Aisha Laborn

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{{#if:Imp to Samuel, Juliette, and FlorTeneral e.2|

“	Sucks to fade into the background, let me tell you. Not even talking about my power. It really… sucks. And I think, you know, I’m not very good at taking care of people. You lot excepted, almost all of those people who mattered are gone, one way or another.	”
{{#if:Imp to Samuel, Juliette, and Flor| —Imp to Samuel, Juliette, and Flor{{#if:Teneral e.2|, Teneral e.2}} }} }}

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Aisha Laborn</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

Active

</format>

<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>

Aisha Laborn, publicly known as the villainess Imp, is a member of the Undersiders, and the sister of Brian Laborn.

Personality

Imp has a similar insouciant personality to Regent, but she is insolent, and rebellious rather than lazy. She dislikes authority figures and often gripes with Regent about Skitter and Grue being in charge. She was described as being a flight risk by the care worker in charge of Brian's guardianship case, advising him to take care that she feels equal and welcome in the environment. She has no qualms about lying to make her life easier and does her best to duck out of trouble and difficult relationships. She is often immature but can be quite playful.

It's possible that her mother's drug use during pregnancy led to Aisha's problems with judgment, memory, impulse control and learning ability.<ref name="SB1">There's some drugs that, if the mother takes them while pregnant, can lead to children with problems with judgement, memory, impulse control and learning ability. - Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> Aisha believes this to be the case, that her mother's drug use messed with her brain development, causing ADHD. This upsets her a great deal and likely explains her personality. She has an incredible hatred of drugs and abhors anybody who sells them. She still cares for her mother, spending time invisible in the apartment, watching her life. She hated her mother's numerous boyfriends and repeatedly hid drugs in an attempt to get her mother to stop taking them.<ref name="13.5">“You keep going down this road, your kid is going to be born without a face or something,” Aisha said, her voice quiet.  “You know how hard school was for me?  Even as far back as kindergarten, I couldn’t sit still.  Teacher tells me three things, and by the time they’ve gotten to the third, I’ve forgotten the first.  And Brian doesn’t have any of that.” - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>

Like Regent, she has a violent personality and explains in graphic detail how adept she is at psychological torment. She promises to drive Skitter insane if she harms Grue, showing how protective she can be of the people she cares for.

Her power both fits and clashes with her personality.<ref>Her mom didn’t notice her. Nobody ever noticed her, and they noticed even less ever since she’d gotten her power. It was like a dark joke, a grim comedy. Just when she’d started to figure things out, grow up and catch people’s eye, the world went to hell and she got her powers. Now she became invisible if she lost her concentration. - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref> Having people forget about her fits with her psychological defense mechanisms, but she resents the fact that she will always be ignored.<ref name="Tarot">The Hermit
"Upright: Soul searching, introspection, being alone, inner guidance
Reversed: Isolation, loneliness, withdrawal"

Imp

Imp's personal challenge is one of being isolated, attempting to gain some agency when the rest of the world or her power are trying to take it away, separating her from the world. Even when working with the team, she's functionally alone.- Major Arcana, bolded addition by Wildbow.</ref> She describes the best times of her childhood as being when her mother would forget about her, allowing her to watch hours of "brain rotting" cartoons.

Relationships

Brian Laborn

Loves him as her big brother even as she drives him crazy as his little sister. Aisha specifically promises to drive Taylor insane through her powers if the girl harms her brother<ref>“Talking hy-po-theticals.  I get them in trouble with people they know.  Then they have little injures they can’t remember getting.  Splinters under their fingernails, papercuts between their fingers or at the corners of their mouths, little cuts on the back of their hands.  That’s usually when they freak out.  They run, go somewhere else, and it stops, just a little while.  Until it comes again, twice as bad as before.  They snap.  Then I leave them a message telling them that it all stops when they leave the city.  Put it on their walls in blood or put it on their bathroom mirror in soap so it shows up when the room gets all steamy.  They’re glad.  They’re happy to have a way out.  Except I wouldn’t leave you that note.”

- Excerpt from Colony 15.4</ref>, showing how protective she of him.

Jean-Paul "Alec" Vasil

They have extremely similar personalities. do seem to love each other but it seem largely to be philia love over something like an adult relationship. She did mourn him and took pains to create a memorial to him through her actions.

Taylor Hebert

After Gold Morning, she and the other Undersiders did not talk about or draw attention to Khepri. As it was her friend's lowest and most terrible point, they did not want to risk it overshadowing Taylor, Weaver, or Skitter.<ref>Have Eidolon, Alexandria, or the Endbringers come up that much either?

It's easy to conflate Khepri as a thing when we had a firsthand view of her, but she was one big threat among many at a time there were a lot of big threats and a lot of things going on - most don't connect Khepri to Skitter, and the ones who can (Legend, Chevalier) aren't necessarily touting her praises or wanting to spread awareness of just how close parahumans came to being entirely out of [humanity's] control, or they (Tattletale et al) don't really want to draw attention to a friend's lowest, greatest, and most terrible point- to get people talking about Khepri would risk that Taylor, Weaver, and Skitter were overshadowed by this bigger, more sinister name and identity.

People's focus lies elsewhere, if they have any idea what happened. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref> Aisha wanted to protect Taylor's legacy, not Khepri's.<ref name="E.2 eLegacies">Imp looked down at the armored man. “You’re fucking with an old friend, using her schtick, taking it ugly places. So it looks like I have a bit of a hobby, now. If you get in touch with Teach, or vice versa, then let him know I’m not cool with it, and I’ll stop being a thorn in his side the day he stops cribbing from someone else’s game plan. Capiche?”

Nero couldn’t bring himself to answer.

“It’s about legacies,” Imp said. “Kind of important. She’s gone, so it’s up to us to protect her legacy. Now here’s another. Desk drawer, bottom right.” - Teneral e.2</ref>

Appearance

Aisha is a beautiful African-American teenager. She was described as being as feminine as Brian was masculine, with high cheekbones, a long neck, large breasts and a purple streak in her hair. She wears ripped denim shorts over neon green fishnet leggings and a strapless top.

Taylor was mildly upset to see someone so beautiful dressing in such a "trashy" way.<ref name="6.3">Tangle 6.3</ref>

As Imp, she wears a pale grey demon mask with slanted black lenses that tapered into points at the corners<ref>Alexandria only took six minutes.  She arrived by the same route, only she held a girl this time.  A hard mask with horns and slanted lenses that tapered into points at the corners, a skin-tight bodysuit.  Imp. - Excerpt from Cell 22.4</ref>, and a black scarf.<ref>[...] A girl Shadow Stalker didn’t recognize stood just behind him, wearing a black scarf and a pale gray mask with pointed horns arching over the top of her head.  The eyes of the mask had lenses that were black from corner to corner, stylized to look fierce, more animal than human. - Excerpt from Sentinel 9.6</ref> In her early role as information gatherer for the team Aisha carried binoculars, pens, notebooks, and a digital recorder,<ref name="I13.5c1">She doesn’t carry the lethal stuff because she wasn’t going into the situation with the anticipation of killing anyone. Binoculars, notebooks, recorder – her intent was gathering information. She only realized the opportunity when it came up. - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref> she would later equip herself with more lethal weaponry. Skitter later outfitted her with a spider silk costume that grew increasingly ill-fitting as she matured.

A clear dividing line can be seen between her civilian identity and her cape identity. While colorful and vibrant dressed as a civilian she wears stark grey and black colors as a cape.<ref name="Cast2">Imp, Aisha Laborn – Controls the southernmost end of the city, up to the points the urban area ends and Rachel has her claim.  Brian’s younger sister, triggered following Leviathan’s attack on the city, when thugs from one of the roaming gangs attacked her and her father.  Her power renders her unnoticeable, to the point that people she attacks don’t remember she attacked them.

As Aisha (civilian), she’s a fourteen year old girl with a decidedly trashy and attention-getting fashion sense.

As Imp, she wears a form-fitting black bodysuit and a gray mask with slanted black lenses for the eyes and two short horns curving back over the top.  Was using a taser for some time, but has taken to carrying a knife. - Cast (in depth)</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Primary Ability

Aisha's power renders her unnoticeable to the point where the people around forget she was even there in the first place.<ref name="26.2">Sting 26.2</ref> When explaining why she let Regent have control over her, she said that Regent's control over her would break once he slept and her ability kicked in. As a downside to this ability, she has to consciously make herself visible to others, her power is always on otherwise. Unlike her brother she could still be found by scent but when her power is 'on' it is incredibly difficult to link that scent to her.<ref name="I13.5c2">Or augmented with an un-association with her. 😉 - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>

In her interlude, there appears to be another level to her ability. She describes a growing power that disappears whenever she notices it, causing it to never manifest. She has no idea what would happen if it did.

Later development of her power has allowed verbal communication without having to reveal herself. While active, her power effectively made her immune to Khepri unless she turns her power off completely and lets herself be caught.<ref name="speck37"/> She could use her power with fine control to only erase the last few moments of a conversation, repeating this until she found the right line to use.<ref name="T e.2">Teneral e.2</ref>

Purportedly records of her do decay over time, including Tinker equipment.<ref name="II5.d eRecordings">“My recordings do not like this person,” Kenzie said. “I’m getting a billion and two warning messages.”

“Memories don’t track her,” Victoria said. “She was relatively new when I left Brockton Bay. Cameras record her better than the eye does, but the footage degrades over time.” - Excerpt from Interlude 5d</ref>

Vulnerabilities

Her power has a 50/50 chance of shorting out for a brief time when she attacks someone,<ref>Holding her weapons, Aisha stood next to Shatterbird, at one end of the couch.

Aisha had never killed anyone, but here she was, holding a lethal weapon. She could slice Shatterbird’s throat and they wouldn’t even realize she was there.

They would, she suspected, realize that Shatterbird was dead or dying. There was a fifty-fifty chance, anyways, that it would force them out of whatever effect her powers had on their brains. It had happened to her before. - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref><ref>Flechette was loading for a third shot when a girl in black clothing with a horned demon mask and black scarf struck her weapon with a fire axe, splitting the metallic string and knocking it from her hand.

The girl with the horns was on our side, wait- I could almost remember her. Some relation to Grue.

Then it slipped from my recollection, and I was distracted by the fact that Flechette was disarmed, her weapon broken. How had that happened?

I couldn’t afford to worry about it. I had to focus on contributing. - Parasite 10.3</ref><ref name="18.7 ePwnDeath" /><ref>All at once, he staggered, and the pressure on my throat let up.

A girl with a horned mask had appeared beside him, pulling his robe up around his head. She dragged him forward staggering, and heaved him into my range.

A moment later, she was gone. - Speck 30.6</ref> which makes it possible to dodge her attack and/or retaliate.<ref>Except that Shatterbird would kill her in her last moments, using the glass that had been swept to the corners of the room, or one of the others would. Burnscar or Crawler could deal a hell of a lot of damage, even if they didn’t know who they were attacking. - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref><ref>Behind Seir’s living self, Imp appeared. She jabbed out with a taser, and she touched only the shadow that he left behind. It swung a punch, and she ducked, backing away as four of the ten active shadows turned on her, surrounding her.

The Undersiders were here. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. - Pitch 6.1</ref> It is also possible for people affected by her power to think about her in the abstract sense. For example, when the Undersiders attacked the PRT ENE Headquarters, Flechette recognized that they had a stranger after Imp freed Grue and Regent from their cuffs.<ref>Grue and Regent were already free of their cuffs, the three PRT uniforms closest to them lying down on the ground. Tattletale was grinning at the four wards at the end of the hall closest to the elevator – Kid Win, Clockblocker, Flechette and Vista. The laughter didn’t belong to Tattletale, however. It was cackling, sounding like someone having way too much fun.

Flechette shouted, “They’ve got someone with the Stranger classification!”

We did? - Parasite 10.3</ref> Tattletale can use her power to work around Imp's power to an extent.<ref>“Help Skitter!” Tattletale ordered, sounding urgent as she turned her attention to the remaining Wards that stood between us and the elevator. Who was she talking to?

Then I felt hands at my back. I flinched, but they held firm. A second later I felt my cuffs come undone. Imp. Right.

I was getting the distinct impression that it was easier to recall her and react as if she were present if I hadn’t been actively trying to pay attention to her. It was almost as if actively trying to commit her presence to memory had the opposite effect. Except how was I supposed to put that knowledge into practice, if acting on that knowledge counted as recognizing her presence? - Parasite 10.3</ref><ref>We were halfway up when we came across a pair of unconscious PRT officers. I looked at Tattletale.

“Imp did this,” she told Regent and me. “She went ahead, remember?”

It took me a few seconds to realize who she meant. Damn it, having to keep track of Imp and having her power throwing me off my stride was getting to be annoying. The team prior to now had a kind of synergy, with the way my bugs and Tattletale’s power let us deal with Grue’s darkness, and how the dogs could smell opponents through it. - Parasite 10.4</ref><ref>“Why not you?” I asked. “You have seniority, you have more experience, you can apparently keep track of Imp, and you can identify our enemy’s weaknesses.”

“I’m not sure I have more experience,” Tattletale admitted, “Or at least, my experience doesn’t count for much. Robbing software companies and casinos doesn’t really compare to going toe to toe with Mannequin.” - Colony 15.5</ref><ref name="18.7 ePwnDeath">Behind Eidolon, Leet had finished fixing the gun, helped by the fact that the electricity had killed my saboteur-cockroaches. In the same instant he moved to take position by the trigger, Eidolon turned around, raising one hand in his direction.

And Imp was there. She drew her knife across the psycho-Leet’s throat. Eidolon froze as Leet staggered and slumped against the windowsill, blood pouring from the open wound.

I felt a momentary confusion. Leet was dead? Eidolon seemed to be reeling as well, but he recovered faster. He wheeled around to strike out with the effect again.

“Leet’s dead,” I said.

“How?” Tattletale asked.

“Throat slit.”

“Imp. She’s not listening to instructions. Did Eidolon attack Leet?”

I shook my head. - Queen 18.7</ref> At one point, Khepri sensed her bugs shifting positions without moving themselves: Imp revealed herself fully after Khepri madly swung her knife around, which allowed Khepri to seize control of her, though this was done deliberately by Imp to distract Khepri.<ref name="speck37">I sensed my bugs moving, shifting position without even moving a limb or wing. Before I even grasped what was happening, I was moving. I cut out with my knife, feeling like I was swinging madly into open air.

A girl materialized, shouting or saying something. She’d appeared just a little in front of me, her back initially to me as I continued cutting, the actions jerky and stiff, uncoordinated and continuing long past the moment there was any point. I could feel her body appear in my mind’s eye, and I asserted control over her.

[...]

The girl… she’d been materializing, been making herself known, and I’d caught on a second before anyone else had become aware - Speck 30.7</ref> Written signs can obliquely alert others to Imp's presence.<ref>“Fine. Hellhound and Skitter in the conference room-” the Deputy Director paused as the elevator opened with nearly all of Brockton Bay’s remaining parahumans. “Tattletale to the conference room. Parian in the legal room. Grue and Imp in interview room two. Put police tape and a sign on the door with a notice of Imp’s stranger classification to remind people why it’s shut and staying shut.”

“Hey!”

“Relax, Imp,” Grue said. “You want to confirm this is alright, Skitter?” - Queen 18.4</ref>

When Aisha had her trigger event, her shard developed a specific interpretation of memory<ref name="Discord eJessie" /> by pulling from the shard network of human knowledge across hosts.<ref name="discordBreed">Chiro: I was wondering as of late, why Taylor can't control Breed's parasites? Is it because they as lifeforms don't fall into the portfolio of creatures Taylor controls, or because Breed controls them already?

Kyakan: might be as simple as them not being around when Taylor's power was defining what counted as "bug"

Wildbow: Kyak has it right. Bonesaw talks about how shards conceptualize their idea of what X is when the trigger happens.
It's why Taylor's notion of what a 'bug' is remains pretty nebulous, including some things (crabs, earthworms, arachnids, insects) and bypassing others (skin mites, bug case 53s).
And it's not just Taylor- it pulls from the shard network of wider human knowledge across hosts. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, archived on Spacebattles</ref><ref>thetntm: I don’t know if it was a word of god or a head cannon or something, but I remember reading that because Taylor’s power went off of her mental image of “creepy crawlers” when determining what counted as a “bug,” she could have controlled a sufficiently bug-like case 53.

My question is, could Aiden do the same, but with birds?

Wildbow: Bonesaw talks a bit in Worm 11.h about how the shard reaches out and uses hosts & hosts' connections to other hosts & the hub to suss out definitions and categories.

Aiden's (and the collective unconscious's) perceptions wouldn't include a part-bird, part-human because they wouldn't be familiar with such and it wouldn't be regularly in that initial, "Think about a bird!" instant connection.

For taylor, pulling more from the rest-of-the-world perceptions, crabs sorta kinda fall in that bucket, atlas falls in that bucket, while we aren't aware enough of skin mites or Hercules the beetle C-53 to really grok it. - Wildbow on Reddit, archived on Spacebattles</ref><ref>Bionicle Man: So, WB, would Kaiser's shard consider metal from another universe that's nothing like that on earth still metal if he was unaware of its difference?
[...
Wildbow: Shards use the host's conception to figure out what to include under a given umbrella. It's why Taylor's power reaches out to crabs and earthworms, without sticking to specific categories, but does not include skin mites.
[...]
Wildbow: Kaiser's power can generate metal from any solid surface. It wouldn't include metals that weren't in his (and others') conception around the time he triggered. It probably wouldn't even include ambiguous or magical metals.

BeaconHill: Wildbow: Out of curiosity, is this exploitable? If you can change your conception of one of your shard's limitations, have you gained more power?
[...]
Wildbow: At the time of triggering, Beac. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, archived on Spacebattles</ref> Thus, Imp's power only affects memories formed from the standard senses of humans.<ref name="II19.f eTitans" /> For example, although Cherish could not see or hear Imp, she could still detect Imp via her emotion sense.<ref>“Put the weapon away,” Cherish said, her voice quiet.

Aisha gulped, realizing the trap she’d just stepped into. “You can hear me?”

A second passed, and there was no response.

“Put it away, or I’m going to leave you quivering in a corner, shitting your pants.”

“You can’t hear me.” Aisha gripped her weapon and stepped closer.

Cherish whirled around, her eyes flitting right and left, searching for Aisha. “I’ll scream. He’ll come in here, and a couple swings of his knife, he can cut you down, invisible or no.”

“It’s not invisibility,” Imp said, uselessly.

“Put your weapon away,” Cherish said, her voice quiet and carefully measured, “We only have a few seconds before Jack gets suspicious. Listen. I want to strike a deal.” - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref> Similarly, Love Lost can use her emotion sense to track Imp.<ref>More circles were drawn out. Orders given by text to specific phones. Each person dutifully held up their phones with the targets and orders, shifting position to be ready to take the courses given. Some would attack the rear, others the front.
[...]
Love Lost to Imp and Damsel.
[...]
In her daze, trying to make sense of things, Colt saw Kitchen Sink try to throw something. Lookout’s claw-on-a-tail reached out to catch it, but that left her blind for Nailbiter to attack. Damsel threw herself at Nailbiter’s real body, to throw off her trajectory.

Love Lost wheeled around, striking out with her whips, hitting empty air, then leaped backward, riggings on her legs snapping out as they fired like gun chambers, giving her a slight boost. Her feet scraped against the wall, and she ran on the surface for five running steps.

She bounded down, toward Damsel, Nailbiter, and Lookout. - Interlude 11.b II</ref> Even Valefor was able to see Imp somehow; according to Tattletale, he might have other senses or augmented awareness to track victims.<ref name="21.3 eValefor">She looked down at Valefor. Her tone was more serious as she said, “I didn’t think this man-slut would be able to see me.”

“You know his powers,” I said, glad for the change of topic. “Hypnotic stare, Tattletale said he might have other senses or augmented awareness to track his victims.” - Imago 21.3</ref>

Individuals such as Dragon,<ref>He turned ninety degrees and lunged forward in response to something I couldn’t see or hear, then swept his hooks out in a frenzied series of blind attacks. On the third swing I saw Imp duck beneath the attack, then stumble back out of his reach, towards us.

“The fucking fuck!?” she shouted.

“Dragon can see you, you twit, and she’s relaying directions to Weld!” Tattletale shouted at our new member, “And what the hell were you hoping to accomplish over there!?”

“I could’ve figured something out,” Imp pouted. - Parasite 10.5</ref><ref name="16.12 eFilter" /> Behemoth,<ref>And, inexplicably, he continued his lightning strike, carrying over to the far end of the street.

There was a yelp, and I could see Imp, all at once, sheltered by a wall that was shrinking in size with every second the blast continued. She held the Yàngbǎn member who’d strayed too far away from our main group in her arms.

He’d seen her. Sensed her. And now, behind a wall no more than three feet high, she had nowhere to run. - Crushed 24.4</ref><ref>Few bugs had managed to keep up, much less the ones with wires, but I brought a curtain between us and Behemoth. I was past the point where I wanted to conserve them. If it was lightning, I could only hope that Golem’s makeshift lightning rods and my wires would protect us.

But it was flame. It sheared through my swarm, and it splashed down around Parian, Foil and the dog.

The Endbringer had more aim than I’d expected. He wasn’t blind, despite the fact that his eye socket was empty. But he wasn’t entirely on target otherwise. Was he relying on another sense? - Crushed 24.5</ref> and the Titans<ref name="II19.f eTitans" /> are not human and are thus immune to Imp's power. Wildbow speculated that individuals such as Jessie from Twig could also potentially be immune because their memory-handling structure is inherently alien to other humans.<ref name="Discord eJessie">The White Duke: I think Imp would possibly immediately destroy Jessie. Having something worm its way into her memory, which is designed to not forget anything, and start tearing things out might just bring the whole house of cards tumbling down.

Wildbow: You could argue Imp's shard developed a specific interpretation of memory from the 'all the fish we know of on earth' type scan, and Jessie's structure is inherently alien.

The White Duke: Ooh, that's pretty cool. Ashton would presumably also be immune. - Conversation with Wildbow on the Parahumans Discord</ref>

Imp's power does not work against people who view her with video cameras<ref>“I could go in,” Imp said. “Get them, walk them out.”

“No. He knows us. He’s anticipated something like this. Probably has for the Travelers, too. He’ll have planned around our powers, with counters in mind for each of us. That means video cameras to keep an eye out for you.”

“Pain in the ass.” - Excerpt from Monarch 16.13</ref><ref name="16.13">“Ah, bup bup,” Calvert raised a hand, “I was talking. As I was saying, I have other resources available. I have a small cadre of supervillains, a small group of heroes, all the resources of the PRT and PRT computer systems, and all of their tools.”

He snapped his fingers, and soldiers began to teleport down to the edges of the market. Most were positioned so that the Undersiders would have to run off the edge of the pavement, over the grass and into the water if they wanted to get away. Surrounding a target while holding guns only promised to get people shot. The effect, as it was, was good enough.

The Travelers teleported in behind Calvert, followed by Chariot, Circus, Über and Leet, and a few of his lieutenants. People in suits. One held a laptop while the other typed on it.

Every gun, tinker made or otherwise, was pointed at my teammates.
[...]
“Cut the fake civility,” I said. “Where are our teammates?”

“Regent and Tattletale are safe and locked up, rest assured. I must say, I’m quite disappointed. I really had hoped this would work out, and the loss of the Undersiders sets me back by weeks or months in the grand scheme of my plan. Imp, you can cease trying to run. My men have cameras on you,” Calvert gestured toward the laptop.

Imp moved her mask to spit on the ground, just to my right. It was a bit of a shock to find her standing there. - Excerpt from Monarch 16.13</ref><ref name="16.12 eFilter">Except I didn’t have an explicit strategy in mind, and I wasn’t willing to gamble that Calvert hadn’t accounted for Imp with some kind of surveillance with an electronic filter, like the screen of Dragon’s battlesuit. - Monarch 16.12</ref> or camera recordings.<ref name="II5.d eRecordings" /> After Lookout built cameras into her brain,<ref>“I used the concepts from the contact pads you showed me, to have eyeballs outside the head, remember?”

“I remember.”

“And then I figured, why not just have eyeballs inside my head like a normal person? Phase them in, each one on a different channel, with the contact pads going straight on or near the brain? Fake optical nerves, minimum connection issue. Like how you talked about your stuff working better if you planted the pads nearer to the spine or the median nerves of the arms.” - From Within 16.5</ref> she could always detect and recognize Imp without issue.<ref>“Imp,” Peep announced, raising her voice to be unnecessarily loud, not moving her head while pointing at a screen she couldn’t see. “You have a visitor!”

“Who?” Darlene asked. “What?”

Imp blinked a few times. It wasn’t Peep’s first time pulling that stunt, but it startled her every time.
[...]
“-who’s… ah, Imp,” Roman said. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Imp said. She looked at Peep, “I’m going to figure out how you do that.”

“Tinker B.S., as Tattletale puts it,” Peep said. - Interlude 19.f II</ref><ref>“I could make you,” Lookout said.

Aisha looked back at Candy.

“How?” Candy asked.

“Blackmail you. Or your team. Everyone here.”

Aisha used her power. Lookout backed away two steps, reached under the pillow, and pulled out the gun. She didn’t look at Aisha, but she trained the gun on her.

“Reappear!” Lookout ordered her. “Or I blind Candy and you!”

Aisha stopped, rematerialized. - Interlude 19.f II</ref> Othello's mirror self can also see Imp without issue.<ref>“Imp and Valefor… your stranger powers against theirs makes for a troublesome fight. Imp is the one I would worry about first. Unpredictable, impossible to track.”

“I’m suspicious my power cancels hers out, sir. My other self saw her get close to Butcher. I think she had a weapon.” - Interlude 20.y</ref> Contessa can trivially counter Imp by asking questions about strangers.<ref>People began preparing to leave, gathering stuff together.

“No,” I could overhear Contessa saying, “I ask myself several questions before I go anywhere, and one pertains to strangers. Stay behind.”

Imp appeared next to her. She walked back to us with a very dejected appearance. - Extinction 27.2</ref>

To reduce Imp's effectiveness, March successfully got the Graeae to swap Imp's arm with Ixnay's arm.<ref>“No need to apologize or anything,” Tattletale said, leaning back, checking her computer screen. Nothing had happened yet. “Not like I took two bullets because of your whole psychotic rabbit girl thing. Imp lost an arm.”

“We’re hoping we can get it back,” Lily said, before sighing. “We’re all nervous, but you seem fine. I was hoping you knew something we didn’t, and you could reassure us.” - Interlude 10.x II</ref><ref>Then Ixnay, as alone as she was, though she could pretend he had a bit of company with the arm he had borrowed. - Interlude 12.z II</ref> While having this arm, she could be more easily tracked because her power did not effectively cover it;<ref>The gender confusion from earlier was resolved as I glanced back and saw how one of her arms was altered. It was hairy, veins running down the back of the arm, and it was a little longer than her usual arm. The bodysuit’s fabric didn’t roll past the thickest part of the bicep, so she had rigged some other kind of detachable sleeve to pull over and up to the shoulder.

Her power hadn’t effectively covered it, so it regularly figured into my processing of the scenes, and it lingered in my head even as the rest of her threatened to disappear while my focus was entirely on her. - Blinding 11.3</ref> for example, Victoria used her aura to help find Imp in a snowfield.<ref>“Put up with this if you can,” I said.

I increased the push on my aura until it was at its worst.

“That’s nothing,” Damsel said, even as her face’s microexpressions betrayed what was going on behind the surface.

“Let’s hope our attacker doesn’t think so,” I said.

I closed my eyes, focusing.

I couldn’t sense through my aura, but my aura made it hard to deal. Ashley and Damsel had talked about restlessness. I was creating a sort of restlessness in this moment, of a very different sort.

The snow muffled sound, and with this area of the city being where it was and with everything being after hours, I could hear noise. I started toward it.

⊙

We were moving in a direction, and with the weather being what it was, and me not having a coat, it was easier to keep moving. When I hit my limit, I would loop back.

Just to be sure, I cast a glance backward, and spotted the computer case.

Wouldn’t do to lose track of that and let our enemy run away with it.

The Ashleys were advancing on either side of me, and as we heard a pant, we started forward with more vigor.

⊙

“You’re being irritating,” Imp whispered in my ear. - Blinding 11.3</ref>

Other Abilities

Aisha is incredibly perceptive but suffers from untreated ADHD. She could deduce that her brother was Grue, and upon meeting her that Taylor was Skitter. Further she was the only one who noticed the relationship between Taylor's mental state and the actions of the bugs in her powers purview.<ref name="25.6 e1">“I was just fucking with you,” she whispered. “I thought you probably deserved it.”

My stomach did a flip flop at that. Anger, relief, bewilderment, more anger. Still more anger.

“Man, the way your bugs reacted. Hilarious. You act like you’re all stoic, but then I just have to look over there and over there and I see bees and butterflies circling around like eagles ready to dive for the kill.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off.

“She is pregnant,” Imp said.

My mouth shut.

“Kidding. This is fun. Come on, butterflies, I see you over there. Do your worst, I know you want to kill me.”

I considered jabbing her with my taser, and the thought was vivid enough that I imagined it buzzing at my hip. - Excerpt from Scarab 25.6</ref>, something that was missed by thinkers like Alexandria and Tattletale.

History

Background

It's possible that her mother's drug use during pregnancy led to Aisha's problems with judgment, memory, impulse control and learning ability.<ref name="SB1"/>

When her parents divorced, she went to live with her mother while her brother went with their father. Her mother started abusing drugs and cycled through boyfriends which resulted in constantly changing disciplines and a chaotic upbringing for her. Even a broken arm.<ref>Of course, there was no way to avoid the countless reminders in everyday life that would remind her of Guy, or Bridge, or Darren, or Lonnie. Thinking about a broken arm was one such reminder. Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>

At least one of her mother's boyfriends started abusing her and it was implied that she was molested by him. She sent a text to her brother saying 'help me' and after he got to the house and saw that she had been crying, he beat the man nearly to death which caused his trigger event.

Aisha's custody was then passed over to her father. While he was better than her mother, Brian planned to get their parents' parental rights terminated and become her guardian after he turned eighteen. It was to get money to pay for the legal fees that her brother decided to become a villain. Her brother told her he had powers and she figured out his alias after studying pictures of various villains around town.

Story Start

Aisha is first mentioned in dialogue as Brian's reason for being a villain. She is later shown in person in Brian's apartment, bringing her social worker there early.

Post-Leviathan

Aisha triggered when she was out with her father, after being confronted by a group of armed men.<ref name="Cast2"/><ref name="I26 e1">But the entity can still see fallout effects. There are parallels in memory storage. Not many, but there may be glimmers where the subject is capable of perceiving the information stored in the shard as the connections are formed.

For good measure, the entity breaks up one shard cluster, tunes it, then codes the effect into each and every shard. It studies the host species further, refines, attunes.

It takes time, but the entity forms a sufficient safeguard. The host species will forget any significant details.

The broken shard is cast off, joining countless others. It will bond to a host. The entity looks forward, checking.

After the target planet has revolved thirty-three times around its star, this shard will connect to a host.

A male guards his offspring, a female, with his size and bulk. A group of hostile bipeds cluster around them. They call out, making unusual loud sounds, suggesting intoxication. One of the hostile ones gestures, gripping its male parts, pulling them free of their coverings. A sexual gesture follows, waving the organ left and right, thrusting it into the empty air.

Sounds of amusement, laced with hostility.

The male and his offspring retreat as far against the nearest construction as they are able.

The shard connects, attaching to the male.

No. It is ineffective. The female is clearly more distressed.

Prey.

There is a way to maximize exposure to conflict.

The entity taps into its understanding of the bipeds and how they operate, recognizes the signs of distress, the nuances such things can have.

It views the future again, with changes made in the code.

This time, the shard settles in the male, then immediately shifts to the more distressed female.

Insinuation. The shard connects to the host’s neural network.

The bond is created.

The shard opens the connection as the stress peaks, and the host doubles over in pain, bewildered, stunned. The shard then forms tendrils that contact each individual in the area. It retains traces of the entity’s tampering, of the studies in psychology, awareness and memory, and is quick to adapt. It finds a manner in which it can operate, then alters itself, solidifying into a particular state. The remainder of the functions are discarded, the ones in the shard itself are rendered inert to conserve power, while the ones in the host fall away, are consumed by the shard. The host’s neural network changes once more.

The female disappears from the awareness of the hostile ones that surround it.

The entity looks to the future, to see if this is sustainable, efficient. - Excerpt from Interlude 26</ref> She eventually revealed her new powers to her brother. She was immediately inducted into the Undersiders for everyone's collective good. Was unsurprised when Taylor revealed she was enamored with her brother while trying to get back on the team.

Played a large part in getting the Undersiders into Protectorate ENE Headquarters and helping to steal the data.

Would stay behind to spy on the truce meeting.

She would later take it upon herself to seek out the Slaughterhouse Nine and see if she could assassinate them<ref name="13.5 2">Everything went into a compact black handbag, along with her taser and knives.

Small things. Nothing she couldn’t have bought in a well stocked convenience store, maybe. But she would operate best if she was relaxed, and having some personal items made her feel better.

That only left the problem of finding them.

They’d attacked the Merchants, and observing her mom had given her the chance to find out where. It was a starting point. - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>, but failed, unconsciously influenced by one of their powers.<ref>A combination of what Jaki said (Imp gets nudged away by her shard, she gets a bad feeling as she prepares to attack, and if and when she does attack her attack is off-target, or she hesitates, creating a window), intuition on Jack's part (suspicion, a hyperawareness of odd details, the movement of air in the room, 'it's too quiet', etc., happening to move to another location just as Imp strikes out), and leverage of the broadcast... Crawler wakes to initial commotion, he uses his full senses with his shard happening to kick into full gear (a la Skitter and her varying range) and/or moves across room, forcing Imp to back up from Jack, Shatterbird lashes out in a blind attack that happens to connect.

On that last point, the Nine can be considered to be an [editing to add 'unconscious'] extension of Jack for all intents and purposes. To Imp, it's just a 'This feels like a bad idea, I'm going to do it anyway! Fuck, missed! Oh shit, ow! Well now I'm bleeding and, it's pretty damn serious. That must be why it felt like such a bad idea!'

[...]

Take note of Jack's discussion of keystones in his first appearance. He's getting help in identifying points to manipulate, and then those points are getting nudged further in the broadcast. Communication is a two-way street. - Coments by Wildbow, archived on Spacebattles</ref>

Post-Slaughterhouse Nine

Aisha was willing to kill Skitter when she thought the woman had betrayed her brother and turned on the Undersiders again.<ref>“Did the doggie get you?” Imp growled the question. “Good. Turn off your fucking power.”

I had only a helpless noise to offer in response.

“I warned you. Warned you what you were in for if you let my brother down. So do I use the knife, make it quick?” she drew a knife. Then she drew her taser with her other hand, “Or do I stick you with this until you stop using your power? Then we can find some place where you don’t have your bugs, and take the slow option.” - Excerpt from Monarch 16.12</ref> She remained skeptical even after her brother was convinced that Skitter was innocent.<ref>“You’re not buying this, are you?” Imp asked.

“It wasn’t her.”

“She’s playing you.”

“It wasn’t her.” - Excerpt from Monarch 16.12</ref>

Was a massive help in the Echidna fight, and helped remove many inconvenient enemies.

Post-Echidna

Helped Regent with territory cleaning.

Was amused by Skitter's Surrender more than anything.

Deployed to New Delhi and had to deal with the loss of Regent when he sacrificed himself to save her.

Post-Timeskip

After killing Heartbreaker with the aid of Citrine,<ref>Wildbow The Citrine/Imp vs. Heartbreaker interlude I ended up canceling would've touched far more on that - Exerpt from conversation with Wildbow, archived on Spacebattles</ref> she became the leader of the Heartbroken. She welcomed Weaver back to Brockton Bay and had some fun messing with her former boss.

Participated in the extermination of The Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand personally disposing of a Nice Guy.

After Brian died at the Oil-rig battle, Aisha collaborated with Lisa to keep the truth from Taylor.

Was instrumental in the infiltration of Cauldron's Base.

Gold Morning

When the solution to the problem was being constructed Imp was looking after Taylor.

In the final moments of the event, she looked after Khepri as her old friend brought about the end to the abomination.<ref>I heard a voice, female, kind words, spoken haltingly, out of place in the midst of this. I had trouble placing the memory.

[...]

Again, the voice interrupted. Patient, almost like I was overhearing something being said. It made for a kind of… what was the word? A conflict between two ideas. Dis- Dissonance.

[...]

I was preparing to go down with the clairvoyant, making sure we wouldn’t break contact even if we had a hard landing, when I heard that voice again, small and afraid.

I couldn’t place the recollection.

[...]

Again, that soft voice I couldn’t place, something to help me keep moving onward, a human sound when abstracts were becoming all too real.

[...]

I could hear the voice again.

Another person appeared twenty or so feet to my left, startling me. My bugs moved, creating a barrier.

No. She was a familiar face, so to speak. A gray mask, horned, with mischievous eyes, a mouth hidden by a scarf or cowl she’d piled around her shoulders. She was the source of the voice. She’d been with me, keeping me company.

Tears came unbidden to my eyes. - Excerpt from Speck 30.6</ref>

Post-Gold Morning

After the end, she began a mission to protect Taylor's legacy,<ref name="E.2 eLegacies" /> and educate herself in classic literature so she could become a high class educated villain as a way to honor and fill the gap left by Regent.

After recruiting and traveling with The Heartbroken, Imp spotted Shadow Stalker hunting them from the rooftop of a nearby building. Imp confronted her, and Stalker, upon seeing Imp's badge honouring the Gold Morning, gets irritated by it by claiming the victory wasn't earned due to everyone being controlled and "used", as well as to deny that is was Taylor that did it all. Imp correctly guesses, however, that Stalker is irritated by the badge because she knows deep down, no matter how hard she tries, she will never make a bigger impact than or be remembered like Taylor. Imp comments that Stalker will be reminded of this every time she sees the badge on someone, and then leaves her to stew in her anger<ref name="T e.2"/>

Early Ward

She was present during negotiations with Hollow Point villains and Mathers Compound Assault.

Post-Goddess' Takeover

When March's Megacluster harassed the Undersiders out of New Brockton, she had her arm swapped with Ixnay's.<ref>Ixnay fixed his gloves, one looser-fitting than the other.[...]Then Ixnay, as alone as she was, though she could pretend he had a bit of company with the arm he had borrowed. - Excerpts from Interlude 12.z II</ref>

She tried to recover intel that was passed to Victoria Dallon by Chicken Little, trashed Ashley's apartment and eventually was captured by Kenzie Martin. Breakthrough exchanged Imp for a guarantee of cooperation from the Undersiders.<ref>Blinding 11.3</ref> Imp did some spying on mayor Wynn.<ref>Blinding 11.4</ref>

She was shot by Colt while trying to distract Love Lost's gang from the kids and, supposedly, hospitalized.<ref>Interlude 12.e II</ref> At the end of the same night, she followed Foil to March's Megacluster, and killed Tori Heflin.<ref>Heavens 12.x</ref> She and Foil then leave to get Imp's arm back.<ref name="II12.x eArmBack" />

Post-Time Bubble Pop

Fought alongside Breakthrough during the second Wardens' assault on Teacher's Compound.

She persuaded Breakthrough to make a detour to the local jail. While they were occupying The Custodian, she freed Contessa.<ref>Dying 15.6</ref>

The Ice Breaks

Imp was alongside The Undersiders and Breakthrough during the oversight duty of Titan Oberon and Eve. During the battle of titans she protected the rear group from Eve's maggots.<ref name="II18.5">Radiation 18.5</ref> Once capes had regrouped Imp was delivering explosives to titans.<ref name="II18.6">Radiation 18.6</ref>

Once Titans proved to be too dangerous and numerous for Imp and The Heartbroken, they retreated to The Wardens' compound and stayed near The Chicken Tenders. Imp babysat both teams and had to deal with Lookout's outburst following the death of Tristan Vera.<ref name="II19.f">Infrared 19.f</ref> She met Breakthrough, when they were returning to the complex, and notified them about the situation.<ref name="II19.10">Infrared 19.10</ref>

Imp stayed in the Wardens' HQ and skipped the initial engagement with The Simurgh together with the majority of Undersiders.<ref name="II20.2">Last 20.2</ref>

Trivia

• Besides her Impish behavior, Aisha's name may come from a pun on imperceptible.

Fanart Gallery

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References

<references/>

Site Navigation

The Undersiders
Leader	Grue {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Skitter {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tattletale
Members	Bitch • Foil • Imp • Parian • Regent {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Chicken Little
Subordinates	Atlas {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Barker • Biter • Cassie • Charlotte • Forrest • Bryce Kiley • Sierra Kiley • Chicken Large • Snuff
Associates	Accord's Ambassadors • Bitch's Dogs • Coil's Organization • The Heartbroken • The Needlepoints • Sons of Bitch • The Chicken Tenders

The Heartbroken
Leaders	Heartbreaker {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Imp
Members	Regent {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Cherish {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Guillaume Vasil • Nicholas Vasil • Samuel Vasil {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Juliette Vasil • Florence Vasil • Nathan Vasil • Darlene Vasil • Aroa Vasil • Chastity Vasil • Candy Vasil • Amias Vasil
Associates	The Chicken Tenders