-----Morgan Yu/Typhon Prime-----

-----Remnants of Evacuation Earth's Moon Base; The Moon; Earth Bet-----

-----04/24/2011-----

Well, I mostly did this whole thing on a whim, but since I'm here anyway, why not go all the way? Time to build Talos II. And may as well throw in my own spin on Pytheas Moon base, but I don't feel like doing a total one-to-one ripoff.

Hmm, I've got it! I'll call it the Leavitt Moon base, dedicated to Henrietta Swan Leavitt. I'm a genius.

With that out of the way, I'm forced to confront my next problem. Namely "how the fuck do I build a fucking moon base?!"

Sure, I've got the access to TranStar's entire technical database including architectural blueprints for Pytheas Moon Base and Talos-1, but I'm just one Typhon with no patience for such tedium.

Oh wait, I'm an idiot. Having one of my other instances back in Brockton Bay hop into the ocean to aid in rapidly replenishing my Psi reserves, I begin the process of summoning some of my other subordinate Typhon from the depths of the Brockton Bay underground, give them sufficient access to my tech base, and basically set them on autopilot.

Sure, I could oversee this process myself, but I've never been much for base building games. I'll just trust the dozens of engineers and architects I consumed along the way to know what they're doing and let it be a surprise when I come back.

Having said that, I then shunt myself back down to Brockton Bay through dimensional shenanigans. And once I'm here, I smack myself in the head once again. "Dammit, Uber and Leet are gamers. I'm sure they've played who knows how many base builder and city sim style games. I could put them in charge of the project!"

With that thought in mind, I rush on over to their hangout and prepare a system that will allow them to direct the overall progression of the construction of Talos II and Leavitt Base. Thank you [Technopaths] and [Telepaths] for making life so much easier on me.

Now with everything concerning the construction of my new bases underway, I have to decide on my next move. Maybe I should try and analyze more Parahumans to try and find ways to copy their powers? I'm pretty sure my brute-force method of directly subverting Shards is going to come back to bite me in the ass if I keep doing it.

Yeah, back to the [Psychoscope] trials.

-----Emma Barnes-----

-----Barnes Household; Brockton Bay, CT; Earth Bet-----

"Come on. Come on! Dammit Sophia! Why won't you answer your phone?!"

Ugh! This fucking sucks! I don't know how it happened, but this whole thing's ridiculous! Someone fucking snitched about "The Locker" and now Sophia's ghosting me, Dad's being run ragged by Brandish, and Mom's looking at me like I'm a total stranger!

This whole thing is such bullshit!

Suddenly, a cloud of shadow phases through the wall and materializes as Shadow Stalker. Finally!

"Sophia! Where the hell have you been?! I've been trying to call you all day!"

"Really Emma? You're seriously going to pretend like you don't know? Do you think I'm an idiot?! The fact that you're actually here just means that the bitch was right about you."

What? What the hell is she talking about?

"Sophia? What are you talking about?! You've been ghosting me since yesterday!"

"Huh. I almost believed you for a second. You really are good at pretending to be innocent, aren't you? I shouldn't be surprised really. With the ease with which you fucked over Hebert, I really should've known better than to trust that you wouldn't fuck me over at your earliest convenience."

"What the actual fuck are you going on about?! I didn't fuck you over!"

"Then why are you here in your cushy bed while I was stuck in a PRT holding cell?! Why weren't you locked up too?! You sold me out to save your own skin you fucking traitorous bitch!"

What?!

"Sophia! You know I'd never sell you out! I've been helping you this whole time! Dad did some legal mumbo jumbo to keep me out of jail! I didn't tell anyone anything!"

"You'd never sell me out? I'm sure that Hebert used to think the same thing. If you can betray your all-but-Sister, it's well within your capacity to betray me. You'll do anything to save yourself. You're a 'Survivor' after all. Unfortunately for you, I'm not some helpless 'Prey' that can be duped so easily."

Then Sophia rushes over to me and tackles me to the bed and puts her hands around my throat.

"S- ph- a! Wh- t?!" I barely manage to choke out. The last thing I perceive before I black out is the sound of my Mom slamming the door to my room open and shouting at Sophia.

-----Danny Hebert-----

-----Hebert Household-----

Sitting in the living room waiting for Taylor to get home, I'm mildly alarmed by the sound of the landline ringing in the hall. Getting up to answer the phone, I do my best to shove down the sinking pit of unease welling up inside me.

"Hello? Hebert residence, Danny Hebert here. To whom am I speaking?"

"Mr. Hebert? This is Officer Sanchez with the Brockton Bay Police Department. You're listed as the emergency contact for Zoe Barnes and she emphasized that we should contact you as soon as possible. She says that she and her daughter, Emma Barnes, were attacked by the Parahuman vigilante Shadow Stalker and that she was likely coming after you."

"What?!" Zoe and Emma were attacked by Shadow Stalker?! Why?! How?! The little bitch was locked up! And why would she go after Emma?!

Before I can respond, the lights cut out and the phone call is cut off as all power in the house goes out. Taking a quick glance out the window shows that the neighbors to either side of me still have power, so it's not a blackout.

Great. The little bitch is here already.

Making my move towards the front door, and suddenly hear a *thump* sound and suddenly my left leg erupts in absolute AGONY. Tumbling to the ground, I see a dark metal rod, a crossbow bolt, sticking out of my leg.

I quickly push through the pain and try to pull it out, only to find that the damn thing's fused to my leg. Yep, it's Shadow Stalker alright.

"So, you're that loser's old man? You don't really look like much. I guess a loser's dad would also naturally be a loser. Probably almost as much as loser as your deadass whore of a wife."

At that comment about Annette, I focus the full might of my fury towards the little heartless bitch. Sadly, due to the conflicting nature of our powers, Taylor normally takes most of the bugs in the neighborhood with her or otherwise sets them up to their own out of the way tasks, so the response isn't immediate.

Thankfully, I'm a Dockworker first and Parahuman second. And Morgan was kind enough to read us in on Shadow Slalker's Achilles Heel. So I wait for the little hellspawn to come closer to me while she reloads her crossbow and prepares to shoot me again.

Once she's in range, I strike out with my left foot and nail her right in her kneecap, the force of the blow temporarily bringing her to the ground.

Before she can recover, I pull out the handheld Taser I kept in my back pocket and start to light the little bitch up before she can return to her Breaker state. With my other hand, I grab her crossbow and toss it into the living room.

Eventually though, she regains enough focus to shove my Taser hand away from her and immediately sinks through the floor before I can get her again.

Knowing that she's going to want her crossbow back, I hop to my feet and rely on pure adrenaline to ignore the pain in my leg from the crossbow bolt to book it into the living room and secure the crossbow.

Unfortunately I'm a step too slow and she emerges from the floor by the crossbow and returns to physical form to snatch it up before I can reach it.

With my free hand, I go to lay her out with a solid right hook which prompts her to go to Shadow, but that was part of my plan as I ready the Taser and zap her out of her Shadow form.

Unfortunately, she retained some of the backward momentum she had due to leaping back while in Shadow form, and her finger was on the trigger of the crossbow when I tased her, so she ended up blind firing it in my general direction.

I'm not sure if it was lucky or not, but she tagged me in my upper left arm and the bolt was fused partway into my arm due to tasing her. Still, that's not enough to stop me.

As she goes to make distance and reload once more, my own "swarm" finally comes into play. All at once, a number of birds break through the living room windows and rats begin to surge forth from who knows where. All of these various vermin sharing in my concentrated hate of the individual before me.

Obviously, she wasn't expecting a sudden onslaught of birds and rats, so she decides to bail. Her timing is unfortunate for me as I hear the tell-tale sound of police sirens.

With that, I slump down onto the couch and wait to face the music.

-----Taylor Hebert/Skitter-----

-----Brockton Bay General Hospital-----

Looking at my Dad after he was rushed into the ER with two crossbow bolts fused into his left arm and right leg, I have to do my utmost best to offload my incandescent FURY into my swarm to stop me from overreacting.

"Sophia... SOPHIA... SOPHIA!!!!!!"

Then, Battery of the Protectorate takes me aside into an empty room and sits me down.

"I know that you're angry Skitter, no, Taylor, but you can't let yourself fly off the handle over this. Panacea's being called in to help safely remove the bolts as we speak. Your father's going to be fine."

I then turn to look at the older heroine with a lifeless expression and respond in a deadpan voice. "This time, sure. But what about next time? Or the time after that?! She didn't just go after my Father, she went after Emma! Her best friend! She's insane and clearly doesn't give a shit about the 'Rules'! Who knows where she'll stop?! If she'll stop?!"

Battery's expression hardens before she sighs in resignation. "I know. This is so far beyond what's considered 'acceptable' that I can't even begin to imagine where it'll end. But!-" She says as she stands up, puts her hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "-We are NOT going to let it get to that point! Understand?"

Yeah, I "understand" perfectly well.

The "Heroes" are going to go after her with kiddy gloves and not deal with her the way they SHOULD deal with her. Sure, they may rough her up some, they may even succeed in locking her up again, but she's already proven that she's able to get away and that she's willing to go after anyone I care about in order to hurt me in a way that'll actually affect me.

The way I see it, this is Sophia's "Strike Two". I don't plan on letting her have a "Strike Three".

As I make my way out of the hospital, I call a phone number that I wasn't sure I'd ever call. After the phone rings for a second, the line picks up. "Hello Skitter. What can the magnificent Tattletale do for you?"

"It's my understanding that The Undersider's got a thing against Shadow Stalker. Up for a little collaboration?"

If the Heroes won't do what needs to be done, then I can only rely on the pragmatism of Villain's. Something about that feels disturbingly "right" with me, and I can't ignore the fact that part of me likes it that way.