[Authorities? Bah.]
Taylor decided after a assault in November to get proactive with her former friend and the two others. Like a Cerberus they were the three headed bitches. With that in mind she asked her dad if he knew anybody that would hire her to do odd jobs or anything like that. Good thing about what he has done for so many years? He knew people, a lot of people it turns out.
So for a over a month she spent time helping out doing minor things, cleaning snow, sorting a shed or basement, being a gofer and things of that nature. Didn't pay much of course but it was enough that saved up she could afford some things. Such as a decent voice recorder that could go on for a solid hour, sure it wasn't long but for between classes throughout the day it was perfect.
The one thing she splurged on that took the money she saved up down to pretty much nothing though was one of those spy camera things. Looks like a pin but records what is going on, decent price because it could only go for a odd forty eight minutes at a time and the quality wasn't great. Also no sound, but the voice recorder fixed that.
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She had both on her for the first time the day after Christmas break. She did her homework on this kind of stuff and while it wouldn't hold up for most courts she wasn't going for that. This was for schooling and perhaps shaming them and their families publicly. As it was a public venue it was actually legal to record things like this as long as she didn't use it to make money or illegal purposes.
Now granted she didn't expect The Locker incident to happen, nor anything so horrific, but it did. Nearly five hours stuck in there, which is more than long enough to die from things like TSS. There was also the possibility of all kinds of infections, STD's, and so on. She was so shocked at it all that she actually forgot she had a recorded and spy camera on her and recording everything, and so they both continued to run until they ran out of space to record. They were the only two things of any sort to hear her screams of terror and cries of help.
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It was amazing really, how no one seemed to process those two things on her once she was free. The EMT and hospital certainly didn't. After days on heavy IV antibiotics and plenty of workups done on blood and urine she was let go. She was still mostly numb to everything that happened, hearing her father rant about the school saying they had no case and his quiet but still not quiet enough mumbles about the bills caused her to act.
First she contacted a lawyer and told him everything that happened and about the recordings. His response was while there was a case it didn't look good because of how the school already cleaned so much up. The lack of other evidence hurt, despite her journal to back things up as well. Annoyed, she got a bus ride to the police station and waited around until someone was free. Asking again about things and showing what she could had the officer agreeing that what was done was wrong, but there wasn't much that can be done and how sorry he was because of that.
Now outright enraged she searched online about laws. Being shoved and forcefully contained in a small enclosed spot with a bio-hazard, the attempted murder because that was what it was, assault as well tacked on as if a cherry on a treat. So many different laws were broken and could be dropped on her abusers she figured there must be a way for something to get done.
Deciding that local help was never going to happen in this ever more shitty city Taylor went onto the FBI, and CDC websites and sent them both emails with all information and recordings. At the library she scanned every page of her notebook to go along with the recordings, hospital file that she made sure to grab after asking her dad for it and her personal account. Can't forget what the one lawyer and officer said either, so that was added as well for good measure.
However she wanted to pad things a bit in her favor, so directly before sending those emails she loaded them up on Youtube, PHO, and different media sites. She also sent emails to the local news outlets along with the higher up ones such as CNN. As she sent those before doing so to the governments she figured to hopefully sidestep anything that would land herself in trouble.
To finish it all off she looked up and contacted each person on the school board then sent them copies as well. Taking one tiny step further she did the same to the two other well known schools in the area such as Arcadia.
Which is now where we find her letting out a sigh while leaning back in her chair, hoping someone will finally stand up and say they will help. Taylor tried to let authority do the job at the school, and now multiple times since. If this falls through she wasn't sure what to do that wouldn't land her in jail.
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One week later we have Taylor leaning back into a couch while watching tv, huge smile on her face. Why? A popular person on one of the media sites happened to see what she put up and took a shine. That well known person then put it up all over their own pages asking why no one was helping this young girl.
It went viral from there, and quickly got multiple government agencies off their bloated asses to help. Right now the TV was showing the news about the school temporarily being closed down due to investigations. Police, lawyers, and reporters were contacting her. While each had their own motives it also served her as well so big plus there.
After talking to some lawyers her and her dad decided on one that has done cases against schools before. This lawyer also agreed they would only be paid if they won. Well, they were paid as that woman won the case though it did take quite some time. As in more than a year, but the money made up for that wait greatly. It also helped that the judge and jury by agreeing said for all intents and purposes that the state, government, and the people agreed what happened to her was wrong.
Though that person who was well known? Taylor thanked them, massively, and said things were getting done only because of them. That they helped and did more for her than any authority every, how if they ever needed help she would do what she could.
In the end Emma got six months probation along with one hundred hours of community services and mandatory counseling. Though no one in the school would communicate with her. It eventually got so bad she pleaded with her dad to transfer schools or for homeschooling which is the one she got. Her minor modelling career dying from the fallout and she never truly went anywhere.
Madison got off the lightest with only fifty hours of community services and suspension from school, she asked her parents for a transfer to a different school which she got. At that new school she didn't make any friends and had to deal with minor bullying, however after graduating Madison somehow found religion, so much so she eventually became a counselor at a school for Catholics to help troubled teens. Wonders never cease.
The now former principle Blackwell was fired and couldn't find another job at any school. Blackwell got very lucky with just one year in prison for trying to conceal a crime along with six months probation afterwards. She was forced to work minimum wage as a low level secretary for the rest of her life, all her hard work and years of college now meaning nothing thanks to what she did.
As for Sophia? She was sentenced for two years in juvie followed by two hundred hours of community service and some mandatory counseling as she was the by far most physical of the three. Thing was she never made it, she just vanished without a trace which was odd as Shadow Stalker also disappeared at the same time. There was some conspiracy theories how they were the same person and the PRT had her sent somewhere hidden to protect their PR but it was never proven despite some good evidence.
Taylor moved on, she got her transfer to Arcadia and became friends with Amy Dallon of all people. For some reason she managed to get Vicky to tone down her aura because of how badly it effected her which was how she originally met Amy. Taylor also after an hour long presentation about restraint had Vicky doing less damage over all to people and surroundings. Amazing what a genuine worried friend who doesn't mind research can accomplish. Taylor and Amy got together while they attended the same college, both moving on from Brockton Bay and any pressure or bad memories it had for them.
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AN: This one came from someone asking if they ever say Taylor act with intelligence when dealing with the Trio. For some reason my mind created an entire story pretty damn quickly so decided to share it with everyone. There is a ton of things wrong I am sure, laws and such, but just try to take it in good faith please? Different Earth, different laws after 30 years or so of parahumans and actual monsters.
I also kept away from things like Levy showing up or S9 because I just didn't want to deal with those things. This was a more about Taylor getting out and things getting better though I couldn't manage to also get Danny involved more. Kept messing that up so for now he is just a non-entity. I also never even mention if she is a parahuman or not because for the sake of this short story it doesn't matter one way or another.
This was also to show one person can make a difference. Only one person well known needs to stumble across something to get it out there, and in this case it was the never named popular online person. Though yeah granted popular/famous online person isn't the same as someone no one ever heard of hearing and caring about it, but eh still just one person.
Well, hope some people enjoyed this.
