Chapter Text
Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the front doors of Winslow High and into the chaotic hallways. A quick glance around confirmed Sophia didn’t seem to be waiting for me, so I set off towards Emma’s locker, dodging and weaving around the other students. As I walked, I began the breathing exercises my therapist had taught me to help control my anxiety. It helped a little, but seeing Emma waving at me from the other end of the hall helped a lot more.
Emma had been my best friend for years, and since she was a lot more popular than me, she's been able to keep bullies off my back.
With the exception of Sophia, who simply didn’t seem to care about the school’s social hierarchy and lashed out at everyone she could, with a particular focus on me ever since that ill-fated summer camp we both happened to attend over vacation. Winslow’s faculty was more concerned with the gang presence in the school than the bullies, and Sophia was the star of the track team. I was just a nerd, so who cares what she did to me? Right?
As I finally reached Emma, the shorter girl pulled me into a tight hug before stepping back and looking me over. “No Sophia?”
I shook my head and shrugged. “Not yet, she must have found someone else to torment already, let’s see how long that lasts.”
“Well, if she tries anything”—Emma lashed out at the air with her fist—“I’ll kick her ass for you!”
Laughing, I started towards our first class of the day, Emma moving alongside me. “Please, you couldn’t even kick Madison’s ass, and she’s tiny.” Behind us, I heard an indignant squawk of ‘I heard that!’, likely from the girl in question. Me and Emma looked at each other and my laughter renewed, hers joining mine.
“I could totally beat Madison in a fight, but you're right about Sophia.” Emma’s smile dropped into a frown as she paused for a second. “I just wish I could do something about her, the school doesn’t seem to care.”
My smile spread wider at Emma’s concern for me. “Thanks Ems, but it’s not your fault Sophia’s a psycho bitch.” She turned to look at me as I rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be alright.” We entered the cramped classroom and took our seats next to one another. “You still able to come over later? I got that thing I wanted to show you.”
“Yeah I’ll walk home with you.” She narrowed her eyes dangerously at me. “But I swear to god, Taylor, if this is just another old magazine of your dad’s that you found in the basement, I am never talking to you again.”
I blushed and looked down at my lap. “I said I was sorry, I just thought it was interesting!”
Emma opened her mouth to speak, but fortunately for me, the teacher walked in at that moment and started yelling for everyone to quiet down. Although I’m pretty sure I still heard Emma mutter something under her breath about naked women not being cool, but as I told her at the time, I was just interested in the photography! I swear! It’s not like I like girls or anything. I think.
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Luckily, the morning went by quickly and without incident, and I found myself sitting next to Emma at her and her friend’s lunch table in the cafeteria. They didn’t seem to like me much, but they tolerated my presence, and if it meant I got to sit next to my best and only real friend, I didn’t really care.
However, when I left the table to throw my trash away, it seemed my luck for the day had run out. I’d caught Sophia’s attention and she was walking straight towards me, a wicked gleam in her eye.
Sophia was rather tall, so despite my being a pretty average height, she was easily able to sling her arm over my shoulder and bear her weight down on me when she reached me. She pulled her arm tight around my neck, enough to hold me in place but just short of hindering my breathing, and beamed a smile that promised hell down at me. I felt my anxiety steadily increase.
“Hey loser.” Sophia chuckled to herself, as if she had been clever or something in her name calling. “How’s your day been? We haven’t managed to catch up at all.”
Letting out a deep sigh I tried to push her away to no avail. She was simply much stronger than me. “What do you want now, Sophia?”
She let out a gasp of mock offense and brought her free hand to her chest. “Is that any way to talk to me? I thought we were friends after all that time we spent together at camp.”
“You chased me into the forest and no one found me until the next day.”
“Exactly. Good times.” Sophia laughed, but there was no real humour in it.”You looked like you spent the whole night crying when they finally brought you back to camp.”
For all I knew Sophia was exactly right. My memories of the incident were almost completely non-existent.
Sophia jostled me a bit, snapping me out of my haze of anxiety. “Yeah! Kinda like the look on your face right now!” She laughed in her humourless way once again. “Anyway, nerd, I just wanted to say hi, see you later.” Sophia pushed me to the ground, bouncing my head off the tiled floor and causing my glasses to fly from my face. She smirked down at me for a second before walking off and exiting the cafeteria.
I reached around blindly for my glasses, but they were quickly pressed into my hands by a red-headed blur. The blur, predictably, turned out to be Emma once I could see again. She wasn’t able to stand up to Sophia physically, but she was the only person in the school willing to lend me a hand after Sophia had her fun. Everyone else was too scared of Sophia to risk drawing her ire, but she seemed to leave Emma alone no matter what.
“You okay?” Emma asked, worry lacing her words.
“Yeah,” I grunted, “I’ll be alright.”
Emma looked the way Sophia had gone as she helped me stand. “I’m really tired of that bitch. Maybe I should see if I can get in contact with Alpha? I think she’ll remember me. Maybe the PRT can do something about her.”
I shook my head. “No, don’t bother. They’ve got bigger things to deal with than high school bullies.”
Emma looked at me uncertainly, but nodded in acquiescence. We both knew it was pretty unlikely the PRT as a whole could do anything anyways. Even if Emma was able to talk to Alpha herself, I didn’t think it’d help the issue. Alpha was notoriously bad with people, though she clearly did try her hardest. She would probably only end up making the situation worse by accident, and I did not need Sophia to up her game.
My head throbbing lightly with the pain of its meeting with the floor, Emma and I made our way out of the cafeteria. Classes were going to start soon, and she knew I wouldn’t want to stay and deal with the looks people would give me after the little spectacle. We stopped by each of our lockers to grab what we needed for the rest of the day before heading off to our separate classes, promising to meet at my locker once the day was finished.
Fortunately, I only had two more classes. Unfortunately, my final class of the day was World Issues with Mr. Gladly, or ‘Mr. G’ as he insisted on being called, and I couldn’t restrain my groan as I took my seat in his classroom. It was the only class I shared with Sophia that I didn’t also share with Emma, and Mr. Gladly, in his attempts to be the ‘cool’ teacher, let everyone in the class get away with pretty much anything. A fact Sophia was well aware of and more than happy to take advantage of.
However, Sophia didn’t show up to our final class. Sending a silent a thank you to whatever gods might be out there, I put my head down on my desk and waited for the final bell to signal my freedom.
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As Emma and I made our way to my house, we chatted about various inane things. Her modeling jobs, our overbearing parents, how shitty Winslow was, and so on. But as we went, my anxiety around what I was going to reveal to my best friend increased dramatically. I hoped she wasn’t going to try to talk me out of it, though I knew no matter what she would be concerned for my safety.
Emma noticed the signs of my distress, and I could see her watching me out of the corner of her eye until she finally spoke up.
“Taylor, are you okay? I can tell when you’re anxious like this.”
“Yeah,” I sighed and looked over towards my best friend. “I’ll be alright, just hoping you can still look at me the same way after today.”
“Taylor,” Emma said in an authoritative voice, stopping and turning me towards her. “You’re my best friend, and nothing will ever change that, I promise.”
I smiled down at the girl I'd known and been close to practically my entire life. “Yeah, I know, thanks. Let’s just keep going, I’ll feel more comfortable once I’m home.”
Emma smiled and nodded. We continued walking on our way in a comfortable silence, her reassurance and presence calming me.
Eventually we made it to my place, and after double checking that neither of my parents were home, I brought Emma up to my messy room. She sat on my bed and looked at me expectantly but patiently, clearly allowing me time to calm down a little and letting me start the conversation on my own terms.
With a deep breath, I finally worked up the courage and walked over to my closet, opening it up to step inside. I began shuffling clothes and boxes aside to get at what I was after, pulling it out and turning to Emma, holding it up for her to behold in all its glory.
Emma’s expression shifted rapidly between shock and confusion before finally settling on a mixture of both.
“Taylor,” she said, far calmer than I was expecting. “What the fuck is that?”
I looked at the object I held out towards her and couldn’t help my smile at my creation. At first glance, it looked like a normal compound bow, but if you spent more than a second looking at it, it was obvious it was anything but. It was the first thing that ran through my mind when I triggered, and I had started work on it as soon as I got home.
“It’s a compound bow.” Her expression shifted considerably towards confusion. “I made it.” I couldn’t keep the pride out of my voice, and that seemed to only confuse her further.
“Wait, what do you mean you made it?” Emma said, her voice raising higher and becoming slightly frantic. “Are you telling me you triggered? When the hell did that happen?”
“When I got lost in the woods at camp,” I said. “I just remember having these ideas running endlessly through my mind all of a sudden. This was the very first thing, though.”
Emma simply sat there, staring at me silently for a while before speaking quietly, “Well, this certainly wasn’t what I was expecting to happen today.”
I let out a short laugh. “What were you expecting?”
“I thought you were gonna tell me you were gay!” she squealed.
This time it was my turn to have shock and confusion pass over my features. “Wh-what? I’m not gay!”
“Taylor, you just brought me to your room without saying anything and literally stepped into and out of the closet. Before I saw that... bow... thing, I genuinely thought you were trying to pantomime coming out so you wouldn’t have to say it out loud.”
“No! I just wanted to show you the stuff I made! I haven't told anyone about my powers.” My voice dropped an octave as my excitement dampened. “You're my best friend. I wanted you to know before I go out tonight.”
Emma’s confused expression turned into one of shock. “What do you mean you're going out tonight? As a cape? Taylor, do you realize how incredibly dangerous that is?”
“I know! But I have these powers! I can help people!” My speech was becoming more frantic as I spoke. I could feel the beginnings of a panic attack setting in. “I-I just want to do something good.”
Evidently noticing my fraying emotions, Emma stood up and wrapped me in a hug. I slowly wrapped the arm not holding my bow around her to return the gesture. We stood there embracing for a bit while I did my breathing exercises and slowly calmed down. Once my breathing had steadied out, Emma led me over and sat me down on the end of my bed, taking a seat next to me. I let my head hang while I tried to work up the confidence to speak.
“I want to be a hero, Ems. I never thought it’d be possible but now I’ve got these powers. I have more than just the bow, I can keep myself safe. I can keep other people safe. But please, you can not tell anyone. Especially my parents, you know they’d freak.”
Emma looked around my room, taking in all of the hero merchandise scattered throughout. I’d always had an obsession. The room was covered in the stuff, Armsmaster and Miss Militia merchandise being the most prevalent, though it was my poster of Alexandria that hung in the place of honor above my bed. Sighing, she looked over at me before she spoke.
“Okay. I won’t say anything.” I looked over and smiled softly; she reluctantly returned the expression. “But you have to promise me you’ll be careful. No starting any fights with Lung or someone like that.
“Pfft, Come on, give me at least some credit. As if I’d be stupid enough to start a fight with him, especially on my first night out as a cape.” I let my laughter bubble out of me, the idea was ridiculous. Emma let her soft laughter join mine.
“Yeah alright, I know you wouldn’t do that. But still, you have to be careful. Have you thought about joining the Wards?”
“I thought about it, but I’d need my parents to sign off on it, and I don’t think there's any way I could convince them to do that. At least not at the moment.” I hummed in thought for a second. “Maybe if I could make a name for myself as an independent first, I could show them I know what I’m doing.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Yes!” My head snapped around to look at Emma before drooping slightly. “Mostly. I’ve done research and prepared as much as I can, but I need actual experience. I can only get that by going out.”
“Alright, but if something happens, you have to call me. I’ll help however I can, even if I have to steal my dad’s car and come get you.” She leaned against me gently. “I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”
“I promise. I will.” I smiled mischievously and stood back up in front of her, holding out my pride and joy. “Wanna know what this thing can do?” I said, my nerves gone and obvious excitement lacing my voice once again.
“Sure,” she chuckled lightly. “Is this what you're always gonna be like now? Nerding out over all your tech?”
“Absolutely,” I said in complete seriousness as she rolled her eyes at me. I held my bow up, blatantly admiring my own work. “This is the first thing I built. It took me ages to get it right, and I still have a lot of improvements I want to make.” I smiled earnestly at my best friend. “I call it Artemis.”
“Of course you named it.”
“Hey, every great weapon needs a name!”
“Whatever you say.” Emma let out a small snort of laughter. “Does Armsmaster have a name for his halberd?”
“Not that I know of, but I’m sure he at least thought about naming it.” Emma nodded in resigned agreement and shrugged at me as I continued on.
“Anyway, that's not important. I’m confident in saying that Artemis is the most advanced bow anyone’s ever created.” I pressed a button on the side as I held it up. The bow quickly changed, the limbs snapped out to a wider length and the bowstring automatically adjusted to compensate. “It can shift near instantly between different forms for faster shooting, higher accuracy, and longer range depending on what I need.” I could feel the grin on my face growing as my excitement continued to spill over. I pressed another button and it changed again. This time it shortened drastically. “I used specialized materials I made myself. It’s incredibly lightweight and significantly more durable than any other modern bows.”
“Wait,” Emma interrupted me before I could continue on my increasingly out of control train of thought. “What about arrows?” I could immediately see the regret on her face for asking as I started practically bouncing in place.
“Oh they’re almost as awesome as Artemis is! I have a whole bunch of different ones so far and I made them from the same materials as Artemis. I have your regular run of the mill arrows, though I’ll try to use them as little as possible. I have blunt-tipped arrows that’ll hurt like hell, but they won’t penetrate skin. I made some stunning arrows too for a little more stopping power. I have some-”
“Okay! I get it! Lots of arrows,” Emma interrupted me again.
Feeling a little embarrassed over letting my excitement run away from me, I looked down at the ground sheepishly and muttered an apology. “I just can’t wait to start doing something. Brockton Bay is really dangerous, especially for people who aren’t parahumans, and I want to do what I can to help. My parents love this city. I love this city.”
“Alright.” Emma smiled up at me. “I may not share your family's love for this god forsaken city, but I get why you want to help.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “Thanks, Ems.”