My first day back to school had been awkward. There were lots of whispered and pointed stares as I walked down the hall.

After I busted out of my locker I had stumbled to the nurse's office who had promptly shrieked at the sight of me. To be fair, I had been covered in a lot blood. After that I had gotten taken to the hospital where the doctors had declared me to be in surprisingly good condition but the school had given me two weeks off anyway. It was nice getting a respite from the trio, even if I had gotten bored after a while, and it wasn't like I was going to try testing out my powers in the house. The destructive potential was just far too high. In retrospect, I should have spent some of that time at the library researching the local capes. The fight with the two telekinetic Nazi's proved I was a bit under-informed in that regard.

At least none of the bullies had tried anything, though that might have been because the teachers were all keeping an eye on me. After Principal Blackwell had promised my father that nothing like the locker would happen again it would look really bad for her if I came home the first day back and complained about bullying. Still, I was tentatively hopeful that the bullies would back off from now on.

Not like they can really do anything worse than stuffing me in a locker full of…

I shuddered at the memory and made my way to my homeroom, which was also my first class. Mrs. Knott gave me a friendly smile as I walked in and took my seat. There hadn't been as many people in the hallway talking about me as yesterday, but I was still the subject of several discussions. No one ever approached me and asked what happened though. Even when the people sat next to me in class, they'd rather gossip about it in the hallways than talk to me. I was torn how I felt about that. While I didn't want to talk about it and relive what happened, if an experience like that happened to someone else I'd like to think I'd ask them how they were doing.

Since class hadn't started yet I pulled up a random search engine and started looking for outfits of King Arthur. I don't know what had caused me to blurt out Caledfwlch when the Director had asked if I picked a name out yet. I had told Assault I hadn't, why had I wanted a name to give to that lady? At least it was tangentially related to my power, and Battery had actually gotten the reference.

I knew that I didn't want to wear a full suit of armor, for several reason. First, there was no way I'd be able to afford that. Second, people would probably mistake me for a dude, which I didn't want. Third, a suit of armor seemed awfully generic, I wanted to be memorable. I wanted my costume to be a reflection of me, not a reflection of strong tough cape #367.

I found a painting of Arthur in a chainmail suit with a red...overcoat? Overrobe? What's the term for cloth worn on top of chainmail? After googling for a bit, I discovered the answer was called a surcoat. So he's wearing chainmail head to toe with a red surcoat and gold coronet. The face is exposed but beyond that, this could totally work at a cape costume. Probably too expensive though. A quick search confirmed my fears. A bottom-of-the-barrel chain shirt was over a hundred bucks, I didn't even bother looking at the prices for a complete suit.

Okay, maybe after I save some people and make some money I can buy something good. That still leaves me with the problem of what I wear in the meantime though.

Hmm, well apparently a lot of people online associate a white surcoat with a yellow sun that has a face….and a mustache, what the hell?….with King Arthur so I could sew that symbol onto a white shirt but there is no way that wouldn't look homemade.

I grumbled to myself and contemplated smacking my head into the keyboard. There just weren't any good, affordable options for me when it came to costumes, especially not with the theme I'd given myself.

I wonder if I could call the PRT up and request a name change? Course if I did that they might ask why and then I'd have to tell them it's because I'm too broke to get a costume for that name. Ugh, that'd be way too embarrassing.

My musing was interrupted by the bell ringing, signaling a start to first period. Mrs. Knott gave out an assignment that was make-busy work for most of the class but I was able to finish it in fifteen minutes.

Excel spreadsheet creation, man that was difficult, I deadpanned to myself.

I spent the rest of the period doing something I should have done a week ago, research the local heroes and villains. There were a lot. Brockton Bay wasn't in the top five cities for cape population in the US but it was in the top ten.

Eventually, class ended and I shut down the computer. I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the school day. First period was my favorite class, partially because Mrs. Knott let advanced students like myself surf the internet after we completed our assignments but also because it was the only class I had that a member of the Trio wasn't also in. I had to deal with Madison in World Affairs, Emma in Math, and then Sophia and Madison in Art. Then again, yesterday hadn't been terrible.

As I was making my way towards my next class I could see Madison and several of her friends hanging out in the hallway. Seeing as how they were all in the class and sat near each other, it was a little odd that they were out here instead of in there, especially since Gladly always got to class a little late anyway.

My suspicions were confirmed when I felt someone bump into my back at the same time my foot caught on something and I sprawled forward onto the floor. The girls by the door all erupted in giggles.

"Whoops, my bad," I heard Sophia Hess say, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "Didn't see you there Hebert. Guess I got used to not having to look for you while you were gone."

I gingerly picked myself up off the floor. I hadn't landed very well so my wrists and elbows stung. How is it I can take an I-beam to the face no problem but a trip from Sophia still hurts me?

As I stood up I was bracing myself for the next jab, verbal or physical, that would get thrown my way. Indeed, Madison and her groupies seemed to be standing there, waiting for the same thing. But Sophia was staring at her phone with a scowl on her face.

With a mutter of, "Why'd he pick now of all times," Sophia turned on her heels and stalked off, leaving both myself and the rubberneckers of the hallway surprised.

Not about to question my good luck, I grabbed my backpack and walked into the classroom.

I wonder who Sophia was talking about, I pondered as I headed towards my desk. I can't imagine she's got a boyfriend. The idea of Sophia doing anything cutsie or romantic with a guy was unfathomable. I'd sooner believe that Lung and Kaiser were carrying on in a torrid love affair than I'd believe that.

Checking to make sure there wasn't any glue or soda or anything spilled on my seat, I eyeballed Madison coming into the classroom as I sat down. She had clearly expected more out of Sophia in the hallway so whatever the message was, Madison didn't know the details involved either.

Deciding that I probably wasn't going to figure it out any further, I pulled some blank paper out of my bookbag as Mr. Glady walking into the room.

Things went normally from there. Mr. Glady talked about boring history stuff while trying to be cool and get along with the students by using 'hip' slang. It wasn't quite cringe worthy levels of uncomfortable, but it was close. Personally, I just wish he'd get to the cape section of the class. That was bound to be interesting, even more so now that I was a cape and could relate to it. Granted, I would have preferred to get taught about capes by a teacher that cared more about teaching than being liked but this was Winslow, I'd take what I could get.

Mr. Gladly was partway through his quote unquote lecture when the classroom's phone rang. I could tell he was annoyed with the interruption, it had cut short one of his 'jokes' after all.

He answered the phone and the class waited as we heard half the conversation.

"Yes?"

"Yes...what for?"

"Okaaaay?"

"It's just-"

"...alright."

Mr. Gladly hung up the phone and turned back to the class. "Taylor, gather your things. You need to go down to the main office. And no, I don't know why, they wouldn't tell me."

What the hell? Why am I getting called down to the office now? Both my dad and I had already had a talk with Principal Blackwell before I came back to school so I doubted it was about the locker. Maybe the police investigation finally found something? I tried not to let myself get too hopeful as I packed my notes into my bookbag and stood up. I could hear Madison whispering to someone about how I must be in trouble for buying drugs from a Merchant.

As I walked out of the classroom I overheard Mr. Glady attempt to restart his joke. I could only shake my head. A joke is all about delivery and timing, if you interrupt it before the punchline you might as well forget it and move on, you've killed its momentum.

It wasn't a terribly long walk to the front office, but it wasn't a short one either. It was just long enough for my brain think about what Madison had said and worry me into a fritz about what this was all about.

Is it about the locker?

Did someone accuse me of selling drugs?

Is this some new plan by the Trio? Is that why Sophia left?

Could the PRT be here to arrest me for the other night?

Did Krieg die? Am I a murderer?

What if there was a gang fight at the Docks and they're letting me know Dad was hurt? Or dead?

By the time I got to the office, I was practically hyperventilating and on the verge of tears despite the fact that I knew I was being paranoid and illogical.

I walked in and saw the secretary sitting at her desk, typing away on her computer.

"I'm-" I stopped as my voice cracked. I took several deep breaths to calm myself down. "I'm Taylor Hebert. I was told to come to the front office?"

The secretary smiled. It was a warm, honest smile. Okay, so I'm probably not in trouble then. If I was about to be arrested I doubt she'd look at me like that.

"That's right honey. Just head into the conference room over there," she said with a wave of her hand in the general direction of an unlabeled door.

I walked over to the door, my nervousness returning to haunt the back of my mind. As I grasped the doorknob I turned to look back at the secretary. She gave me an encouraging nod.

I opened the door and stepped through.

"Hello there Miss Hebert. I'm Assault, a member of the Protectorate. Here with me is one of the Wards, Shadow Stalker."