A/N: Keep in mind, Taylor might be ooc and that's because I haven't read much of the original webnovel.


Taylor glanced under her hoodie, hiding her eyes as she star-no, studied Emma.

The longer she did, the more things started to pop up in her head.

It all started with the usual questions after being accosted by them, why me? Or how?

She glanced at herself and started noting a few things.

First, of herself.

Bullies target people who are weaker than them and stand out, poke at insecurities and secrets to break down their target to feel in control due to a lack of it. High School is a breeding ground for them where hormones run high and so do emotions. I wear ratty clothes in a school where everyone tries to be someone they're not, gangsters, nazis, and worse. My height doesn't help that at all.

I stand out because I try not to.

She blinked, shaking her head as she looks around more things standing out as she thought about it some more.

Am I a cape?

That was quickly answered by herself.

No, nothing feels different and, as far as I know, I haven't bought the rumored powers in a vial.

Maybe last night's headache could explain it?

Last night, she was woken up by a splitting headache. She didn't know what it was, but it exhausted her. She almost called in sick if prior knowledge didn't point to a worse fate if she stayed.

The mention of her tormentors send Taylor into herself as she glances at Emma and wonders, her mind working in ways she never knew it could, why she's trying to bully her.

I've known her since we were born and our families have known each other since before. We were practically sisters, so what could cause her to change?

Ok, think, I'm the victim for some reason. What reasons could those be?

To start off, our connection offers insight into myself, my secrets, who I am and what has happened, things that can be easily twisted and have been twisted to use for her advantage, from the death of…close family members to embarrassing events. Or maybe she's being manipulated by Sophia or Madison.

She blink, as she tries to wrap her head around the term. 'Manipulation', the act of forcing someone to do something. Basically Mastering with extra steps.

For some reason, she has trouble believing that. Especially since both Madison and Sophia didn't have good grades before they started taking her assignments to turn them in using their own names.

Her mind dredges up a paper she read once, involving the powers of Parahumans. How they are 'chosen' based on the person's needs.

Notable Masters come to mind and none really match any of them.

Madison is a follower, rarely inciting events unless one of the other hanger-ons does so or is told to.

Emma is the likeliest but she lacks the intense need for control.

Sophia is brawn. She'd see it as something 'weaklings' do.

So, what could cause such a change in a person?

A traumatic event. It caused Emma to latch onto Sophia. Stockholm? No. What could it be?

Quickly, she reeled herself in, knowledge and experience(?) telling her that going through that line of thought is dangerous, she turns to her thoughts.

Traumatic event. How did that happen?

She glances at her ex-friend as she's typing something and looks around.

As someone in the back of the room she was generally ignored by the students around her but there was something interesting.

She's by the Empire kids. She has no ties to the Empire.

The ABB are known for kidnapping girls to work at their whorehouses by force more often than not.

Taylor stops herself from jumping up as the bell rang and the realization hit her.

The ABB must have tried to kidnap her. Sophia saved her. Yet that doesn't explain the turn from friend to tormentor.

Her gait hurried and her mind spinning she glances around, evading her tormentors as she goes to the roof for fresh air.

Emma refers to me as a 'worm', weak and similar words. Sophia calls me weak. Madison simply insults me.

Only Emma and Sophia call me weak, why is that?

She was up but she was too slow, they saw her and now they're looking for her.

Assess the situation, being assaulted I usually am will only interrupt my thinking and worsen my mood.

She looked around and noticed a few people there, a few ABB and that's it. There was also a group of girls whispering as alarms rang in her head when she saw one of them raise her phone.

Something yelled at her to stop her as her entire bearing changed. She had to stop her in a way that ended the subject completely and allowed her time to hide from them.

Everything simply caused her to freeze for a second as something guided her, experience that wasn't hers but was hers at the same time.

She straightened up, glaring as she moved, grabbing the arm and then the phone, "Lose it." She threw it aside, surprising the girl.

The girl tried to yell but Taylor simply grabbed her by the jaw and forced her to the chain-link fence. "Your face is next. You say anything, and I'll kill you and everyone in this roof."

The roof was quiet as Taylor glared at the girl's horrified eyes before shoving her away, limply falling to the ground as she stepped back, inwardly panicking at her choice of words.

Hell, even the ABB boys were sweating.

Not like she would, she's better than them.

But they don't know that. Body language spoke of anger, confidence, and exhaustion. Everyone on the roof has witnessed the bullying. None have even attempted to stop it. Lack of security increases fear.

She stopped thinking about it and jumped off the fence and on top of the entrance of the roof, looking down at them as she hid.

Not a second later, someone opened the door.

"Oh, Taylor~." The voice of her ex friend spoke, driving fear into her heart as she looked around and asked.

No one said anything and she didn't even speak to the ABB thugs.

By the time she left, she continued analyzing.

Sophia constantly spews out her twisted social darwinism left and right and the trauma Emma experienced could have left her vulnerable. Vulnerable enough to latch onto it to keep her sanity.

So Sophia and Emma share the same twisted philosophy. But that doesn't answer enough.

ABB territories and Emma's home aren't close enough. So could she have been out with Alan? Could they have both been attacked? Then saved by Sophia?

She takes out her food, biting into it while she continues thinking.

Sophia…Aggressive, violent, and fit. Would she step into a kidnapping attempt? She didn't do it for the ABB or the Empire nor when they were selling drugs.

So…why?

Taylor looked around in her little space, wondering why she felt lost.

A glance at her World Studies assignments she comes to a possible answer.

A…cape?

She really didn't like where her thoughts were going. Heroes are supposed to be heroic and villains villainous. They're supposed to step in when people need help.

Explains how she manages to go through my locker without opening it.

No.

Wards are present in two schools, Arcadia and Winslow.

They wouldn't.

Arcadia is a clean school. Winslow is a den of scum and gang violence. Both make sense. But one is easier to fake reports of than the other. Blackwell would hate for her cushy position to be in danger because of an investigation.

Nothing. But she knew, she had to know. She was her mother's and father's daughter. The former was, supposedly, in a radical feminist terrorist organization and the latter works to the bone so the men and women of the Dock Worker's Association can pay their bills.

A higher power shitting on those lower?

Not on her watch.

Sophia is a Ward. The ability to phase through solid objects is reminiscent of Shadow Stalker. Shadow Stalker who was known for being violent. Shadow Stalker who has a high chance of nearly killing criminals. Who would have needed a lawyer if she got in trouble. Alan pays back all his debts.

Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker, who saved Emma in the midst of a traumatic event and imparted her twisted philosophy into her. The same belief that caused Emma to attempt to cut our bond because I was 'too weak'. Yet why did she try to torment me?

Because she loves me. Because she wants to see me grow.

Taylor sighs, all the pieces coming together and she didn't even have the energy to cry or anything.

All she felt was indignation.

What could she do?

Fight back. Turn the tables. I have a bunch of information to use against her. Is it safe to threaten Sophia? No, she'd lash out. Madison would be the easiest. Only a follower and prankster. Blackmail.

She stands up and falls from the roof, bending her knees to soften the impact as she walks back into the school.

The cameras are operational. Could come by at night and get the recording from them. I could also plant a bit of spyware into the principal's computer and the surveillance equipment. Get a better picture of the whole thing.

Possibility of guards would need baggy clothes to hide my figure. Trench coat, mask, and hat for now. I'll need a laptop to program the spyware and weapons to defend myself if it goes bad.

She pauses mid-step. She didn't know how to cook up spyware.

The instructions filtered into her mind as she finished Ms. Knotts assignment as she began to write it down into a journal.

She'd need a phone and a computer.

She'd also need to hack into Dragon's system and mess with the facial recognition software.

Or…she might not.

The ideas keep filtering in as she continues writing.


A week later, Taylor is ready.

She's been having dreams. Not weird ones but not entirely normal ones. Aiden Pearce, a man in a world without Capes simply looking for revenge in Chicago.

It was… amazing and terrifying at what Aiden was capable of. Yet it was respectable, which was why she modeled her current outfit from his own.

A hat with the image of a fox on it, a neck scarf that doubles as a mask with the symbol of what looks like a signal disconnecting, and a pair of ski goggles refit to hide her face from the cameras.

She also had an extendable baton and a stun gun. Both were easily acquired with her savings.

Now, she was ready.

To commit a crime.

She slumped, wondering how her desire to become a hero led to this.

Am I actually better than any of them?

Record it all. Any drug deals, assault, attempted rape, all of it and hand it to the police. Others suffer as well, it also makes it harder to pin down who did this.

Aiden wasn't a hero, and nor will she. Taylor's newfound skills don't veer that way. She won't be able to go after people like Lung or Kaiser. In the future, possibly, but today? She can do something.

She raised the scarf, knowledge and experience given to her, correcting her posture as she held out the scavenged phone. An app was there, so with a tap she was connected to the school's system.

It hurt her heart knowing she was lying to her father, who thought she was getting interested in programming and allowed her to scavenge the DWA's basement for parts for a computer. Even using the internet while they get internet set up at home.

By a side entrance she leaned, accessing that camera as her face was missing, in its place was a white dot.

She'll have to loop the cameras.

With a push, she was off the wall as she jogged away.

With a jerk, she ran and scaled the wall, jumping over it and landing inside the property.

So began her trek to the office.

She couldn't help but snort, even at night, the security guards barely pay attention.

Hell, one of them was talking on their phone.

Out of curiosity, she listened in.

She quickly stops with a grimace.

No one should be into that much.

So she continued sneaking around, occasionally distracting the guards.

Finally, she was at the security desk at the office.

She moves the chair aside and begins moving stuff around, banking on the chance that there'll be a paper with the password.

There wasn't.

She reaches behind her for the bag with the laptop gifted to her by one of the dockworker's when they manage to wrangle the truth from her and the reason why she's infiltrating a school.

Connecting the two, she brute forces her way into the system and begins transferring the spyware.

Once that was done and she managed to erase any sightings of her, she meandered into the Principal's office and planted the spyware, taking a second to look through her emails.

Let's just say that the knowledge she has seems to include pipe bombs. Something she is very…excited to use after this knowledge.


A/N: So, welcome back. Time to explain. So, unlike the previous chapter, here is a more taylor-centered chapter, a what-if wondering as to what'd happen if she got the knowledge and experiences of the members of Dedsec.

The most obvious is her hacking, the second thing to note is her knowledge on criminal psychology that she got from Aiden.