Authors Note: This will be my main project after I finish with The Gift until then chapters will come slowly as I write when I get hung up on The Gift. There will be a few mistakes but I'm going off track fairly early. there will be the usual players and a few original ones.

Edit 4/9/18: accidentally uploaded the pre-spellchecked version of this chapter. It has now been spellchecked and re-uploaded.

Origins 1-1

The Trio were quiet all week, not bothering me once. They didn't even so much as look in my direction. I thought that they had given up on me. I thought that maybe, they had grown bored.

How could I have been so stupid.

Friday came and I had just left my last class. I wanted to drop my books off at my locker for the weekend, normally I would never have done this, things had gone missing from my locker before. I had just climbed the last few stairs when the smell hit me. It was a horrible, sickening smell that just screamed bad news. Unfortunately, I was stupid and continued to my locker, some part of me knowing that the smell could only be originating from there. God, it smelled like a dead animal or maybe even worse. I spun the dial on my lock and I could only imagine what was inside. I wasn't prepared for what I found. Used tampons, pads and trash in general fell out onto my feet completely covering my shoes. It had been impossibly piled into the locker. The smell was so much more awful with the door open that I couldn't stop myself. I threw up, right there on top of the disgusting pile.

I never knew they were behind me. Someone, probably Sophia Hess, grabbed a handful of my hair and used it as leverage to slam my face into the back of my locker. Stunned by the sudden pain I was shoved bodily into the locker, forced in enough that they slammed the door behind me and clicked the lock closed.

"Now you can rot with the rest of the trash." Laughed Emma Barnes.

Emma Barnes. She used to be like a sister to me. We did everything together growing up. When hard times hit the docks and the income in the Hebert household tanked, Emma's parents even took me with them on their vacations. When Mom died and Dad drifted away in his grief it was Emma who helped me piece myself back together. Then I went to summer camp before starting High School. When I returned things had changed between us. She no longer took my calls, I was no longer invited to her house, she even went so far as to remove me from all of her social media accounts. She removed all traces of our friendship and I was devastated. Then the first day of high school finally came. Little did I know it was the first day of many that would lead up to the worst experience of my life so far. Emma didn't just stop being friends with me. She joined up with two other girls in making my life hell. For a year and a half, they tortured me until it finally culminated into this latest attack. There was no doubt in my mind that Emma was the one behind this one. She knew I was terrified of enclosed spaces. She knew without a doubt that this would break me. That it would all but kill me.

"Let me out!" I banged on the locker desperately. I gagged at the taste of the rank air inside the locker. "Please let me out Emma!"

"You're pathetic Taylor." Emma spat, "No one wants you here, can't you see that?"

The walls felt like they were getting tighter, squeezing me, making it harder to breathe. "Please Emma don't leave me in here." It was so dark. As is I was being completely consumed.

"Your weak Hebert and this is what happens to weak people." Sophia kicked the locker door for emphasis.

I could feel things crawling on my legs and getting higher. My breath hitched and my heart hammered in my ears. "Don't leave me in here!"

"Let's go before someone comes looking." I heard Sophia say. "Emma let's go, leave her,"

"Emma don't leave me here! Please!" I begged but no answer came. I was alone an no one was going to save me. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

I screamed until my throat cracked and my voice only came out in strangled gasps.

I tried to bang on the walls but I couldn't move the walls had closed in tighter. I needed out! Out! My chest hurt and I couldn't breathe. Please god let me out! My legs gave out and there was a flash of light then the all-consuming darkness took me. I was going to die in here.

Maybe I would see Mom.

I woke up in the hospital. I don't know how long I was out for but judging by how Dad was out cold in a chair next to my bed it must have been a while. When I tried to speak my voice cracked and came out as barely more than a whisper. I might have shouted for the reaction I received from my Father.

"Taylor! Sweetheart how are you feeling." He pulled me into a hug before I could even answer.

"Hard to talk." The rough sound of my voice hit him like a physical blow.

"T-the doctors said you had an infection in your throat so that you might have some trouble." He hugged me again, tighter than ever.

"How long?" I croaked. Oh god if this was going to be my voice from now on I would rather not talk at all. I could already hear the trio's remarks.

"I don't know." He suddenly looked uneasy. "The doctor will probably want to know you are awake."

"Dad." I tired to make him stay with me but he got up and left. He has never been the same since mom died. Neither have I to be fair, but I needed him now. Was he going to drift away again? Was this the last time I was going to receive a hug for months on end. So wrapped up in my increasing misery that when someone knocked on the door I about jumped out of my skin.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear." The doctor apologized as she entered and closed the door. "I asked your father to wait outside while I ask you some questions. I am willing to bet you don't want him to know about a few things." The woman was surprisingly young for a doctor. She had a slim build and wore her dark hair in a shoulder length bob cut. I would place her in her late twenties or maybe early thirties.

I rubbed my hand across my wrist. As if one of the doctors hadn't told him already.

The doctor walked around to the left side of the bed and sat down on the edge and offered me her hand. "My name is Dr. Halsey."

Sitting up I only hesitated for a second before taking her offered handshake. I was surprised when she twisted my hand so that the inside of my wrist was plainly visible to her. "Hmm. Too shallow but no hesitation marks."

I jerked my hand back at the betrayal of basic trust.

"There is no need to look at me like that dear. Would you have shown me otherwise?" she asked.

I shook my head in a fraction of a movement.

"I didn't think so." She heaved a sigh. "I didn't think you would be such a complex case. OK, I can tell you have trust issues so I will lay it all on the table." She got up off the bed and walked around to the foot of the bed and leaned on it. "I don't work for the hospital."

I immediately began searching for the nurse call button.

"I do however work with the PRT. Are you familiar with the PRT?" She tilted her head with the question.

Thinking about everything she has done since walking in the room has been aimed towards a goal. She was trying to manipulate my actions. She would have to try harder to get a reaction out of me now that I knew her game. If the trio had taught me anything it was that no one cared what happened to me so this woman must want something from me. Keeping my face carefully neutral I answered her question. "Cape police."

If my croaking voice bothered her it didn't show on her face. "Oh, the PRT is far more complicated than that, dear. Anyway, I am a psychologist for the PRT and I do regular checkups with the parahumans involved in the protectorate. I am here to make sure you are not a danger to yourself or others."

Get to the point lady. "Why me?"

"The hospital, nor your father, are aware of this but you have been identified as a potential parahuman."

Even though she was clearly studying my reaction I couldn't have hidden my surprise from even a blind man. "What?"

Dr. Halsey looked me over with a thoughtful expression. "You didn't know." She stated.

Was she really implying that I was a cape?

She picked up a clip board that was hanging on the foot of my bed. "Have you ever heard of trigger events?"

I shook my head.

Without looking up from the clipboard Dr. Halsey explained. "I'm not surprised. It is not something that's spoken about much. A trigger event is the event in which a person whom has the potential to gain parahuman powers does. It is often described as 'the worst day of their lives'."

I couldn't help the shudder that ran through me. "Well if that's true I can see what they mean."

She hung the clipboard back where she got it and pulled out a notepad. "I know it will be hard but can you tell me about it?"

"Why would you care?" The venom in my voice apparent even through the croaked whisper it had become. All the adults that worked in Winslow had sided with the trio. Why would Dr. Halsey believe me?

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked.

"No one else has. Why would you be any different?" I coughed and laid back onto the pillows.

"I'm a psychologist with the PRT. It is my job to care." The doctor smirked.

"So, you are here only because it is your job?" I bit out. "Going to push this all under the rug like everyone else as soon as it becomes inconvenient?"

"I am here because of my job yes. But let me ask you this, before you judge, do you make a habit of sticking your nose into the business of any random stranger?" She gave me a searching look.

I reluctantly shook my head.

"Neither do I." She plopped down in the chair dad had been sleeping in. Why couldn't she just sit still? "I myself do not have parahuman powers so I am more limited in how I can help people. I help those I can and the people I can help are the ones whom come across my desk. Is it perfect? Not in the least, but it is what I can do. You, on the other hand, have been given an option in your darkest hour to be something more."

I had felt guilty about snapping at her right up until that last part. "Next you are going to tell me that your help is contingent on me joining the Wards."

"Well of course. The PRT, like any organization, is limited in resources and will not part with them without return." Dr. Halsey sighed. "I get it, you have problems with authority and I can only assume it has something to do with why you're currently in the hospital but the fact of the matter is that parahumans do not last long on their own. The Wards program can offer you much in the way of support including how to keep your identity safe."

That bitch. "Are you threatening me?" I growled.

She held up her hands in a placating gesture. "No. No. Nothing like that. I am simply trying to show how beneficial the program could be in your situation. You do not have to make the decision now and you would need your father's permission in any case."

"No." I shook my head. "I can't tell him about this. Not right now."

She looked at me in what appeared to be genuine concern. "Taylor, you were picked up by the police wandering the streets outside your school covered in all manner of filth. At three in the morning no less." She got up out of the chair and picked up the clip board once again. "Your medical chart lists a series of injuries and infections that can only be a recent occurrence. It goes on to list old injuries that have healed improperly. Anyone can put two and two together and see you have been abused in some way."

"So, because I had a bad day you think I could be a cape?"

"I think this," she shook the clipboard, "is far more than 'a bad day'. But no, you received an MRI during your admission to the hospital. The tech there called the PRT and brought you to our attention. Nice try on changing the subject."

Damn.

"You don't have to accept the offer to join the Wards but please find someone to talk to about this." She shook the clipboard again. "You need help Taylor, if not from me then go to the police. Your medical records alone would warrant an investigation."

I had heard enough. I didn't want to think about the locker. I didn't want to think about those three bitches that had systematically destroyed my life. I just wanted it all to go away. "Please leave." I whispered.

"Taylor-"

"Get out!" I tried to yell but it tore at my throat and I doubled over in a coughing fit.

"What's going on in here?" Dad burst into my room. "Taylor! Are you ok?" he rushed to my side and held me.

"Make her leave." I croaked.

He let go of me a stood between me and Dr. Halsey. "I think it's time you left. "

The doctor gave me a worried look but kept silent as she walked out the room.

Dad pulled the chair up closer to the bed and sat down where I could see him from where I lay. "Do you want to tell me what that was about?"

I shook my head and did my best to ignore the pained look my dad gave me.

"Alright I will let it go for now." He wiped his face with his hand, something he always did when he was reigning in his temper. "There is some good news. The doctors mentioned that Panacea is scheduled to make an appearance here tomorrow afternoon. There are not many serious cases at the moment so it is likely she will be able to fix you up."

Oh. My. God. The Panacea. And I was going to meet her in person. Maybe she could fix my eyes with everything else. I couldn't help but grin at the thought of no more glasses.

"I thought that might cheer you up a bit." Dad chuckled. "It's good to see you smile again."