With Great Power: An Unfamiliar Face

“I just can't believe it.”

“Shh!” Taylor shushed her friend as she wheeled her up the ramp to a pair of doors on the side of their new high school. Apparently Winslow didn't believe in convenience for the handicapable, which didn't really bode well for the institution as a whole.

Emma turned in her chair to give her a dirty look, “No I will not shush! I can't believe you went out without telling me first! Do you have any idea what could have happened? Something like sixty percent of vigilantes die on the first night, you know!”

Taylor tilted her head, “I’m like… eighty percent sure that isn't true. You might be getting the statistics mixed up.”

“Statistics don't matter!” Emma huffed, “What matters is that my best friend decided to go out and maybe get shot and didn't even have the decency to tell me about it!”

Taylor winced, “I didn't mean to. I was just out testing some stuff and it all just kind of happened. I couldn't just do nothing. I had to help.”

“And I and that woman's baby are glad that you did, but I would have liked to see you put on your costume for the first time at least! I worked hard making it look good with those two halves of jack and shit you have in your closet.”

Taylor rolled her eyes as she pressed a buzzer on the door, “I have plenty in my closet. You're just picky.”

“Duh.” Emma said like it was obvious, “If you put a little more effort into what you wore, you'd be a solid eight out of ten! Heck, you could probably join me in the modeling industry.”

Taylor stared at her, “I literally couldn't imagine a worse fate.”

“Baby.”

The door opened suddenly and a elderly blond woman popped her head out. She smiled as she caught sight of Emma, “You must be Emma.” She looked up at Taylor,b And you must be Taylor! It's nice to meet the two of you. I'm Mrs. Knott, the computer science teacher here at Winslow. Come with me and I'll take you both to the main office so we can get you sorted.”

She held the door open and Taylor gave the woman a thankful smile as she wheeled Emma over the lip in the door and into the… kitchen?

Both Taylor and Emma looked around in confusion, taking in the cookware and bustling lunch ladies wandering around..Mrs. Knott noticed this and gave them both an apologetic smile.

“I'm very sorry that you both had to come all the way over here just to get inside the building, but our main handicap accessible entrance isn't very accessible at the moment. This entrance is usually used to help deliver lunch supplies.” She explained as they made their way out of the kitchen and into the cafeteria proper.

Taylor shared a look with her friend. It probably wasn’t a good sign when a school only had one handicap ramp. Especially when that ramp wasn’t even a handicap ramp in the first place.

“I better not have any classes on the second floor.” Emma muttered as they left the cafeteria behind.

~~~

One visit to the main office later, Taylor was once again accompanying her friend through the school, this time on their way to their shared homeroom. The students crowding the hall gave them a wide berth as they passed them by, and Taylor was a bit put out by all the stares pointing their way.

“Not sure how to feel about all this staring.” She said just loud enough for Emma to hear. She met the eyes of a short girl with dyed hair, and only then did she look away, though Taylor could tell that she was just waiting for Taylor to turn her back to continue staring. It was like they’d never seen a girl in a wheelchair before or something.

Emma looked up at her, “Well you should probably get used to it. You’re gonna have to deal with it for another month or two at least. Maybe even longer depending on how long I’m stuck in this thing.”

Taylor sighed, “At least we have the same classes so I can keep wheeling you around and not some stranger. I wonder if they did that on purpose.”

Emma scoffed, “Are you kidding? Of course they did. I mean, they gave me computer science and I can barely type a paragraph on a keyboard. I’m not a nerd like you.”

“Yeah? Well you better watch what you say or this nerd is going to leave you sitting in the middle of the hallway with your wheels locked.” As she spoke, Taylor turned to look at the room numbers they were passing, unhappy to see that they were still nowhere near their assigned classroom.

Emma snorted at her threat, “You’re too nice to abandon your best friend. One teary-eyed look and you’d come racing back with apologies and flowers, ready to do my every bidding.”

“I don’t know about that last part… but yeah, you’re right.” Taylor smirked, “Guess I’ll have to leave being queen bitch to the one who’s best at it.”

Emma’s eyes widened in outrage and Taylor giggled as she turned around with a rebuttal, before jerking forward in her seat as Taylor suddenly stopped walking. Gripping her armrests, she gave her friend an annoyed look, “What the hell, Tay?” She asked, confused about the sudden stop.

But Taylor wasn’t paying attention to her right now. She only had eyes for the person who had stepped directly into their path, blocking their way forward. Her eyes narrowed as she took the girl in, dark skin and straight black hair, alongside a smirk as if she knew something that they didn’t know. She was tall but not quite as tall as Taylor, but was easily just as athletic judging by the muscles in her legs, peeking out from underneath her shorts.

Taylor looked down at Emma who was just as wary as she was, “Uh, can we help you?”

Instead of answering, the girl openly looked Taylor up and down, as if she was checking her out. In any other situation, it would have been pleasant or at least not that concerning, but something about this girl set off that tingle in the back of Taylor’s mind. She wasn’t dangerous, at least not yet, but something told her that could change easily.
.
The hallway was slowly emptying, students leaving their lockers and friends behind to get to their first class of the day. They gave Taylor’s group a wide berth alongside some weird looks as they were forced to walk around the weirdos standing in the middle of the hallway on the first day of school, and Taylor could hear Emma beginning to tap on her thighs. A sign of her impatience.

Ignoring all of this, The girl met Taylor’s eyes again, and that lazy smirk on her face widened, as if she knew something that she didn’t, “I’ll admit, I honestly didn’t think we’d ever see each other again.”

Taylor stared at her. What in the world was this girl talking about? “What are you talking about? We don’t know you.”

“Yes you do. Just not like this.” The girl walked closer, and Taylor immediately pulled Emma to the side, interposing herself between the girl and her friend. She stepped up to the girl, standing a head taller than her, and did her best to look intimidating. The girl looked up at her, and Taylor was a bit surprised to find her smiling, “Looks like I wasn’t wrong about you. That’s good. I was worried you’d be like the rest of them.”

“Back up.” Taylor ordered, a hint of steel in her voice. The girl raised her hands, doing as she was told, still with that same smile on her face.

“Chill out. I’m not looking for any trouble. Just saw you in the hall and got a little excited is all.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, showing that she didn’t mean any harm, “I”m Sophia. It’s nice to officially meet a fellow Survivor.”

She put an odd amount of emphasis on the word, as if it was a title rather than a description. Taylor stared at her, unsure of what to even say to that, when she was thankfully saved by the sound of a bell ringing through the hall. Sophia glanced up, an annoyed expression crossing her face, before she turned away.

“We can continue this later and I can answer some of your questions. If I'm right, we're gonna be seeing each other again real soon.” With those cryptic words, Sophia walked down the hall, presumably going to her next class. Taylor stared after her, left utterly baffled by that entire exchange.

“What just happened?” She said quietly, watching as Sophia rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

“Soooo, was it just me, or was she literally ignoring me that entire time.” Emma looked annoyed as Taylor took up her place behind her and began pushing again, “She didn't even say a word to me. It was like I wasn't even here.”

“That entire exchange was messed up.” Taylor commented, still shaking off the weirdness, “I'm not sure she's right in the head. Did you see the way she was looking at me?”

“Nevermind that!” Emma huffed, “Taylor, that nutcase made us late for class on the first day! Let's get a move on so we don't get marked absent, and the next time you see her, I want you to put that super strength to use.”

Taylor gave her friend a bemused look, “What? Like beat her up?”

“Or give her a swirly or something, I don't know! She can't get away with this.“

“Emma, it is literally the first day of school.”

“And?”

~~~

Later that night and extremely early into the next morning, the two teenagers were gathered in Taylor's bedroom. Taylor had managed to convince her dad to let Emma sleep over under the guise of wanting to go over the syllabus for the upcoming year. Though honestly she probably didn't even need to make an excuse. Her dad always loved it when Emma came over, even after the incident.

Taylor zipped up her jacket and smoothed out her clothes, making sure that the sleeves didn't get in the way of her web launchers. Satisfied that there was still enough space underneath the hem, she reached up to her head and pulled her goggles down, slipping them on and tinting the world a vibrant orange, before turning to her friend for her opinion.

“Well?” Taylor spread her arms out wide, “How do I look?”

Emma was sitting on her bed, legs dangling over the edge as she stared at her friend. She hummed, looking her up and down before twirling her fingers in a gesture to make her friend turn around. Taylor followed the instruction, turning around under Emma's scrutinizing gaze, and the redhead hummed again.”.

“It looks good, just like I knew it would, but I feel like there's something missing.” She said as Taylor stopped twirling, “There's too much empty space on the jacket. I shouldn't have gone with solid colors. The empty space in the middle of the back is really screaming at me.”

“Do you think we should draw something there? Like an emblem or a design or something? I’ve got some markers around here somewhere.” Taylor said, turning her head to try and get a look at her back. Emma shook her head, immediately dismissing the idea.

“That would look super tacky. Please leave the fashion ideas to me, okay.” Emma tilted her head, staring at the spot, “An emblem though… that's not a bad idea. We'll need someone who can sew or you'll have to learn because I am not treating my fingers like that.”

Taylor snorted, pulling her hood up, “Poor Emma and her delicate model fingers. I'm sure your future agent will appreciate your perfect cuticles.”

“I know they will.” Emma sniffed, watching as Taylor walked to the nearby window, “Are you leaving through there? Why not just take the front door? Your dad sleeps like a log.”

Taylor unlatched her window with two clicks, before sliding it up. The night air swept into the room and Emma shivered as her friend turned to give her a cheeky grin “I could. But this way's more fun.”

Emma watched as Taylor pulled up her mask, a hint of worry slithering its way into her gut, “Be careful, Tay. I don't want to be alone on my second day of school because you got hurt.”

“I'm just going to swing around, Emma. It'll be fine!” Placing her hands on the top of the window, Taylor thrust her legs through and jumped to the side, sticking to the outside of her house. She reached up to close it, “Besides, this is me we're talking about.”

The window clicked shut, cutting off the wind as well as the ambient noise just outside. Emma watched as Taylor gave her a cheeky salute, before flipping off of her house and thrusting a hand out, swinging out of view.

“That's what I'm worried about…” Emma said softly as her friend zipped away. She stared out at the night just beyond the glass, before any semblance of her earlier cheer disappeared and she sighed. She looked around at the empty room, “Guess I'll just go to bed now. Hopefully she'll be back before uncle Danny gets up.”

With some difficulty, Emma crawled up the bed, sliding underneath the covers with only her arms to help her along. She rolled over, reaching over to turn off the light on the bedside table, before pulling her phone off of the nearby charger.

She powered it on, squinting as her bright screensaver blinded her, before her eyes locked on to a new message that had come in while she and Taylor were talking. She tapped on it, reading over it quickly.

It was from her physical therapist, reminding her to keep up with her exercises. The man had been really nice in the hospital and that niceness leaked through his texts, but even so, Emma was the furthest thing from happy to see them any time they popped up on her phone. She got on here to escape reality, to delude herself into believing everything was still all right, not to remind herself that it wasn't.

Underneath the covers, Emma slowly ran on and along her leg, feeling the empty space where healthy muscle used to be. Unbidden, her eyes slid away from her phone and to the side of the bed, finding the wheelchair sitting there. Her wheelchair.

Emma had never thought she'd need a wheelchair in her life. Could never imagine being forced to have a separate contraption just to get around. One that she wasn't even strong enough to push by herself. It was like a physical manifestation of her weakness. A glaring reminder of what happened that night in the alley. The night where she had puffed up her chest with false bravado to keep her best friend safe, only to have her legs kicked out from under her. Literally.

And now that friend was out in the city, acting like a real superhero and saving people while she was here, staring blankly at the instructions her physical therapist had given her so she could one day walk like a normal person.

Emma knew she may seem bitter, but she really was happy for Taylor. She was so happy that her best friend was on her way to becoming one of the heroes that they had idolized as kids. She deserved it! But it just…

It just wasn't fair. Taylor was out there swinging from buildings, having the time of her life, and Emma couldn't even get up to use the bathroom without a freaking wheelchair.

Emma turned off her phone and rolled over, sighing miserably as tears pricked her eyes and the knot in her throat grew in size as she prepared to fall into a restless slumber.

At least Taylor was having a good time.