Taylor managed to ride out the rest of the week mostly uneventfully. Y'know, aside from uncontrollably Mastering everyone around her. So of course all shit had to break loose on Friday morning.

She was awoken by an insistent buzzing of the flip phone as it vibrated across her desk. She glanced at the clock and it said 6:30, fully 45 minutes before she normally woke up. The phone stopped buzzing and Taylor closed her eyes to fall back asleep when the phone started buzzing again. Crap, whoever it was would probably keep calling. Who even had the number any-

Lisa.

What was that bitch doing calling her at godawful in the morning? Taylor groggily sat up and grabbed the phone.

"What."

Lisa spoke hurriedly and intensely. "I know you don't want to hear from me, QB, but you have to know this. Those idiots Uber and Leet posted their video this morning. And yeah, Leet didn't put you in the vid, but the absolute moron put your face in the thumbnail instead! Still don't know whether your power transmits through pics or videos, but you need to be prepared in case it does."

...

Shit.

"QB? I can hear you breathing. I know you feel overwhelmed right now, but you need to keep it together. I have some suggestions if you want to hear them."

Taylor responded in a flat tone. "And what help would I want from you, Lisa."

Lisa paused a moment. "Yeah, that's fair. So here's the deal. You already figured out that I'm a cape. My power is that I can extract a lot of info from the smallest clues. Like Sherlock Holmes dialed up to fifteen. And I don't even need to use it to tell that if your power works over the internet, you're about to get a lot of unwanted attention. You don't want anything to do with me, but right now I'm your best bet to see things coming for you."

Taylor clenched her jaw. "...Fine. What are your suggestions?"

"First, if you don't have any means of self defense, get some and keep it with you at all times. Pepper spray, brass knuckles, hell, even a sharp kitchen knife if that's all you can get. Most people are going to see you, think you're nice or whatever, and go on with their day. The weirdos and freaks, though... Being prepared never hurts.

"Second, I'd say don't trust anyone who's overly nice to you, but you already have that covered in spades. Just try to differentiate between unwanted attention from the socially awkward and from people who will do bad things because they like you.

"Going to school is probably okay, because you've already affected everyone there and nobody's come after you yet. Be careful of any new people. Talk with your father about preparing a bolthole out of the city if that becomes necessary.

"Finally, and I can't believe I'm saying this, go to the Protectorate if you have to. If you can convince them you have powers, they'll take you into protective custody. I'd hold that as a last resort though, since they really don't like human masters. Gallant is only one of three Wards nationwide that I know of."

Taylor ground out a "Fine. Anything else to take under advisement?"

"Keep the phone handy. I can text you a heads-up on anything I spot. And your patience is almost run out, so I'll hang up now. Just be careful, Queen. I think we could've been friends even without your power and I don't want you to get hurt."

With that, the line went dead. Taylor flipped the phone closed and angrily mulled over what she'd been told. Goddamn Uber and Leet. And she did have that baton that the locker thief had left her. She ought to practice with it. Maybe thump the tree in the backyard some. But ugh, not right now. Fuck Lisa for. waking her up this early, even if it did turn out to be a necessary thing.

School was more of the same. Taylor was still twitchy at things as small as nodding at her in acknowledgment as they passed by, but it was overall getting... easier to handle. That is until third period World Issues, when Greg latched onto her the moment she walked into the classroom.

"Taylor! I saw you online this morning! I mean, I saw a video with you in it. Well, not really in it, but you were the thumbnail for it and that's really cool! Uber and Leet make the funniest videos and it was cool that you were involved. Were you there? Is that why they had your picture? What was it like? I bet it was scary, but kinda fun, like a roller-coaster. Did you meet them? Did you get an autogr-"

"Greg. Calm down."

Greg, mercifully, actually shut the fuck up, even if he was bouncing in his seat like he was a three-year-old or something. Taylor sat in her usual seat, reflexively checking to make sure there wasn't any juice or glue or anything on it. She suspected it would take a while before she stopped doing that, even if Madison wasn't doing it any more. As soon as she was settled in and took out her textbook, though, Greg resumed talking like a fast flowing river of nonsense.

"Sorry. I mean, I guess if you were there that it was probably scary, even if they don't usually hurt people. Well, those prostitutes on the GTA gig, but that was just one time and they apologized. I wish I could be in one of their videos someday, that'd be so cool! You know, PHO says that they do some online gaming too, under different handles. I wonder if I've ever played with them. Did you hear about the latest update to Space Force Command? Totally changed the meta-"

"Greg. I. Don't. Care. Can you just leave me alone today?"

"O-okay, Taylor."

He deflated, looking somewhat like a kicked puppy. With mange. And hey, at least Taylor knew that him liking her wasn't because of her power, not entirely. Some cold comfort, that. She sighed and spoke to him.

"I woke up way too early this morning and I'm tired. I just need to be left alone right now."

Greg perked up a bit and made a motion as if he was zipping his mouth shut. Such sweet relief.

For once, Gladly spent most of the class actually teaching. Well, talking anyway. Nothing she couldn't find out on PHO or by doing a Gaggel search at the library. The rest of the day went more or less in the same vein, though teachers were calling on her more. And either praising her when she got the question right or ever so gently reminding her of the correct answer when she was wrong. Both made her skin crawl. Lunch with the Trio and assorted hangers-on was more of the same inane chatter as the other day, but Taylor tuned most of it out as she focused on her more important problem.

An errant motion of her foot made her bookbag tip over and there was a muffled metal clink as the baton within struck the floor. Taylor flinched at the sound and quickly pulled the bag up onto her lap. Sophia furrowed her brow and spoke quietly enough that only Emma could overhear.

"Hebert, whatever you got in there, make sure you know how to use it. The strong need to show their strength. Let me know if you need help. I might know someone who can train you."

Taylor was taken aback. Even with her power making Sophia like her, this was the most she'd said directly to her that wasn't a prelude to or part of an attack in... well, ever.

"Um, thanks, Sophia. I'll, uh, think about it."

Sophia nodded and dove back into the conversation that the others were having. Taylor did notice that Emma was looking at her out of the corner of her eye with a kind of intensity that was worrisome. It was the kind of calculating look that used to foretell a particularly nasty attack. Taylor did not like being the target of it, even if Emma was, well, acting like her best friend again.

"So, Tay-Tay, I just realized that it's been forever since we went shopping! You really need to update your wardrobe, especially now. Winners have to look the part, after all. Let's go tomorrow!"

Oh, there it was. A "friendly" attack. Christ, even when she was being nice she knew how to get under Taylor's skin. Probably unintentionally, but still.

"We'll see. I need to ask my dad first." Okay, that should stall things.

"Oh, that's no problem. Just tell him you're going with a bunch of us and I'm sure he'll be cool with it."

Shit. He probably would.

"We'll see."

Emma leaned over and gave Taylor a side-hug. "I know you can convince him. See you tomorrow!"

Okay. Home. Good. She hadn't had computer class today, so this was her first chance to see just how bad the damage was online. Her computer was old and the dial-up internet was crappy, but it was enough to let her get to PHO and other sites that weren't too video-heavy.

Aaaaaand there, at the top of the Brockton Bay subforum on PHO, was a thread about Uber and Leet's latest video. And yup, first post had a link to the video, which showed the thumbnail with her front and center. Fucking joy.

Taylor skimmed the first page of 37(!) and it was entirely about the contents of the video and not her, which was good. Skipping to the last page was a different matter, though. So, so many comments about how they'd like to meet or... do redacted stuff... with her until a mod locked the thread for having too many people trying to find out who she was or making inappropriate comments. It was a bad, bad sign that her power could be that far-ranging, but that could also just be internet weirdos obsessing over any girl they could, right? I mean, it still wasn't great that she had people obsessing over her, but it was just normal creepy, right?

There were a couple of other threads about the video and it looked like all of them had been locked after 2 or 3 pages. She didn't open them. Just internet weirdos. It's just internet weirdos.

After thinking for a few minutes (not distracting herself away from thinking about the PHO creepers, no sirree), Taylor realized that there would probably be a news report on the video as well. Whenever those two had an "event", there was at least a short article about it, longer if it'd stood out in some way. She went to the website for WBBZ Brockton Bay General News and son of a bitch, there was an article. On the main page.

She braced herself, clicked on it, and read the article. Just about the heist itself, good. Until the second to last paragraph.

Police are also looking for the mysterious girl located in the thumbnail image of the video as a witness. Anyone able to identify this individual is urged to call the BBPD tip hotline at (603) 555-2273.

Well, fuck.