A Hell of a Time

I'd noticed something off about Panacea when Glory Girl had gotten back. She'd been oddly distant, and when she mentioned that the should probably heal the Azn Bad Boy thugs she'd been pretty cold about it... Glory Girl had noted my lack of a mask and asked if I wanted to join New Wave, but... well. Even without how odd Panacea had acted it didn't feel right, they were a family team. Also, well, going out had been an impulse decision. I didn't know if being Akuma was going to be a full-time thing... Or even if I wanted to be a hero... The two members of New Wave had looked at me funny when I'd mentioned that I wasn't sure if I'd keep doing the hero thing.

At least, when I mentioned needing to get home, they said that they'd call the authorities and give Akuma as the name of the cape who took down the gangsters, and there's been a mention of that on PHO this morning. Panacea had even healed the bruise from the gunshot.

I'd managed to sneak back in without being caught and I'd slept better than I'd had in a long time, and in general I'd woken up feeling great, which was good because today was my first day back at school. For some stupid reason, being a "parahuman" who couldn't hide what she was, by itself, wasn't enough to get me in home school or an Equivalency Program or something like that. It's bullshit, all anybody has to do is look at me to know I've got powers, and Winslow High is just lousy with gangs... And now I'm hoping that those two bastards who got away didn't give a very good description of me to anybody they might have run into. God damn it going out last night was stupid.

I made it to school just fine, with the worst happening being a few people staring at my eyes and ears. A nice toothy grin scared them off. The first class of the day was computers, which went about as well you could expect-first few minutes of people staring at me, Mrs. Knot occasionally asking me if I was okay, and then the rest of class went normally-do simple programming thing, then whatever you want. I was good in this class, and there weren't any bitches to make me worry, so programming a set of virtual wires to hold a virtual current to make a virtual light bulb took me less than half the class. Nothing else to do, I decided to check out the ABB on a few of those Parahuman wikis. I'd fought them once, and I really couldn't hide who I was, so I might have to worry about tangling with one of their capes.

The Leader of the Group Was Lung, and I'd picked the general knowledge stuff and most of the rumors: Regenerator and Pyrokinetic, the longer a fight went on, the bigger he got, he also grew scales and claws and when he got bigger, his regeneration and pyrokinetic abilities got stronger. Rumors say that he eventually sprouts wings. There were also unsubstantiated rumors that he fought the Endbringer Leviathan to a draw, one that said he owned a motorized lay-z-boy recliner, one that said he had an irrational fear of fedoras.

The only other cape was a guy who went by Oni Lee. Lee was a teleporter who left a copy of himself behind, but the copies eventually turned to dust. He's apparently not much of a talker, but beyond that...

And no other capes... I could have sworn that they had more, but that was it.

Class ended around the time I finished my research, so I logged off and left. School went pretty smoothly until Lunch time. On my way to the cafeteria, a trio of Asian students blocked off the hall. Everybody else saw what was happening and went around the other way. Winslow High, ladies, and gentlemen.

The three of them stepped forward, the one in the middle, with a red and green bandanna on his arm, looked familiar.

"My brother got arrested last night," the familiar one said, and it clicked: He looked like the thug who'd given me my name, "His friends got away, said that my brother and two others got beaten up by a monster cape girl with red eyes, black hair, and pointy ears." He cracked his knuckles, and I began to wonder if he was seriously this stupid. "Sound familiar?"

I blinked, and then answered flatly, "I've got superhuman strength and I'm tough enough to take a bullet like it's nothing." I smiled and flashed my fangs for just a second, "do you really want to do this?"

Bad Boy Junior stepped back. "No. But I'll get you back eventually, bitch." Then he and his crew turned and left.

At first, I shook my head and kept walking, but then I thought of Dad. The two runners had blabbed... If those three tell anyone else in the gang that Taylor Hebert was the cape who took out some of... I didn't think I was a big enough deal to get Lung's attention, but if a couple of thugs with guns showed up at the house or the Dockyard to get Dad... No, there hadn't been enough time. I'd talk to Dad later, and we'd talk about what to do then.

It wasn't even five minutes after getting to the cafeteria that I was accosted by a blonde guy with a swastika tattooed on his exposed arm.

"The word going around the school," the Nazi wannabe said, "is that you're a cape that fucked up some Japs or chinks or whatever last night. Kaiser's always on the lookout for capes willing to fuck up the slants." Kaiser was another Super Villain, a metal manipulator, and the leader of Empire 88, a gang of Neo-Nazis. "I know a guy, who knows a guy who says he's Kaiser's cousin." Translation, he knows a guy who knows a guy who's probably full of shit. "I can get you in, and Kaiser would probably give you a good deal for signing up. Like keeping you and yours safe from yellow fucks out to get you for what you did last night."

I gave the Hitler youth reject a fake smile. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not so sure the Empire's for me." There's no record of the Empire having monster capes of any kind, and considering that they were Nazis, well I was dark haired, red eyed, and literally only half human. That's about as far from the ideal pure Aryan as you got, so it was unlikely that they'd let me in even if I wanted to join. "How about you let me think about it and I'll get back to you?"

The idiot who was probably trying to use me to make himself look better without thinking it through smiled and walked away, more or less confirming my assessment of his intelligence. I rolled my eyes and went to get some food.

Ten minutes later, and the fucking Trio show up. Emma Barnes, the traitorous bitch who used to be my best friend, Sophia Hess, the violent psycho who'd replace me in Emma's life out of nowhere, and Madison Clements, who I had no prior connection to. They were the three bitches who'd been trying to ruin my life for the last year and a half, they were the ones that shoved me in that locker. I saw them coming, and before they even opened their mouths I just looked at them and said "no."

"No what Taylor?" my former best friend asked, as though she were completely innocent.

"No, I'm not dealing with any of your shit today, Emma. So, you and your friends can just turn the fuck around and leave, because this is the third fucking time in less than twenty minutes that somebody has tried to bug me over something and I just want to eat and leave." I took a deep breath, and concluded: "so fuck off."

Emma looked mad, "how d-"

"About time," Sophia interrupted. Then she motioned for the others to follow and walked away. Emma had looked ever so confused before following after my violent replacement like a puppy, while Madison looked at me, shrugged, and then went after.

The rest of my school day was uneventful.