You can tell that Blackwell is not exactly happy to see you. Oh look, it's Taylor come to whine some more about the abuse that must be covered up. What a drag. The gall of you, poking at the blackened remains of her conscience to no purpose.
You ignore the frosty reception, take a seat and pull a notebook out of your bag.
"Mrs Blackwell. I have documented here over one thousand separate incidents of bullying" - there is a slight gasp from Emma at this - "directed against me. Including, of course, the famous locker incident. Miss Barnes here has realized the error of her ways and is prepared to confess to all of them." You catch her gaze and hold it. "Including naming accomplices."
Blackwell averts her eyes from you in order to give Emma a look of disbelief, containing equal parts 'how could you do this to me?' and 'what the hell is wrong with you?' The motto of Winslow, right there.
"What do you want?" she asks through clenched teeth. She's not stupid, you'll give her that. She instantly figured out which way this conversation was going.
"Immediate transfer to Arcadia," you say.
"I don't think you realize-"
"Oh, you'll have to call in some favors I'm sure. But no one is corrupt for as long as you have been without accumulating some."
She stares at you. "You think Winslow runs net positive on favors?"
For a moment you almost empathize with her. All along, Winslow was her personal hell too.
Almost. That the devil was cast down against his will is scant comfort for the damned souls in his charge.
"I guess you'll have to go further into debt," you say with a shrug.
There is a brief staring duel. When she shows no signs of giving up, you decide to raise the stakes.
"Miss Barnes could always go straight to the media," you note. "She is consumed by remorse and will stop at nothing to make amends."
"...Fine. I will have the papers for your legal guardian to sign ready by the end of the day. The transfer itself will take at least two weeks arrange. After all," she adds when you start to object, "neither of us want to invite any special scrutiny here."
"Fair enough," you say.
"You will of course have maintain a perfect attendance record until the transfer takes effect."
Oh look, she's trying to claw out a small moral victory to salve her wounded pride. Does she get to do that? You don't think she does.
"Very funny," you say. "You meant to say, of course, that you will maintain my perfect attendance record." You grin at her. Well, you show her your teeth. "In fact, I believe you will find that any absence that was reported at the beginning of the semester was merely a clerical error."
Blackwell is clearly trying to develop laser eyes, that she might burn you to death.
"Fine. Ruin your education. See if I care. The less I have to see of you, the happier I will be. Now get the hell out of my office, both of you."
---
Once you're outside, and alone, Emma collapses against the wall, trembling.
"Holy shit, Taylor," she whispers. "I can't believe you did that."
You smile at her and squeeze her shoulder.
"I appreciate your help in this matter, friend," you say.
You leave before anyone can spot the two of you together. Once you're around the corner, and alone, you collapse against the wall, trembling. Holy shit. You can't believe you did that.
You pull yourself together and indulge in a grin that would make Lisa proud, or possibly even jealous. Your plan worked perfectly, and you solved all your problems. Not only do you no longer need to worry about Sophia, you also launched operation 'Infiltrate the Wards 2: Arcadia Boogaloo', and you scored yourself a free vacation to spend more time with Rachel's dogs. You clearly triggered with the power to own the shit out of bitches, in addition to all the other bullshit.
---
After school you meet up with Emma again and guide her to Rachel's lair. Judging by look on her face she is less than comfortable strolling through lair territory, even in daylight.
"Not everyone can afford to live in unofficial Empire territory," you chide her mildly. Heh. Now she's nervous and embarrassed.
As usual Bubbles is the first to notice your arrival, immediately launching himself towards you like he was shot from a cannon. You're ready for it. You catch him as he leaps up at you and half hug, half wrestle him to the ground and start rubbing his belly. Look at that tail go.
It takes some time before he calms down enough to notice that you brought company. By then several other dogs have come over to investigate the new arrival. Emma is taking it in good humor, letting herself be sniffed and offering head scratches to those who will accept them. You can tell that she expected a somewhat more upscale place, though.
When Bubbles rolls to his feet and approaches her, you perform introductions. "Bubbles, this is Emma. Emma, Bubbles." Emma offers her hand to sniff, but Bubbles ignores it, regarding her warily and growling softly. Good boy, excellent judgement.
"Emma is behaving herself," you tell him, "you have to tolerate her as long as she does." Hm, that might have come out a bit more autobiographical than you intended.
Then Emma yelps and practically leaps into your arms, causing Bubbles to scramble back and let out a single sharp bark. What- oh, Rachel just started turning Brutus and Judas into monsters. By touch, you note. Mugging for the fresh audience.
"What seems to be the matter, friend?" you ask. You were right, the look on her face is priceless.
"The dogs..."
"Yes?" You are the very image of polite confusion.
"That's Hellhound," she hisses.
"Yes? She runs the place, you know."
"I- you- she-" Tolerating Emma does have its high points, you must admit.
"I'm not sure what you're trying to say, friend." Emma opens her mouth to try again, but you keep going. "Are you saying that associating with a known parahuman murderer is not okay? Because that would be a very strange thing for you to say, don't you think?"
Emma slumps down and lets go of you. "...yes." Answering both your questions at once.
"Don't lose track of why we're here, friend," you say.
She just looks at you, uncomprehending. You hand her the poop shovel, as a hint.
"...oh. Right."
---
Emma never quite relaxes. She flinches away any time Brutus or Judas wanders too close, and keeps shooting nervous glances at Rachel. As you walk home through the mean streets of Brockton Bay, she clings on to your arm in a most pathetic fashion. You thought you had mastered the art of 'victim' body language, but she's showing you a few tricks you missed. Weirdly appropriate, she was the one who 'taught' you in the first place, after all.
You fight down a sudden urge to turn on her. Would it not be appropriate, to betray her trust as she is relying on you? To see the look on her face as all hope dies? You are in the perfect neighborhood for turning someone into a statistic...
You shake your head. Your minion is behaving, and must be tolerated.
Eventually you reach safer ground, and it is time for you to part ways.
"I don't think you should come back," you tell her, "Rachel didn't like you."
"Like me? She didn't talk to me once!"
"Yes, exactly. She could smell your fear." You're pretty sure Rachel can't do that, actually. It would have shown up on sorcerer's sight.
"I don't want to go back. Taylor, you never said we'd be working for a villain."
You clench your fists. You want to scream at her, about how her murderer friend, the hero, is the kind of person who would shove an innocent girl into a locker full of rotting tampons and how the fuck are those labels in any way meaningful?
But you can't. That's not who you are in this relationship. The person you are is always calm, and polite, and scary.
"You disappoint me, friend," you say instead, "but I suppose that is inevitable. Here, this is for you." You toss her your locker key. "You can have your books back. I won't be needing them."
"You meant it, then? You'll be skipping school until the transfer goes through?"
You just hold her gaze, saying nothing. The person you are right now would not say anything they did not mean to go through with. She should realize that.
"I'll, uh, I'll see you around I guess?" Emma tries.
"Yes." She guesses that. Although you probably should keep up this charade of friendship at least until you start at Arcadia, just to be safe.
---
The first thing you do when you get home is to hug your dad.
"You had a good day, I take it?" he asks.
"Oh yes. You know how I told you everything was all worked out at school? Well, that wasn't quite true. There was one girl who kept bullying me."
Danny gently pushes you out of the hug and studies you at arms length, trying to reconcile your words with your demeanor.
"But!" you continue, "Today I spoke to the principal, and she was so worried about that girl that she agreed to a school transfer. Here, you have to sign these."
He glances over the papers you hand him. "Arcadia? Taylor, that's amazing."
You nod happily. "I had Emma along to back me up. She could testify to everything that had happened, and the principal really had no choice but to agree."
The person you are right now would never tell her dad a lie.