long term his power loss is sure to be known. He'd plan it to remove as much of the opposition as possible, hoping to decimate his opponents enough that they'd think again before striking back."
"But strike back they would, especially the Empire. They wouldn't be able to take it that Asians hurt them. And they'd win, without Lung to balance things. Then E88 would be able to turn toward their next enemies."
"The Merchants?" I asked.
"No, the Protectorate. The Empire wants control of the city. They can't fight at full while the ABB could strike at their back. Without that…" She left the rest to imagination.
She took another piece of bread and buttered it. "The other side isn't much better. Take Kaiser down, and there would probably be a civil war within the E88. Sure it's racists fighting each other, but you know who would really suffer in the end."
"The innocents." I replied, voice grave.
"Bingo!" Lisa voiced. "The ABB and the Merchants would join in, hoping to get some territory out of the deal. Whenever that happens, the whole E88 would rise up to face them, only to go back to fighting each other once they're done."
She was trying to get somewhere, I noticed. "What are you trying to say?" I asked.
"Look," Tattletale replied. "I know stuff, and you know I know stuff. That's my power. I can tell that you're a good guy, that you want to use your powers to help. Best thing would be to never use that power of yours, be only Shadow Girl and nothing else, but I know you wouldn't take it. I wouldn't, myself."
Point made, I said to myself. She wasn't wrong. I wouldn't be able to look aside, especially after everything that happened to me. Too many people looked aside in my case, too many told themselves it wasn't their problem.
Well, I was going to solve problems.
"If you hit anything in Brockton Bay, trying to help, go after the Merchants," she continued.
"Explain that."
"We talked about the status quo earlier. Fact is, the Merchants have very little impact on it. They're scavengers, living in the places no one else wants. But the Merchants are a good part of the drug trade in the city. Taking them out would at least clean some of that up."
I rose. "You'll forgive me if I verify those facts."
"Go ahead." Her grin somehow got bigger. "Have fun with that. I'd do the same in your case." After putting a few bills on the table, which seemed to include a generous tip, she withdrew a phone from her bag and handed it to me. "Here."
I took the phone and looked at it like it was dangerous. I disliked cell phones, practical as they were.
"It's a disposable. I put my email and the line to my other phone into it. Call me if you want lunch, info, or anything else." She started walking out, waving her hand above her head. "Ta-ta!" and then she was gone.
I packed my own stuff and made my own way out. I'd have a lot to think about, tonight.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I managed to sneak some power practice on the way home.
Mainly, I tested for speed. With the sun down completely, there were shadows everywhere, and after turning to my other state in an abandoned alley, I could dash all over the place with barely a restriction. I made sure however to stick to deeper darkness, remembering Grue's tip. I didn't want to attract attention.
I covered the distance from the alley to home in less than a fifth of the time I expected.
Serious movement ability, I noted. I'd actually have to find a way of getting numbers, later.
I turned back to myself in the space between the two houses, after having made sure no one was looking. From there I walked straight home, going in from the back door.
"Taylor!" my dad said the moment I cleared the doorframe. "Thank god you're here. I was so worried about you."
A quick look at the kitchen clock revealed it was 9:13 PM. Supper at our place was at 6:30. To my dad, I'd just been nearly three hours late.
I felt horribly guilty right then. With all that happened today, I'd not even spared a single thought toward my father. He'd been waiting for me the whole time, as evidenced by the cold food on the table. He'd not even taken a bite off his plate.
"I even called the school. They told me you'd been present in all your classes, and that you left early from school," he continued.
I had a surge of anger at the intrusion into my privacy, which went cold when I realized what he'd had in mind.
The locker, part 2.
I couldn't be mad about that. How long had I been in there, begging to get out? He'd just been afraid and reacting.
"No," I finally answered. "I'm sorry." I lowered my head in shame. It would have been easy to simply call before the restaurant. I just hadn't thought about it. At all. "I already ate."
"With a friend?" My father knew me well. I didn't usually eat out alone, not for supper.
I started to say no, but thought about it. Where could I place her, really? I didn't trust her, not enough to call her a friend, but she'd been helpful, friendly and surprisingly open. "With an acquaintance," I finally decided on. That was the best I could come up with.
He smiled. "Had fun, at least?" he asked.
"Somewhat," I replied evasively, as I usually did. I was surprised to realize it was the truth. There had been some scary parts and even some painful ones, but I felt happy. I felt like I'd done something with myself, for once.
"Good." He kissed my forehead. "Glad to hear it." And with that, my absence was forgiven. That was my father in a nutshell. As long as he wasn't angry, he forgave easily. He didn't know that I knew when he paced in his room, trying to calm himself. I kept mum on the subject.
He went and pushed his plate into the microwave. "You got homework, kiddo?"
"Some." Very little, actually. Though I could probably do with some more studying.
"Go on, then."
I waved as I made my way to my bed. I was surprisingly not tired, but that was where I worked the best on schoolwork. The computer would be a distraction, at this point. Too much other stuff that I could check.
Even with that, I didn't do much work.
In the end, I crashed and went to sleep barely an hour later. I was so tired then I was probably snoring less then a minute after my head hit the pillow.
I don't think I even dreamt.
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