6

Author's Note: Well, as of my last chapter, I was searching for a new Beta for this story…and now I have one. Give a cheer for BigCC, who has kindly stepped into the shoes left by becuaseitswrong, may he rest in peace. This chapter starts the rise of Taylor and is the penultimate chapter in the Drop Arc.

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On that subject, please review! Constructive criticism, without any cursing or insults, it considered very helpful. And please, check out my other stories!

Beta'd by BigCC.

"Damn you Sophia!" – Speech

'Why Emma?' – Thought

Drop 1.5

+++Sophia Hess+++

Shadow Stalker, or Sophia Hess as most people she knew called her, was not a pleasant person. She detested anything she saw as weakness and believed whole-heartedly that those who couldn't, or wouldn't, defend themselves deserved whatever happened to them. Obsessed with showing off her strength and not showing any form of weakness, she had become a vigilante after she Triggered.

This was not out of any sense of justice. Hunting criminals was merely an excuse for her to feel the rush of the hunt, the thrill of preying on those weak sheep that thought they could act like predators. With her Breaker powers and her skill with a crossbow, one of the few things she actually thanked her asshole dad for was teaching her how to hunt when she was a brat, she was unstoppable, the apex predator of Brockton Bay.

Until she took things too far, at least according to the PRT and the Protectorate, by pinning a man to a wall with crossbow bolts and leaving him there to die. The bastards had somehow managed to track her down and arrested her the very next time she had been out in costume. They had then given her a choice between facing a manslaughter charge and likely spending the next few years in juvie or joining the Wards as part of a 'reformation' program.

Given her options, the choice had seemed obvious at the time. Somedays Sophia still wondered if she'd made the wrong one

Being forced to act like such a goody-two-shoes was the most frustrating, teeth-gritting, rage-inspiring experience of her life. It had gotten so bad that, after just a week as a probationary Ward she had needed to find an outlet for her pent up stress or she would have likely done something that would have gotten her sent to juvie. Luckily, she found it in the form of a girl she'd 'rescued' a few weeks ago, one Emma Barnes. She only had one real friend, a wimpy-little beanpole named Hebert. So Sophia, who had saved her from a trio of ABB thugs, had spent the two weeks before the stupid bitch had returned from summer camp (and how lame was that, what kind of teenager goes to summer camp?) whispering into Emma's ear, turning her into an ally and Hebert's worst nightmare.

Shaping Emma into something half-resembling an actual predator had been…enjoyable, but what had really released her stress was the utter despair the four-eyed little bitch had shown when her 'best friend' had turned on her. After that Sophia had been hooked and Hebert, along with a few other weaklings, had become her personal chew toys. For the past fifteen months she, along with Emma and the tagalong Madison, had found and indulged in a variety of delicious forms of relief for her needs and through it all Hebert had remained her favorite target.

And thanks to her status as a Ward, the morons at school did nothing to get in her way and ignored everything she did.

Most of the prey fled after a few weeks of targeting, dropping out or joining one of the gangs for protection, but Hebert kept coming back for more. The sheer stubbornness she showed might have actually impressed Sophia if the weakling actually had the teeth to bite back, but instead she just kept taking it. It had become Sophia's favorite pass time, pushing the four-eyed bitch farther and farther until she broke

Unfortunately, the little runt had finally run off with her tail between her legs and withdrawn from Winslow after the locker incident, which was why Sophia was now bored to tears and her frustrations were rising again. For some reason without Hebert around to target the rest of the available prey at Winslow had become…unsatisfying. She needed new prey.

Either that or she needed to find Hebert again.

Sophia left the school after the bell rang and immediately headed for the PRT building and the Wards base within it. It was her turn to go out on patrol tonight.

Her lip curled into a snarl as she thought about her 'teammates,' a bunch of prey pretending to be predators. Just being forced to be around those weaklings and their do-gooder shit made her sick to her stomach. None of them had either the power or the disposition needed to be a real predator. Clockblocker could freeze someone in time by touching them. Good luck getting close, weakling. Gallant could fire energy beams that altered the emotions of his targets as well as having some kinetic force. Yawn. Kid Win was a Tinker, enough said. Vista, the only other girl on the Wards, could extend or bend distances. Big whoop! Aegis, despite being the closest to being a real predator when it came to powers, an adaptable physiology, flight, and enhanced strength, was so much of a by-the-book goody-good little sheep that just listening to him made Sophia want to jam a crossbow bolt somewhere painful.

She had heard that a newbie was joining the Wards, a guy called Browbeat, who could use telekinetically enhanced strength…that was affected by the Manton Effect and therefore couldn't be used directly against other living beings. Pathetic.

At best they were a bunch of dogs, predators tamed and used to protect the sheep. At worst they were hardly better than sheep themselves.

The moment she turned eighteen, she was quitting and getting the hell out of Brockton Bay and as far away from the loser brigade as she could.

She fumbled with her ID at a hidden entrance to the PRT building hidden in one of the lower levels of a nearby parking garage, swiped it across a concealed reader, causing a slab of concrete to smoothly slide to one side as the concealed door opened. The entrance was one of several that had been built so the Wards and Protectorate members who arrived in their secret identities didn't risk exposure when entering the Ward Base.

Stomping along the passage, Sophia scowled as she came to the second doorway, this one opened into a changing room near the Wards area of the base. She swiped her ID again and passed through the doorway. Heading to the female side, she quickly changed into her costume.

As she put her mask on, she smiled grimly. She may be forced to toe the line for now, but as soon as she turned eighteen she could start acting like a true predator again. Shadow Stalker was not a dog, she was a fucking wolf.

+++Taylor Hebert+++

Hebert Residence

The next couple of days after my meeting with Dodge of Toybox passed fairly quickly. I had finally gotten my hands on some tools…or I would in a few days. I checked the Evermore every night, and I had even managed to get ahold of a few small cameras to make sure that no one snuck in and stole my merchandise before I could trade it to Toybox.

As for my regular studies, I was progressing well, even in chemistry now that the necessary equipment had arrived and I could complete my lab assignments. It still wasn't my forte, but my Tinker power did give me an insight into how the chemicals reacted. I even came up with a formula for condensing and compressing water into small tablets, ready to be rehydrated and used with the application of a simple chemical.

Mentally assigning that to 'interesting, but not useful' for the moment, I wrote down the results of the current experiment before grabbing my sketchpad and turned it to a new page. I hastily scribbled down the formula, and then drew the machine that would be needed to produce the tablets.

With what Dodge had told me about Tinker explosions, a part of me was starting to dread sitting down to my first session of Tinkering. Hopefully my power was minor enough to not affect me like that, or at least mitigate the effects.

My day-to-day schedule had pretty much settled down into a set routine: wake up early, make breakfast and a lunch for Dad, wave him off to work, go jogging, study, have lunch, go jogging again, study again until it was time to make dinner, spend time with Dad over dinner if he arrived at the right time, relax and go to bed.

I went out every night, making sure to practice using my power in the Boat Graveyard for the more finicky aspects that required concentration…flying, water walking and the like.

After discovering a half-full barrel of crude oil in the remains of the engine room, I experimented with my much weaker liquid matter manipulation. Compared to the amount I could manipulate with my hydrokinesis, which I'd estimated was about a 600 meter square area (roughly 2000 feet; close to the size of three city blocks!), my liquid matter manipulation could only control or affect slightly less than half of a barrel, less than 21 US gallons.

Further experimentation at home, usually used during the breaks I took between study periods, had let me know what I could control. Oil, milk, orange juice, soda and the like were the ones I had tried so far. Milk had actually surprised me as it was organic, but maybe my Manton Effect limitation only applied to water?

If that was the case, then I might be able to manipulate blood, which was certainly an unpleasant thought and not something I was interested in trying to use outside emergencies. Too villainy.

My range for liquid matter manipulation was also nowhere near as far as my hydrokinesis either. With hydrokinesis, I could stand on the bridge of the Evermore and manipulate water near the shore of the Boat Graveyard, whereas with liquid matter manipulation, I was limited to maybe five meters all around me.

I decided to keep this aspect of my power hidden until I really needed it. No point advertising all of my abilities all at once. Villains could be really sneaky, from what I've read on PHO, and it never hurt to have an ace in the hole.

Dad's new schedule of leaving early and coming home late had started as well and it had left him looking tired all the time. He seemed happy though. He keeps saying that if the city keeps giving the Dockworker's Union contracts like the ones they've been receiving recently, the city will get better.

I'd help as well, when I became a hero anyway. Patrols near the factories would stop Merchants and other scum from wrecking the factories that were fixed up.

Both Mom and Dad had wanted to help Brockton Bay recover from the depression that the steady decline of the shipping business had caused. The main cause of that was, of course, the fault of the Endbringer Leviathan. Every time he attacked a city, he sent waves all across the sea, damaging and sinking ships, destroying docks and killing people. Shipping goods by sea has dropped to an all-time low worldwide thanks to that monster.

Shaking myself out of my dark thoughts, I got up and headed for the kitchen. Checking the fridge and shelves, I decided that a quick shopping trip was in order.

The nearby grocery stores and seven elevens were all ones that I had scoped out and ruthlessly analyzed so we could get the best balance of cost verses quality and quantity. Fortunately, Dad was very conservative with the foods he ate, so I could make the same thing a couple of times a week, allowing me to buy in bulk.

As I headed out to the shops, I spotted two of the Wards, Shadow Stalker and Kid Win, on one of their 'publicity patrols' and stopped to watch them. Kid Win was flying using a skateboard that had…what was it…ah! An antigravity unit on the base of it. His red and gold uniform was an obvious homage to Hero, the greatest Tinker to have ever lived and one of the first and most famous members of the Protectorate.

Shadow Stalker leapt from roof to roof, her black costume and mask seeming a lot more menacing than the other Wards. I noticed something familiar as she ran from one side of a roof to the other…the confidence and superiority she exuded was very similar…to…Sophia…

"Oi! Shit for brains!" the former vigilante snarled, "Slow the fuck down before I put an arrow up your ass!"

"Dammit Stalker!" Kid Win groused as he complied, "You could have just asked instead of threatened!"

Oh Hell.

I hurried away from the scene and finished my shopping in a blank panic before rushing home. I hastily put the food away before dashing up to my computer and doing a search on the net about Shadow Stalker.

Much to my horror, every image and video confirmed it. The way she stood, confident and arrogant. The way she stalked forwards, like a predator hunting its prey…it was all Sophia. The voice too…the voice, the few times that she spoke in press conferences, usually just a quickly grunted 'yes' or 'no' along with a few short speeches that were clearly written by someone else and forcefully recited from memory, was a complete match for that bitch as well.

Sophia Hess and Shadow Stalker were one and the same person.

This…explained so much; everything just clicked together too perfectly for it not to be true. How she got into my locker no matter how many times I changed the combination, why the school ignored my complaints and turned a blind eye to anything she did. Dad had been right; Sophia was the cause of it all.

I spent the next few minutes staring blankly at the screen as I processed this latest betrayal by authority. I couldn't be absolutely certain that the Protectorate or the PRT had anything to do with keeping thing hushed up at Winslow, but they still put Sophia on the Wards, with apparently very little in the way of oversight if this happened on their watch and they didn't know about it.

They were either corrupt, uncaring, or completely incompetent; either way they couldn't be trusted.

Shutting the computer down, I mechanically began cooking dinner while internally debating whether I should tell Dad about Shadow Stalker. As I put the lasagna into the oven, I decided against it...for now. He would probably march up to PRT HQ and kick up a fuss. Regardless of whether they knew about it or not, the PR department would go into cover-their-asses mode and try to debunk any accusation I made. I needed solid proof of who she was and what she had done.

It would also bring a lot of unwanted attention on me and dad and risk them finding out about my powers and finding some way to force me into the Wards. After finding this out, I think I'd rather be a villain than join them.

No, it was in the past and in the past it must remain, I determined. No point reopening wounds that were already closing. Besides, I would be the best damn independent hero in Brockton Bay and make Shadow Stalker look like a sidekick by comparison.

…OK, so I'll be the only indie hero in Brockton Bay, but that isn't the point.

Over the next few days, I prepared myself to make my trade with Toybox. I also decided to think up a new name. 'Waterworks' just made me sound like a crybaby. I needed something to sound tough, intimidating and strong. If it alluded slightly to my power, it was a bonus.

I decided on my new name after rejecting several other names that mixed my hydrokinesis with my Tinker abilities (Water Hazard, Hydro Pressure) or any that had completely misleading connotations (Wetware).

Riptide.

I found a little known comic from Earth Aleph that had one hell of a bombshell of a character with that name and hydrokinesis abilities. Plus, no hero, villain or rogue had that name, so I was taking it.

Hopefully, people would think I was a Tinker who specialized in water-related tech with a minor hydrokinetic power, rather than the reverse. If I kept to using the wrist-mounted blasters on my suit, that would reinforce the impression.

The question was, what should I do first? Set up my base or build my armor? Maybe I could do the Solomon thing and build a basic workshop before building my armour? Decisions, decisions…

Finally, the night came for me to meet up with Dodge again so we could conduct the trade. I pulled my make-do costume on for what I hoped would be one of the last times and set out across the town.

A thought struck me as I ran and leapt. I would have to travel to and from my base, which would require a costume or disguise a bit better than what I was wearing right now.

Adding that to the long list of items on my to-do list, I leapt into the water as soon as I came close enough to the waterside, speeding out to the Evermore with the ease of long practice. I had already started memorizing the underwater areas of the Boat Graveyard as a precaution, but it wasn't an easy job. The ships still on the surface were only the tip of the iceberg, with numerous smaller fishing boats sunk in between the larger ones, not to mention fragments of other large ships where one had rusted to pieces and collapsed in on themselves.

The hole that was only half visible above the water in the stern was my usual way in and I sailed into it before pulling myself out of the water and getting dry with the help of my power.

Heading for the bridge again, I leaned against the shattered remains of the instrumentation consoles and gazed out at what I could see of Brockton Bay. The lights of the city, especially the PRT building, were quite beautiful.

"Amazing that something so pretty could hide such awful things, isn't it?" I asked aloud.

"So true." Dodge replied with a light nod. He had appeared next to me a minute or so after I arrived on the bridge. I wasn't going to be startled by the same trick twice.

"So, what's Toybox's opinion on my offer?" I enquired, somehow keeping the nervousness from my voice.

"We are interested." Dodge agreed, "The members of Toybox have looked over your shopping list and agreed to it in full. We've also added in a few extras."

He passed a folded piece of paper to me, which I quickly scanned. Everything that I had requested was on it…in slightly greater quantities than I'd requested along with some extra items I hadn't asked for…equipment for reshaping metal, a powerful laptop….

"This is…extremely generous of you." I managed to mutter out through my shock. I was also starting to get a bit suspicious as well.

"No offence, but you undersold the value of these solar panels." the Toybox Cape told me seriously, "We at Toybox pride ourselves on being honest with our dealings. We do not allow anyone to cheat us and we in turn do not cheat our customers. To not give you equivalent exchange here would be cheating you out of what you deserve, so we…adjusted your list."

"I-I see." I stammered out, still a bit surprised but my suspicions had been eased. "Thank you."

Dodge shrugged. "Meh. We non-aligned Tinkers have to look out for each other." he said dismissively before holding a hand out at his side, "Now then…three, two, one…"

Shortly after he said 'one,' a large bag appeared in his hand.

"Good, the timer works at least." I heard him mutter to himself, before he turned his attention back to me. "Right, let's get down to the hold. Time to start the trade."

Nodding, I led him down to the first hold. Once there, I quickly started clearing the water out again while Dodge took a handful of small gadgets from his bag and threw them into the air. They hovered for a moment before zipping around and attaching themselves to various containers around the hold.

"These are a new invention of mine, teleport homers." he explained, "They allow me to designate an item for teleportation to Toybox. I can only teleport objects as big as these containers ten at a time, but they should be enough to get all this sorted in half an hour or so."

The first ten containers on the top row vanished in a flash of blue light as he spoke, followed by another ten thirty seconds later. Dodge continued to toss teleport homers out until every container in every hold had one attached.

"Tinkertech is so hax." I remarked with a shake of my head as the hold was rapidly emptied of containers. I gathered the water in the hold into a square next to me, which quickly grew to the size of a minivan.

"This is actually fairly basic by Tinkertech standards." Dodge replied with a chuckle, "Some Tinkers come up with really outrageous stuff, I think a good local example would that weirdo L33t."

"The Rogue?" I asked, vaguely recalling the video-game loving Cape on YouTube with his partner, Über.

"Ha!" Dodge scoffed loudly at that, "Those two might call themselves Rogues, but they are anything but! Über and L33t are villains, make no mistake about it. From what we've managed to figure out, L33t is some kind of universal Tinker, meaning he can make anything, but only one copy of each, and even then they're either glitch-ridden or explode for some reason or the other. Über can learn any skill…mountain climbing, swordsmanship, welding, joinery…you name it, and he can learn it. Together, those two cause more trouble than they're worth."

"Huh…" I said in surprise.

"The only reason they've survived so long is that they're smart enough to ignore most of the other local villain groups. From what I've heard the Empire 88 and the ABB would kill them if they messed with them and the Merchants don't seem to care about the Unwritten Rules, so they'd go after them when they were at home." Dodge continued to rant.

"Wait, you know what the Unwritten Rules are?" I asked curiously. I'd only been able to find some vague references to them on PHO.

"Oh, right." Dodge groaned, whacking himself on his forehead lightly with the heel of his hand, "I keep forgetting you just Triggered recently, right? Okay then, they're fairly simple and straightforward so I don't think you'll have a problem. Number One: No unmasking capes or going after them when in their civilian identities or if they're off the clock. Number Two: No escalation. You fight a Cape; you immobilize them or knock them out. No unmasking or killing them unless there's a kill order involved, and even then it's frowned on by some. Number Three: No rape. Number Four: No involving another Cape's family if they aren't Capes themselves and definitely observe rule number one if they are. There are a few subtler little sub-rules, but those tend to be the biggest ones."

I nodded absently in thought, committing them to memory as best I could. "And does every cape follow them?" I asked curiously.

"A few don't, but it usually doesn't end well. Tends to put a very big target on your back; both from heroes and villains." Dodge replied uneasily, "The Slaughterhouse Nine, Nilbog, a couple of insane Tinkers are the few still alive that don't abide by the rules…and the only reason they're still alive is that they are all High-A or S-Class threats and have kill orders on them from the PRT and Protectorate. Anyone can kill them with no worries about legal action. Not something you want hanging over your head."

"Agreed." I shuddered at the thought of being in the same class as those people.

The Slaughterhouse Nine were a group of the worst Capes in existence. Murderers one and all, they killed without hesitation or mercy. The line-up had changed over the years, but the fear that their name invoked hadn't faded at all.

We then deliberately changed the subject and chatted about inconsequential things until all of the containers were gone.

"Right. Now to deliver your payment." Dodge said. He rifled around in his bag and pulled a boxlike device from it. He placed the device on the floor and pressed a button on the side before hastily backing off.

In a series of blue flashes, several large containers, approximately the same size as the cargo containers that had just been teleported out. But whereas those containers had been a dull blue with spots of rust, these new ones were white and brand new. Each had a symbol from the periodic table on it, designating what it contained; titanium, steel, plastic and several other supplies.

The next thing was a series of machines, the additional payment that Toybox had given me. All of them would be very useful when I was building my armor. I could feel my hands itch in anticipation.

The last thing to appear was a much larger container against the bow-side bulkhead. This one was half-again as big as the previous containers and was a dull red color.

Dodge pulled a remote from his pocket that had only two buttons on it, one red, one green, and handed it to me.

"Press the green button." he instructed with a grin on his face.

I quickly did as instructed, causing a whirring sound to emit from the large container as the entire side facing us seemed to collapse and the top retracted. Numerous lights flashed into existence as the portable lab, as I now realized it was, activated.

"Greetings." a soft female voice said, "I am TB-067B, a VA designed by the Toybox. Please state the name of my new owner."

"Thought of a new one?" Dodge asked in a whisper.

I nod at him, step forward and say loudly, "Riptide."

"Acknowledged." The voice said, "TB-067B is now under the jurisdiction of the Cape Riptide. Please state a designation for this unit."

Considering how much research I'd been doing on water-related entities recently it didn't take me long to come up with an appropriate name.

"Amphitrite." I stated. The wife of Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, seemed appropriate.

"Acknowledged. This unit is now designated as Amphitrite." the VA stated, "Awaiting final release phrase from Toybox to complete transfer of ownership."

"Amphitrite, acknowledge transfer code 54321, authorization Dodge alpha, lambda, lambda, delta, omicron, nu, epsilon. Confirm full and complete transfer of ownership to the Cape known as Riptide." Dodge said clearly.

"Transfer code 54321 acknowledged." Amphitrite said softly, "Authorization code accepted. This unit is now sole property of Riptide."

"Well, that's everything you asked for, aside from the Kevlar." Dodge said with a nod, "We've been having a bit of trouble getting it together, but it'll be delivered within the next couple of days at most. I do apologize for that."

"I think I have enough to be getting on with." I said dryly, gesturing at the large number of machines and supplies I had to work with.

Dodge chuckled "Good point." he agreed with a nod, "I take it that this place is going to be your base?"

"Err…yeah…how'd you-?" I said.

"For a hydrokinetic, a location surrounded by water is ideal for a base." Dodge replied, "And really, why else would you be looking around the Evermore?"

He made a good point.

"One final thing." Dodge said as he withdrew an orange phone from his pocket and passed it to me, "This can only ring one number, that of Toybox. If you need anything further, contact us and we'll work out a trade."

"Wow…thanks." I muttered in surprise.

"Meh. You've proven to be a good customer and we love repeat business." the other Cape said with a shrug, "That and we value people who are straight with us. It's a rare thing."

After I escorted Dodge to the bridge and watched him teleport out, I returned to the hold and grinned.

Time to get started.