January 18th, 2011 - Tuesday
Afternoon

Taylor's new hideout was closer to the market than her previous one, which made shopping more convenient. However, the smell of seawater was starting to get on her nerves, and spending several days avoiding attention meant her cash was running low again, which is why she was once again wandering around Merchant territory looking for muggings to turn around. Her mouth was covered by a blue scarf she'd picked up at the market for this exact purpose. Unfortunately, a weekday afternoon wasn't the most rewarding time in this regard, and after finding only one mugger who appeared to have been rather unlucky in his chosen career even before running into her, if his near-empty wallet was any indication.

Disappointed, she turned back towards the ferry station when the sun started approaching the horizon, and was nearly at the edge when her anger sense picked up on someone jumping on a rooftop a couple buildings over. If that wasn't a cape, and a villain at that, Taylor didn't know who it could be. They jumped to the next rooftop, and Taylor moved towards one of the building's corners, ducking around it when the mystery cape approached the edge. They paused, presumably to look around, and jumped again, now moving away from her. Taylor let out the breath she'd been holding, and kept on her way. Close call... though what cape would be jumping rooftops in Merchant territory?

She got back to the ferry station without further incident, sprayed some bug spray around the office where she kept her things, then decided to explore the station a bit while the air in the office cleared. Her search turned up several nonfunctional restrooms, a couple more office rooms, one of which was marked as a manager's office, and a veritable mountain of dust and cobwebs. The only object of interest was a door labeled "SECURITY", which had been locked (like the other offices) behind a steel door (unlike the other offices.) She briefly considered knocking the door down like she did the others, before dismissing the idea. She had been lucky enough to not have anyone unintentionally stumble into the old warehouse, but it was more likely that someone would accidentally wander into the station and hiding herself and her things behind a locked door in case that happens might stop her from being spotted by someone who wasn't expecting to find anyone inside. Mind made up, she headed towards the manager's office, where ripping out a locked drawer revealed a set of keys, one of them with a "SECURITY" tag. Grabbing it, she made her way back to the locked door.

The key worked just fine, and Taylor stepped into the security room. One end of it had a chair, a table, and a wall of empty monitors, linked to cameras that haven't been in use for years. The other had lockers, and keys hanging on the wall nearby. Matching keys to lockers revealed a few security uniforms and helmets - none in her size - and several batons. Taylor gave one a few experimental swings. It fit her hand reasonably well - she could learn to use this.

Ribs crunching when she punched the Merchant. Alabaster's teeth flying. Crusader limp on the ground.

Scratch that. She should learn to use this - beating people down with enhanced strength would go wrong for her eventually, and even if people she fought weren't any kind of innocents she did not want (more) blood on her hands.

She remembered the scene of pandemonium she saw after pushing a disoriented Sophia away. Eight people, and I do not even know their names. With that thought, Taylor knew what she had to do tomorrow.

~o~o~o~

January 19th, 2011 - Wednesday
Afternoon

Taylor stepped out of the bus, facing the library. Nobody recognized her yet, and there were no other Winslow students riding the bus with her, so that was one major hurdle passed. She entered the building, taking off her scarf, and felt her nervousness spike. There were few enough people around at this time, so she assumed she'd be safe if nobody recognized her at the entrance. The buzzing at the back of her mind was back, but she pushed it down with a thought and made her way to the upper floor, where the computers were. Picking one at the corner where people walking in wouldn't see her face and she'd hear anyone approaching, she started up a search for the Winslow Incident. She had to go through a couple of articles before she could find the list of victims.

Ann Parker. Denise Clark. Jason Bailey. Kathryn Smith. Lilian Wilson. Madison Clements. Ruby Hughes. William Reed.

Most of them were just bystanders. Participants in an incident or two, but never acting on their own. Taylor couldn't imagine seeing them dead and knowing it was on her. Madison... Taylor didn't know how to feel. She was one of the Trio, true, but Taylor kept telling herself she didn't deserve death either, but the thoughts rang hollow. She forced down the buzzing trying to reemerge in her mind. Committing the names to memory, Taylor decided to check PHO for what the people were saying about her... even if she strongly suspected she knew already. Two threads came up.

The first was a general discussion thread. People calling for blood as expected - perhaps the most charitable comment she noticed in a quick skim was some guy claiming he's "surprised it took her so long to snap - most people would've gone crazy way faster." That had apparently sparked a flame war due to "disrespecting Eris's victims."

The second thread was titled "Eris vs Alabaster/Crusader" and had poor cellphone footage of her fighting Crusader with Alabaster, then stuffing the latter in the dumpster. The comments had a few Empire supporters posturing and threatening (and receiving bans for that), and a lot more positive responses to her. Guess I'm liked better than the Nazis, at least. Also explains why they were so mad at me, that had to sting their reputation.

Research done, Taylor closed the browser and left the library. She spent the trip back to the ferry station trying to find her guilt over Madison's death.