Web of the Weaver, Chapter 5

At home, I just sat for a few minutes. Thinking. My spiders were working, around me bugs were flying in complex patterns. But I wasn’t moving. For a moment, I had a terrible thought. Wherever Sophia lived, there were black widows. If one just happened to… bite her while she slept, over a vein, it was just bad luck it as…

I shook my head. No. Beyond making me a murder, practically every other story of parahuman murder started with an “inexplicable” crime. Well, except for the ones that were really obvious. But it didn’t change the fact that a ward dying in an odd way would almost certainly raise eyebrows.

And it was murder. I probably shouldn’t forget that.

I couldn’t go to the PRT. But for all I knew they might be willing to cover things up. Maybe not, but I wasn’t going to risk it. At the very least, they’d probably want to force me into the Wards and I had no interest in that. Knowingly or not, they couldn’t keep their own ward in line.

So I would have to deal with her. In a way that wouldn’t expose me. That would force the Protectorate to either clean up their mess or show me their true colors, and that wouldn’t risk anyone’s life. Sophia had shown herself willing to be violent and dangerous. Now, more so, and Emma… Sophia had been the voice of reasonwhen it came to potentially murdering a pair of Merchants.

And yet… Sophia had warned Emma about bringing her phone, and Emma had bought a burner. That meant this wasn’t the first time.

And that meant that I would seem to know more than I knew. Or rather… Yes. That would work, because Sophia didn’t want the PRT to know, so she wouldn’t tell anyone else. Now, I just had to arrange the time.

And set up some party favors. I got to work, spiders weaving light cloaks and robes that wasps and flies could fill, something that would look like me, complete with a cloak. That was important. Nobody would know whether or not I was a Changer who wore it until I turned into insects or if I was a sentient swarm of insects or something else.

I wasn’t Hookwolf or Lung. I couldn’t let people know my tricks.

And that included my message. I’d need to ensure that there was nothing on it that might reveal my identity, no fingerprints or DNA.

And lastly, since this would be my first official job… I smiled. I needed to pick up a pack of cards.

*****

Sophia opened her locker, wondering when Hebert would show up. Maybe the weakling had dropped out and they’d next see her as a Merchant whore. Emma would want pics—

A letter fell down as she pulled the door wide. Sophia blinked, reached down and looked at it.

“READ ME” it printed.

If this is some fucking game, I’m going to—

Her thoughts slithered to a halt as she saw the elegant handwriting, some kinda computer font.

Hello, Sophia.

Or should I say, Shadow Stalker. I must say, you and Survivor’s excursions have been quite interesting. You’ve been a very bad girl. I wonder what the Protectorate would have to say, about a Ward going off on her own, even if she did  burn the drugs. .

But don’t worry, I think we can work this out. Meet me at the warehouse on 45th and Lincoln, the place that was partially burned down last year. We can chat there, at say, 10 PM. Oh, you should probably leave Survivor at home. She can be a little violent. Remember how you had to remind her murder wasn’t good? As for Madison, well we both know who she is.

An Admirer.

Sophia ground her teeth so hard that they almost cracked.

Fuck! Someone had seen her. Had Emma fucked up? Sophia shook her head. No, they knew too much. They knew about Madison, that she was just a hanger on. They knew that Emma sometimes needed Sophia to control her, fuck—how much didthey know?

If it had been a kid here… she looked around. Hebert was walking down the hallway, finally back at school, just as Julia “accidentally” bumped into her. Normally, Sophia would be up for the fun as Taylor went sprawling, but right now she had bigger problems.

I can’t call the PRT. They’d want to see the letter and I’d be screwed.

“Fuck!” Sophia snarled, slamming the door closed.

“What is it?” Emma asked, walking up to the locker.

Sophia thought fast. “Got a call from Piggy. I need to be at the Rig tonight, some bullshit unannounced drill.”

“Cool!” Emma said.

“Yeah.”

It’ll be cool. Because I’m going to kill some asshole who thought they could blackmail me. They’re not one of the big names, because they’d know better.

She’d leave Emma behind for this. Emma liked to brag, and sometimes you needed to stay quiet.Viciously, Sophia put the letter in her pocket. She’d have to get her stuff from a cache that Emma didn’t know about.

That was fine. When you could turn intangible, there were a lot of places you could stash things where nobody else could find them.

And before Sophia finished with whoever this asshole was, they were going to tell her about anyone else who knew what she’d been doing.

*****

I left school before Sophia, skipping my last class. If I was right, Sophia couldn’t skip class, not without risking someone asking where she was going—perhaps someone in the PRT. So I had some time. Several hours, actually.

I set my insects to work in the burned-out warehouse, flying insects coming from where I’d called them, hiding in corners, while spiders wove their webs, creating shrouds all over the building, that left it looking like some eerie haunted house.

I needed some props, after all. I put some of my walkie-talkies to use, gluing them to the walls before spiders covered them in webs that were themselves covered in dust. The digital recorder I’d used on Blackwell was ready. I was going to use it for another purpose, along with the other recorder I’d bought. It was strange having some money now, even if it wasn’t much.

And then, it was time to wait. Once again, as far as Dad knew, I was out with some friends. I’d have to figure out a better cover story, but for now, it’d hold. I wrapped my cloak around me, as the clouds started covering the moon.

I wasn’t super cold, but I’d have to work on better insulation because it wasn’t nearly as cold as the Bay could get.

Would she come? Or is the entire Protectorate about to Descend on me?

If so, they’d be surprised. I wasn’t in the building. I was under it, in a little drainage channel, my bugs able to cover nearly the entire structure. If I saw the Protectorate arrive, I’d just leave, because it would prove that they knew what Sophia had done…

And then I’d wait to see what they would do to her.

I—and then I felt it. A single person entering the building, disturbing the draglines my spiders had trailed all over the place. They were moving slowly and then—I lost them, only to feel them appear again on the second level. There were holes on the second story, they—well, she at this point, unless there was another cape who could do that in the Bay—could look down to watch their enemy show up at ten.

It was nine-thirty. I suppose it was time to get the game started.

*****

Sophia moved carefully. She’d actually shown up almost thirty minutes ago, spending her time looking at the building, looking for anyone around it.

This would be one of the few times that Kid Win wouldn’t be useless, since his armor had sensors in it, but no way was she gonna come clean to them. They were just useless weight, little kids who didn’t know how things worked.

Not like Sophia. Whoever this asshole was had fucked up big time by trying to blackmail her. She turned intangible and jumped up into the second floor. She could see most of the ground floor here, especially since the second floor only took up part of the structure, the rear being a warehouse.

She flashed her light out, keeping it low, but no, the dust was undisturbed, save where she’d been. The asshole hadn’t even bothered scouting the place.

Now time to get ready.  Sophia pulled out her crossbow—her real one, not the toy the PRT had saddled her with. She’d spent money on it, and actually managed to get a quick re-wind spring system, something some guy out west had come up with. It had ten shots, and that meant she could fire ten bolts as fast as she could fit them and pull the trigger. If the Protectorate or Piggy knew she had it, she’d be fucked, since turning over all of her tools was part of her probation, but fuck them. She’d earnedthis crossbow.

But now, she’d set herself up with nice little nest. There was only one open door, the one she’d come in, and that meant that the idiot would come in that way.

And Sophia would find out who else knew about her, before she…

Huh. This’ll be the first time I’ve deliberately killed someone.She shook her head. Not her fault. What else would you do if someone tried to blackmail you?

She’d—

“Hello, Shadow Stalker. Am I interrupting you?”

The voice seemed to come from all around her, as Sophia jumped away from her position, phasing into the wall and ending up on the first level. What the fuck!  There was nobody here.

She looked around the chamber, rusted machines, shattered boxes, and the detritus from the fire making it impossible to really see. There were also a fuckton of cobwebs in the place, one draping over her as she moved forward.

“You think you’re fucking smart! You know what they do to people who out wards?”

“Send their ward out by their lonesome? Oh, Shadow Stalker, we both know you didn’t tell anyone. They might ask about Emma.”There was a fluttering to her right and Sophia spun around and fired. The deadly metal bolt… Punched into and through a horde of moths that she’d disturbed. They flew around her, one getting in her face before they vanished into the darkness.

“Show yourself, or are you a coward?”

“But I just want to talk…”

*****

I moved further down the tunnel, closer to Sophia. I needed a safety margin on my bugs. Also… I wanted to keep her there. I’d practiced, and the acoustics were very good for my cheap little recorders.

An insect couldn’t see much, and I was nowhere near skilled enough to make much sense of their input—but a moth, its compound eyes pushed up close to the green “recording” light, was a different matter. I knew they were recording. I knew they could hear Sophia and my conversation.

So… It was time to have that conversation.

“Why did you team up with Emma? She doesn’t seem your speed, even if she’s good with a baseball bat. Taking her out to beat up Merchants…”

“She’s a survivor!” Sophia said. She was triggering my draglines, but now I had her tagged, spiders and flies in her clothing. She was moving, keeping a wall to her side, both protecting her and giving her a quick route to safety.

“What did she survive? You?” I let a chirring laugh fill the building. “Breaking a fingernail?”

“Fuck you! The ABB was about to cut her up, and she fought back!”

“And then you helped her.” I didn’t say anything for a moment but sent another group of “accidentally” disturbed moths up in her face. This time she didn’t shoot, just cursed softly. She was definitely braver than the E88 thugs I’d fought.

But it was time for something else. I pulled out one of my burner phones, hit a single button.

“PRT, this is a recorded line.”

I whispered through buzzing insects, helping to disguise my voice, “I can’t talk man, but Shadow Stalker is in a building on 45th and Lincoln, some kind of warehouse. She’s fighting someone, I think it’s another cape.” I didn’t answer the requests for information, just opened my hand and had dozens of spiders attach draglines to it before a swarm lifted it away from me. One bug couldn’t do that, a hundred couldn’t—not unless someone could control them. And it only had to go a little way. Far enough that the PRT triangulation would put it in the middle of the building.

I wouldn’t want them to get the wrong building, now, would I?

While I was doing that, I kept listening to Sophia.

“Of course I did. She’s not like most people. She fights back.”

“Is that the only reason you help people?”

“Yeah. If you’re not going to fight, why the fuck should I help you? That’s why this town is so fucked up, nobody fights.”

She was being talketi—I shook my head. No, she was trying to get me to talk, so that she could locate me. It was a little disturbing that Sophia and I seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion, even if she was part of the problem.

“And you have Blackwell under your thumb.”

“Blackwell doesn’t give a shit. She sits in her office, and if the PRT pays money, she’s happy. Two of her teachers are dealing, and she doesn’t even know.”

“Dealing. Why don’t you do something?”

“If Piggy found out the school had dealers, I’d be in fucking Arcadia.”

“I see…” I raised the volume a little bit to one side, and Sophia squatted down, moving towards it.

“So the PRT doesn’t know about your little expeditions, especially the way you’ve maimed people and invited a civilian along. I take it this… Piggy would be angry?”

“Yeah. She’s fucking useless. Keeps me on Console if I so much as get lost for a minute on patrol, or don’t smile.”

“And so you go out and attack criminals when they can’t find you. That’s why you left your PRT equipment at home.”

“I’m not stupid.”

Except now nobody is answering your phone at the same time someone called you in as fighting.

My draglines, those that I’d spun after Sophia had come in were disrupted. Someone moving fast.

Time to end this. And end it…

“Hello, Sophia,” I said, and from the floor a cloaked form rose, bugs filling out a robe made of light spider silk, enough dust on it to make it look like a real human.

“Fuck you!” Sophia shouted, and fired, once, then twice. The decoy collapsed, as the bolts flew through them, sinking directly into the rotted wood.

“Shadow Stalker!” a flashlight shone in the chamber.

I knew that voice. Velocity.

“They’re here!” Sophia shouted. “We can take ‘em down!”

“Shadow Stalker, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia are inbound, we need to get you out of this area and why…” there was a pause, and my bugs detected the beam of his flashlight touching one particular part of the building. “…are those lethal bolts?”

I left the building, heading for the exit in the  tunnel. Velocity was remaining still, probably waiting for back up and I heard the sound of two motorcycles.

By the time they would check the building, the walkie-talkies I’d put to the walls to hear with would be gone, bugs cutting them free and dropping them into the drainage channels in the warehouse floor where other bugs would cover them with dirt. In a few minutes, they’d look like they’d been down there for years.

The recorder… I paused, as a tide of insects came rolling down the tunnel, bearing my prizes. I’d give them one, of course, I wouldn’t want them to think I was faking this, but it’d be best to have copies, which was why I had two.

Which meant it would be easy to provide the PRT with enough information to do the right thing.

*****

Hannah stared in dismay at the two deadly bolts, then glanced at the crossbow Colin had confiscated.

“Oh, Sophia…” she murmured. A plain violation of her probation. Whatever happened, now, it was an open question if she’d be sent to juvenile hall or another department, but her time here was over.

“Why did you not inform the Protectorate?” Colin asked. “Someone knowing your civilian identity and laying what is obviously a trap for you?”

“Whoever it was didn’t get me.” The girl looked around. “Probably ran off.”

“Place is clear.” Velocity zipped back. “No sign of entry or anyone else being here.” He paused. “But I found this, no footprints around it.” Already in an evidence bag, the gleaming image of a spider was visible on the back of the playing card.

An orb weaver.

“They were! I fucking heard them!” Sophia snarled.

“A Stranger or Changer, then. Likely a new player.” Colin said. He looked down at Sophia. “Why did they call you?”

“Dunno. They told me that if I didn’t come here, there would be problems at the school. They said I couldn’t talk to the PRT.”

“We have protocols for that purpose, Shadow Stalker.” Colin sounded grim. “This represented a severe threat, which you should not have confronted on your own. Not to mention the fact that you are not allowed to carry lethal weapons, no matter the circumstances. My tranquilizers are actually more effective than broadheads in quickly neutralizing an opponent without the danger of killing them.”

“Yeah, well what if they were like Hookwolf.”

“Your crossbow would have been incapable of harming him, as opposed to angering him.”

“Let’s hold this until we’ve had the site checked and get back to the Rig. Shadow Stalker, are you certain they were trying to blackmail you with threats to the school?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Good, we’ll get back on the van.”

“Another point. When you are out, you are required to keep your PRT phone with you. You could have used the panic button and summoned us immediately,” Colin said.

But they had another surprise when they left.

“Sir?” a trooper walked up to Colin. “We were deploying, but then something just appeared in one of our vans.”

“Show me.”

Another parahuman? Someone who can teleport, phase, or a Stranger? Hanna hoped not. Strangers could be a terror to deal with.

But there, in the seat, was a cheap recorder.

Sophia tensed. “It’s probably a bunch of lies,” she said, and Hanna met Robin’s gaze. She didn’t sound angry, she sounded… worried.

“I will investigate it,” Colin said. “We will verify any claims against the evidence. If they are lies, you do not have to worry.” As he called for an isolation bag, Sophia just stared at the recorder and clenched her fists.

Hannah could read posture, and Sophia didn’t seem… her position screamed anger. But also helplessness.

As if she knew whatever was on that recorder wasn’t something that could be easily dismissed.

Oh Sophia…