It had become something of a routine by this point, Emma calling Cauldron to see if Taylor had made her villainous debut yet.

It wasn't as though there was any guarantee she'd hear about it otherwise, given how Taylor had just got the power to grow some wings.

The doctor had mentioned a possible Shaker effect, but if it was only possible how strong could it be?

The part of her that had still been hoping for Taylor to prove herself as being as strong as her had given up on Taylor at that point.

She had been given powers, and she made them useless.

"Any news?"

If the doctor had any problem with her brusqueness, she didn't let it show.

"Ah yes, your Nemesis has indeed made her appearance at last. Due to an unfortunate gang attack during her debut she is currently considered to be a vigilante rather than a villain, but I am confident she will correct this in due order. She is going by 'Nemesis'."

Emma felt herself blue screen.

The mention of the attack had sparked a momentary worry.

That she had wasted so much of the lottery winnings on Taylor of course, not that something happened to her beyond that.

Not that it had been her lottery ticket of course.

No, it had come from one of the muggers Sophia had taken down.

When she found two tickets in one lottery period they would play something of a game where they would each take half the tickets and see who won more.

"How did she do enough to be considered a vigilante?"

"Best I understand, one of the Capes didn't think to look up, and flying can be a literal force multiplier."

"Okay, makes sense," she'd need to remember to look up. "Is it really okay for her to call herself Nemesis?"

"It's less than ideal, but unlikely to arouse suspicion in anyone who hasn't availed themselves of our services. Is that everything?"

"For now. I'll contact you later to arrange something with 'Nemesis'."

Really, Taylor just named herself after the contract rather than anything original? What a waste all her reading was.

Not that she had a name of her own out there yet.

Though really that was down to how good she was at being an independent wasn't it.

The main way an independent got their name out there was telling the heroes, or going for some kind of grand announcement, and she just kept getting clear before they found her.

It was tempting to set up a PHO account, to get her name out there in that way, but from what Sophia had told her about how the PRT could track Capes down, she wasn't going to take that risk.

Sure, it would get her in the Wards with Sophia, but from what she'd heard about them, it wouldn't be a good time.

So instead, she was going to keep a bit further from the spotlight than she'd prefer.

Maybe she should make some calling cards, to establish her identity without getting pressed into the Wards.

In any case, now wasn't the time to think about her life as a hero, right now she needed to get to Winslow, to hang out with Sophia, torment Taylor further and maybe find a way to repay that guy who mentioned the power conspiracy in her hearing, if she could remember who it was.

Maybe think about a good time for the improved version of the locker prank Madison suggested, the one she hadn't had the time to set in motion while working on the contract…

{}

Winslow had been different for Taylor since she received powers.

It was mostly small things, such as teachers admitting the subject had advanced beyond their books or saying that this was just an overly simplified model, but some were more significant.

Like how Gladly had approached her, as if to say that he would help her with the bullies if she came to him, only to tell her that he would help her if there was incontrovertible evidence of bullying happening in front of him, where he'd get in legal trouble if he didn't come down on the popular girls.

He didn't seem to realise what he was actually saying until he'd finished, at which point he started avoiding her even more than before.

Which actually made her time at Winslow better.

Who knew that a teacher with a bad attitude could nake the school experience worse even more than actual bullies?

On which subject, she was much less affected by what they did.

What they said about her was as made up as ever, and she was able to focus on the facts much better now, ignoring their words.

And if they tried getting physical?

Her powers apparently left her something of a Brute.

She still pretended to be affected of course, no need to encourage them to switch up their tactics and find something that would work, but Emma and Sophia were now pretty much irrelevant.

… Madisons petty 'pranks' were still as annoying as ever though.

But all in all Winslow was now no worse than she remembered school before losing Emma.

Of course part of that was how she couldn't remember any interactions with Emma fondly any more, any of those good times in school turned to ash.

So, she no longer dreaded Winslow, in general at least.

But today, the anticipation was killing her.

She had gone out and robbed a store as a villain, and now everyone was going to be talking about her, just like every time a new Cape showed up.

It was a weight around her neck, all the way through to Mrs Knotts computer class.

A fair number of the students were entirely ignoring her instructions, browsing the internet instead.

And it was soon clear that at least one group was looking at PHO.

"Hey, there's a new Cape in town," one of them was muttering.

"Nemesis? Wasn't that one of the guys in the old comics?"

"How would I know? I don't read that crap."

"Let me just check…"

Their conversation was on hold for a bit, replaced by the sound of typing.

"Right, some kind of freedom fighter terrorist."

"Makes sense for a vigilante to take them as inspiration."

Taylor froze.

Vigilante?

"First sighted at that ABB front, the one selling crappy tools, around the time of a break-in. Cameras in the area completely fucked of course, so they can launder their money more safely, then they took out Skidmark, after Squealers thing broke down and he started beating the shit out of her."

Wait, that had been Skidmark and Squealer?

Taylor made a note to look up the local Cape scene properly.

She'd thought she knew enough, but if she'd failed to recognise those two…

"How'd this Nemesis catch up to Squealer though? They some kind of Mover?"

"Yeah, says they have wings. A possible Case 53, even if they are mostly human. Hey, think they're new Empire? They did go after the other gangs."

"Nah," the other replied without elaborating. "Shit, teachers coming over, we need to look like we're working."

Taylor quickly focused on her own computer again, finishing up the work.

Given the requirement that it should be possible for the class to finish the days work, Mrs Knotts lessons had ended up significantly dumbed down from what Taylor expected they were meant to be, meaning that she rarely had any problems finishing early.

And computer classes had a standard rule that once you'd finished your work, the rest of the time was free, an attempt to get more students to complete the lesson.

And so Taylor was soon able to bring up PHO and look herself up.

The boys had been right, she was currently down as a vigilante rather than a villain.

Taylor was in two minds about this.

On one hand being known as a vigilante was better than being known as a villain.

On the other, she was under contract to be a villain, and last night was already about as villainous as she was willing to go.

Still, it was interesting getting an outside perspective on the events.

It didn't seem that much notice had been taken of her sword, so the power theorists just had a Mover rating for her.

Oh, and nobody was sure if she was male or female.

Including Armsmaster, who had joined the thread enough to relay her comment about not being enough of an idiot to fight him, in a manner that left her vaguely pissed off at him.

Okay, time to think things through.

She was labeled as a vigilante, so thr PRT wasn't going to actively pursue her, but she couldn't say the same about the gangs or Emma.

It was about fifty fifty whether the Merchants would go after her or try to break their leader and Tinker from the PRT, but, if those other students had been right about the shop being an ABB front, Lung was definitely going to come after her.

So to be safe she would have to expect the guy who fought an Endbringer to a draw and the remaining Merchant forced to cone after her, as well as Emma.

Whatever her powers and identity were.

And her contract was going to require her to get the PRT after her as well.

Just great.

Why had she thought this was a good idea again?

Right, it was a way out of her previous no-win situation.

What could she do to avoid having too many more people after her?

{}

Emma spent the time between getting back from Winslow and heading out on her next patrol designing a set of calling cards and checking her gear.

Her powers had turned out as what Sophia called 'Tinker-lite', a bit like Dauntless but nowhere near as strong.

While Sophia had said that Dauntless would imbue a 'charge' into his equipment each day, making them stronger over time, Emma was able to absorb a form of energy from the environment and place it into a piece of her gear, granting a specific effect until she replaced it with something else.

As far as she could tell at least.

Certainly nothing had worn off by itself, but it might just take more time.

Currently she had a leather jacket, given an ice effect that would protect her from heat, and seemed to grant greater protection than a normal jacket.

Not something she was going to replicate any time soon, after what happened to the food in the fridge, and how much trouble she would end up in if anyone figured out she was responsible.

One of the reasons for trying out ice was her early experiments with incendiary baseballs, and how close she'd come to burning her hand.

With the jacket she had been able to make a number of incendiary baseballs without injury, providing her with something of a ranged attack.

Not as good as Sophia, of course, but baseballs were a bit easier to reuse than crossbow bolts and wouldn't raise as many questions from her family.

As long as they didn't throw them of course.

But it should be safe enough, they knew better than to take her things without asking.

And then there was her shadow infused cloak, which kept people from being able to spot her easily at night (and which had left a strangely bright area in a nearby alley, that looked as though it was being illuminated by nothing after she took the darkness), and her gloves.

She'd sacrificed a pair of magnets to give her gloves the ability to cling to walls, so she could climb to a good vantage point more easily, and the gloves certainly worked as intended.

Unfortunately climbing buildings was harder than she'd thought.

Emma did have some ideas for further uses for her power, but after being burned when it came to the baseballs, she wasn't willing to try out electricity just yet, and hadn't been able to think of something appropriate to use on her mask.

But regardless, she had a powerful, adaptable powerset, and would even be able to create additional identities if needed, such as the PRT coming a bit too close to catching her.

Now she just needed a name, something good.

An original name, to put her above Taylor that much more.

Now, what should that name be?