Fire's Hot, But I'm Hotter!
Taylor grimaced as she heard her tormentors leave the bathroom. She inhaled shakily as she tried to calm herself down, to keep herself under control and from tearing Emma and her little clique apart. No, she wasn't that kind of person. Plus it would be way too much work. Instead she grabbed a spare hoodie, black, like most of her clothing lately, and swapped it for her juice stained one.
Opening the stall she let out a relieved sigh when she found herself alone. Walking over to the sinks, she leaned down and put her head as far under the faucet as possible before turning it on. Turning it off, she lifted her head and gave it shake, speckling the mirror with droplets of water. At least her hair was clean.
She stared into the mirror, and sighed. There was little about herself that she found attractive. Maybe a little more, and maybe less after the Locker.
Another rattling inhalation as she squeezed her eyes together.
The Locker. Even now, months later, all she could remember about those hours stuck inside was the feeling of rot and the deep, crushing darkness. All she had wanted was for the darkness to go away, and then, it did. She remembered the feeling of euphoria as the shadows receded, fought back by the soft light that had appeared before her.
She opened her eyes and found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. Tall and thin, she didn't have anything that would make a boy give her body a second look. But her eyes, those were different. Before the locker, she had always found her large eyes out of place, but now they seemed to be almost perpetually half-lidded, and without her glasses, the brilliant neon green pupils were startling.
That was another thing she had to thank her powers for; no longer was she cursed to wear glasses. Her eyesight seemed to have cleared up almost over night after she snuck back home from school, and she had to lie to her dad that she was using contacts instead. He seemed to accept her lie, but it still made her cringe inside.
She gave her head another shake and paused to pull out a tube of black lipstick and reapply it. Her skin, already rather fair to start with given all the time she spent indoors and away from the world, had paled further after the Locker. It was likely another side effect of her power, and given the futility in fighting, she gave in and started dressing in darker colors and wearing thicker clothing. In a way, the changes from her powers made it both easier and harder for her. She grabbed the edge of the sink as she let her breath hiss through her teeth.
Emma and Sophia had, of course, torn into her the first day she had come to school in a heavy black jacket and working boots. But no-one would bother to steal an ugly pair of boots, and her jacket was water repellent and much easier to clean than her shirts and sweaters. And of course today of all days was the one where she forgot to grab her jacket before leaving home.
She eyed her backpack, noting the myriad stains seeping into the fabric, and growled. Her fingers tightened on the sink and she heard the sound of something cracking, but she wasn't listening.
It was tempting, oh so tempting, for her to go out there and leave a swathe of destruction behind her as she tore through the school, but she was better than that.
She pulled out her mother's flute from her pocket and rubbed it gently. Emma had had it, no surprise, but it had been surprising in how easy it was to break into her locker and retrieve it. Taylor didn't know why her former friend had kept the flute at the school, though she had a few suspicions, but it didn't matter. They didn't matter.
She put the flute back into her pocket and grabbed her backpack before leaving the bathroom. Later, the janitor would completely confounded as he tried to figure out how one of the sinks had ended up split down the middle.
xxxxxxxxx
The Docks were oddly quiet tonight.
It was something that had Taylor on edge as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop. The Docks were never quiet. For as long as she had been doing her late night runs, there were always the sounds of shouting, plus the occasional scream or gunshot. But not tonight.
She hadn't come across a single person, outside of a the usual drunks and addicts passed out or dead on the street. It was good, because that meant less chance of getting recognized, which was rather low, since have someone manage to see her who was actually sober or cognizant enough to remember her face the next morning would be a miracle. They might remember her costume though.
Putting it together had been both embarrassing and rather easy. Easy in that her costume was composed of a black leather bodysuit and leather jacket, partially dyed green like a harlequin's costume. A domino mask, half black half green, barely obscured her face and completed the outfit. The embarrassing part had come from the fact that she had been forced to go to a shop with a rather... exotic clientele to find the basic bodysuit. Thank god her father had never found the receipt.
Landing on the next rooftop on her route, Taylor shook her head of her thoughts as she dropped into a crouch. Something wasn't right, even beyond the silence. Crawling over to the edge of the roof, she peered over and almost immediately had to squash the urge to flinch back. The sudden movement would no doubt attract the attention of those below, which was something she had absolutely no intention of doing.
Landing on the next rooftop on her route, Taylor shook her head of her thoughts as she dropped into a crouch. Something wasn't right, even beyond the silence. Crawling over to the edge of the roof, she peered over and almost immediately had to squash the urge to flinch back. The sudden movement would no doubt attract the attention of those below, which was something she had absolutely no intention of doing.
Lung cut an intimidating figure with his mask and tattoos, and given his reputation, he was someone Taylor wanted nothing to do with. Thankfully it seemed that he was the lone parahuman among the gathered gang-members, as Taylor failed to spot either of his two lieutenants among the crowd.
A car pulled up and disgorged another group of thugs who joined the group waiting below. Lung grunted loudly and walked into the middle of the group and began speaking. Waiting a moment to make sure no-one was watching, Taylor began to edge backwards from the edge of the roof, though not before she caught a certain snippet of Lung's orders.
She froze in place, before getting to her feet, her face a cold mask of calmness that did nothing to hide the fury in her eyes. Taylor had intended to simply let Lung go about his business, considering he and Kaiser had been butting heads over territory lately she had assumed that this was another raid, but now that she knew his targets... she couldn't let him go.
Her hands blazed to life as they were surrounded by pure energy, the thermal portion superheating the air into plasma that lit up the rooftop with a bright green glow. A manic grin settled on her face as she leapt from the rooftop and into the fray.
She'd heard Lung's fire was hot, but plasma was always hotter.