She'd been banging at the locker for a long time now. Screaming her lungs out for hours.

Nothing.

The bitterness within her couldn't be held back, even as she felt herself growing dizzier from the smell. They'd left her, all of them. Those who had simply stood by and watched, as Sophia, Emma and Madison had thrown her into this disgusting locker and locked her. No one had even seen fit to make a note of it, to see the injustice and horror of the act. No, they'd been content in their own little lives, their own little worlds. What did it matter, that Taylor was bullied? What did it matter, if Taylor was treated inhumanely?

As the hours dragged on, it became more than bitterness. A creeping horror was starting to overcome her. Surely they'd let her out soon, right? Surely they weren't planning on making her stay in this locker for a day? For more than a day? Today was the last day of school for the week - the school would be empty for two days. She could ... she could die.

A part of Taylor crumbled at the realization, at the knowledge that she'd been left here to die, to cry to her bitter end with no one to hear her. Another part of her raged at the injustice of it, at the cruelty of it - but was powerless to do anything. And a greater part of her simply lay there, numb, counting the seconds to distract her from the smell. Wondering if this was going to be it.

A day passed. Then the next. She was starving now, and desperately thirsty. Parts of who she was had crumbled away in this harsh environment, till only the numbness was left. The numbness, and a single, all-consuming desire.

Survive.

She had to survive. She would not die here, not die because of the malicious acts of a bunch of schoolgirls. She would not leave her dad behind, broken by the death of his daughter, as he'd been broken by the death of his wife.

As she lay there, nearly insensate, a cockroach crawled over her. Insects, gathered because of the putrid odor of the locker, crawled over her body. Slowly. Painstakingly.

And Taylor? She was past things like dignity or sensibility. All she wanted to do was survive.

And so she ate them. For sustenance. For anything to stop that raging hunger in her belly, she ate them.

Within her mind, a litany was being chanted. To survive. Survive at all costs. No matter what it takes.

And it was in this state of mind, that she saw it.

-

At first, she thought it was a delusion. Something brought on by her fragmented state of mind.

But it was too real. Too raw, too visceral, what she saw.

Two creatures, larger than worlds, larger than the universe itself, reflected infinitely. Coming together, and leaving. Joining and leaving. Countless fragments that descended of those two entities, of those infinite entities, as they danced their eerie dance. Everything about them seemed to fold inwards and outwards, stretching on endlessly yet just visible all the same.

It was enough to drive her insane, if she was not there already.

The shards of the entities breaking up seemed to swirl around and above her, forming patterns and designs impossible for the human mind to perceive. They dangled away, just out of reach.

Finally, a voice seemed to reverberate around her head, echo all around her. It came from the entities, the infinite creatures she saw in front of her, occluding the planets and stars.

Agreement.

And then she knew no more.

-

When she woke up, something seemed different. The bugs around her were gone, curiously enough. Vanished, as though they'd never been-

- chittering through the nest, seeking out food, sustenance. Had to gather food, had to feed the Clan

- chitinous skeletons, rapidly flapping wings, redundant systems, resistance to shock, resistance to radiation, resistance to-

- !
Taylor shook her head, trying to make some sense of what she was seeing. Of what she was feeling. Her mind seemed to stutter and start again, skipping things that slipped from her mind without her making an effort to hold them. They didn't seem important anyway. Didn't seem a priority.

No, what was strange was that ... she could feel herself. Could feel her body in a way she'd never felt before. Every vein, every blood vessel, every cell - they sang of their existence in a way she could intuitively grasp. She suddenly understood everything about them - not in words, not in definitions or classifications, but a bone-deep understanding of everything that was going on with her body. And ... she felt ...

... Like she could change them.

She didn't know how, but the answers came to her as easily as she reached for them. How something could be adjusted, moved around, just made to fix things there, adjust something here.

There were flashes of skittering and chittering in her head, her ears hearing sounds that weren't there, but she ignored them to focus on what was in front of her.

She felt ... strong. Rejuvenated. Her body was working at more than a hundred percent, responding to her thoughts with absurd ease. Maybe, just maybe ...

She tried, applying just the tiniest bit of strength, something she would ramp up with time-

-and the locker door was launched off it's hinges like a cannon, slamming into the wall with a resounding thud.

Taylor gaped at the scene, before a giddiness started making itself known throughout her body.

Powers. Superhuman abilities. She was a parahuman.

And, most importantly, she was out.

With a whooping yell, that she would have been too shy to do if anyone was around, she rushed out of the school, not even noticing that she was moving faster than usual.

Much faster than usual.

-

She made it to her house in a matter of minutes, and tentatively knocked on the door. She was a bit wary, a bit concerned, wondering how her father would have been dealing with her being gone.

The door unlatched, and opened, and father and daughter met for the first time in over a day.

For a moment, they just stared at each other. Danny looked like he'd seen a ghost, while Taylor's eyes were watering at seeing her father again.

"D-Dad ..." She managed, choking the words out with difficulty.

Nothing more was said. Danny rushed forwards, wrapping his arms around his daughter, crushing her to him as though afraid to let her go. And Taylor simply held on, lightly gripping her father's arms, afraid to hug him for fear of her strength.

"You're alright," Danny whispered, his relief so palpable it was almost painful to look at. "You're ... you're alright."

"Yeah," Taylor replied, her eyes watering once more. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What- ... what happened, Taylor? Where were you? I was ... I was so worried"

"It's alright, dad. I'm alright. Everything's ... everything's going to be fine."

Danny stopped hugging her, and held her for a moment, a hand's width apart. His hands were on her shoulders, and his eyes were searching Taylor's.

"Who ... who did this to you?" He rasped out, clearly boiling with rage. He'd seen her dress, seen the puke and blood that decorated it. "What did they do to you?"

"Dad, we'll talk about it later. Right now ... right now, I really need a shower."

Danny nodded, jerkily, reigning in his anger with difficulty. It was still there, of course, boiling under the surface - but he could put a lid on it all the same.

This wasn't over. They'd talk, later, about what had happened, who had done what they did. But for now?

For now, Taylor was filthy. And she really needed that shower.

-

Late at night, after discussing everything with her father, Taylor lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

She'd told her dad everything - from the initial friendship that seemed to have rejuvenated, to the vicious betrayal. She'd named the ones responsible, and her father had promised to do everything in his power to see that the ones who'd pulled that 'prank' were punished for their malicious actions.

She didn't expect much to come of it, truth be told. Not the least because that's how it always had been. But she didn't want to think about that.

Raising her hand, she felt her muscles coiling as she clenched her fist. Felt it move beneath her skin, at her command. Felt it reshape itself, along with skin and bone, into a form she chose.

Raising her claws in the air, Taylor smiled. She had superpowers now, and she knew what she was going to do.

I'm going to be a superhero.