[DC 15 Fortitude save vs Stench. 5+18=23. Success!]

[DC 14 Will save vs Madness (Phobia). 1+13=14. Automatic Failure!]

[Gamer is Frightened!]

Despite the words displayed before her eyes, Taylor felt surprisingly calm. That's not to say she was in control, exactly - she couldn't take any action that wasn't directly related to escaping, after all - but it was a very detached fear. Less her freaking out, and more like she knows she's supposed to be freaking out, the way an actor playing Romeo knows he's supposed to be furious with Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. Where previously, the locker was an incomprehensibly-small place for anybody to be stuffed into, now it felt as though it were merely a little cramped. She knew, without quite being sure why, that she could maneuver through spaces much tighter than this with ease.

Of course, not so tight as to slip through the tiny gap between the locker's walls and its door, which means she needed a different way out of here. Her arm snaked down into the muck and grabbed for a pen in her pocket. She disassembled it blindly, then carefully aimed it for the internal hinges, knocking the pins out.

[DC 55 Disable Device vs Open This Door Right Fucking Now (improvised tools). 16+41=57. Success!]

Now all Taylor had to contend with is that the lock mechanism wasn't really designed to work like a hinge. Buuuuuut it was a fairly small piece of metal, and now she had the whole door to use as leverage. And she was a lot stronger than she was 10 minutes ago...

[DC 18 Strength check vs Bend The Lock Like A Hinge. 13+6=19. Success!]

[Madness (Phobia) source removed! Gamer is no longer Frightened!]

Now that Taylor was allowed to think about other things, the floating translucent screens popping up in front of her eyes were probably something to be concerned about. Well, maybe concerned wasn't the right word - elated, perhaps. She was a cape! She had powers! She could make a difference instead of being stuck as the world's spitoon! She looked down at her clothes covered in muck and winced. First, a change of clothes! Very important. In fact...

[DC 20 Profession/Cape check vs Figure Out What My Costume Should Look Like. 3+27=30. Success!]

Yeah, yeah! With a few outfits, and a few more pens, she could make a great outfit! Taylor nodded to herself and ran towards the office, where they kept a box of clothes to theoretically make kids wear if they were breaking dress code, that never god used because none of the teachers could bring themselves to care about dress code violations. Which means it would be full of material she could use that nobody would miss!

She entered the office and found the box of clothes. It was locked for some reason (did they think kids would steal their shitty emergency prude outfits?), but it was no match for her almighty pen skills. As she popped the lock straight off and started rummaging around for a canvas to paint her masterpiece on, a voice behind her caught her attention. Right, the secretary!

Taylor spun around to face the woman, who started chewing her out. The words kinda washed over Taylor, but she couldn't be bothered to care what the woman was saying. She was a cape now, after all, and her time was too valuable to waste getting lectured for doing nothing wrong. "I'm not real," she interrupted. "You're hallucinating right now. Visual and auditory. Oh yeah and olfactory too. Might wanna see a doctor about that."

[Bluff (impossible) vs Sense Motive (impaired). 8+7=15. 14-1=13. Success!]

The secretary's eyes unfocused for a moment, before she shook her head and wandered back to her desk, frantically texting...well, someone. A doctor, maybe, but Taylor didn't really care. After several more seconds of searching, she had about three full outfits ready to be turned into a proper costume. She swept by the desk, grabbing a bunch of pens and pencils from a cup, and settled into a chair to work. The secretary packed her stuff and power-walked out of the office. She must be really concerned! If only she'd been that concerned about Taylor countless times she'd come to this office, maybe she wouldn't have sent the woman on a harmless wild goose chase.

[DC 41 Craft/Armorsmithing check vs Silken Ceremonial Armor (improvised tools). Not in combat, taking 10! 10+34=44. Success!]

Just a few minutes into her little sewing project, the bell rang, letting people out for class. Taylor abruptly realized that she'd probably left a trail going through the halls, given how much of that stuff had caked onto her. It'd be pretty easy for the others to find her. She focused her attention on Emma, trying to see if she could hear her ex-friend talking.

[DC 43 Perception check vs Hear Emma Talking (Distance: 200 ft of air, 4 ft of wall). 19+43=62. Success!]

"-ld a Ward even be here today? You think somebody snitched?" Emma asked.

"If someone ratted us out to the staff, they're in trouble. If someone ratted me out to the Wards, then we're in trouble," Sophia replied, her voice more tense than usual. "But for all we know, it wasn't even a cape. Just follow the trail and we'll find her, and we'll deal with her."

Why would Sophia be worried about getting outed to the Wards. Was she a villain?

[DC 40 Knowledge/Local check vs Sophia Hess. 5+36=41. Success!]

It was like someone had downloaded a wiki page into Taylor's brain. Physical description, personal history, known associates...powers. She had powers, she was a Ward. A probationary Ward, because she'd murdered someone (or...manslaughtered someone?). The local PRT Director probably wouldn't look too kindly on Sophia for all the nonsense she'd been pulling, but probably wouldn't give her real justice. The city was too much of a powder keg for that, the local Protectorate needed every set of hands they could get.

Taylor briefly contemplated joining up to replace Sophia, that way her getting punished would be more likely, but quickly discarded it. For all she knew, it might not even work, but even if it did, there was no guarantee the other Wards were any better. Maybe Sophia was only worried cuz the others would give her jazz for getting caught beating up poor defenseless-

She cut that train of thought short because the part of her mind listening to Emma saw her getting closer to the office. Thinking quickly, Taylor took one of her pens and blindly drew a fake pencil-moustache on her face, before pinning her hair in a loose bun and tucking it under a hat from the box of clothes. As a finishing touch, she pocketed her glasses (noting with glee that her eyesight seemed completely unaffected). After a few moments of breathless anticipation, the Trio entered the office, and Sophia's eyes followed the path of muck straight to where Taylor sat innocently.

[Disguise (gender, age category) vs Perception (recognizes on sight/recognizes on sight/intimate). 1+33=34. 20+17=37. 5+7=12. 10+15=25. Failure! Success! Success!]

...shit.

Sophia stared at her, dumbfounded. But before she could open her mouth...

"Excuse me, sir" Emma asked. "I don't suppose you saw a girl in here earlier? Bit taller than me, really skinny, glasses? Maybe covered in grime and stinking something awful?" Sophia's eyes flicked to Emma for a moment, and Taylor wondered what was on her mind.

[Sense Motive (mind-reading) vs Bluff. 10+17=27. 5+10=15. Success!]

It was written all over her face. Sophia believed that Emma believed the disguise, and as far as Sophia was concerned, that meant Master or Stranger effects in play, which means her senses couldn't be trusted. Was this Taylor, or was this the possible-cape that freed Taylor from the locker?

"Can't say I have," Taylor replied honestly - after all, she'd not spotted a mirror yet. "Maybe she left with the secretary?" Her eyes never left Sophia's.

Sophia plastered a simpering smile on her face. She wasn't experienced playing the innocent girl, though, and it showed. "Alright, well we'll keep looking then. Thanks, mister!" and then she practically dragged the other two off. Taylor ignored the new Sense Motive vs Bluff popup; she didn't need a box to tell her that Sophia was pretending she hadn't noticed. Her next move would be contacting the PRT, either to get Taylor in trouble or to report a cape wandering around manipulating minds in a school...in retrospect, maybe Taylor should continue her little sewing project at home. Sophia would likely stick close to try and make sure the cape didn't slip by her, but that wasn't an issue. Taylor changed up her disguise a bit and just wandered out, bold as brass. This time, luck was on her side, and Shadow Stalker's eyes slid right over her as she exited the building.

Maybe heroism wasn't the path forward. It's too bad, the costume was really quite heroic, but if that door was closed to her, she'd need to dress the part, and that meant starting over (not that it was a huge imposition to undo a few minutes' effort, of course). Taylor had always thought she'd want to be a hero, that it was the obvious choice of what to do if one got powers, but the revelations about Sophia gave her pause. If that's what the heroes were like, maybe it was best to play things differently. Or maybe she could be a different kind of hero, more of an unaffiliated vigilante? Really, she wasn't locked into anything yet; with her powers of disguise and persuasion, she could do whatever she wanted. But what did she want?

After several moments' thought walking across the parking lot towards home, she decided that the first order of business would be getting a handle on what exactly she was now capable of.

"Menu."