It is highly unusual for me to post another chapter so soon. So please do not expect this to be a regular occurrence. For All of you who followed or favorited this story, Thank You!

Origins 1-2

My three weeks of freedom were up.

Today marked the day I returned to Winslow, my own personal hell in Brockton Bay. At my dad's urging I had told the police everything and true to Dr. Halsey's prediction they had investigated. That's where the good news ends because, my prediction also came true. Nothing was done. There was nothing linking The Trio to the 'prank gone wrong'. There was no doubt in my mind that by calling in the police that I was going to catch holy hell from them today.

They didn't make their move until just after second period. I was almost to my next class when someone pulled my backpack off my shoulders. When I spun around there they were, smirking. My heart started pounding and my vision started to tunnel, I had to calm myself down. There were no lockers in this hallway I told myself. They could not stuff me into one without first taking me to another part of the school and even they weren't stupid enough to try it.

I could do this. Just breathe.

"I thought she would have learned her lesson by now." Madison laughed as she opened by bag and looked me in the eyes. "No one wants you here Taylor."

Emma stepped up next. "She was never all that smart, Madison. I mean, her grades have to be the lowest in the whole school."

Yeah, thanks to you three.

"Take a hint Hebert." Sophia shoved me against the wall. I could feel my temper rising. It must have shown on my face because Sophia's grin got wider. "Whatcha going to do Hebert? Got somethin you wanna say?"

Come on Taylor just breathe I told myself. This is the worst they can do.

Madison pulled out a bottle of grape juice.

"Don't do it Madison." I warned.

She just smiled and poured it into my bag. She bent down and zipped it up before jostling it around to make sure juice covered everything before dropping it at my feet. I clenched my fists willing my power away. It wouldn't do any good if everyone found out I can make and throw projectiles made of…handfuls of neon fire? I'm not sure how I would describe it better than that. Needless to say though, I did not want use that power here. I would instantly become Brockton Bay's newest villain.

"Finally decided to say somthin and still you do nothin." Sophia scoffed and shoved me once more. "That's why you're weak Hebert. The weak will always be prey to the strong."

Oh, I wouldn't count on it bitch. When they started to walk away I grabbed one strap of my bag in both hands and using my weight I hefted the bag and swung it bodily around and slammed it into Sophia's shoulder. Since I had yet to return to my locker since the 'incident' I had all of my books for the day in my bag. When I hit Sophia, I hit her hard. The force of it slammed her into the wall where she crumpled to the floor. I dropped my bag next to her.

Payback is a bitch Sophia.

"What the hell Taylor?" Emma shrieked.

I tilted my head to the side as if I didn't understand. "You three put me in the hospital. It's only fair I do the same to you right?" The look on Madison's face was priceless. The look on Emma's was downright creepy. She looked hopeful if anything. Not what I planned that's for sure. Not that I had a plan beyond hitting Sophia.

"What is going on here!" a teacher came running up the hallway. When he saw Sophia on the ground he turned to Emma. "What happened here?"

Emma was too busy staring at me so Madison took over. "It was Taylor sir. She just went nuts and hit Sophia with her book bag."

The teacher rounded on me. "Is this true?"

Time to play the stupid girl because if there is one thing I have learned at Winslow is that the truth isn't the truth unless it is convenient and easy to swallow. "It is sir. Someone pulled my bag from behind and after what happened with the locker I just kind of panicked. I must have hit Sophia by mistake. It was an accident."

Madison's jaw hung open in disbelief. Emma on the other hand looked strangely pleased.

"You two get her to the nurse's office." The teacher pointed at me. "You are coming with me to the principal's office."

"Yes sir." Just for one more barb. "Tell Sophia I'm sorry when she wakes up."

Sorry I didn't hit her sooner.

The rest of my day in school saw me sitting in the principal's office with my father as he debated back and forth that I was the target of a prolonged bullying campaign and that despite the school's assurances, I was not safe here. It's funny how quickly the fact that I had possibly injured Sophia was forgotten. Eventually my father threatened to pull me out of Winslow all together.

Principle Blackwell took that bit of news rather well. Too well if you ask me. She passed over some forms that would allow me to be homeschooled so long as I met the academic requirements on a monthly basis. I jumped all over that. Dad wasn't as sure but I pleaded with him to let me at least try homeschooling. I told him if it didn't work I would willingly return to Winslow.

With Winslow behind me, hopefully for good, all that was left was the awkward car ride home.

"I just don't understand Taylor." Dad said. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Emma was the head bitch in my trio of tormentors.

"If I knew dad I would tell you." I shrugged.

"Why didn't you say anything before it got this bad?"

Oh boy this argument again. "I went to the teachers but it was their word against mine. The popular girls against a nobody."

"You're not a nobody." He defended.

I sighed. "At Winslow I am. Emma made sure no one would get close to me."

"What about this Sophia girl?"

"Emma's friend. She is the one who pushed me into the locker." I added.

"Broke your nose in the process." He growled. "The Principal said you hit her today?"

I couldn't help the grin on my face. "Knocked her out cold." I said proudly.

Dad just sighed. "It not good to resort to violence Taylor."

"I couldn't just let them walk over me again. If I hadn't hit Sophia like I did then she would have kicked my ass." I crossed my arms in a huff.

"Language." He chided. "You know I can't be home to help you with your school work."

I almost laughed. "I know dad. But look at it this way, now I don't have to worry about someone stealing my work and passing it off as their own."

"Is that why your grades were dropping?"

"For the most part." I shrugged. "Other times they would just simply destroy my work or something like that."

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"For what Dad? There wasn't anything you could do about it." Dad's hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white and I realized how he took what I said. "But it's over now and thanks to you I don't ever have to go back there."

He relaxed his grip somewhat but the tension was still there. "So long as you keep your grades up. Even if you don't, I will figure out something. You will never be going back to that school."

"Thanks Dad."

"Of course, kiddo."

"Come on focus." I grumbled to myself.

Not ten minutes before I had somehow transported myself up onto the roof of the house. One second, I was tripping down the stairs and the next, I was on the roof. Our house isn't a big house like you would think when someone mentions a two-story house. It is long, narrow and squeezed in place with a bunch of other similarly designed houses lined up neatly all the way down the street. Oh, there is space between them, about enough for a car or a small truck like my Dad's and technically we have a front and back yard but really it's like a spaced-out apartment complex. So, my worry of someone being close enough to see me panicking on the roof is valid.

Once more I focused on the feeling I had before I found myself on the roof. You know that feeling when you suddenly drop down a hill on a rollercoaster and your stomach feels like it's trying to cram its way into your throat? That's all I had to go on, but when I focused on that sensation I could feel my power responding but nothing was happening. I just wanted to get down from here, it's not like I was asking for something specific like my ro-

-om.

Huh.

My room. What if I wanted to be in the kitch-

-en. Oh, hell yes. I can teleport!

Or I guess what I am doing is teleporting. You can never know for sure with cape powers. Just to be safe I climbed the stairs and double checked that I hadn't left a copy of myself behind in my room. One more check to be sure. A bit of focus and suddenly I'm standing in the hall looking into my room. Nope. No clone of me, just some flickering motes of light that faded pretty quick. Yay, bonus points for not getting lumped in with the likes of Oni Lee. Also, I guess not having copies of myself around would be a good thing. Just having one of me around was enough of a headache.

Isn't that a depressing thought?

Still though, teleportation. While not nearly as cool as flight it was pretty up there in the Mover classification for capes. Add in my lowish powered blaster ability and I could make a pretty respectable Hero. Now I just need a costume and a name.

Something light based and cool sounding. I can't have PHO or the PRT name me. God forbid I end up like Chubster. Hmm maybe something from history or folklore. I made a ball of fire in my hand, noting it was blueish white this time. Hmm, ethereal fire. A Will-o-wisp. My cape name will be Will-o-wisp. Maybe I should spell it different, like Willow Wisp. Its a bit more feminine but not really spelled properly so I'm sure PHO will raise hell but there will be people who have a problem with any name I pick anyway. I'll try thinking of myself as Willow Wisp for a while and see if it fits.

I went back to my room and pulled out my jar of savings and began counting out what I had to work with. A depressing grand total of two hundred and fifty seven dollars and eighty one cents. Not much in the way of being able to make a costume. If I hadn't had to replace so many things over the last year due to the trio I might have had somewhere upwards of five hundred dollars. Nothing I can do about that now.

I pocketed all the bills and dropped the change back in the jar and caught a bus out to the Boardwalk. I could have gone to the cheaper Lord Street Market but with gang tensions as high as they were right now I would be risking anything from getting pocket picked to being caught in the middle of a gang shootout. Well with my powers I could get out of trouble fairly easily so long as another cape wasn't involved but it was best not to risk outing myself.

As I walked along the boardwalk I couldn't help but wonder. Where do capes actually get their equipment? It's not like I can find a store that sells cape quality masks. Hell, if there was one, I probably couldn't afford even a low priced one. A lot of capes started out with homemade masks so maybe I could get the materials and make one. Geez this was going to be harder than I thought. I don't even know what my theme would be. I mean I have what seems to be bright, randomly colored, flame based powers. It's not like I could go around glowing like a Christmas tree, it would be too much of a hazard, especially at night.

There was New Wave whose whole hero roster with the exception of Glory Girl and Panacea had light-based powers and each of their costumes didn't play the theme up at all. Most were skin tight with padded armor in the usual places and looked to be something like a scuba suit made for a full contact sport. There was no way in hell I was going to wear skin tight anything so that was right out.

So, maybe darker clothing was called for. Something sturdy. Ugh this was going to take a while.

I returned home minus practically my entire savings but I had a somewhat viable means by which I could hide my identity. I had picked up a half face mask that was meant to go with an open-faced motorcycle helmet. It was made of some kind of hard material covered in soft neoprene and had a pair of vents that the tag claimed to filter dust and pollen. Personally, I just thought they looked cool. The remainder of my money was spent on a canvas jacket I found at a thrift store on the edge of the boardwalk. It was too big on me, which is saying something as I am taller than most girls my age, coming down almost to my knees but it had lots of pockets. The sleeves were only a bit longer than they needed to be but nothing too ridiculous. Not the best outfit for a cape but it will do for now besides capes look goofy anyway right up until they show off their kick ass powers so I should be fine. Hopefully. I stashed everything under my bed lest Dad see and start asking questions. Not that he checked my room anymore. Hell, I bet I could be out all night and he wouldn't even notice. Annnd I'm back to depressing thoughts.

I shook my head and headed down stairs to start on dinner. I think I will make meatloaf tonight. I could mess with my powers when Dad left tomorrow.

Author's Note

Before anyone gets started. The costume will change as the story progresses. I have never thought about what a superhero costume would or should look like not to mention being fashionably deficient myself. Suggestions are welcome.

Thank you to all of you whom have followed this right out of the gate. There has been such a great response to the first chapter that I was able to push this chapter through my brain when I should have been paying attention to my classwork with finals coming up. If it feels a little off in some parts please blame my professors. I'm kidding. Mostly.

K. Raiden