(PROFESSOR UZUMAKI) ANOTHER PLAYER II

Was Shadow Stalker ever this strong?

The question repeated itself in Halle’s mind, looping endlessly as she clung to the ceiling and stared down at the one-sided carnage unfolding below. She had seen the Ward fight before, back when it had been against a common criminal, and even then Shadow Stalker had been dangerous, fast, and cruel in a way that made her opponents hesitate before committing fully. But what Halle was watching now went beyond that. This was not simply experience or confidence. It felt like something else entirely.

The villains she was tearing through were clearly not amateurs. Halle did not recognize their costumes or their powers, and she knew Brockton Bay well enough to be sure they were neither ABB nor Empire, but the presence of the three enormous mutant dogs alone was proof enough that they were not pushovers, creatures that radiated menace just by simply existing. And yet Shadow Stalker dealt with them with an ease that left Halle deeply unsettled, as if the fight had never truly been in question.

What were they feeding the Wards back at the PRT headquarters? Some kind of cape steroid, maybe, something experimental and dangerous that the public was not meant to know about. Whatever it was, it was clearly effective, and the uncomfortable truth was that Halle wanted it. She wanted that certainty, that overwhelming advantage that erased doubt before it could take root.

She had been up here thinking about how she might rescue her mom, running through impossible scenarios and half-formed plans while fear gnawed relentlessly at her insides. In that same span of time, Shadow Stalker had gone ahead and resolved the situation with ruthless ease, doing in moments what Halle could not even begin to imagine accomplishing. If she were not still terrified for her mother’s safety, jealousy would have crept in alongside the awe.

But maybe it was that fear, the knowledge that she could not afford to let her attention drift for even a second, that allowed her to notice movement at the edge of the lobby.

Someone was slipping carefully through a side entrance, hugging the shadows with the confidence of someone who was deeply comfortable in dangerous situations. Female, from what Halle could tell, and it did not seem that Shadow Stalker had noticed her, more interested in staring down the helmeted villain for some reason.

As such, the Ward was unable to do anything as the female villain leveled a gun at the back of her head. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the woman said calmly. “Not if you want your brain still in your skull.”

Halle clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from swearing out loud. This was bad. Worse than bad even. She did not know this villain, did not know if she was bluffing or fully willing to pull the trigger, but she was not willing to gamble Shadow Stalker’s life on the chance that she was all talk. And even if the gun never went off, even if the threat remained only a threat, the delay alone was dangerous.

Every second gave the villains time to recover, and her mom was still down there.

That single thought cut through the panic and forced Halle’s mind into motion. She needed to do something, and she needed to do it fast. But what could she possibly do against a gun? She could barely handle herself in a fight when her opponents were unarmed, let alone now. Charging in would certainly be suicide, and shouting a warning would only draw attention and make things worse.

So what could she—

The answer came so suddenly that she nearly smacked her forehead with her palm.

She did not need to fight anyone, and she did not need to confront the gun directly. She was on the ceiling, above all of them, and that changed everything.

The realization sent a sharp pulse of adrenaline through her body as she adjusted her grip, fingers tightening instinctively against the surface. All it would take was careful maneuvering. She could crawl into position directly over the female villain, release the chakra holding her in place, and let gravity handle the rest. One solid impact, chakra-enhanced to ensure she actually did damage, and the woman would be down before she could even react.

It was still a risk. The villain might hear her movement, might sense something was wrong and step aside at the last second. She could even have some kind of power that warned her of danger, eyes in the back of her head or something equally as ridiculous. Halle had no way of knowing.

But she had to try. She was not helpless, no matter how much it felt that way.

Carefully, she began crawling through the alcove toward the villain. It was slow, painstaking work, because even the smallest sound could alert someone below. That was why she was grateful, in a distant and conflicted way, that the mutant dogs were dead. If they had still been alive, even injured, they would have noticed her instantly. The thought saddened her more than she expected, even as she acknowledged the relief that came with their absence.

As she moved, she also forced herself to tune out the voices below. Words drifted up to her in fragments, bits of conversation she did not want to hear and did not have the luxury of processing. Whatever was being said did not matter as much as what she was about to do, and she needed every scrap of concentration she had.

Eventually, she reached the right position, her heart pounding so loudly she was certain it would give her away. The female villain stood directly beneath her now, gun still trained on Shadow Stalker, her posture relaxed and confident as she spoke.

All that remained was the drop, and that was far easier said than done. 

She swallowed and flexed her fingers, feeling the chakra flowing beneath her skin, warm and responsive. She had practiced this, had trained until sticking to walls and ceilings came as naturally as walking. In theory, she could infuse her limbs with enough chakra to incapacitate someone without killing them, without shattering her own bones in the process.

In theory.

In practice, she had never tried anything like this before.

Still, there was no other option, and no more time to hesitate. It had to be done.

Halle glanced down at her mother one last time, memorizing her terrified expression and letting it harden into resolve. Then she drew in a deep breath, sent a silent prayer to whatever god might be listening, and dropped down.