English is not my first language, so please let me know of any mistakes in language or grammar, and I hope you enjoy the story.

1.1

The locker.

Her own locker, forced in by those three bitches.

Desperately squirming, writhing in the filth that they threw in with her. The smell of fetid blood fills her nose every time she breathes in, so strong that she can practically taste it, causing her to retch and splutter, only making it worse.

She has to get out, has to get out get out get out!

The metal is as unyielding as before when she hammers and scratches on it, her voice hoarse as she tries with all her might to force the door.

It is useless.

Whimpers escape her lips as she momentarily slumps against the front of her locker, the darkness and stench overpowering her senses and leaving her alone with just her thoughts.

How did it come to this?

The year and a half of bullying, culminating in her being trapped in her own locker.

Emma, Sophia and Madison.

The three bitches responsible for this, but there is nothing that she can do, nothing at all. The teachers and faculty will turn away again and again, Emma's father is a lawyer, Sophia's value on the track team and Madison's cute little act will save them once again no matter what evidence she can present.

She has given up on trying to report them or getting the proper people involved.

Ever since her mother died she has been running on autopilot, just trying to survive and move through life, but they have not let her.

Emma, her former best friend will be there at every turn to spill her secrets, Sophia will trip and push her and Madison will always be there planning some new prank or helping them get away, and there is absolutely nothing that she can do. She could tell her dad, but then what? He would get angry, complain to the school but there would be no evidence, there is never any evidence pinpointing who did this stuff to her.

Not that Danny Hebert really knows what is going on, she couldn't do that to him. He has suffered enough because of her, like mom…

Mom…

Emma still has her flute, her mother's flute that she left her, in the hands of her former best friend.

She has to get it back no matter what, if she ever gets out that is.

No, she will get out!

How long will it be before somebody comes to let her out?

It is a Friday today, she will be trapped here tomorrow and Sunday as well!

Just the thought of it makes her tremble, quake in the feet deep pile of filth that fills her claustrophobic prison, and with a detached, distant sort of horror Taylor Hebert realises that she cannot stop herself from shaking, the rapid and harsh breaths coming out of her mouth growing ever louder in the tight and confined space of the locker.

Taylor has to get out and show them, show those goddam bitches!

Her efforts to escape are renewed as she hits and scratches and presses with all her strength against the locker door, the metal pushing and straining under her hands. She will get out!

So close, but the hinges refuse to give.

She. Will. Escape.

She. Will. Get. Revenge.

For just a moment indeed, it would be fair to say that she would kill.

Then, something within her breaks.

Unnoticed or unseen, her eyes begin to glow and a red haze rises off her skin as visions of a strange scene, of shards and immense beings pass through her mind.

...

"Get her!"

A woman's scream.

Thrashing, pleading she is brought down by the trio of men.

"What we doing to this one boss?"

"I'll give her some of the good stuff, looks like she should be able to afford it," the tallest of the trio states as he withdraws a needle.

Just as he is about to pierce the skin a chill falls over them. It is like a wave of ice has just been dumped on top of them, pressing down and attempting to crush them as their hair stands on end. Reacting at once the leader of the trio pulls a gun from his jacket and whirls to face the other direction.

"The fuck?"

The other two look up at the figure stood not ten metres away from them.

Tall, matted brown hair.

Covered in blood.

Even in the dim light provided each of them can see the dark red things flaking and falling off of her onto the ground, the stench of something rotten wafting over and filling their nostrils even from this distance. Eyes glowing red stare at them from a face that could best be described as murderous.

Strangest of all though is the red wisps of mist that seem to rise and flicker off her, almost like flames.

"Let go of her."

The growl is harsh and even as it is said the strange red flames pulse and rise off the girl more intensely than before.

"F-Fuckin' cape man!" one of the three shouts but it is disregarded.

"Stay the fuck out of this!" the leader shouts, waving his gun in the woman's direction. Even if she is a cape she looks in no condition to fight covered in all that blood and the obvious black bags under her eyes.

"Let. Her. Go."

Those eyes narrow and the man's heartbeat picks up. The murderous aura around her seems to thicken, a strangling presence that makes the edges of his vision darken and his pulse fill his ears. Those eyes remain fixed on his and every moment he looks at the strange girl the more he feels a strange terror overtake him, a sure knowledge that she wants him dead and nothing else.

For a few moments, nothing happens, the only sound the whimpers of the women his two fellows hold down.

The ominous terror only grows by the second, paralysing them in place.

Behind him he hears the sound of bodies hitting the ground, and looks briefly over his shoulder to see the two men accompanying him twitching on the cold concrete, eyes wide limbs flailing as they try to push away from the girl in front of them. They look like downed gazelles trying to escape a cheetah at any cost.

A rustle of cloth and the man turns just in time to see his outstretched arm gripped by the girl, who has crossed the distance between them in the space of a second.

With a speed barely Human she wrenches his arm downwards and punches him in the stomach with such force that he is lifted off his feet.

His two fellows make to get up and attack wildly, one with his bare hands another with a hastily drawn knife.

The first is sent flying by a single kick connecting with his jaw that breaks bone, the second makes to lunge but before he is even halfway through the movement the girl grabs his arm and uses it throw him into a wall, a single sharp blow to the elbow breaks it and a third renders him unconscious.

She stares down at them. She could kill them, right here, right now…

"Do you have a phone?" Taylor Hebert growls, turning those white glowing eyes on the woman who was just moments away from falling victim to the Merchant gangs attempts to get her addicted to some drug.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes!"

The woman looks up at her saviour with equal parts terror and thankfulness as she desperately scrabbles in her bag for the device. Withdrawing it with shaking hands she passes it wordlessly to the girl, although whether to complete the request or as tribute she does not know.

Wordlessly she punches in the number that almost all Brockton Bay Citizens know off by heart.

"Brockton Bay Police department, how may I help?"

"I've stopped an attack by possible Merchant members." It is more a growl then normal speech that issues from her mouth.

"Are you a cape ma'am?"

This question goes unanswered as glowing eyes look over the three unconscious men arranged haphazardly at her feet. The temptation to end her foes, to strike them down for daring to attack consumes her.

But she pushes the thought away.

"The men might need medical assistance. Broken bones are a definite, concussions perhaps for some of them," she states uncaringly, give's the location and without a further word ends the call.

Without a word, she begins to walk down the street as if nothing at all had occurred.

"Wait!"

Taylor pauses, glancing over her shoulder at the prone form of the woman she saved, still on the ground where she found her. Eyes like those of a deer in headlights stare back, weak and vulnerable, so weak. Just like her, just a few hours ago.

The thought makes the red aura around her pulse, makes her want to turn back and finish the job. A single blow would be all it would take and the three men would be dead by her hand. A wave of instinctive terror rushing through the woman as she stares at the terrifying form of the girl, no older than fifteen or sixteen, old enough to be her own daughter.

"What?"

"I... can you stay? I-I mean, what if they wake up?"

A moment's pause, then the girl turns to face forwards again.

"They won't," she states even as the distant sound of police sirens fills the distant air.

Without another word, she leaves.

...

When Taylor Hebert awakens that Saturday morning it is to find that she is, strangely, dressed only in her undergarments.

Mind snapping into alertness at this fact she then becomes aware of the fact her foot and knuckles sting and ache. Like an absolute bitch.

Sitting up and reaching for her glasses the fifteen-year-old blinks the sleep from her eyes as she tries to remember just why she is in this situation and looks to the side of her bed, where a pile of bloody and reeking clothes sits.

At once memories of the previous night rush back, Emma, Sophia and Madison throwing her into the locker filled with filth, the thoughts of how she would die and the hatred, the sheer hatred she felt for them all.

From there pushing the locker door off with a single effort and sending it across the hall and smashing into the opposite wall. Walking out of school with a strange, single-minded desire to get home, walking straight through gangland without any concern at all, as if all fear had been switched off and meeting that trio of Merchants about to inject something into that woman. The fight-

"I'm… a cape?"

Taylor stares down at her hands, at the knuckles covered in bruises from punches thrown instinctively last night.

How did she even do that?

She has never been to any sort of martial art of self-defence training but she managed to take down three armed men in just a few seconds, broke their bones and disarmed them like it was natural. What sort of power has she gained to be able to do such a thing? Maybe some sort of automatic ability to defend herself? No, then what was the red mist that so terrified them?

She felt no fear whatsoever even though she was staring down the sights of a gun, an apathy towards everything and a desire to fight, to defeat and dominate.

She… she wanted to kill them!

The thought sickens her but at the same time something else within her rebels against that sensation, that she should have done so.

She should have killed them, they will only be back to threaten her another day now.

No!

She refuses to give into those thoughts and pushes them away. She will not kill anybody, not if she can do anything to prevent it!

Is she going insane? Driven by a strange power that she doesn't understand? Should she try to contact the PRT and ask for them to help her?

No, that same part of her that told her to kill rejects the notion at once. She doesn't need the help of others to overcome her demons, she has power, she must grow stronger, stronger than everybody else if she is going to survive in this world! People like Emma, Sophia and Madison will tremble before her, nobody will ever be allowed to do what they did to her again!

Thin flickers of the red mist begin to rise from her body and hurriedly Taylor stamps out those thoughts, and after a moment they fade!

Pushing off the covers with far greater force than intended Taylor stands from her bed and has a shower to remove the smell of rotten blood from her after which she throws her clothes away in a dumpster outside.

When she makes her way downstairs her father is waiting there, sat at the table tapping his foot.

The moment she appears he speaks.

"Where were you last night Taylor?" he asks, voice deceptively calm but all the signs of his temper there.

"I was…"

She cannot tell the truth, cannot let her father know. He will just get angry, begin threatening and trying to do things that will only make it worse! She cannot accept his help, the same force as before refuses it in every way.

"At Emma's. Sorry, I couldn't let you know but the Barnes line is down and I didn't know until I got there."

The lie sounds forced even as she says it but her father nods in relief, not catching her wince at even having to say her tormentors name out loud.

"Good, I was so worried about you."

"It's fine dad, seriously."

"If you say so Taylor, anyway sorry to do this but there's some trouble with the overtime staff at the docks so…"

"It's fine dad, I'll cook dinner."

Soon she is alone again, just her and her thoughts.

Thoughts wondering just what her power is now that she is a cape, as telling yourself 'red mist and a desire to kill people' is hardly a healthy way to refer to your new abilities.

She would much rather have a power that she could use to be a hero, to fight crime and help other people. But at this rate it seems like she will have to restrain her every action for the rest of her life.

Desperate to distract herself from these thoughts she turns on the TV. The background noise is a good distraction, even if it cannot bring her fully away from these destructive thoughts.

Then-

"Want to learn self-defence? Not feeling like you can protect yourself? Then come down me, Sensei Bob, and my Karate Dojo! I'll take you from zero to hero in just three weeks with my amazing complete training package!"

Taylors eyes snap back to the TV where a selection of over the top and choreographed martial arts clips are being shown with an overweight man, no doubt 'sensei Bob' grinning cheesily at the camera as he speaks. As she watches the man and his student's spar and demonstrate their various techniques Taylor raises an eyebrow. Half of them look wrong, they are not proper attacks.

If most of them were in the same situation that she was in last night, then they would probably be dead.

But…

Perhaps this advert has the answer?

She needs to learn control of whatever killing instinct is currently consuming her, find ways to release it in manageable ways so that she does not go on a rampage the next time she goes to school.

Maybe if she takes up martial arts? Many of them promote self-control, so why not?

Strangely the other part, the part of her that just moments ago was telling her to become the strongest and to kill her tormentors quietens down. Not so much that the occasional urges are completely gone, but sufficient that they are not consuming her every thought.

Resolving to find a place to learn to defend herself Taylor feels relief and calm for the first time since waking up, and prepares to leave for the library.