In the end everything collides

"So why rob an electronics store? If you're so determined to avoid detection and can get hold of enough explosives to wreck a store then why bother robbing the store? Surely it would be cheaper to just buy the stuff they wanted? What could they really be getting out of this?"

She watched as Aaron cleaned himself up, the tap spluttering for a moment, before spitting out a stream of brown water. After a moment the murky liquid cleared, which was fortunate as the man proceeded to fill his mouth with it. In truth Sonnet had no idea if the water in that thing was even drinkable. He was apparently interested in the room, which was strange, as there wasn't much of interest in it.

She frowned at his indirect accusation, "This isn't an attempt to imprison you if that's what you're asking."

She was insulted that he would insinuate such a thing. She might be a criminal, but there was such a thing as a code of honour. The Yakuza was bound by their own code, but Sonnet's was perhaps even stricter than that of the famously honourable Japanese syndicate. She stiffened noticeably, her fists clenching ever so slightly.

"Out of deference to your last victory, I'll gloss over that, but be careful in suggesting such things. When I try to kill you, you will know about it."

A deliberate choice of words, when. After all, the Hero had embarrassed her the last time they had come into contact. Sonnet's reputation was important to her, not least because she was one of the few female members of the Yamaguchi-Gumi, which meant a lot when you were a member of one of the largest and most powerful criminal organisations in the world. She was lucky she hadn't lost a finger after the last time she had gone up against the potent metahuman, but she would be more prepared next time.

It was strange, to have such an ironclad sense of honour, and yet be a member of the criminal underworld. Though strangely, it was rarely her honour that gave her problems.

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

"I'll leave those magazines to you, although let me know if you find any half-eaten burgers. Teleporting really takes it out of me."

Her lip curled in disgust at the thought of a group of men attempting to kidnap a young girl. She didn't know why exactly they might try such a thing, but she could imagine. The Yakuza was heavily involved in human trafficking, and Sonnet had her dealings with those aspects of the business, but it was rare that they dealt in children. Usually she turned her conscience away from that side of the business.

Sonnet barely registered the explosion, her instincts kicking in the moment she heard and felt it. She reappeared a moment later in her apartment, in a spot she kept intentionally clear and out of the way so that it would always be safe for her to appear there. It was fortunate that she'd spent so long training those instincts into herself, she'd been stood next to the door of the building. Who knows what might have happened if she had still been there. She focused a moment, visualising the alley she had been in for a moment, then reconsidering.

A moment later she appeared twenty feet further down the alleyway that she had been. Fire and smoke was billowing into it from the destroyed store, but Aaron was nowhere to be seen. She walked back down the alleyway towards it, leaning away from the heat of the flames. She didn't know if the Hero could have taken that blast and walked away, but he wasn't anywhere near the pile of unconscious men by the van. She walked out into the street, wary that she would have to leave soon as she heard sirens in the distance.

"Tank?!"

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

Oddly enough they both turned and frowned at the same time. This was Yakuza territory, and in Yakuza territory they paid protection money. That left two options, either this store had not paid its dues, or the people currently robbing it were stupid enough to rob a Yakuza protected store.

Sonnet was betting on the latter.

She took the bandanna from him, smiling at the makeshift mask. Most of the Heroes wore professionally designed costumes, made from a variety of space age fabrics that offered them extra protection on top of that from their powers. This guy didn't bother with the branding, didn't bother with the image, he just got the job done. She could admire that.

"Fine, no killing, but I'm not promising that they won't wish I did."

She wrapped the black fabric about her face, glad that she had come dressed practically tonight. Not that it would have mattered much, but she would have been furious if she'd gotten blood on a dress. When she was working she dressed in hard wearing, if stylish clothes, for more social events she liked to dress up, or down, often showing off a great deal of the complex tattoos that adorned her figure.

A fraction of a second later she vanished, appearing in front of the man who had his back to Tank and jabbing her extended fingers into his throat. His hands flew to his neck and he staggered back making choking noises. They vanished into a high pitched mewl of pain as she sank her boot into his crotch, then stopped entirely as her knee met his head on its way down.

She looked up at the Hero, the dim light of the alley betraying the savage joy in her eyes.

"Try and keep up."

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

It was late, and the Church was mostly empty, the faint yellow light of street lamps entering through the windows and catching dust as it spiralled through the stale air. She had been kneeling at the back of the church for nearly half an hour, her hands clasped and her head bowed. She wasn't sure why she still came here after all this time. Father Mathias had known her since she was young, and he had always had that insufferable habit of being right. He was also one of the only people she actually trusted.

Her mother had brought her to church every Sunday, and through everything she had remained steadfastly religious. Her father had not been as devout as her mother, but he had at least a passing interest in religion. She'd known Father Mathias since she had moved to America; he had always been kind to her, helping her to move beyond her broken English. As such he was one of the few who could speak to her with much in the way of familiarity. And who could tell her off.

As though he could hear her thoughts the priest appeared from the back of the church. He was dressed more casually, in a black shirt and slacks, a brief flash of white at the base of his throat denoting his clerical collar. He spotted her, smiled, and turned to walk down the aisle towards her.

She rose, raising her head, and he paused as he saw the substantial black eye she had received during her fight with Aaron, the Hero Tank. It had been hidden in shadow while she had knelt, but the flickering light of the candles now threw it into stark relief. He frowned disapprovingly, gesturing towards the confessional booth with a questioning look.

She nodded once, and a few seconds later she was knelt outside the booth while he sat inside. It was ritualistic, but to both of them it was important ritual, especially to Sonnet. In this situation Mathias was bound by the seal of the confessional, and Sonnet knew that the Priest would not break that lightly.

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned…"

---

It hadn't been all that hard to track down the Hero, after all, she knew his name, and his face. She wondered how much that might worry him. She was a member of the Yakuza, a dangerous metahuman, and a confirmed killer after all. On the other hand, he had taken everything she had to throw at him last time, so maybe he wasn't too worried if people could find him out of costume. He must be pretty hard to kill.

She'd followed him from the rooftops, keeping well out of sight and using her ability to ensure that no one could have tracked her movements. Eventually, she found her moment.

There was a sound like an exhalation behind Tank in the alley he had just walked into, then…

"Thanks."

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

Sonnet glared at the man, being reminded that he had beaten her did not do much for her mood, nor did the reminder of just how vulnerable she had been once he had knocked her out. His power seemed to be a physical change to his body; hers was entirely dependent on being aware in order for it to protect her. That and he had that unbearable quality about him that reminded her so much of the priest.

And just like that, he was letting her go, which made her even more furious. Perhaps it was pragmatism. After all, she hadn't found anything that could stop her teleporting. She'd spent some time experimenting with her powers, working out just what she could and couldn't do. As a result she'd actually rented a tiny little apartment out of Manhattan that she'd simply stacked mattresses in. It wouldn't help her if she hit terminal velocity, but it should at least keep her alive if she fell off a building.

She wondered for a moment if dropping this guy off a building would do any damage. He'd seemed fairly tough, taken a kick to his jaw that should have knocked him out without even flinching. But he'd beaten her fair and square; he'd at least earned a respite from her attacks, even if holding herself back felt like a physical effort right now.

She watched as he walked away, itching to try something, but not stupid enough to do so, still groggy as she was from unconsciousness.

She cursed under breath in Japanese, it would take some explaining to not lose the tip of a finger for this failure. With a sound like an indrawn breath Sonnet vanished from the alleyway.

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

Whether he'd simply absorbed the shot and played dead, or if she'd been unlucky enough that he'd moved out of the way she didn't know. What she did know was that his wildly swinging arm caught her by the jacket and yanked her close, greeting her with a rapidly approaching forehead. It caught her in the face, shattering the mask entirely and snapping her head back. She went limp almost immediately.

She didn't know how long she had been out, but when she woke up she was not in the back of a police car as she had expected, but propped up against a wall in an alleyway. She curled her lip as the stench hit her, there was an open and overflowing dumpster a little way down the alleyway, and one of the bags dumped beside it had split, letting out a pungent aroma.

The man sat opposite her was still in costume, at least mostly. He had pulled down his mask to reveal a strong jawed face. It was the guy from the burger joint. She didn't move, wary that he might attempt to put her down again, more permanently this time. Rolling her eyes, she examined him, looking for any evidence of damage. There were a few scratches and rips in his costume, but whether she had caused that or it had already been there she had no idea.

Her head hurt, and she grimaced as she spoke "So what… you liked the look of me so you aren't going to turn me in?"

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

In the end everything collides

When she had reappeared Sonnet noted that he had taken absolutely no damage, although that was more due to his fast reactions than his power. Unless fast reactions were part of it as well. It was always possible, but he didn't seem the type. Just clever then.

She hadn't expected him to completely ignore the effects of the flashbangs. She'd been absent from the room at the time, so had no way of knowing whether the flashbang had caught him or not. It was probably what resulted in her near death. She'd gotten cocky. When she reappeared it was to be greeted by a flying set of shelving. She repeated her previous manoeuvre, flashing past the heavy metal.

A fist met her coming the other way, and it was only a lifetime of training and instincts that made her pull her head back at the last second. As it was the blow was enough to make her spin. She disappeared, reappearing in a different room and out of sight still spinning. The guy hit like a truck.

She straightened her mask, grimacing when she realised his blow had cracked the faceplate. It held together, but another blow like that and it would be gone, if the blow didn't crack her skull anyway. Something to do with resilience then, otherwise his fist wouldn't have been hard enough to damage it with such a glancing blow. She wouldn't be so cocky next time.

She reappeared on the steps, yanking the Katana that had been left there out of the wall. The man it had held up slowly crumpled to the ground with a faint groan. Well he was still alive. That was something. She paused for a moment, looking up at the man at the top of the stairs. Nodding in respect she spoke with that harsh, flat tone again.

"I won't be trying that again."

She wasn't so arrogant as to think it a lucky blow. He'd outsmarted her then. It shouldn't have happened. She wouldn't be so foolish next time.

"It seems that you have the high ground."

And it was unlikely that he was going to relinquish it any time soon. Her vanishing from this position would surely lead to him whipping around expecting an attack from the other side, so she gave him exactly what he wanted. Reappearing behind him and charging… away from him?

Without giving him time to realise what she was doing she reappeared back where she had started, but halfway up the wall, and now with a whole lot more momentum. She'd jumped up before she'd teleported, aiming her heel at his chin as he turned back to face this new attack.

My childhood spat back out the monster that you see