Actually Not Carrie

Summary: Who needs restraint when you've got superpowers? People who want to keep a low profile, that's who.

It was ultimately quite an innocuous thing that brought me over the edge.

Based on everything else that had happened to me, you'd think that I would be able to take something as dumb as a stolen assignment.

But as it turned out, even if it's just one straw, it can still break the strongest camel's back.

The tightly wound bubble of anger I had been holding back exploded.

"That is MINE!" I screamed, bolting to my feet and slamming my hands on my desk, creating a louder noise than I expected. "GIVE IT BACK!"

"What is going on here!?" Gladly shouted back.

"Mr. G, Taylor is trying to steal my work!" Madison screeched.

" It's got my fucking name on it you shit!"

Madison looked at the pages upon pages of notes.

Do you honestly think I'm THAT fucking stupid, Madison? That I wouldn't sign my own work? Right there it was!

"Taylor, you should learn to share-" that piece of crap that calls itself a teacher began.

"Oh fuck you too!" I shouted, cutting him off and causing him to actually flinch. "She's never gonna let you bang her, you creep!"

Then I turned to Greg. "And that goes for you too, you little retard!" I screamed at the moron who had handed Madison my work, in a roundabout way.

"S-Shut up, you freak!" Madison screeched.

God is her voice annoying. It's like she's trying way too hard to affect a cutesy little girl voice.

"Taylor Hebert, how dare you-" Gladly began, trying to sound like a proper offended adult.

What a bunch of turds. Living, breathing, humanoid turds.

"I dare because I'm sick and tired of your shit, her shit, and everyone else's shit!" I realized I was breathing pretty hard, "I'm sick of having to take their shit, and I'm sick of the teachers jumping in their defense, and I'm sick of this entire fucking school and its fucking faculty and its fucking students! Everyone that's not a bully or banger is apathetic as shit, fuck ALL of you! Every last one of you! What's even the point of this class? World Affairs? The fuck are we learning here when the teacher is an imbecile obsessed with his own popularity who never actually gives a fucking lecture, just assigns group work, knowingly lets his pet students get away with stealing others' work and is more interested in his students' bodies than their minds! And even worse, the student he's fixated on is of course the cutesy little girl, because just wanting to fuck a teenager was not creepy enough, no, you had to throw in actual pedophilic tendencies on top of that!"

Gladly flinched back.

Of course I'm touching a nerve, I'm not even 100% sure that what I'm saying is the truth, but it certainly looks like it, given how much favoritism the short, petite and disturbingly childlike, in both appearance and personality, student gets. Fuck if I know, he might just want to be one of the 'cool kids' for all I know, but so long as everyone's reeling back from the teacher getting accused of being a pedophile, I'm going to use it!

"And you, brainless twit," I rounded up on Madison again, "are so pathetic that you completely lack a mind of your own. The only reason you maintain decent grades in this class is because of the group work, which allows you to coast on another's success, and Gladly looking the other way when you steal my hard work! And of course, I've seen you go crying to the teachers for make up tests and help, away from anyone else's sight, lest they learn that the beta bee is about as mentally intelligent as she is physically developed!"

Madison shrank in on herself, probably because what I'm saying is actually true, and there are girls snickering.

"And I don't know if there's any substance to it, but given how often you go to Campbell for math 'tutoring', I'm fairly sure that rumor about you blowing him to keep your grades up has at least one grain of truth, huh?" I continued. Again, I don't even know, it's just a rumor in the school. There's plenty of those, and while people outwardly pretend that the popular kids are well liked...

I'm not the only one who despises Sophia, Emma and Madison, and I'm not the only target for their bullying.

"As for you," I continued, turning on Greg, "you're insignificant, and a pest. Get it through your thick skull, idiot, they're not going to have sex with you! You're so fucking desperate that you're even trying to come on to me, for fuck's sake, you think that they can't tell? Nobody cares about your stupid games! Nobody cares about your stupid hobbies! Nobody cares about ANYONE else in this fucking school! Grow the fuck up, you're sixteen years old, not twelve, stop thinking with your goddamn dick for once, and make something of yourself for a change!"

Having calmed down a bit, but still quite angry, I decided to leave the class. Someone put their foot in my way, probably thinking I was entirely too angry to look.

I took great pleasure in stepping on that person's ankle, and her screech of pain was quite soothing to my frayed nerves. As I left, I slammed the door hard enough that the glass on it shattered. Once more, quite satisfying.

Dad was furious when they called. Furious enough to not listen to a word I said, no matter what it was that I said.

And now I'm alone in a park. I don't even know where this is. I'm lost, I've never really been on this side of the docks, this close to Chinatown and the Asian neighborhoods. More commonly known as ABB territory.

I am not crying.

Shut up, I am not crying! It doesn't matter that dad didn't even care about my side of the story, it doesn't matter that he didn't listen to anything I told him, that he didn't even-

I took a deep breath. Bad thought. No time to dwell on that.

I just... I just need to know, what the fuck am I going to do now. I don't know where I am, I don't know how to get home, I can't remember what turns I took to get here because I was running with tears in my eyes and not exactly seeing everything... I mean I could call the police, except I don't have a fucking phone.

A sob escaped me.

"Oi!"

That's... huh.

I looked up from where I was hugging my knees, pressing my face against them.

Oh... oh shit.

Three men. Green and red bandannas.

"What's this?" One of them said, in slightly accented English. He wore a hoodie with a weird design on it."A poor little white girl, lost in our turf..."

"Cut crap, we take her now," one of them, his skin a darker tone, said, his English harsh and accented.

The third, a bald man, laughed. "No need to take her anywhere," he said, no accent on this one. "We can have some fun here first."

Dammit...

This is bad. I don't- I'm not in danger. I know I'm not in danger. Even if my heart is beating fast because of the situation, I know I'm not in danger.

But I don't have a mask. I don't have anything to conceal my identity. Not even runny makeup that would make it difficult to recognize me.

Fuck!

I really don't want to have to do this...

My powers, I don't want to reveal them. Especially, I don't want to reveal the fact that I'm not Manton Limited. I've done enough research to know that non Manton-Limited Telekinesis is VERY scary.

Especially telekinesis as strong as mine is.

I'm not in danger. If necessary, I know I could deal with them. Just hit them with normal punch strength until they run away. But they'd know me, they'd know my face. And that's pretty fucking bad.

I could kill them. Any number of ways. I can rip them apart from the inside, crush them, cut them to pieces - a great deal many options. Almost all of which would be impossible to trace back to me if I keep the fact that I'm not Manton Limited secret.

But...

I don't... I don't like the idea of killing people.

I can see one of them unzipping his fly, and another undoing his belt.

Fuck.

I'm going to have to do something soon, but how-

A gunshot rang.

"Now I don't want to rain on your parade here," a female voice said, "but that is not okay. Now get the hell out of here before I do something you'll regret."

That's... not the correct phrase?

Still, I turn to face my savior. It's a girl in purple spandex, pointing her handgun at the assholes that are now cowering. Thank you, Deus Ex Machina.

Behind her there's a massive beast of exposed muscle, spikes and bone plates. On it is a male figure in black leather, spewing thick dark smoke. I've read about him - Grue. One of the lesser villains of the Bay. If I'm not mistaken, the giant creature would be one of the parahuman Hellhound's dogs. Guess the rumor of the so called parahuman 'Team' known as the Undersiders was true. Good to confirm that kind of stuff. That'd mean the girl who'd spoken would be their rumored leader, Tattletale.

"Shit, it's capes, run!"

They scrambled away.

Along the way, they tripped, and I could tell that the way they tripped, when their legs seized and didn't move, wasn't natural.

The snickering from the Undersiders gave away the presence of a third one, who walked around the large dog to show himself.

Another dog arrived, this one with a different rider. That'd be Rachel Lindt, aka Hellhound, I suppose. A known murderess. Better be careful.

"Oh, don't worry about that, she's not gonna hurt you," the one in purple at the front said. "Hello there. It seems you're in a bit of a pickle."

"Uhm. Eh... Hi?" I tried.

The man in black leather dismounted the dog and came forward. "Tattletale, why-"

"Shush," Tattletale said. "First introduce yourselves, it's just basic manners."

I could almost FEEL the raised eyebrow, as if he was questioning her. He turned to me. "Hello. My name is Grue. This is Tattletale, that's Bitch, or Hellhound if you want to be PC, and last, certainly least anyway," he said, gesturing to the younger boy, "is Regent."

I heard the 'fuck you, Grue', clean as day.

Under the dim light, I can kinda tell that he's going for a ren faire thing with his costume and mask.

"We are the Undersiders," Grue explained. His voice is a smooth baritone, and it's nice to listen to it. Given the leading role he took in introductions, maybe he's the leader?

Hm. Guess they said it. It's just basic manners. "My name's T-Taylor," I said.

Tattletale raised her hand. "Okay, I'm going to start now. First, I want you to know that my power makes me practically psychic. I know things, okay?" she said. "Just making it clear."

I frowned. What could that mean?

"It means that I know what you're thinking," she said. "Most of the time anyway," she added as an afterthought, I think. "Point is... I know, Taylor. It's not that hard to tell. You still have teartracks in your face, your clothes are obviously ill suited to the weather and you look like a lost puppy that someone kicked."

I opened my mouth to retort, but then I closed it.

She's right, and there's no point in denying it if she's as psychic as she says she is.

"And I also know that you were seriously in a fix there, but not because you were in danger. I'm glad you discarded the option to make their heads explode, by the way. You not being a violent psychopath is gonna make this a whole lot easier and smoother."

"Tattletale, where are you going with this?" Grue asked.

"Taylor, I know you're a cape. I know you ran away from home after a fight with your... parents? Father, then," she said.

I don't know how she's doing it, but she IS getting all the information.

"Oh no, you're not doing this. Bitch is the one who picks up strays, not you!" Regent accused.

I frowned.

Tattletale shook her head. "What do you say, Taylor? I'll offer you a place to stay for the night, safety and a warm meal. Just give us a chance. You might find we're not as bad as every stranger danger infomercial is telling you we are."

She took a step towards me and offered me her hand.

When it came down to it...

I had no reason not to take it.

"Well, the boss wants us to make as big a show as possible," Lisa said.

This boss of ours... I don't know who he is. But I don't like him already. We're thieves, not showmen.

"Why?" Brian asked. "He's always wanted us to keep a low profile before."

"Well he said it's because now that we've got the firepower," Lisa said, turning to look at Rachel first, then at me, "we can actually start playing in the big leagues."

"Where they play for keeps," Brian said. He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off of his face, from where he was working out. No need to install a bar for pull ups, when I can just hold one up with my mind. "I don't exactly like the idea of stepping up on how dangerous our operations are for no added reward other than reputation.

Of course, he has a reason to consider safety so very important. After all, he has someone to take care of.

He's the only one of us who does... at least someone human. Rachel has her dogs, one of which she is tending to right now.

"Frankly," Lisa said, "I agree," she continued, cutting off Brian's retort. "But the boss is the boss. Good news is, I argued a raise on our monthly payments to three thousand, and regarding this operation, I've basically got a blank check for preparation.

I frowned. What was even the point of that, though?

I mean, I guess we could hire mercenaries or something, but there's no real point in buying gear. We can't convince Alec to put on any armor, Rachel already has a padded jacket lined with kevlar, Brian's leathers are his staple look - and I'm not exactly complaining about how good he looks in leather pants - and Lisa has decided that spandex is a good idea, for reasons that go beyond me.

I mean, who wears pants with no pockets? What is even the point?

As for me? My ragged cloak works just fine. No point in armor for me, my telekinesis is better defense than any amount of kevlar would be.

"So we're doing this operation in style! This is all for flash, after all!"

"What are we doing, anyway?" I asked. "I kind of zoned out."

It's not my fault. I was playing with Rachel's dogs, by having them chase a moving stick. While at the same time helping Brian work out and playing a videogame with Alec, not touching the controller. I was doing better than when I was trying to dedicate my full attention to controlling my character, but Alec was still kicking my ass seven days to sunday. Shooters are just not for me I guess.

"We're doing our first unequivocally villainous heist, the one that marks the newbies and amateurs and separates them from the pros! We're doing our first big time bank heist!"

Only the Wards showed up.

The Wards and Glory Girl.

Considering the boss wanted us to make a spectacle, we decided to stay and fight. He's paying us so much for this one that I feel like showing that we're a worthwhile investment.

So just for today, I'm cutting a bit looser than usual. Normally, I like to portray my telekinesis as pretty weak. Using it to open locks, hold small stuff in place, you know, the works. I even pretend that a normal human is stronger than the force I can exert.

Not today, though. I smiled as I walked out into the open.

"Undersiders! We have you surrounded, surrender-" the boy in the Aegis costume that didn't quite fit him right began.

I know, because I just grabbed it with my telekinesis, and hoisted him into the air by it. I'm very careful to only grab the costume. The last thing I want is for them to find out I don't need to do that.

Crossing my arms, I spun him around until he was upside down. "Your costume doesn't quite fit you. You're not Aegis, are you?" I asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you I lost some weight?" he asked, jokingly. "Also your eyes are a lovely green today."

I smiled. "Hi, Clock," I said. It's not the first time I've fought Clockblocker. Every single time, he decides to flirt with me, though the reasons are beyond me. If anything, I'd guess he'd go after Lisa- wait, no, must think Tattletale during jobs. Can't blurt out her real name accidentally-, as she wears much tighter clothes than I do, and she's got a better body, one that possesses actual curves.

"How you doing, beautiful?" he asked.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," I said, cocking my hip. "What brings you here at this time of day?"

"Same as usual. Gotta get out of school because some villains are holding up a bank, so need to come and save the day like a big damn hero," he said. I moved his arms for him, putting them on his hips, and made him strike a hero pose, like modeling a doll. He didn't resist, knowing it was pointless to. "Also can you turn me back right side up? My blood's coming to my head."

I laughed, and did as he asked.

"There's no way I can convince you to just surrender and walk away, is there?" he asked, once he was upright.

"Afraid not," I admitted, running one hand through my hair.

"Too bad," he admitted. "Also is it just me, or are you way more powerful today than usual? I mean I don't think I've seen you lift people with their clothes before."

"Oh, you know how it is," I said, adopting a fake humble accent, you know the kind. "Gotta pretend that people here have at least a chance to defeat me before I stop playing around and stomp them to the ground."

"Well, I wouldn't know that, since I've never had to hold back to appear defeatable," he said. "Also does that mean we're in very big trouble here?"

"I'm pretty sure of that one. Tell you what, I'll give you guys a sporting chance. I'll fight all of you on my own. If you can beat me before my teammates take everything there is to take in the vault, I'll turn myself in. That sound good?"

"Ooh, that means you'll get to be a Ward!" Clockblocker said, happily. "But I'm not satisfied. How about a date? If we succesfully immobilize you, we'll go on a date."

Laughing once more, I shook my head. "You're incorrigible, Clock. I accept your challenge. If you win, I'll go on a date with you."

"Awesome!" Clock said. "Okay, guys, now we gotta do this for honor!"

"I have half a mind," Glory Girl began, from where she was floating not far from us, "to beat him up first for the wasted time," she said.

"Don't worry," I said, turning to her. "Though I would say, there is still a chance to back out. Don't want you to be humiliated like last time, after all~!"

Glory Girl is a colossal bitch.

I caught her throwing a dumpster at a guy. A fucking dumpster, full of garbage, at a normal human being. She's a fucking psychopath, and I wouldn't be shocked to learn she and Sophia are best buddies. Yeah, the guy was a fucking nazi, I get that, but she could've killed him! If I hadn't stopped the dumpster, discretely naturally, she WOULD have killed him! Instead it only hit one of the man's legs.

My sympathy for nazis doesn't stretch very far you see.

So the first time we had fought, I had decided that I might as well teach her a lesson, and stripped her of the shorts she wears under her little dress, as well as the underwear beneath. I didn't exactly want to advertise how powerful I actually am, and it disabled her pretty nicely. She couldn't fly around for fear of her genitals being exposed to the onlookers, and it was hilarious to make her chase her underwear around.

I'm pretty sure that video is still making the rounds on all sharing services.

She seemed to have changed her clothes accordingly, now wearing tights under her dress instead, likely assuming I can't strip her from those. She's cracking her knuckles.

"I'll pay you back for that! Maybe I'll strip you entirely naked to show you how it felt!"

I laughed. "You know, I just got done telling, and showing, Clockblocker that I've been holding back. Tell me, Glory Girl, how strong do you really think I am?"

"Not strong enough," she shouted as she rushed me.

Then she was held in place for an instant, before the force of her powers ripped through her clothes and she continued without them.

She shrieked. I was nice this time, however, and allowed her to keep her underwear.

Just because she's a fucking psychopath who deserves every bit of the humiliation she's getting, doesn't mean I have to be an ass about it.

I wadded up her ruined costume, into a tightly pressed ball, and struck her in the back with it, forcing her to the ground. The ball became unwound and the strips of cloth tore apart even further before tying themselves into a rope that I proceeded to wrap around her.

I could see Aegis rushing at me, so I grabbed onto the asphalt below me and forced it to rise, but I never felt or saw him hit it, even though I'd raised it too close for him to dodge.

I looked at a nearby lamp post. Vista smiled and waved.

"Huh. Clever girl," I said. Just outside the range they believe I'm limited to.

Vista's about as friendly with me as Clockblocker is. For all that Aegis and Gallant utterly despise me, the former because I'm a villain, presumably, and the latter because I humiliate his girlfriend routinely, I get along pretty well with Clockblocker, Vista and Shadow Stalker. I'm fairly sure Kid Win is apathetic regarding me, since he doesn't seem to care very much either way.

Still, fight wasn't over. I grabbed onto more asphalt and created a shield, putting it between me and Kid Win's drive-by lasering, preventing the hard light from striking me.

The wall of concrete in front of me received a pretty hard punch, and I could feel the control of it be wrestled from me for an instant. I decided to let it go and watched it crumble. A veritable mountain of a human being, with muscles on muscles, a roided out monstrosity, stumbled past it. "So that's what interacting with another telekinetic is like," he said.

"Oh, you're a new one. I'm afraid I don't know you," I said, evenly.

"My name's Browbeat, yeah, I'm pretty new," he admitted. "Just recently joined up. Uhm... is this a thing? I mean-"

"If you're asking about if this is how the Wards usually operate, then no. From what I know, they rarely get into combat, and I doubt you'll be deployed against me or my team again," I admitted, gesturing with my hand to create another shield to block Kid Win's guns, while using my other hand to slam Aegis into the ground when he tried to fly and flank me, dragging him by his clothes.

I felt, more than saw, Glory Girl rise behind me, her modesty apparently left behind, ready to attack me.

The rope of cloth I'd made was still on her, though she'd torn apart the bits on her wrists. I smiled and balled a bit of loose cloth into a fist of sorts, and punched her in the chin with it. The first time had no effect, but the second knocked her for a loop. I had felt her forcefield shatter under the impact. One of the benefits of being telekinetic is the awareness of all things around me, and while it's invisible, her force field IS a physical thing that can be felt.

I could also easily tell when Gallant and Aegis were attempting to do a two pronged attack, on both of my sides, while the new guy charged.

"I mean, today is the day I decided to stop playing around, after all."

With a wave of my hand, I let out a wave of telekinetic force that shattered the windows and glass doors of the bank behind me, and sent all the capes rushing in my direction flying back. I grabbed onto Glory Girl by the cloth still on her, as she was flying up, and put her in the way of Gallant's blast.

She instantly went mellow. Huh. Her force field apparently doesn't work against Gallant's attacks.

Interesting.

Either way... Clockblocker would have to be disappointed.

The fight resumed.

I smiled.

I had half a mind to write an omake where Taylor and Dennis go on a date anyway.

I chose not to because I ran out of inspiration.

For the record, ideas for the future included homages to Terrible Tornado, AKA Tatsumaki, AKA that telekinetic chick from OPM, such as her dropping a meteor on Leviathan, stopping thousands of bullets at the same time, etc.

Incidentally, while it looks like I'd be following the stations of the canon, I did dodge the Lung fight, and the immediate aftermath of the bank job would have been Taylor losing her shit over the kidnapping of Dinah. To the point of having a VERY bad break with the Undersiders (especially because she has a much better image of them than she does in canon, as here she's basically convinced that Tattletale is a kind person and being presented with a Tattletale who's willing to let a kid suffer like Dinah did would result in Taylor feeling horribly betrayed) and striking out on her own.

I wasn't entirely certain whether she'd remain as a solo independant, join up with the Protectorate or form her own team. I was leaning towards the last one, with her teammates being Dinah and Parian. That last one would've had an embittered Taylor who's more interested in making money than she is in pursuing justice. Dinah would see her as her personal heroine, much like how Taylor used to see Tattletale, and Parian would basically stick with her for protection.

Of course, the law DOES still come after her from time to time, and naturally Brockton Bay has villains that are entirely too willing to stick their necks out for their own safety, so of course there'd be plenty of conflict. I got no plans for how to deal with Zion tho.