Confrontation II: The Reckoning Pt 2 (Patreon)

Sophia eyed the office door sourly. It was in no way ostentatious; the plaque that read DEPUTY DIRECTOR was, if anything, a little understated. This did nothing to make her any happier.

"Do you have to report this?" It wasn't the first time she'd asked the question, or even the second.

"No." Taylor turned to look directly at her. "We do."

"Why? I mean that seriously. What they don't know won't hurt them."

"And what they find out later can hurt you, quite a lot." Taylor indicated Sophia's booted ankle, currently free of the tracker bracelet, given that she was in costume. "I don't know how sophisticated the tracker is, or how closely they're following it. All they need to throw you back in juvey is just one reason, and not even a good one. If they realise that we spent part of yesterday at the movies instead of rollerblading, that's a good enough reason. So we get in first."

"But I never ditched you," protested Sophia. "You were right there, keeping an eye on me."

"For which they only have my word," pointed out Taylor. "If you had indeed ditched me, they can breach you for it, and you go to juvey. On the other hand, if I'd let you talk me into going to the movies, that makes me look like a less than adequate parole officer; they take you off my hands, and you go to juvey. You can see where I'm going with this."

"But won't just telling them have the same effect?"

"Nope." Taylor favoured her with a grin. "If we tell before we're found out, we get to tell it our way."

"Oh." Sophia blinked. "I never thought of admitting to it as being a way to get out of trouble. I'm used to just not being caught, I guess."

"So how's that working out for you, exactly?" Taylor's grin grew just a little razor-edged.

Sophia wrinkled her nose. "Twice. I was caught twice."

"But it was those two times that mattered, yeah?" The grin became a smirk.

Taylor was right, of course; the two times that Sophia had been caught in her breakages of the rules were the significant ones. The first had been an incriminating arrow left nailing a nearly-dead gang member to a wall; that near-murder had led the PRT to issue an arrest warrant for her.

It had been a shocking and salutary lesson for Sophia, previously secure in her personal conviction that nobody could catch her if she didn't allow them to. With almost insulting ease, the PRT had tracked her down, hemmed her in, and taken her prisoner. Almost as shocking had been her unmasking at their hands; however, they had not made the information public, or even threatened to. In less than a day, she had gone from being strong and untouchable to just another teen undergoing the less-than-tender mercies of the juvenile justice system.

The second time she had been caught had been, of course, at the hands of Taylor herself. In their civilian lives they had been bitter enemies, an enmity pursued more strenuously from Sophia's side than Taylor's. In light of what she knew now, Sophia had reason to give thanks for Taylor not opting to declare all-out war upon Sophia and her fellow bullies. Such a conflict would have been as short-lived as it was unequal, and Taylor would have almost certainly come out the victor.

This time, she had been more stunned than surprised; first by the revelation that Buzz was the despised Hebert, and second by the fact that Taylor was standing by her, rather than letting her be thrown to the wolves.

All of this had driven a very deep wedge into her system of beliefs, most especially strength versus weakness, and her ability to spot either one. Her self-confidence had also taken a hit; one she was sure she would recover from, but in the meantime she found it better to defer to Taylor's judgement. Scratch that: Buzz's judgement.

“You suck,” muttered Sophia. Taylor's smirk merely intensified. She raised her hand and rapped briskly upon the Deputy Director's door.

<><>

“Come in.”

Deputy Director Renick watched the door open; Buzz came in first, followed by Shadow Stalker. Clasping his hands in front of him, he looked them over; neither one seemed particularly upset, which was a good sign. “Please, sit down.” They did so. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, sir,” Buzz replied. “I'd like to report an incident that happened yesterday while we were down at the Boardwalk, rollerblading.” She waited expectantly.

Renick paused. “Ah, yes,” he replied. “I believe I recall that. Mrs Yamada required you to do that as part of therapy. So what is it that you would like to report?”

Buzz took a breath. “Basically, that we didn't spend the whole time roller-blading. Sophia suffered a collision, and hurt her ankle, so she couldn't keep going. So we … well, we went to the movies.”

Renick pursed his lips. “The movies.”

Buzz nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“And Shadow Stalker was in your sight the whole time?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And did you make any progress on your issues with each other?” As Buzz went to answer, he held up his hand. “I'd like to hear this one from Shadow Stalker.”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” replied the other girl. “We talked a bit. She said some stuff that hurt, but it was true anyway.”

“Is it something you can repeat to me, or would you rather keep it for Mrs Yamada?” asked Renick carefully.

The two girls glanced at each other, and Buzz shrugged slightly. Shadow Stalker nodded, and turned back to Renick. “She told me I was being a Nazi,” she admitted. “That hurt, a lot.”

“A Nazi?” asked Renick, somewhat taken aback. He turned to Buzz. “Did you really?”

“Well, actually, I asked her how long she'd been in the Empire Eighty-Eight,” Buzz admitted. “But it's the same thing, I guess.”

“But … why?”

“Because of the way I used to do stuff to her, before I knew she was Buzz,” Shadow Stalker clarified. “I like feeling strong, and Emma wanted to feel strong, so I picked her to push down so we could feel stronger. She says it's how the Nazis did things, and she's smarter than me so I guess she'd know.”

<><>

“Hm.” Renick rubbed his chin. “I suppose it was kind of the way they worked, yes.” He looked at Sophia. “How did you react when she told you this?”

“What do you think? I was pissed. But then she told me what she meant by it, and yeah, I wasn't happy, but she wasn't wrong either.” Her mask hid her expression, but her tone of voice was less than thrilled. “That sort of shit hurts. Especially when it's true.”

“Well, I'm not going to try to analyse that,” the Deputy Director assured her. “It's not my job. But I am pleased to hear that you are making some progress. Which doesn't mean that I'm overly happy about you going to see a movie when you should be roller-blading, but it is good that you're reporting it to me.” He paused. “You weren't limping when you came in, so I presume that it wasn't anything serious?”

“Not so much, no,” Sophia agreed.

“But it did put her off her feet for an hour or so,” Taylor noted, “so we could either sit around outside or … well, movie. By the time it finished, it was getting dark, so we went home.”

Renick nodded. “Well, all right. I can accept that.” His eyes glinted. “Just be aware that I will be noting this down. So I suggest that you not make a habit of it.”

“No, sir,” Taylor agreed. “Thank you, sir.” She had an uncomfortable feeling that he knew, or had guessed, more than she was admitting about what had happened.

“Was there anything else?” he asked.

“Uh, no, sir.” Taylor shook her head. “We're good to go.”

“Good to hear. I'm rostering you on to patrol with Clockblocker. The three of you are reasonably competent, but do not forget that he's in charge.” Renick looked over his glasses at them. “Understood?”

This time, Sophia answered first. “Yeah, we got it.” Taylor followed on with her own answer in the affirmative.

“And don't stop off to go to the movies, hmm?” This last was delivered with a wry smile.

Taylor and Sophia escaped from his office, carefully closing the door behind them. As they moved off down the corridor, Sophia turned to Taylor. “He knew, didn't he? Did you tell him?”

“Hey, I said nothing,” Taylor replied, holding her hands up. “If I was gonna spill the beans, I would've done it in front of you. You know me.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Sophia moved on down the corridor. “How the hell did he figure it out then? Or do you think he was having us watched?”

“Nah, it's simpler than that,” Taylor decided, matching her pace. “He's been here for years. He's been in charge of the Wards all this time. Do you think there's anything that he hasn't caught them – us – doing at some time or another?”

“Huh.” Sophia's voice sounded as though she were thinking hard about this. “I guess you're right.”

“Uh huh.” Behind her mask, Taylor grinned. “So, was I right about telling him before he found out for sure?”

“You still suck.” But Sophia didn't sound angry.

“Right, sure. Says you.” Taylor indicated the elevator. “Renick said that we were rostered on with Clockblocker. So, let's go find Clockblocker.”

<><>

It was relatively quiet in the Wards' base; Kid Win was covering the monitor console, and Vista was soundly beating Aegis at ping-pong in the game area. Dennis sat at one of the tables with Buzz and Shadow Stalker.

He looked from one girl to the other. Great. What did I do to deserve this? Shadow Stalker was hot and all, but it didn't mean that he liked her. Nobody in the Wards did, not really. Except Buzz. Which he still couldn't understand. Especially after what had happened.

“Okay,” he began, then cleared his throat. “Okay. I get it that we're going on patrol, and I'm in charge. That's fine. I just want to make one thing absolutely clear from the start.”

Buzz tilted her head slightly. Her costume was almost the opposite of his; dark grey and black instead of white, creepy yellow goggle lenses instead of a faceplate, insect mandibles instead of clock faces. I still think it would make a great supervillain costume. How could you make something like this and not realise what it was going to look like before you were finished?

“Sure,” she responded. “What is it?”

He waited a moment, until he realised that Shadow Stalker wasn't going to add her two cents. “Uh, I just wanted to make sure that both of you knew that you're not allowed to kill each other while we're out there. Attack the bad guys all you like, but not each other. Is that clear?”

“Oh, that?” asked Buzz. “We're past that, right, Shadow Stalker?”

“Yeah,” the cloaked ex-vigilante agreed, addressing Dennis. “She broke my jaw, so we're all good now. Besides, I'd be a moron to try to attack her. Seriously, do you have any idea how good she is with her bugs?”

“Uh, pretty good?” he ventured. “I was there when we rescued you and Browbeat from Stormtiger.”

“Pfft.” She waved that off. “That was her playing minor league. She's stepped up her game since then.”

“Shadow Stalker … “ That was Buzz, not sounding particularly pleased.

“Until you've seen her doing bugpocalypse, you ain't seen nothing.” Shadow Stalker dusted off her hands in a satisfied manner.

“Uh … bugpocalypse?” That really doesn't sound good. He looked at Buzz. “What's, uh, bugpocalypse?”

Buzz gestured off-handedly. “It's Shadow Stalker's stupid name for one of our tactics.”

“It's not a stupid name,” Shadow Stalker protested. “It's a great name. And it describes it perfectly.”

“And what is it, exactly?” Is this how Miss Piggy feels when she has to deal with me all the time?

“Oh, uh, I cover people with bugs, then Shadow Stalker takes them down.”

Shadow Stalker snorted. “More like, she puts bugs everywhere people don't want bugs to go.” Her chuckle sounded positively evil. “Imagine every time a bug's walked across the back of your neck. Now imagine about a million of them, all smart. All knowing exactly where to go to give you the biggest squick-out in history. Knowing exactly where to crawl, where to bite. All over you. That's what she does.”

Dennis could, unfortunately, imagine it. He repressed a shudder. “O … kay. I see. Well then. This is non-lethal, right?”

“Oh, sure,” answered Buzz promptly. “I tell spiders not to bite, and I've got epi-pens in case someone's allergic to wasps or bees.”

“Mind you,” Shadow Stalker chimed in, “with the bigger and nastier ones, like Lung, she doesn't have to hold back.” She looked at Buzz. “Is it really true that so many spiders bit him on the junk that it fell off?”

“No!” The word popped out hastily. “Because, uh, Panacea was there. He didn't lose, uh, anything important.” Her voice dropped, and Dennis was almost certain that she muttered, “Thank god.”

Yeah, I wouldn't want Lung that pissed at me, either. He didn't want to even imagine how angry the ABB leader would get after losing that part of his anatomy. “Uh, okay, no more discussion over that sort of thing. Buzz, please check with me before unleashing your, uh, bugpocalypse.”

“Sure, I can do that,” the bug-themed cape agreed.

“Good. Let's go.”

<><>

“On my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark.”

At the word 'Mark', Sophia turned insubstantial and dropped through the roof of the convenience store; her specialised lenses let her see where the electrical cables were, and thus avoid them.

Within, the would-be robbers were already embroiled in a swarm of bugs, assailing them from all directions. A few bugs zipped through her shadow form as she dropped to the floor, but nowhere near as many as were already crawling over the men. She would have winced as she saw the bugs getting under the balaclavas that the robbers were wearing, but the sight was too satisfying, especially as they were too distracted by that to pay much attention to her.

Which was their bad luck; she nailed two with tranq arrows, and began to reload, but the last two robbers decided to make a bolt for it. “Two down, one heading front, one heading back!”

That was for Clockblocker's benefit, Buzz was covering the front door, but her bugs would give her a heads-up long before they got there.

“Roger.” That was Clockblocker.

“Got it.” Buzz's voice.

She took the time to secure the ones that she had put down; the tranq arrows didn't necessarily work as well as advertised, when it came to heavier than normal opponents, or thick clothing.

“Mine's down,” Buzz reported before she was finished; behind her mask she smirked.

“Got mine, too,” Clockblocker noted.

“Lawn ornament, yeah?” asked Sophia. “Need help securing him?”

“No, I'm fine. I've called the police.”

“Okay. I'll be out at the front.”

By the time she got there, Buzz's guy was down on the ground, his wrists neatly secured behind his back. He no longer wore the mass of bugs that had been swarming him as he attempted to escape, but she fancied that he was still twitching in delayed reaction.

“All good out here?” Sophia asked cheerfully.

“Sure,” Buzz replied, the insects in the area mimicking her voice to add a buzzing undertone to it. It sounded extremely creepy, and very badass.

Sophia leaned against the wall, putting her expended arrows away, and reloading her crossbows with fresh cartridges. “We do make an awesome team, don't we?”

Buzz sighed. “Listen. We're not friends any more. We're teammates, and yes, we do make a good team, but there's a lot between us that needs to be worked out. I'm willing to work with you, and I've got your back, but … I'm going to need more time, and a lot more talking, before we can start getting back to where we were before. Okay?”

Sophia compressed her lips behind her mask. “ … yeah, okay. Sorry for bothering you.”

“Hey. I'm not mad, and you're not bothering me.” Buzz put a hand on her arm. “We do kick ass. And I'm sorry too, for snapping at you.”

“Wait.” Sophia blinked. “Did you just apologise to me?”

Buzz tilted her head. “What if I did?”

“No-one apologises to me. It feels weird.”

“Maybe that's because you don't often apologise to other people,” Buzz pointed out.

“Huh. You might be right. You're about the only one I've ever felt like saying sorry to.”

Clockblocker came strolling out through the front entrance of the convenience store. “Shouldn't you be saving that sort of conversation for the therapy?”

Sophia stared at him suspiciously. “How did you even know we're having therapy?”

“Because, for my sins, I'm currently leader of the Wards here in Brockton Bay,” replied the white-clad teen with a sigh. “And because I'm that, I was briefed in on your situation. Including the therapy. And just by the way, I do agree; you two do make a damned effective team. And you haven't tried to kill each other even once, which I will be putting into my report on this patrol.”

“Great, thanks,” Sophia retorted sarcastically. “We get a report all to ourselves.”

“Hey, it's for your own good,” Clockblocker pointed out. “The more it's documented that you're actually getting out there and making a difference, rather than causing a problem, the better it looks for you all round.”

“Still not sure if I like it,” Sophia told him. “Buzz, what do you think?”

“Sorry, what?” Buzz looked around. “I was thinking about something.”

“What about?” asked Sophia.

“This guy. He's ABB.” She indicated the red and green logo on the back of the jacket. “The rest are too, right?”

“Yeah,” Clockblocker agreed. “Why's that?”

“Well, Lung's in custody and Bakuda's in another dimension. The ABB's been hit pretty hard, cape-wise, over the last week or so.” Buzz's voice was thoughtful. “You'd think they'd keep their heads down for a while, instead of getting out and robbing places like this, wouldn't you?”

“Yeah, I -” began Clockblocker, but he was rudely interrupted by the sudden appearance of a demon-masked figure, in the middle of the group.

Sophia had just enough time to register who it was – Oni Lee! FUCK! - before she was clawing her crossbows off of her belt. Buzz had been facing away from both Sophia and Clockblocker, turning toward the older teen, when it happened; with a sick feeling, Sophia saw a gleaming blade swing in a short arc, terminating between Buzz's shoulderblades.

At the same time, the demonic apparition released something from its left hand, something that bounced on the concrete of the parking lot with a metallic clattering noise. A piece of metal, released almost in the instant that it had been dropped, sprang away from the metal ovoid and skittered across the concrete on its own trajectory.

Sophia brought up her crossbows and triggered both of them; the arrows flew straight and true, impacting in Oni Lee's centre mass. He started to fall, just as Buzz and Clockblocker were falling. The former was lurching forward because of the knife between her shoulderblades, while the latter was … diving on the grenade? Why doesn't he just freeze the fucking thing?

Time, which had seemed to be slowed to a crawl, abruptly sped up again. Sophia went to shadow form, just before the grenade exploded. The detonation was muffled, hidden under Clockblocker's form. He can't freeze himself … even if he's frozen his costume, that's gotta hurt.

Buzz was on the ground; Oni Lee's body, likewise, crumbled to ash. Sophia returned to solid form. “Buzz!” Oh god, he stabbed her in the back.

Abruptly, bugs converged at a point behind Sophia; the sound of bugpocalypse was familiar enough to her that she went to dive forward. But something caught her cloak, and a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. She went to shadow once more, freeing herself and turning at the same time. He was behind her, the tip of his blade reddened with her blood. As she watched, bugs converged on him from all over.

And then, even as she hastened to reload her crossbows – not an easy task in shadow, but still possible – the grenade that he had dropped, the one that she hadn't even seen or heard, went off.

She was flung backward, still in shadow form, as the concussion and the shrapnel ripped through her, tattering her semi-immaterial substance. Losing consciousness would be a bad thing, she knew, and so she hung on desperately to her awareness.

Sophia wanted to throw up, but she was pretty sure that such an act was physically impossible in her shadow form. Groggily, she watched Oni Lee reappear once more, this time right next to Buzz, even as his previous form, shredded by the grenade blast, crumbled away.

He's going to make sure of her.

The fuck he is.

Shifting to solid form hurt, physically. She felt bruised all over, even in places where bruises should not be able to form. Unable to stand, she fell to one knee, but triggered her crossbow anyway. The arrow hit him in the back, a clean shot; he stumbled, but something clattered on the concrete before him. Two things. The knife and … another fucking grenade.

“Oh, come on!” Even as she screamed the protest, she dived forward, pushing off with her good leg and going to shadow on the way. Only a few seconds of life remained for Buzz; her armour was good, but not that damned good.

Oni Lee had fallen forward over Buzz, but that wasn't Sophia's biggest problem. That was the grenade, which had rolled right up next to Buzz, as if it knew its intended target. It'll gut her like a fish. No fucking way.

Sophia's straining fingers touched the grenade, pulling it into the shadow realm with her, and then shoving it down, as hard as she could. It disappeared into the ground, even as she lifted a little in reaction. The timer must have been right on activation when she pulled her hand back; her arm wasn't all the way out of the ground when the grenade exploded. The slab that Buzz was lying on lifted and cracked slightly, but there was no other effect.

Moving hurt, even in the shadow form. Doing anything hurt. Even as Oni Lee's body crumbled to ash – again – she was rolling to her feet, scanning around for the next attack. There. Standing off a little way, aiming what looked like an automatic pistol at Buzz. Firing. He wasn't a great shot, not assisted by the bugs already swarming him. Each flat crack was accompanied by a spurt of concrete dust; the shots were getting closer. More and more bugs were arriving by the second, which was about the only reason he hadn't hit either of them yet. But he was still trying.

Well, fuck you. Sophia went solid once more, forcing herself to stay upright, shooting her other crossbow at Lee. She was a better shot than him; the arrow took him in the throat. But she hadn't taken into account the other aspect of his power; even as she loosed the arrow, the arm went around her neck from behind.

One in front, falling; one behind, a fresh version. She forced herself into shadow form once more, to slip the hold; she hadn't seen the blade, but she was sure that it had been close to her vitals. But there was exactly zero time for her to congratulate herself, because Buzz was the target.

Still in shadow form, Sophia twisted; there was the blade, all right. Ignoring her, Oni Lee drove the gleaming knife down toward Buzz. His initial strike point, Sophia saw, had been the carapace that Buzz wore over her upper back; she saw the gouge in it, but the point hadn't carried through. Now, however, he was aiming at Buzz's lower back, putting all his weight behind it. Kidney or spine. Either could be fatal.

Without warning, Buzz rolled, her arm flashing around, up under the carapace; the knife point hit concrete. Sophia went solid, just as Lee appeared again, on the other side of Buzz, standing over the body of the ABB thug that Buzz had taken down just minutes before. The kneeling Oni Lee was still active, and he had a knife at the ready; she kneed him in the side of the head, staggering him. Thumbing the activation on her crossbow, she brought another arrow into line, shooting it at the new arrival – just as a third one appeared next to the second.

The one that she had kneed slashed backward with his knife, opening a gash on what she had laughably called her 'good' leg; she cried out, but refused to go down, refused to go shadow. But then he began to crumble to ash, as the second one fell back with the arrow pumping tranquilliser into him. The third one finished pulling his pistol and pointed it at her face. And then a fourth one appeared beside the third one, also pulling his pistol.

In the normal run of things, Sophia would have simply gone to shadow form and let them waste all the bullets they wanted. But they had Buzz, probably still dazed from the close-in grenade blast, at their mercy; Sophia was pretty sure that her costume would not stand up to bullets, even if it worked against knives.

Buzz sat up quite suddenly; the one pointing a pistol at Sophia, trying to make sure of his aim in the midst of the howling storm of insects that had descended upon them, received a stream of pepper spray all over the eye-holes of his mask. He stumbled backward, but the other one slanted his weapon down toward Buzz. He couldn't miss … but he never fired.

For a long moment, Sophia couldn't figure it out … and then she saw Clockblocker's hand grasping Oni Lee's heel. He came out of freeze, just in time. Thank fuck for that.

She looked around as the third Lee crumbled, alert for the next attack, the next Oni Lee to pop up. Long moments passed; nothing happened, except that more bugs arrived to join the giant swarm now orbiting the parking lot.

“Holy shit,” she muttered. “You got him.”

“No,” Buzz told her. “We got him.”

“Ow,” supplied Clockblocker, as he got up painfully. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Close up explosions are no fun.”

Sophia found it painful to laugh, but chuckled anyway. “Yeah,” she wheezed. “Got that, thanks.”

“So what was that about anyway?” asked Buzz. “Why was he trying so hard to kill me?”

“My guess? Lung and Bakuda,” Clockblocker pointed out. “You were there for both those incidents.” He placed a hand on Oni Lee's shoulder, gripping it tightly. “Tranquilliser arrow?”

Numbly, Sophia pulled one out and handed it to Buzz, who handed it on to Clockblocker. “You think we can actually keep him prisoner?”

“I dunno,” Clockblocker admitted. “But I'm sure as hell not letting him go.”

“Amen to that,” Buzz agreed. “Amen to that.”

 Part 3