Friday— April 15th, 2011.
WINSLOW HIGH.
12:15 PM.
In one corner of the cafeteria sat two teens: one was Peter greedily eating on his tray, and two was Taylor who was miffed from watching him.
Taylor sighed, and while she was glad to have a friend, she was not used to someone sitting by her side during cafeteria hours. “You are not even enrolled here, so why are you here, Mr. Parker?”
It had been a habit for the two to hang out especially ‘after’ school hours.
“Mr. Parker? Ouch, that sounds too distant…” Peter gobbled a good amount of rice with a slob of curry sauce. “I am starving, I need free food.” Note: it was just curry sauce, no meat or veggies, just sauce.
“And pretending to be a student solves that? And… Winslow has free food?” Ok, she was not paying that much attention to meal options, because she hated the cafeteria... Taylor dreaded this place considering the bullying she had to suffer while here.
Bullies could get very creative. That was why she’d only come here ten minutes before the next class. Heck, she used to bring packed-up lunch starting January, but she soon stopped because of people targeting her lunchbox for pranks. Her run-ins with Peter had made her forget the bitter part of high school and for today, she had remarkably forgotten them: approaching their table was a familiar trio, Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Madison Clements.
Emma Barnes used to be Taylor’s best friend from first grade up to middle school until Emma decided she preferred being friends with Sophia and Madison. She carried herself with an air of superiority, her perfectly styled red hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall of malice. She was wearing a t-shirt with cute designs paired with jeans.
Yep, the word choice was malice: Taylor felt the pit in her stomach becoming acidic.
As the trio approached Taylor and Peter's table, Emma's lips curled into a smirk, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" she taunted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Looks like little Miss Nobody found herself a new friend."
Madison giggled, twirling a strand of her shoulder-length chestnut hair around her finger. "Isn't that cute? The loner and… hmmm… ah— the vagrant," she remarked as she clapped her hands, while pitifully looking at Peter’s lunch and clothes that looked like he picked up from the lost and found. For a girl, she looked like someone who embraced the stereotype of someone who liked to act cute with her short skirt and blouse.
Sophia crossed her arms over her chest, a scowl etched onto her features. She had dark skin, long dark hair, and an athletic build evident with her membership of the track and field team. Her brown eyes would have looked pretty if not for her scowl that promised violence. She wore a crop-top, while in leggings.
Yep, the ‘Trio’ sure have fashion sense: Taylor inwardly deflated as she became self-conscious, she was yet to abandon her glasses like what Peter suggested, and she was still in her familiar hoodie.
Taylor tensed beside Peter, her heart pounding in her chest as she braced herself for whatever cruel prank or insult the trio had in store for her. “Can you guys please leave me alone just for today?”
Peter kept on his food, eating them at a brisk speed.
“Excuse me?” Sophia stomped her foot at the desk in a thuggish manner
Taylor's grip tightened around her tray as she fought to maintain her composure. She could feel the weight of their stares, the familiar sting of humiliation creeping up on her. She wished she could disappear, to escape this torturous moment.
But Peter's presence beside her offered a flicker of support, a small beacon of solidarity in the midst of her torment. She glanced at him, silently pleading for some form of intervention.
Peter paused mid-bite, glancing up at Sophia with a nonchalant expression. "Can't you see we're trying to enjoy our lunch in peace?" he remarked. His tone was laced with indifference. He spooned some rice for another bite, seemingly unfazed by the trio's presence.
Sophia being prone to violence, swung her left hand aiming to slap the spoon away, but Peter was faster: he raised his spoon, the slap missing and landing right on Madison’s mid rift.
“-uck,” cried Madison in surprise as she curled on her knees while vomiting her breakfast.
“That’s brutal, right on the solar plexus, I think?” Peter slowly brought the spoon to his mouth, chewing it at an easy pace. “No fighting between friends, ok?”
Emma rolled her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips. "Oh, look at Mr. Nobody trying to stand up for his little friend," she retorted, her voice dripping with disdain. "How noble."
Taylor's cheeks flushed with anger and embarrassment, but looking at Madison who was yet to finish hurling the contents of her breakfast, she felt a vindictive satisfaction. Taylor hated feeling like a pawn in their cruel games, like a target for their amusement. But she refused to let them see her weakness, refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her break.
Also, she tried her best to avoid showing amusement at the puking Madison and embarrassed Sophia.
Ignoring Emma's taunts, Taylor focused on finishing her lunch, hoping the trio would lose interest and leave them alone.
Emma didn’t give up as she leaned in closer, her voice dripping with faux sympathy. "You know, Taylor, if you ever need fashion advice, you can always ask," she remarked, her tone was saccharine sweet. "We wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself any further… with your boyfriend."
Taylor gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to snap back at Madison.
Though admittedly, she couldn't bring herself to deny the accusations... PHO had been wild lately, shipping 'Entomancer' with the 'Iron Spider', and arguably, there is this small part of self-wish-fulfillment in Taylor.
She worriedly looked at Peter, thinking about the implications of her and his cape debut: Taylor thought she might as well break the misunderstandings while still early. She couldn't bring Peter to her problems.
But to Taylor’s surprise, Peter came to her quick defense. “Nah, Taylor is pretty cute already unlike you gals who have to put effort into looking even minutely pleasing to the eyes.” And Peter said this while looking at Emma’s eyes, direct, unbidden, and with swift movements, he dodged.
Sophia had just swung a chair right on Peter’s head, but as expected of Peter, he dodged it with ease by slightly tilting forward.
“That’s attempted murder!” Taylor stood, feeling angered at the situation.
“You sure? Heh~!” Sophia playfully set the chair on the ground and sat. She was not one to reason, and Taylor knew it.
Emma was worse, enabling Sophia in her recklessness. “Yes, it was self-defense on Sophia’s part. For all we knew, we might have a thug here. I sure would recognize you if you were a student here, you know?”
“Okay, I am done,” Peter finished eating on his tray. “I know I am a bad influence for saying this, but do you want to cut classes?”
Taylor frowned, alternating her eyes at the very offended Emma and the befuddled Sophia. At this point, Madison had stopped retching her breakfast.
“Uuummm…” She was hesitant for good reasons: not just because of the trio, but because there were too many witnesses. This wouldn’t look good on her records. The last thing she wanted was her dad being called from the principal’s office. “Cutting classes is bad…”
Unfortunately, Peter had a different idea of bad. “You are trembling, Taylor. When you talked about the bullying, I never thought it would be this bad. I would understand violence or emotional torment, but this? It was bad.”
Peter zoned on at Sophia Hess whose smile had gone ear to ear, and Sophia relished the attention. “She was prey, it was that simple.”
“This school didn’t deserve you, Taylor.” Peter grabbed her wrist and pulled her. Taylor complied. She had lost appetite since the trio disturbed her lunch. With her eyes looking down, she let Peter drag him.
“What a slut,” commented Madison who took a handkerchief to her lips, Sophia certainly didn’t hold back when she swung for that slap.
Surely, rumors about this incident would fester.
Peter had been labeled a ‘thug’, and the name-calling of Taylor being a ‘slut’ would only be strengthened. Many times, she had thought of using her insects to inflict revenge on her bullies, and Peter at some point suggested doing the same. But Taylor never went with it: she was the bigger person in this, she sincerely believed it.
They ended up in a secluded area under the stairs.
“That’s bad… Very bad… My spider-sense was tingling, warning me how bad it was. Taylor, what did they do to you?” Peter’s words of concern hit her, and it was reflected in the invisible thread that connected the messed-up interaction brought by their powers.
“Spider-sense?” She tried to change the subject as she adapted a joking tone. “Seriously, spider sense? You call your Thinker power spider-sense?”
Peter frowned, “Yeah, that’s what I call it, but that’s not the problem. If you don’t want to share, it is fine. I won’t say I understand. I won’t be a hypocrite, but I want you to know that I care."
“Thanks, but it is my problem.” Taylor felt sincerely happy when Peter defended her, but she felt that it would be better for Peter if he didn’t get involved anymore.
But Peter only sighed, exasperatedly. “You asked me for help, and I won’t back out. That ‘Sophia’ is especially dangerous. My spider sense warned me, she had real killing intent, and it was bad…”
“Yeah, she was bad.” Taylor agreed, noting the various circumstances where she found herself on the receiving end of Sophia’s violence. “You know what? I’ll take it. I want to cut classes and be a bad girl. Ideas?”
Peter grinned, and led Taylor around the campus, while expertly avoiding the watchful eyes of others which surprised Taylor. She used her insects and discovered through them that Peter was somehow able to choose paths where there wasn’t any human activity. For all the campus knew Taylor didn’t sneak away during class hours.
Arriving at the partitioned wall separating campus grounds and the outside, Taylor asked the important question. “How did you do that? Tinker-tech?”
“Ye-yeah… Not mine though, but Mr. Stark’s.” Peter smiled, his mention of ‘Mr. Stark’ particularly welling with pride. “It was Karen’s doing, she was an AI in my suit, and she provided me instructions. The CCTVs around Winslow High were superbly weak, and I reckoned even with my poor skills, I should be able to hack the place.”
Hearing him like this made Taylor feel guiltier. Artificial Intelligence was a frowned-upon technology, and Peter saying it so openly to her proved either his naivety or the ‘trust’ that Taylor’s ‘Master-aspect’ of her powers was doing to him. Taylor understood that the Tinker-tech was not Peter’s, and had been the work of a 'Mr. Stark', and the armor had been a gift.
Peter raised his right arm, and a bracer was formed in his wrist. “Web-shooters, nanite-construct.” He explained as he carried Taylor by her waist, shot a web, and then pulled. They swung from the obscure part of the campus to a secluded alley. Waiting for them there was a shabby motorcycle.
It was a Japanese-brand, a Yamaha of all things. Since Leviathan's hit on Japan, the country’s economy has been downhill. Japan’s automotive industry was hurt, as a result, Japanese-brand cars and motorcycles degraded in quality as years went by.
“I managed to fix it and got the motorcycle from a junkshop. An old mechanic around the neighborhood wanted to get rid of their stuff, so when I offered to clean up their garage in exchange for helping them move out, he agreed to compensate with cash and some junk parts.” Peter hopped on the motorcycle, inserted a key, twisted it, and kicked the shaft just below to kickstart the engine.
"Hop on," Peter smiled as he revved the engine.
Taylor felt happy at seeing Peter adapting so well here in Brockton Bay. She wordlessly got on the motorcycle behind Peter, and the two of them rode off. Taylor felt the winds on her skin, enjoying the ride. She and Peter were not wearing any helmets, which would definitely earn them a scolding.
Underaged driving was bad, but only if you’d get caught.
“Can I see her? Karen, I mean?” Taylor asked, very curious about the AI.
Peter scratched the back of his head, “Uum… Maybe next time? She… doesn’t like you… I wanted to create a helmet nanite-construct, but she wasn’t cooperating.”
Taylor felt terrible. Was she so dislikable that even an AI didn’t like her? She then went into string after strings of reasoning, and she realized the AI must have realized she had ‘Mastered’ Peter. Again, this made Taylor feel guiltier. She didn’t know how to turn off the ‘connection’, and even from far away, she could feel it: the bond, the thread, and the pulse of ‘knowing’ it existed.
Peter was doing worse, as a result, perhaps even against the advice of the AI, he was not showing any adverse reaction to Taylor. In fact, Peter seemed to become more dedicated to 'hanging' around with Taylor.
Then, it hit her. “You hacked the CCTVs… So did you know? Are their footage of me…”
“The Locker Girl,” Peter whispered diminutively, but Taylor heard him say it. “There are more bullying attempts, and there was video footage about them, all compiled to a private server… uhm… owned by Principal Blackwell. Apparently, everything about it was erased from the public servers. It was very bad, Taylor.”
“Principal Blackwell? This school’s fucking Principal? That… That…” That was a betrayal of the highest magnitude, it had hurt Taylor, yet it made so much sense to her. “Dad was fighting a losing battle from the start. W-why was she keeping video footage about the bullying? Was Principal Blackwell some sadist? No, this was blackmail material…”
“And apparently, Sophia is a cape…” Peter added while fiddling with a rather high-tech watch, while they stopped at a red light.
“Come again?”
Peter explained further, “Sophia was a cape. After I sensed ‘danger’ from her, I had Karen gather information, and I basically invaded her privacy. There was resistance, but Karen went unchallenged and unnoticed. The point is… Sophia is a Ward, and she is PRT-affiliated. I don’t know much about unwritten rules, but I am aware to some extent. But I think the invasion of privacy was the least of our concerns considering the implications of a Ward being involved in something like this.”
Taylor felt sad, pity, and remorse for her dad: legal battle after legal battle only to be left hoping for an eventuality that would never come.
“I saved copies of the video footage, we should be able to take this to court, right?” Peter droned off, offering advice on her situation. “I don’t know about the law, but we have evidence. But first, you should help me with getting ‘me’ on the system, I am basically a ghost. I asked Karen if she could just hack into the government database and input my information, but there was something about Ultron-Failsafe-Protocol, and uuummm… this is awkward and might be off-topic, but did you see PHO? I mean—”
All too abruptly, Peter was cut off.
Taylor was no longer on the motorcycle and was standing on the edge of a rooftop. She felt something metal was pointed at the back of her head. She stood still. The changes were too abrupt. In front of her was Brockton Bay, and below her was at least seven stories worth of a building. She'd die with certainty if she fell from this height.
“I have a gun on your head. Don’t move,” a male’s voice echoed behind her. “My name is Trickster, and I want you to stay very still. Don’t talk. Don’t use your powers. Just look straight. As you can see, I am a teleporter. Don't be reckless. If I learn any signs of you disobeying me, I will pull the trigger with no remorse. If you are feeling bad, then I am sorry, this is just a job, and you happen to be on the way, Entomancer.”
Chills came down her spine as she was addressed with the cape name that PHO and apparently Armsmaster had given her, and then she saw an explosion just a few buildings away… She could feel it from the ‘thread’ that it was Peter who was in the middle of the explosion.
With her civilian identity taken hostage and a gun pointed at her head, Taylor was left in a helpless state.
Things had just escalated for her.
...
..
.
#Things are about to go down #Bullies got served #Mommy Karen being Tsundere or Over-Protective? #Locker Girl
