With Great Power: Masks Off

Even though the school year had basically just started, Taylor already had preferences when it came to her classes. She didn’t have any that she disliked so far, but she definitely had a few that she preferred above the others. Chief among these was the computer science class that Emma had bad-mouthed just a few days ago.

Mrs. Knott had proven to be just the kind of teacher that Taylor liked to have, and she was sure the woman's class would become her favorite in no time. The woman had a very hands off teaching approach when she felt it was appropriate, allowing her students to work at their own place and leaving them to their own devices once they finished their work, so long as they weren't disruptive of course.

For someone like Taylor, who often finished well before her classmates and was forced to sit in boredom the rest of class, it was a godsend. Especially since Emma wasn’t here today, having  gone to physical therapy this morning and thus, been forced to miss the first several periods. Her absence was definitely felt, but since Taylor had the entire internet at her fingertips, she had plenty to keep her mind off that.

Currently, she was using that internet access to browse the premiere website for updates on all things hero and villain, Parahumans Online or PHO as it was known to people without the time to say the whole name. Glory Girl’s words last night had piqued her interest, and she wanted to see for herself if she was telling the truth.

She started by searching up her cape name, Widow,  but the only results she got for that was some villain in New Jersey who was locked up a couple of years ago. Changing up her search to just Brockton Bay in general yielded much better results, and it only took a second or two of scrolling before the first relevant post came up.

It was simply titled ‘New Cape in Brockton?’ and had a dark picture of Taylor in costume swinging through the streets in the middle of the night. The picture itself was blurry and you could barely make out any details thanks to the odd angle, but it was clearly Taylor in the photo. Trying to contain her excitement, Taylor immediately clicked on it, her eyes widening at the dozens of pages worth of conversation that spread out in front of her.

She scrolled through it. The thread was the standard fare for new capes in the city, buzzing with all types of speculation about her, from her power to even her name. So far nobody had a definitive read on her because she had barely done anything, and Taylor was starting to think that she probably should have corrected Glory Girl when she had the chance, because the names she was seeing right now were so much worse than what the blonde had come up with.

Though not all of them were bad. In fact, Taylor actually saw a few she liked. As she browsed through the conversation she wondered if it was too late for a rebrand. A lot of these were much more creative than Widow.

‘Would it really be a rebrand if nobody even knows my name yet?’ She mused as she scrolled past a few people arguing over whether or not her webs came from her body or were artificial.

This was so much more attention than she ever thought she'd get. It was honestly kind of overwhelming, and her excitement quickly turned to light anxiety. Was this what every hero had to go through when they debuted? What would it be like when she went out during the day? Would people swarm her for pictures or ask her all sorts of questions and stuff like that?

‘It's like being a celebrity or something. Though I guess that's what capes are anyway.’ Taylor giggled silently.

“You’re making it pretty damn obvious, you know?” Taylor jumped in her seat at the voice, turning around to find Sophia leaning over her chair, watching her browse PHO.

“Huh?” Taylor asked, confused by her sudden appearance, “What are you talking about?”

 The girl just gave her a knowing look, nodding to the screen, “You’re making it too obvious. If you’re gonna do this in public, you need to wait a week or two for the hype to die down. People connect the dots faster than you think if you’re not careful.”

Taylor stared at Sophia blankly, before her entire body went tense as she read between the lines of the girl’s words. Was she… no, there was no way right? She could count the amount of interactions she’d had with Sophia on one hand. Barring that first day, they barely exchanged more than a couple of words. There was no way that Sophia had managed to connect dots that weren’t even there. 

“I’m sorry? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” She feigned ignorance, turning back to the screen and clicking to a new tab.

Sophia chuckled, “Sure, sure. Just trying to give you some friendly advice. I'll talk to you later, Taylor.”

Sophia stood and continued past Taylor's desk, leaving the girl staring after her thanks to her abrupt exit. She walked up to Mrs. Knott, asked the woman for permission to use the restroom, and disappeared out the door without another word on the matter.

Taylor stared after her, a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach at what had just happened.

~~~ 

“It’s good to see that no matter how awful the school is, the food stays the same horrible quality. I’m glad daddy bought me food before bringing me back here.” Emma commented as she watched Taylor bite into a chicken nugget. The girl’s voice was extremely tired and combined with the slump in her shoulders, it was easy to tell that she was exhausted.

Taylor swallowed the gross facsimile of chicken in her mouth, “Why’d you come back anyway? You could have just spent the rest of the day at home and ate the food there.”

“Are you kidding?” Emma snorted, “Missing a day of school in the first week isn’t a good look even in Winslow. The teachers would probably just think I’m skipping or something. Besides, I can’t go to the mall by myself so I’d literally just be sitting around all day waiting for you to get done here so we can hang out.”

 Taylor grinned as she dipped her nugget in some barbeque sauce, “Aww, you like spending time with me? Does my presence make your day so much brighter that you’d willingly come back here just to bask in it?”

Emma scoffed in the face of her friend’s teasing, “More like I would be so bored out of my mind without you that physical therapy would be preferable. We’ve barely been apart since I got put in this damn wheelchair so it just makes sense that I’d start suffering from nerd withdrawals the moment you weren’t there to yap my ear off.”

“You enjoy my yapping.” Taylor said smugly.

“It’s practically replaced my internal monologue at this point so I better.” Emma said, before sighing, “Damn, I need more friends. There is no way my social life has been rendered to just hanging out with you every day. I used to be popular!”

“Rude.” Taylor sipped her drink, looking away from her brooding best friend to scan the cafeteria. Their table wasn’t the only empty one. Several other tables were practically abandoned except for the few students who were filling them and Taylor wondered if this lunch block was just emptier than usual or if people were eating somewhere else.

As Taylor scanned the room, her gaze caught on a specific table and her brow furrowed.

Sophia was sitting by herself a few tables away, facing away from them as she ate her lunch. Taylor frowned as she recalled the odd conversation that she had with the other girl just a few hours ago, and the red flags that had been raised because of it.

“Is something wrong, Tay?” Emma asked, noticing the odd look on her friend’s face. She saw Taylor staring at something and followed her gaze, and she blinked as she saw Sophia, recognizing her as the weird girl who had stopped them in the middle of the hallway for seemingly no reason a few days ago, “Her? What, do you have a crush on her or something?” 

Taylor’s head snapped to her friend as she sputtered, “W-what? No! Why would you even think that?”

Emma shrugged, reaching over and stealing a grape from Taylor’s tray, “I don’t know, you were staring at her pretty hard and you definitely strike me as the type to get a crush on someone in the first week of school.”

“I don’t have a crush on her!” Taylor hissed, her face flaming at the very idea, “I’m worried she might know my secret identity!”

The last part was said in a whisper, but Emma heard her loud and clear. Her eyes widened, and she stared at Taylor in shock, “What? But it's only been a few days! How did you manage to screw up already?”

“Okay, first of all I didn't screw anything up. She just came up to me while I was looking at PHO and started saying a bunch of stuff. “ Taylor bit her lip, staring at the back of Sophia's head, “I'm not even sure she actually knows, but the things she was saying… It wouldn't make sense for her to say those things if she didn't at least have an idea.”

“Well you need to find out!” Emma said like she was an idiot, “If she knows then you need to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone else. What if she starts spreading your identity around and gets us both in trouble? You need to make sure she keeps her mouth shut.”

“How?”

“Taylor, I swear to god.” Emma groaned, “You have superpowers! I’m sure you can manage to keep one high school athlete from spilling the beans on the one thing that you have to keep secret.”

“I’m not gonna beat her up just to get her to keep quiet!” Taylor hissed, realizing what her friend was implying, “Besides, what if she doesn't even know anything. 

Emma sighed at her friend’s obstinance. She loved Taylor, really she did, but she could be so stubborn when it came to doing things she didn’t morally agree with. She didn’t seem to realize that if Sophia went around

but was prevented from responding as Sophia suddenly stood up, gathering her trash and making her way to the trash cans by the door to the cafeteria. Emma pointed at her as she passed them by, “There, follow her and go find out what she knows. You were sneaking around a bunch of armed burglars yesterday, I’m sure following one teenage girl won’t be a challenge.”

“But-”

“Go, go! Hurry up before she gets away.” Emma shooed Taylor out of her seat and urged her to follow Sophia, “I can get to my next class on my own. Get your ass over there and protect literally the only thing that’ll let you keep being a cape.”

Knowing that Emma wouldn't give up until she did as she asked and that if she didn't, she'd be hearing about it all day and possibly all week, Taylor sighed and got up, “Fine, but if this goes south and I get expelled, I'm going to Arcadia without you and getting a new best friend.”

“You wouldn't survive a day without me, Taylor.” Emma sniffed, “Now hurry up before she gets away.”

“I'm going, I'm going.”

Since class was in session, the hallways were completely empty as Taylor followed Sophia out of the cafeteria and through the school. She made sure to hang back a good distance so that she wasn't noticed darting into the small alcoves holding classroom doors any time she thought the other girl was going to turn around. 

Luckily she was never seen, and Taylor went completely unnoticed as Sophia made her way all the way across the school and up the stairs at the end of the main hallway. Once on the second floor, she walked all the way to the end of the hall, well past any of the used classrooms near the beginning, and darted into the bathroom held there.

Taylor was confused by her  choice but followed nevertheless, wondering why she had chosen such an out of the way location to use the bathroom. She had passed at least four different bathrooms on the way here and none of them had been what you would call busy. There was no reason for her to walk across the building just to get to this one.

Unless… She knew that she was being followed. Taylor's eyes narrowed as the possibility crossed her mind. If Sophia knew that she was being followed up here, then this could be a ploy to get them alone in a place where nobody would bother them.

Did that change anything? No, not really. As a matter of fact, Taylor preferred it this way. This way, nobody would accidentally walk in on this very serious conversation that the two of them were about to have.

Steeling herself as she reached the bathroom, Taylor opened the door, ready for anything that might be on the other side, or so she thought. Because once the door was open and Taylor stepped inside, it was to be met with a completely sterile, empty bathroom with nobody inside. The stalls were all wide open and she couldn't see or hear any sign that someone had been in here recently.

She stepped further inside, letting the door shut behind her as she looked around in confusion. Where was Sophia? There wasn't anywhere in this bathroom to hide that Taylor wouldn't immediately see, so where had she gone?

The hair on the back of Taylor's neck suddenly stood on end as something breezed past her, and there was the loud click of a locking door as she whirled around.

Sophia was standing beside the door, hand on the lock as she smirked at Taylor.

“I didn't actually expect you to follow me all the way up here.” She said, confirming Taylors suspicions, “You're pretty persistent. What if I just wanted to take a piss away from everyone else?”

Taylor watched as Sophia walked away from the door, “You don't strike me as the shy type. Besides, I had a feeling you knew I was following you.”

“Sharp.” Sophia nodded, “Yeah, I knew you were following me. I was counting on it actually.”

“Yeah? Why is that?”

“You have some questions for me, right?” Sophia took a relaxed stance, crossing her arms over her chest, “I know I got your attention when we talked in Knott’s class.”

“Was that something else you were counting on?” Taylor asked, turning to face the girl fully, “You said a lot of things down there, and I want to know why. You know, just to make sure that we’re on the same page here. I wouldn’t want any misunderstandings.”

Sophia snorted, “Misunderstandings? Is that your way of telling me you'll beat my ass if I let your secret slip?” Taylor didn't say anything and Sophia’s smirk slowly fell, “Yeah, that's fair. I guess I'd do the same thing in your position.”

Sophia straightened, abandoning her loose posture and walking forward a bit. Taylor tensed at her actions but her danger sense didn't activate so she didn't take action just yet, watching Sophia warily.

The girl saw this but didn't comment, spreading her arms out like she was presenting something, “Alright, since you don't want any ‘misunderstandings’, why don't we talk on even ground?” 

Taylor was confused by her words, but that confusion turned to shock as Sophia's body suddenly shifted, becoming an inky black mass of swirling shadows that floated in place, like an ink blot staining the very air itself. The transformation lasted for only a second, but that was more than enough for Taylor to get the memo.

Taylor gaped at Sophia as the girl turned back to normal, stepping back to lean on the sink, “You're Shadow Stalker.” She said, utterly stunned at the revelation. Her eyes widened as she recalled their first interaction, remembering what she had said in the hallway on the first day of school, “That’s what you meant when you said you knew me. You were talking about that day in the alley.”

“Got it in one.” Sophia nodded, “I recognized you and your friend the day you two walked in the school and wanted to get a read on how you were doing after what happened. I also wanted to see if you’d recognize me out of costume but you didn’t.”

That explained how she knew Taylor's identity. If she was there the day that Taylor got her powers, it wouldn’t be too hard to connect the dots. Still, that left one question unanswered.

“But wait, why tell me?” Taylor asked, still reeling from the reveal, “I was just here to check whether or not you knew my secret identity. You could have just pretended not to know.”

“If I did that, you wouldn’t have considered my offer.” Sophia replied, confusing Taylor.

“Offer?” She parroted, “What offer?” 

“To work together.” Sophia said, stunning her, “I was gonna ask when you first triggered but I figured that’d be like talking to a brick wall with the way you were crying over that redhead. I wanted to work together and maybe mentor you a bit in how all this cape shit works, but you figured that out already. I saw some of the shit you did the other night. That was some pretty good stuff.”

So not only did Sophia know who she was, but she was apparently stalking her cape persona as well. More and more red flags were being raised, and Taylor was starting to think that her danger sense might be onto something.

“So what? You want to be partners?” Taylor asked warily.

“Nah, I don’t want a partner. It’s not my style to hang around someone else like that.” Sophia shook her head, “I just figured I’d help you get the hang of things. Show you the hottest spots around the city and what to look out for when on patrol. Maybe we could bust up a drug den or two if you’re ready.”

Taylor thought over the offer carefully, and almost immediately threw it out the window. Even barring the fact that pretty much everything about Sophia rang alarm bells in her head, Shadow Stalker didn’t have the best reputation for… not maiming people she came across. Taylor wasn’t sure she was down for working with someone who had a habit of stabbing people from across the room using a hunting crossbow. Heck, there were even rumors that the PRT was on her tail for some of the stuff she had done and Taylor doubted she’d manage to evade them for long if that was true.

Honestly this entire encounter had gone completely off the rails. She had walked in here with no plan outside of making sure Sophia didn’t reveal her identity. She hadn’t expected any of this.

As Taylor wondered how she was going to turn down Sophia's offer kindly enough that this wouldn't end with both of them turning the bathroom into the aftermath of a rage room, the girl said something that broke through her thoughts like someone had taken a pickaxe to her skull and she froze, looking at the girl with wide eyes, “What did you just say?”

“I said that I might have a lead on that scarred bitch that got away that night. She’s pretty damn illusive, but I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to track her down.”

She said it nonchalantly, completely oblivious to Taylor's wide eyes and dropped jaw.

“You managed to do what the police have been trying and failing to do for weeks?” Taylor asked, completely shocked. 

“I’m not a cop. They have to deal with mountains of red tape and ‘procedure’ anytime they want to get shit done. I just go out and do it, the way it should be done.” Sophia replied casually, “I’ve been on her tail for a week and a half and I’m closing in. I just figured you might want to get in on the action when I finally move in to bag her. Between the two of us, there’s not a chance in hell she’ll be able to get away this time.”

“So if you know where she is, then why do you want me to help you?”

“I don't think you get it. I want to help you.” Sophia said. She gave Taylor an oddly intense look, “This is just another target for me but it’s personal for you. I’m not gonna take the kill from you like that without giving you the chance to get in on the action. If someone did that to me, I would've been pissed.”

Taylor wasn't sure how to respond to that, and it took her nearly a full minute to finally come up with an answer, if you could even call it that.

“I’ll… think about it.” She finally said. Even though her heart almost leapt for joy at the prospect of putting away the person responsible for her and Emma’s torment, she wasn’t going to just leap into an agreement like this without thinking it over and running it by Emma first.

Sophia raised an eyebrow at her non-committal answer. “You sure?” She asked, “I’m planning on taking her down tomorrow night. Doesn’t really give you much time to write down a list of pros and cons.”

“I said I’ll think about it.” Taylor said firmly, unwilling to change her mind. Sophia shrugged.

“Alright, but I’m not gonna wait for you if you decide not to come. I’m making a move tomorrow night with or without you.” She said, pushing past Taylor and unlocking the door, “If you decide to nut up and join me, meet me on the roof of that old sushi restaurant by the docks tomorrow night. I’ll let you in on the details there.” 

“Wait!” Taylor said before she could leave, remembering the entire reason that she had even come here in the first place. Sophia paused and she swallowed nervously, “You’re not gonna tell anybody about... you know?”

Sophia snorted, “I’m not an idiot. Giving anyone that sort of info would put me in as much shit as you. Besides, you haven’t pissed me off nearly enough for me to out you and if you did, I’d just take you down before that.”

The way she said it made Taylor think that the take-down would be more permanent than her words would imply, so she just nodded, watching Sophia walk away.

Just then, the bell rang, punctuating the end to the encounter which had apparently taken much longer than Taylor had thought. 

“Great. I hope Emma wasn’t lying when she said she could make it to our next class on her own.” She sighed as she began the long trek to her class on the other side of school.