[Worm] Absolutely Critical

[Ninsaneja]

Absolutely Critical
Setting: Worm/nothing
Per Wildbow's preference: Worm can be found at Parahumans.wordpress.com. Worm belongs to Wildbow. This fanfiction is unaffiliated with Wildbow.
Out of Love 1.1

It was hard to pay attention in class, especially five minutes before class ended. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to relieve some of the fatigue they were experiencing. Like any other day, I’d spent most of it so far trying not to look directly at anyone.

I turned my eyes back up and cautiously opened them, but the student in front of me had stood up while I wasn’t looking, so I caught him in the center of my field of vision for an instant.

Kick desk, slides, collides with seat. He is surprised, falls into seat, momentarily pinned. Stand. Slap both ears, stun, twist. Injuries: Bruised legs, broken eardrums, broken neck.

I slammed my head down on my desk before the vision was complete. I heard a snort of repressed laughter from behind me, Madison, and Mr. Gladly’s excited voice concluding a lecture that I couldn’t quite bring myself to comprehend.

Before, I would have been sitting in the front row. It would have even been better, less chance of seeing someone, less chance of seeing something horrible, but it was impossible to get through the halls without tripping myself up somehow, or getting tripped up. I always arrived too late to any class to get the seat that I wanted.

Mr. Gladly started to explain the homework, and I looked up at the blackboard, hoping he’d wrote it down. I only caught the tail end of his explanation: “… Monday we’ll break into groups and see who has the best list. I’ll buy the winning team snacks from the vending machine.”
Wonderful. Group work. Everyone else cheered happily. I let my head sink back down to my desk. Any moment now, everyone would be standing and milling about, making it impossible for me to look up.

I heard the sounds of books being snapped shut, bags zipping and unzipped, and the general clatter that a room full of teenagers tended to generate, and shortly after, the bell rang. What I would give to be the first one out the door… instead, I waited until the sound of feet had collected outside the door before I even stood up.

Mr. Gladly was waiting by the door, and my eyes swept by him accidentally as I-

Knee to side of leg, leg collapses, he begins to fall. Palm strike to nose, head hits pencil sharpener on wall. Fall continues, body collapses to floor. Injuries: Broken nose, twisted ankle, concussion, bruised kneecap, scalp laceration.

-head towards the door. He starts to say something, and I steel myself to look at him again and pretend to pay attention.

Light punch to testicles, grab belt, pull. He doubles over, assist his motion with both hands. Move hand from shoulder to head in time to slam head into first row desk. Injuries: Broken nose, concussion.

I managed to keep eye contact as the vision washes over me. I restrained my hand, already in a fist.

“Taylor, are you feeling alright?” he asked. “It looked like you had a headache or something.”

“I think I’m alright.” I said through clenched teeth. I adjusted my backpack without looking. Maybe I could get away with this amount of eye contact, and the conversation would be over before it happened again.

“Listen, why don’t you see the nurse anyway? I’ll let your next teacher know.”

I felt it building again and looked out the door. “I need to hand something in. It’s the midterm.”

I heard him hum quietly at that.

“Listen, I…” He trailed off, then started over. “Maybe you’ll feel better after lunch.” I heard him start to step back to his desk and I went out the door.

He thought that he was everyone’s favorite teacher. He was the kind who had been popular when he was in school himself and probably couldn’t even conceive of the notion that someone didn’t like him. He spent enough time with the popular kids in school that to me, he felt just like one of them.

And just like every one of them, if he wasn’t actively making my life miserable, he was at the very least looking the other way.

That thought almost made me mad enough to turn, to see him in pain again in my mind, but I had already seen enough to stress me all day, and it was only lunch.

EDIT: Minor tense issues fixed

 

[Emerald Oracle]

Fun! It seems the Worm Phenom has moved to TFF! Always nice to see some more street super combat style. My question: Is this concept perhaps inspired by the recent RDJ Sherlock Holmes? And if so is Taylor's Sherlock scan capable of non-combat application?

 

[Ninsaneja]

It is in fact inspired by the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that it only extends to combat, happens automatically at first focusing on someone, but can also be triggered intentionally.

 

[the DragonBard]

So, she's a combat Thinker?

Think she's going to have some difficulties until she learns how to control it. Or at least suppress it in some fashion when she's not in combat. Maybe limit it to something like spidey-sense, so that it warns her when she's going to be attacked, and lets her figure out how to defeat an opponent.

Though, it's not going to help her against Lung or Alexandria, unless she can use it to plan things out ahead of time, and make sure to carry what she needs then.

Basically turn her into a Batman type.

 

[Ninsaneja]

I think it would be too easy if it had a long duration like that.

I don't know how much to spoiler, but it's more complicated than it seems. Also, I lied in my last post, but only by a misuse of the word "it."

EDIT:

Out of Love 1.2

I kept my head down as I walked through the halls. I would prefer to be able to see who was around me, because maybe if I kept watch, I could avoid my tormentors, but I think that idea is futile even without my power adding to my stress.

As I walked, I occupied my hands by fiddling with my backpack, putting away my books and taking out my brown bagged lunch, then shrugging it back and around both shoulders.

My power, as I’d come to understand it, gave me almost nothing but horrific visions of pain and death. I suppose that a more vicious person would enjoy them. They were too real, too cruel, for a person like me to even bear to watch.

I say almost nothing because I think it saved my life. Somehow, in my desperation to escape, I’d made it work on an inanimate object instead of a person. It hadn’t happened since that first time, and maybe it never would.

When they stuck me in that locker, I could hardly breathe from the claustrophobia alone. Combined with the foul smell of the defilement that I was knee-deep in, and I hardly thought I would last ten minutes. Of course, I was underestimating myself. I made it for at least that long before the stress, or the panic, or the fear, or some combination thereof, had given me the power to escape.

I can still vividly remember that first vision.

Knee strike to rusted section near middle hinge. Hand to pull bent top corner inward, till it sticks. Push with knee against hinge. Punch at stressed section, rust flakes off, punch again, punch again, dent deforms door, again, dent grows, stress on hinges, knee strike to hinges, hinges snap, door falls. Damage: Door removed, destroyed. Self-injuries: Knee bruised, two knuckles split or broken, thumb dislocated.

I followed every step exactly, and it even worked. My hand had to be in a cast for two weeks.

I’m not sure it was worth it. Living, but back to the worst they’d ever been to me and more, and add in that my power torments me further.

I idly took a bite of my lunch. I’d taken to eating while walking around, wandering in lower-traffic hallways ever since my powers appeared, allowing me to focus on my feet and avoid looking at anyone.

Of course, this strategy did have its downsides. Every once in a while they’d catch me. Madison Clements, Sophia Hess, and my once best friend, Emma Barnes.

I’d thought about hiding, but a dozen girls at least would be around the bathroom before lunch – I wouldn’t be able to get inside without necessarily seeing a vision. But in the halls, I was able to keep them outside of my focus and thus outside of the notice of my power.

As for my tormentors, I was tempted enough to follow through on my visions that I couldn’t even risk looking at them. Madison, I was taller and stronger, if not by much, and my visions of her were definitely lethal. As for Emma, they tended to be vicious and unrelenting, probably reflecting the fact that I would likely need to take her by surprise to win.

Sophia, somehow, was hit-or-miss. Something odd happened in my visions that I couldn’t quite understand. Whether I’d see her destroyed or the vision would simply stop making sense was a toss up.

If I was strong enough, sure enough to look at them, then maybe I could ignore my visions and defend myself somehow, if it would even help, but as it is, I can’t even put up a fight without going all the way.

I still held out hope that I could become a hero. After all, villains were sometimes targets for powers even more dangerous than mine. I just wasn’t ready, even after three months of testing myself, to put on a costume, take up my scrounged and discount bin hero costume and tools, and go out there and face the world.

I’d learned what was probably the most important part of my power, at least to me: If I held a non-lethal weapon, like a nightstick or a can of mace, my visions would shift towards non-lethal sequences.

I leaned against a locker for a second. I’d finished my sandwich, so I started to put the bag away to dispose of later.

Before I was finished, however, a hand slammed into my shoulder and pinned me against the locker. I dropped my bag, but I fixed my gaze on it anyway.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you know this space is reserved for people with friends?”

Oh. It’s Emma.

Oh.

 

[the DragonBard]

She's going to need a utility belt to have much hope of fighting some of the more powerful enemies if she can't use the power to make long term predictions.

Even then, against some of the Brutes or Movers, I'm not sure that's going to be enough without Tinker inventions.

 

[Emerald Oracle]

From what I gather, one of Taylor's biggest schtick's is that she's a Super!Munchkin/Power Gamer. She takes what she has and uses it to its fullest extent, hence being a major threat with controlling insects. She thinks and prepares and plans a lot anyway in Canon. So if this particular brand of Thinker-y goodness lets her perceive weaknesses as well then she can use that to prepare properly. Like, if she saw Green Lantern she'd perceive that she'd need to break his will or use yellow or something in the heat of the moment but wouldn't necessarily be able to do anything about it that first time, with a stream of thought something like "Subject's strength oriented from concentration, subject displays daddy issues, verbal attack to weaken concentration, negate shield, strike metatarsals" ... OR something like that.

or am I totally off base with how this works?

 

[Ninsaneja]

Out of Love 1.3
I barely paid attention to her insult – it’s far from the worst I hear on a daily basis – and I tried to keep from looking up, despite how much I knew whatever was coming would hurt.

Her right hand shoved my pinned left shoulder again. Still insignificant.

“What’s your problem, huh? You can’t look someone in the eye when they’re talking to you?”

I had let them all think that it was shame or fear of them keeping me from making eye contact. It suited me just fine to hear them make an incorrect assumption, to strike at a weak point that really was stronger than steel. I didn’t respond, instead slowly pulling my hand up to try and push her arm off of me.

She caught it with her left hand instead. I suppose that meant she wants to drag this out. She shoved me again to punctuate her next line.

“I can’t imagine why I ever hung out with you. You’re so… disgusting.” Another shove came. “You’re so… useless!”

Something occurred to me.

“Where’s Sophia?” I asked, my voice soft.

Emma paused in shoving me frowned for a second, then grinned. “What? Do you miss her? Do you prefer when she pushes you around instead?”

Somehow she was insecure. Pushing me around alone was new territory, at least getting this physical. She’d probably have preferred if Sophia was there.

She tossed my right hand aside and grabbed my chin and mouth.

“Why don’t you look at me when I’m talking to you!” She pulled my head around, and my eyes locked on her face.

Strong knee between legs. She doubles over. Optimal palm strike to neck crushes-
No! No! Don’t kill her again!
-Sub-optimal palm strike to neck stifles scream. Grab fingers on right hand. Push. Injuries: Bruised pelvis/vulva, bruises on neck, minor choking, two broken fingers.

By the time I caught myself, my hand was already coming up to her vulnerable throat and I could either follow through or risk getting the first result instead of the second. Idly I wondered, as the milliseconds seemed to drag on, if it was safe to stop after the palm strike.

‘What the heck’, I heard myself think, ‘she deserves it.’

My hand came up after hitting her neck, and time was speeding back up to normal. Her own hand on my shoulder was the only thing keeping her standing. I grabbed her fingers.

As I slowly pushed them back, twisting her entire arm back towards her body, I lowered her into a kneeling position. I took a hissing breath of anticipation.

Snap.

Snap.

Snap.

Time was back to normal, and I didn’t have time to be horrified. Unlike my visions, I could feel it. The slight twinge in the knee that I’d hit her with. The warmth of my palm where I’d struck her. The strangely giving feeling of her ruined fingers that I hadn’t quite let go of yet.

I scanned the floor of the hallway. No feet pointing to us, heading to us, no stifled gasps of horror at the violence that I’d unleashed. Hell, they didn’t really notice when It was directed at me, so why would they pay attention now?

I couldn’t really leave her this way though, I thought, as she pitifully coughed and drew in short, pained breaths.

I lifted her up, carefully grabbing her injured arm well above the wrist, and began to head towards the nurse’s office. Funny that I’d end up there anyway.

I had to pass by Mr. Gladly’s classroom on the way there. Unfortunately for me, he was at the door.

“Taylor, what happened?” His feet were crossing the threshold of the classroom and into the hall.

I almost scowled, but I looked up at him.

Throw body at his stomach. Follow with shove. He falls. Pull door into collapsed body. Stomp. Injuries: Bruised stomach, bruised shoulder. Projectile injuries: Concussion.

I smiled my best, blankest and most naïve smile. “Emma’s just smashed her hand with her locker door, but it hurts so bad she wanted help to get to the nurse.”

“That looks really bad,” he said, focusing on her hand. I turned my eyes away the second he wasn’t trying for eye contact. It was already building up again.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. Right, Emma?” I unobtrusively stroked her fingers with my thumb.

Emma whimpered quietly.

“If you’re sure…” He trailed off. As usual, he just wanted to sound like he was concerned.

For some reason, that made me angry, even on Emma’s behalf.

“I’m sure. There’s no need for you to start helping now.” I said in my most cheerful voice.

He said nothing, so I walked on. Emma started to moan a little more when her voice started to come back.

And wouldn’t you know it, when we got to the nurse’s office she was out for lunch.

I set Emma down on one of the clean-looking beds. Her weak legs barely held her up at that point. She laid down lopsidedly, cradling her right hand in her left.

“Why,” she coughed out, then started again with a slightly more steady voice. “Why now? How?”

Why indeed? Just because I had been pushed too far to resist my power? Was I really that weak?

I responded even as I thought it over myself.

“You know, Emma, you really hurt me a lot. I’d hoped that you would come back to me, be my friend again, tell me that it was all a mistake or a misunderstanding. Then I hoped you would get tired of me and move on to someone else.” I sighed. It hurt to admit it to her.

“You were my best friend for so long.” I realized, and spoke, “I still held a lot of love for you even as you turned every bit of it into pain. I would rather have taken that pain than to harm someone who I still cared about.”

“Then…” she said quietly.

“I don’t know why you…” I trailed off for a second. “You thought that I was a good target. You thought that I was… weak.” Her stare all but confirmed it.

“You saw my little remnant of love as a weakness to exploit, but Emma? You’ve used up every iota.”

That hurt her almost as much as the injuries. Not because of the knowledge that I no longer liked her. She knew that.

Her face was showing me fear. Understanding. Regret. It was plain to me.

The knowledge that I was strong, that her stupid, schoolyard bullying taken to the extreme had not destroyed me completely. That’s what hurt her the most.

I think that I was even more disgusted with her at that moment than I was with myself at the nadir of my life.


EDIT/note: Might need to make more clear that Taylor has Emma in a half-carry, dragging her along on her feet. Not sure how.
EDIT/note 2: The regret comes next.

 

[the DragonBard]

I heard something about Emma's betrayal being partially because of a secondary power Sophia had warping her mind. Is this true?

 

[trevelyan1983]

Wasn't stated in the serial, at any rate. Don't know if Wildbow commented on the matter, but it sounds pretty far-fetched - like an attempt to make Emma less of a bitch, and Sophia more of a monster.

Dunno how this is going to play out. Madison and Emma don't have the guts to escalate this physically when Taylor can wreck them - but Sophia does.

Although, Emma doesn't need to fight - she can always whistle up her father. The lack of witnesses and Taylor's general passivity would make an allegation of assault difficult to believe, let alone prove.

Interesting quandary. Gimme more!

 

[Ninsaneja]

Out of Love 1.4

I re-evaluated my actions and my words all through the rest of the day.

I handed in my art project.

I was wrong, before. I’m just about as disgusted with myself as Emma.

I hurt her. I hurt her and I enjoyed it, and I said things just to rub it in.

This left me in more of an unresponsive daze than usual. I do spend an unhealthy amount of time on introspection, but normally I’m not quite so disappointed with myself.

During the class after art came the worry and even more self-doubt. Would Emma be able to prove it was me? Would I get detention, suspension, expulsion? Would her father sue me, my father, for the medical bills?

Had I ruined my, our lives?

None of the reasons why Emma got away with everything should apply to me.

Maybe I would be caught. Maybe my dream of becoming a hero was already dead.

I was just about to start frantically thinking about how I would be a hero anyway (Plea bargain? Work release deal?) when I heard a voice I’d been sort of forgetting to dread.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Sophia yelled from down the hallway.

I was closer to the exit than she was. Maybe I could run? But the hallway was suddenly blocked by spectators. I couldn’t see a way through, I couldn’t get through fast enough without seeing a dozen people or more.

I turned to face Sophia, and she was already halfway to me.

“Did you think you could get-“

Throw pencil at face, she dodges. Run forward. Dodge cross punch, grab second punch, throw to ground. Kick. Something happens. Injuries: Bruised rib. Self-injuries: I am ???
“-away with this?” She yelled as she approached me.

The crowd was whispering in hushed tones, but Sophia’s voice almost drowned them out by herself.

She wasn’t mad, I idly noted. She was trying to look mad. She was more… putting me in my place.

Emma, she doesn’t really care about you.

She was arms’ length away, but there wasn’t really anywhere for me to go.

Deflect shove, punch chin, deflect punch, punch chin. Something happens. Injuries: Bruised chin, cracked tooth, laceration on tongue. Self-injuries: I am dead???

I didn’t even have enough time to evaluate that horrible vision before her shove hit me, pushing me back a few steps. The crowd stepped back with me.

Grab arm, regain balance, throw at locker, chop to neck. Something happens. Injuries: None. Self-Injuries: I am unable to move???

Her next shove came just as quickly. She was advancing just as she forced me backwards.

Take shove, grab shirt. Pull around 170 degrees. Release. Avoid punch, step forward, slap face. Avoid grab, slap face. Pause. Avoid grab, slap face. Injuries: Bruised face, black eye. Self-injuries: None???

It came to me in that moment, as I was grabbing Sophia’s collar and dragging her around my body in a tight circle. She nearly hit my face as I mulled it over, stepping forward and delivering a ringing slap that stung my right hand. Her face became a grimace as she tried to grab onto my hand, but I withdrew it too quickly. It made perfect sense. My left hand came around in another, harder slap, knocking her head around and sending her back a step into the wall. I took a breath, almost in time with her.

Her face contorted, switching from pain into total rage. She made a reckless, lunging grab for my collar, but I stepped around it and slapped her with my right again. The crowd was suddenly silent.

I knew what would happen next before I saw it.

Avoid grab. Punch to unprotected stomach. Grab neck, slam against wall. Something happens. Injuries: Depletion??? Self-Injuries: None???

Her next lunge was even sloppier. I hardly needed to move to get in a perfect position for the punch. A bit of her spit and blood managed its way out of her mouth, so I let her drip for a second before grabbing her by the neck and forcing her up against the wall.

Her rage had turned to fear and panic. She tried to grab my hand with her feeble remaining strength, but I slapped her arms away.

“You don’t get to hurt me anymore.” I whispered.

Sophia turned into a shadow and fell into the wall and out of my grip.

I knew it.

She fell right back out of the wall a second later, on her knees, and screamed a little before collapsing all the way to the ground, shadow form ending. I stepped back and let her fall.

“You’re a cape,” I whispered, then cleared my throat. “You’re a cape!”

I turned around and looked at the crowd.

Nothing happened.

The crowd parted for me, for once. There was fear all over them, almost coming off of them and pooling around the ground. Not entirely fear of me. They were afraid of her even more.

Because of who she was? Because of what she was?

As I was walking out the front door, I heard Sophia’s voice scream, a sort of wordless expression of frustration, anger, and I could almost hear regret in there too, but I was already running to the bus and far away.

 

[Deathwings]

I heard something about Emma's betrayal being partially because of a secondary power Sophia had warping her mind. Is this true?

There's no indication in canon that this ever happened. That's just some fanon that sprung up for the purpose of demonizing Sophia even more then she already is, nothing more.

Out of Love 1.4

Well, now THAT was AWESOME ! Tough the predictions of the future on SB are true : writers really are screwing Sophia over earlier and earlier.

 

[Ninsaneja]

Well, I knew it when I started. But it really makes sense to me. Taylor's power is all but forcing her to get physical with Sophia, so it really did have to happen earlier. Also, as you might be able to see from that snippet, Taylor's power has the odd side effect of identifying parahumans (in a way that was completely incomprehensible to Taylor.)

Quick EDIT: Planned list of important phrases: "Something happens." "The words spilled out of me." "You hurt me."

 

[biigoh]

Well! I see that Taylor is very smooth in her pain admonishment. :3

I'd post Goblin Queen here... but 50+ chapters is a bit much to just dump anywhere~

 

[Unicornzvi]

Very intresting. So Sophia is outed but Taylor is not. Also with the way Taylor acted people are suddenly going to remember seeing Sophia and Taylor bullying her. Looking forward to see how the story goes from here

 

[Roadie]

The way the power fumbles repeatedly at coming up with a way to handle Sophia is interesting, and it goes a long way towards making it feel like a fighting-centric super-analysis ability instead of just suddenly having a Martial Arts (Holmesian +3) specialization.

I'm curious to see where this goes narratively, since this means Shadow Stalker's identity is publicly exposed while Taylor isn't publicly anything more than "the bullied girl who hit back a few times".

The only nit-pick I have is that the multiple question marks and the self-referencing pronouns in the internal monologue bits jar me out of it a little.

 

[Evillevi]

Nothing but pure awesome

 

[Ninsaneja]

I wanted it to be jarring. It's the result of the shard basically crashing and rebooting in the middle of interfacing directly with Taylor's brain.

As a side note, it's not supposed to be an internal monologue. It's a vision, narrated in her own voice. I might need to go over it again and make that clearer.

 

[Finbar]

Well now, that is interesting..

Of course, the PRT will want to get involved. One of their Wards just got beat down in a high school brawl and outed herself publiclly. A Ward with a LOT of enemies.

Likely, someone caught the entire thing on their cell phone and it is already up on youtube.

There will be interesting ramifications to this. The girl Sophia and Emma have been bullying disabled them in such a way that they have no legal leg to stand on. She did it apparently using base human abilities. No Powers. Thus the PRt, who has been waiting for a chance to come down on Sophia gets to act. She is likely going to be shipped off to the next endbringer fight, but also dropped from the Wards and placed back in juvie for breaking her probation.

 

[BF110C4]

Well now, that is interesting..

Of course, the PRT will want to get involved. One of their Wards just got beat down in a high school brawl and outed herself publiclly. A Ward with a LOT of enemies.

Likely, someone caught the entire thing on their cell phone and it is already up on youtube.

There will be interesting ramifications to this. The girl Sophia and Emma have been bullying disabled them in such a way that they have no legal leg to stand on. She did it apparently using base human abilities. No Powers. Thus the PRt, who has been waiting for a chance to come down on Sophia gets to act. She is likely going to be shipped off to the next endbringer fight, but also dropped from the Wards and placed back in juvie for breaking her probation.

Oh, but did she break her probation? We know for sure she did, but there is no evidence of some of the most extreme stunts she did to Taylor, mainly the biohazard locker incident, and a good lawyer (and thanks to Emma's dad Sophia has access to a good one) can argue that she attacked in defense of her friend who was previously and cowardly assaulted by Taylor, and that the superhero reflexes regretably took over, escalating a childish fight into something more serious.

 

[Finbar]

Or as the witness' could verify. This was the girl she relentlessly bullied for over a year who suddenly fought back.

Given her past record, which will the PRt see?

 

[BF110C4]

Or as the witness' could verify. This was the girl she relentlessly bullied for over a year who suddenly fought back.

Given her past record, which will the PRt see?

The question is not what they will see, the question is how the PRT will spin this debacle to minimize the fallout and keep their human weapon available after this?

 

[Shadow Zeranion]

Oh, but did she break her probation? We know for sure she did, but there is no evidence of some of the most extreme stunts she did to Taylor, mainly the biohazard locker incident, and a good lawyer (and thanks to Emma's dad Sophia has access to a good one) can argue that she attacked in defense of her friend who was previously and cowardly assaulted by Taylor, and that the superhero reflexes regretably took over, escalating a childish fight into something more serious.

While it's possible that Sophia will be legally clear, it's highly unlikely that she will be doing too well in regards to her standing with the Wards.

The fact of the matter is, Sophia outed herself after starting a fight in public against a girl that she has been bullying for a year and a half. While the locker could potentially be put aside due to a lack of evidence, there are probably hundreds of smaller incidents that WERE witnessed by the rest of the student body. A student body which are quite suddenly turning against Sophia due to her being revealed as a parahuman. One that is also known as a member of the Wards. I suppose it's possible that the student body might not talk tot he police due to a fear of Sophia targeting them, it isn't gonna stop private talks and unofficial channels of information spread.

Even if Sophia isn't charged due to no one coming forward, the fact of the matter is that the Wards cannot allow such bad publicity to stand. Shadow Stalker was on probation mostly due to the fact she could potentially hurt Endbringers. However, more important than this fact, which the higher ups are iffy on to begin with, the Wards and with it the PRT and Protectorate by public association as being the governmental parahuman divisions, must maintain their public image as the "heroes" and "good guys". Otherwise, not only with the general public turn against them, but other young parahumans will be less likely to join them due to not believing them to be "real heroes" if they let a bully onto their team.

This incident make Sophia pure poison from a Public Relations standpoint. A Ward. A known "hero" has been bullying another girl for a year and a half, and even if their is no evidence, is heavily suspected of being responsible for shoving said girl into a biohazard locker.

Word of this is going to get out. Members of the student body who are secretly part of one of the Brockton Bay gangs will inform the higher ups. Regular students will gossip with their friends, family, and acquaintances about what happened and what they know about the girls. Someone looking to make a quick buck will sell the story to the nearest news station for a nice pay day and ask to be kept anonymous. Parahuman fans and computer geeks will post online, including on Parahumans Online about Shadow Stalker being outed in school and giving out details for internet fame and cred.

The sad (or perhaps not so sad) fact of the matter is, there is no way a lid is going to be put on this. Even if the fighting stopped without any truly serious injuries, it doesn't change the fact that what was once a simple schoolyard fight is going to be escalated due to the simple fact that the bully who started it was a known local cape.

So yeah... Even if somehow Sophia gets through this without official charges due to EVERY SINGLE PERSON shutting up around the officials, it won't stop her from being horrible PR material and unofficial rumors and what not from destroying most of the benefits that are had with keeping her.

The fact of the matter is, Sophia is potentially useful against Endbringers. But is her potential enough for them to risk alienating the public over her? There have been other capes with powers that "could potentially" harm the Endbringers. None of them have played out in the end. The question is, do they think Sophia's power is unique enough to risk it for the sake of taking them down, or will they cut their losses and say "Well it was a long shot anyways. Throw her in Juvie. She's not worth the trouble."

 

[Ninsaneja]

That's a pretty good analysis.

 

[Finbar]

That analysis works for me.

It's known from canon, that the rest of the Wards didn't like her and neither did most of the PRT and Protectorate who had any decent exposure to her.
I suspect Armsmaster was keeping her around because if it was one of his soldier's who injured or took down an Endbringer, it would look good on his resume, and at heart he loves the glory.

So frankly, Piggot, who dislikes Parahumans, shouldn't see any need to keep her on a leash any more and will have it listed as 'she broke probation' and send her off.

She doesnt need a case. She doesnt need to bring in the lawyers. She simply says 'Sophia Hess broke her probation by engaging in bullying and has bought the image of the Wards into disrepute', which means Sophia has officially broken the terms of her probation and is back in Juvie where she belongs, with an electrified arm-band.

Of course, her Parents will have to flee town and go in the PRT equivalent of the Witness Protection Program to keep them safe from the many factions and gangs and the like she has pissed off either by her own actions, or through simply being a Ward.

One thing I will note of interest is that Emma and Madison are going to have some serious questions asked of them. Both by the student Body and by the General Public. Did they know? Is Sophia the only reason they attempted to murder Taylor or drive her to suicide?

Because lets face it, it's going to be one of those things that gets out. Now that they are no longer threatened by Sophia turning on them and becoming the next Taylor, accounts are going to hit the internet. Parahumans Online is a likely starting point. 'I saw Shadow Stalker stuff a girl into a locker filled with fermented tampons and pads.' Then Emma and Madison will be linked to it and this means even a basic search on their names will reveal that in their past when they are looking for University and Jobs.

Of course, when Emma's father finds out all this, he's going to go all Legal Eagle where he can. Possibly trying to intimidate Taylor into issuing a rebuttal or into admitting she hurt Emma, which gives him grounds for a law suit and lots of defamation actions. In an ideal world, this then means that Taylor backs down and it goes away. Except Taylor is now empowered. She knows she can fight back, if only physically. It means his intimidation with legal action won't work. He can threaten a law suit, and she can reply with 'ok' and let him take it to court. There, she has already documented the long history of bullying. Her lawyer can find dozens of witnesses against Emma, because they are no longer threatened by Sophia beating them down or destroying them. Suddenly, all he has is bluster.

how this will all turn out however, is a different story.

After all, Taylor's life is made of suffering.