-----Taylor Hebert-----

-----Winslow High School, Brockton Bay, CT-----

-----04/12/2011-----

Ugh. Last night was absolutely terrible. Sure, I'll go out and be a Hero! What could possibly go wrong?! It's not like I'll run into Lung or something! Oh wait... THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!!!!!

Then as if that wasn't bad enough, I run into "Morgan Yu", aka "Typhon Prime". An alien from another dimension that feeds on the consciousness of sapient life forms in order to reproduce who may or may not have involuntarily had human memories shoved into their... do Typhon's have brains?

And I thought I had issues... Still, she seems to have been handling things surprisingly well. Well, as well as she could given her circumstances I suppose. I honestly don't know how to feel about her. Sure, she killed over 200 people, not all of them exactly bad guys, in the course of a month. But then again, she did have some major amnesia going on and didn't know any better.

Ugh! Thinking about her is just going to frustrate me and lead to a lot of nothing. I should focus on something else.

It's at that point that I'm certain the universe hates me as Mr. Gladly announces "I know it's a little late in the semester for this, but we've had an unexpected transfer student. Everyone, say hello to your new classmate."

Then walking through the door is none other than...

"Hello, my name is Morgan Yu. Let's try to get along, shall we?"

*disregard the tendrils*

*Lunch Time*

As I try to make my way to a hidden locale to eat my lunch peacefully, I'm waylaid by the current source of my anxiety.

"Taylor! What a coincidence! Wanna eat together?" Asks none other than Morgan Yu.

Some of the usual crowd of mean girls led by Julia, one of Emma's sycophants, clearly heard her and call out to us. "Hey new girl? You might wanna stay away from the skank. You're liable to catch something from her, she's riddled with Scion only knows what STDs from whoring herself out to the Merchant's."

As the bitches in question are behind Morgan, they don't see the sinister grin she briefly adopts before taking on the look of utmost innocence. "Oh really? How would you know? Are you a regular participant in such activities? Do you like to watch? How many Merchant trash are banging you at the same time as she's being fucked?"

She says in a disgustingly cute and naive way that I almost mistake her for Madison. Naturally, everyone who heard Morgan's retort goes deathly silent, then starts laughing their asses off as Julia becomes positively furious.

"You... You!" She says. Only for Morgan to cut her off. "It's not 'Yu Yu', it's 'Morgan Yu'. Please get it right." Which sets off another round of laughter.

Julia abandons all attempts at verbal backlash as she goes for a more physical rebuttal. With a mighty roar, she lunges at Morgan, only for Morgan to sidestep her. Julia face plants on the ground while Morgan stands there looking like an airhead.

"I'm sorry. Was that supposed to be a so-called 'trust fall'? I thought you were trying to molest me and dodged reflexively. You're not my type you see." Which promptly slays our audience.

"FUCK YOU!!!" Shouts Julia.

"No thanks, you're not my type. I don't sleep with low IQ bitches who have to spread their legs for absolute tools like Mr. Gladly under the bleachers last Friday to 'correct' their test scores so that their parents don't raise a stink." Morgan say with uncharacteristic cold seriousness.

If Julia's sudden look of absolute terror and shame are anything to go by, Morgan just hit her where she lived.

The amount of "ooh's" and "oh's" as Julia is basically ruined socially is unnervingly cathartic to me. It's at that point that The Trio show up.

"Hey Taylor. Who's your new friend? Does she know what you like to get up to outside of school?" Says Emma. Morgan turns to Emma, then Sophia, then Madison, then back to Emma.

"I'm going to give you one chance to come clean to Taylor about ĕ̸̗͔͜v̵̯̠̠͙̽ͅe̴͓̫̮͛̚ṟ̵̈̀̅́͝y̴̼͕̓͌̾t̵̢̪̞̪͈͝h̷̠̱̃̋i̸̢͈̟͆͂͝n̴̦̄̓ǵ̵̞̩̺̉ or else you're going to regret it." Morgan says.

Sophia seems to be appraising Morgan with a contemplative look, almost looking approving of Morgan. Madison seems nervous and keeps glancing between me, Emma, and Morgan. Emma though seems confused, then alarmed, but only briefly, before downright murderous.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I've already told that spineless worm everything I have to say." Emma declares angrily.

"Alright, you asked for it." Morgan says, before she starts running her fingernail across her face in seemingly random but deliberate ways. The longer it goes on, the more unnerved Emma becomes.

"By the way, your hair does look better when it's c̷̠̪̼̙̄͒͒́ͅũ̶̞̩̭̯̹̽̾̅͘ţ̴̧͙̤͌͑̿ ̵̱̩̓s̸̠̓̑̓͠͝ḩ̶̞̥̆̀̂̀̎o̴͇̐r̵̝̖͆̆̂̓̕t̴̯͎̾̕."

I have no idea what that was all about, but that seemed to have set Emma off as she goes from angry to terrified. She starts muttering "no" repeatedly, steadily getting louder, as she slowly backs away from Morgan. Morgan begins advancing on Emma only for Sophia to try and intercept her.

Then something inconceivable happens. Sophia adopts a look of fear and backs off from Morgan, leaving Morgan unimpeded as she approaches Emma. Then she leans over and whispers something into Emma's ear and backs off only for Emma to let out a blood-curdling scream of absolute panic, then huddle down on the floor, rocking back and forth.

Morgan then comes back over to me and asks. "So? Lunch?"

*After School*

"What was that Morgan?!" I angrily ask her. I've never seen Emma break down and look so vulnerable before. Sure, I hate her for all of the shit she's put me through, but there was a time we were close to each other and part of me still doesn't want anything bad to happen to her.

"I told you last night. There are things you don't know. Things that may shatter that safety net you call a 'world-view'. I could tell you the truth, but I'm uncertain how you'd respond."

I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. But I want answers. "I'm a big girl. I can handle the truth."

Morgan's expression becomes unreadable for a bit, but ultimately she nods. "Alright. Then come with me."

-----Abandoned Warehouse-----

Arriving at some abandoned warehouse near The Docks, I enter expecting it to be empty, only to find some weird semi-mechanical thing covered in black smoking goop. "A Technopath?"

"Correct. It's a bit extravagant, but it's what I have to work with." Then some four legged spider things, Mimics I assume, come and form cushioned La-Z-Boy chairs.

I'm pretty sure that Morgan doesn't intend to harm me, or else she'd have done it already, so I take the offered "seat" and watch the wall where the Technopath is now projecting various videos and images.

Police reports. PRT investigation reports. Shadow Stalker's "rap sheet". What the fuck?! She was almost sent to juvie for "attempted manslaughter"?! But she had a credible witness speak on her behalf... Alan Barnes?!

Why the fuck would Emma's dad, a divorce lawyer, be a material character witness for Shadow Stalker?!

Next, a video starts playing on the wall. It's from a first-person perspective. Emma's perspective as I recognize the inside of their car. Alan's driving. Emma's talking on her phone. Talking to me.

Then Alan turns into an alley, an attempt at a short cut. Only for some ABB thugs to shove some dumpsters in the way, trapping them in the alley. Emma is pulled out of the passenger window, her phone call to me cut off.

I'm then given a first-person POV of Emma being threatened. How the bastard sitting on her is threatening to cut her nose off, carve up her face, pop one of her eyes out of head, cut her ears off... He cuts some of her hair off as he starts, only for Emma to struggle.

Meanwhile, from her POV, I see Shadow Stalker sitting their on top of the roof, fucking sitting back and watching the whole thing go down; only when Emma fights back does Shadow Stalker decide to get involved.

Then Shadow Stalker comes over and starts talking to Emma. In a voice that is far too familiar...

"Sophia... Sophia... SOPHIA FUCKING HESS?! SOPHIA IS SHADOW STALKER?!?!?!"

The video continues on. How I came back from the summer camp and went to visit Emma. How I commented on how I liked her new hair cut. How that comment triggered her far-too-fresh trauma and caused her to lash out, taking Sophia's "Predator/Prey" mentality as gospel. A life line to hold on to what little mental stability she had left.

I watched and listened as Sophia continued to fill Emma's head with her poison, twisting and molding Emma into a monster. A warped and deformed caricature of her former self.

I saw how Principal Blackwell was made aware of Sophia's status as a Ward.

I was shown how Principal Blackwell was taking the stipend that was meant to go to Winslow for having a Ward in attendance and pocketing it for herself. How she decided that keeping her resident "cash cow" in attendance was well worth leaving nobodies to suffer Sophia's evil. Nobodies like me.

I was shown correspondence between Sophia's caseworker/handler and Blackwell colluding to conceal Sophia's crimes and bad attitude from the PRT so that she wouldn't be expelled and tossed in juvie, or prison.

I was shown Emma and Sophia's plan to torment me until I fought back. Emma's attempt to "help me" get over the pain of losing my mom, proving that I'm a "survivor" like her and Sophia.

But I just kept my head down. I bore all of their malice with no reprisal. I made myself "weak" in their eyes. I am "prey" in their eyes, and they are the "predators", therefore tormenting me is "natural".

Then the presentation comes to an end.

"Is this true?" I ask Morgan.

"I couldn't make up this level of stupid if I tried." She replies.

"So there's nothing I can do?"

"There's a lot you can do. The question is 'how far are you willing to go'?"

"What do you mean?"

"The blatant failure of the system regarding you and Sophia is merely the tip of the iceberg. The rabbit hole of bullshit runs much, much deeper than this. Sure, you could run around and play 'Cops and Robbers' with the PRT. I can easily provide verifiable copies of the evidence against Shadow Stalker and force Director Piggot to do just about anything to appease you."

"Getting you a spot in the Wards, an Arcadia scholarship, pretty much whatever you want, Piggot will give you in exchange for keeping quiet about the monumental PR disaster that is Shadow Stalker. She's the poster child of Rogue Vigilantes being successfully reformed by joining the Wards/Protectorate. If the truth were to get out?"

"The PRT's credibility would tank." I finish for Morgan, to which she nods.

"It would be a disaster. A disaster that Piggot does NOT want since it would weaken the PRT/Protectorate's capability to function in this city, and they're undermanned, underfunded, and overall underpowered compared to what they need in order to actually make a dent in the criminal element."

"Which means that she may be willing to show lenience to Sophia if it means having an extra body on the street taking the fight to the gangs." I reply.

"There is that possibility. But if she's forced to make a choice between you or Sophia? She'd take you in a heartbeat. I've had time to monitor Sophia's interactions with her fellow Wards. Everyone hates her. Even Gallant, though he won't admit it even to himself, which is pretty impressive. Seriously, she is the antithesis of a reliable partner. She scoffs at the notion of teamwork. She's rude and abrasive with everyone."

"Compared to you? You're potentially far more sociable than Sophia. You're more likely to either get along with the Wards, or at least not alienate them. You're also the type to follow orders and procedure. All of these factors make you far more appealing. Never mind how much more useful your power is compared to Sophia's."

"Sure, Sophia can bypass armor, but you've got incredible potential as a scout. Not to mention the intimidation factor. Also if you try and swing a deal to provide spider-silk armor as a Kevlar alternative, they're liable to let you have a fair bit of leeway over your 'branding'."

"Branding?"

"Oh yes. Hero's, and Villain's, live and die by their PR. Hero's gotta look the part, which means that recreating the Eighth Plague of Egypt against the Neo-Nazi's is kind of a no-go. Don't let them fuck you over and compromise your efficiency. Hell, if you need to, get Armsmaster to join you when discussing what you are and aren't allowed to do and stress your efficiency with using biting/stinging insects to safely neutralize enemy combatants without actually getting into a fight."

"Are you saying they wouldn't let me use bee's or wasps if I joined the Wards?!"

"Highly unlikely if you let the PR bastards have their way. Don't let them bully you into crippling yourself. If they prove to be too overbearing, threaten to go independent or something. They may scoff at you, but as long as you emphasize your selling points before pulling the 'independent' card, the actual movers and shakers here in the Bay should lean on the PR guys to ease off. Hell, point out Shadow Stalkers edgy-ass bullshit."

The idea of using Shadow Stalker as an argument for effectiveness feels wrong to me on a fundamental level knowing what I know now. "What if I decide I don't want to join the Wards? Do you think I could hack it as an Independent?"

"Eh, you'd probably be fine. But if you feel yourself in desperate need of camaraderie, I hear The Undersider's are hiring."

"The low-level Villain gang with the murderous dog girl?"

"Technically those murder charges are bogus given extenuating circumstances. The PRT are well aware of this, but are aiming to hold it over her as leverage to strong arm her into joining the Wards in exchange for dropping the charges."

Wow. The PRT is sounding less and less appealing with every word out of Morgan's mouth.

"Well, they're fighting uphill. They need every edge they can get. Granted they're going about it in the worst ways possible, but that's not their fault. Mostly."

I'm not sure I even want to know.