He smiled slowly, “Let’s see…”

He thumbed through the phone’s menus until he found an email option.  He verified it could send attachments.

Oh boy.

The smart phone in his other hand, he found the web browser and did a search for local high schools.

Ohh boy. Gonna send these messages to the school?

Or maybe all the schools, since you don’t know with certainty which school they go to?

“Hmmm.  What school do you go to?  Arcadia?  No.  Immaculata?  No.  Clarendon?  Nope.  Winslow?”

He felt the slightest of reactions from her.  A hitching of breath, maybe.

Or do that. That works.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it, because the reactions were hers only because they were involuntary.

Nice.

Sophia:  and we cant get in trouble for just listening to music

Emma: ya

Sophia: cant believe you were her friend.

Oof, if Emma does regret her actions, this one’s gonna sting.

I’ve been thinking the same thing for almost a year, though.

Emma: she was lame but not depressing and lame @ same time.

Who do you think made her “depressing”??

Sophia: what did you say to make her cry?  that was awesome.  blew my mind.

Oh wait, this is more recent than I thought. This is after Taylor left her bag behind in 2.4, not the first time her bag got stolen (as described in Gestation).

Emma: (SAVED MESSAGE) crying hrself to sleep for a week?  she told me she did after her mommy died

Sophia:  you r so evil

But did Emma take that as the compliment it was intended as, or did it make her feel supremely shitty?

Emma: ya ya

Sophia: can i use that one on her?  saving that one for posterity btw

Emma: won’t have same bite to it.  brilliant bit was the suprise.  that slow realization abt what i meant.

There are two ways to read this. One is Emma genuinely thinking about how to best hurt Taylor. The other is Emma trying to convince Sophia not to do what Emma regrets doing herself.

Sophia: teach me o master

Emma: lol

Emma: wont be as good but i was thinking of that day.  think i remember musc we were listening to when she got the phone call abt her mom.

Now why would you be thinking about that?

But oh cod, are you suggesting playing the same music during an attack?

Emma: we shld wait a while and then see if she cries agn if we play it in hallways or b4 class.

Whether you take pride or shame from it, Emma, you are brilliantly evil.

Some were inane, others he just didn’t understand.  Then he found one that gave him pause, that confirmed his suspicions about who Emma was.

It seems like Taylor hasn’t told them about her exact relation to Sophia, though she’s let slip that she knows Sophia’s civilian name and what that was. Mixed with how Taylor acts and talks when Sophia is involved, Regent seems to have put two and two together and figured it out for himself.

Emma: what r u doing with her bag?

Ohhh boy, we’re going way back.

And it actually kinda sounds like Emma wasn’t on board with it? Maybe?

Sophia:  am in art class atm.  was thinking i can fill it with paint when teach leaves room.  put it in lost&found.  her art midterm is inside so she might look for it and find it and

Sheesh, always with the art projects.

Sophia: be all yay i found it and then she looks inside and sees its fucked

Emma: lol.

I’m not sure to what extent Emma was on board with what Sophia was doing, but if she wasn’t, she had at least decided to humor the murderous cape whose identity she’d discovered. Given how Sophia reacted to Skitter finding out, that might’ve been a good idea, as far as self-preservation goes.

Doesn’t mean I’m forgiving Emma, but it’s starting to become more understandable.

“Taking this out on patrol?  Is that stupidity or arrogance?  What if you lost it?”  He shook his head, then offered her a dramatic gasp, “What if it got into the wrong hands?”  Her voice was far better for the gasp than his own was.

He couldn’t help but chuckle after hearing it.

Hehe!

Or into her own hands under someone else’s control…

This Emma girl was listed in both of the phones.  Now he had a strong suspicion as to who it was.

How much did Taylor tell you about Sophia?

A quick read of the received texts gave away Shadow Stalker’s name, but he already knew that.  Taylor had let it slip, before.

Ah. That much, at least.

Her pulse was pounding now, and he could feel a growing sense of… what was that?  Outrage?  She was pissed at the invasion of privacy.

On top of everything else.

He tried a giggle on for size, to see if he could, and to see if it irritated her.  It worked on both counts.

Ahaha

“Contacts,” he murmured, pressing a button, “Weld, Clockblocker, Vista, Flechette, Kid Win… boring.  Nothing I can work with, here.”  Director Piggot?  No.  Some potential there, maybe, but she was probably on top of this body-snatching situation.  Fully informed.

Which leaves the one other contact we know of.

Emma Barnes.

He scrolled down.  Beyond the contacts that had been pinned to the top of the list, there was a short list of contacts that were sorted in order of who had been contacted most recently.  At the top of the list was an ‘Emma Barnes’.

Here we go. What the hell kind of trouble can Regent cause between these two now?

He checked the other, older phone.  No password.  A quick examination showed it was her civilian phone.

Ah, hang on, something else to do first. Although maybe he won’t make that call, since he doesn’t seem to know anything about Emma.

I mean, anything he knows that he knows.