Taylor Hebert

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Taylor Hebert</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>

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<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> Taylor Hebert is the main character of Worm.

Background

The first major event involving Taylor was the death of her mother, Annette Rose Hebert, in a car crash later attributed to texting while driving. It is widely speculated throughout the story that this was the cause of her first trigger event. As a result of the incident, Taylor becomes closed off and rigid. Her previously strong friendship with Emma Barnes became strained due to this change.

A year and a half before the story began, just before she entered high school<ref name="1.01">Gestation 1.01</ref>, Emma suddenly and unexpectedly abandoned her to form a trio with Sophia Hess and Madison Clements. They began aggressively bullying her, including one event that caused her to trigger. They sent her vicious e-mails, upended trash over her desk, and stole her mother's flute from her looker<ref name="1.01"/>. Others joined in, ‘accidentally’ skipping over her when passing out assignment handouts, and adding their own voices to the taunts and emails.

Taylor began hiding in the bathrooms during lunch in order to stay off their radar, and came to view it as "refuge ... a place I could retreat to, a place where I was off their radar."<ref name="1.01"/>

Once Taylor recovered from her trigger event, she started to prepare herself for when she would become a hero. She started exercising, training her power, doing research and preparing her costume. She resisted using her power in school for three months, restricting it to a faint buzzing sound at the edge of her consciousness<ref name="1.01"/>. She conducted practice sessions, "far from prying eyes", to determine the extent of her power<ref name="1.01"/>.

As Taylor

Appearance

Taylor was a tall, rail-thin, young woman with long, dark curly brown hair and glasses. She had a thin lipped, wide, expressive mouth she inherited from her mother, and her large eyes and gawky figure made her look a lot like her dad<ref name="1.01"/>.

She had long, dark curly hair<ref name="1.01"/>, which she described as her "only feminine feature."<ref name="1.01"/>

Taylor didn't wear clothes that showed skin, or bright colours<ref name="1.01"/>. At various times, she wore a brown hooded sweatshirt over a green t-shirt<ref name="1.01"/>.

Personality

Taylor starts out the series being shy and awkward.

Taylor was always interested in capes. She looked forward to the part of her World Issues class where they discussed capes "since the start of the semester".<ref name="1.01"/>

She was "'surviving', for lack of a better word," from the point her mother died, and then surviving from the point she started getting bullied - she just wanted to get by. She responded to stress with silence and withdrawal. <ref>https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-8#post-17202689</ref>

Relationships

Teachers

• Taylor disliked Mr. Gladly, viewing him as one of the ‘popular kids' who had become a teacher.<ref name="1.01" />

Students

• Taylor believed that she didn't have friends and boys didn't like her<ref name="1.01"/>.
• She was bullied extensively by the "trio" - Madison Clements, Sophia Hess, and Emma Barnes<ref name="1.01"/>.
  • Emma used to be her best friend<ref name="1.01"/>.
  • Taylor was also bullied by "other girls and a small handful of boys" seeking approval from three of the prettier and more popular girls<ref name="1.01"/>.

Civilians

Taylor considered the thought of her father's disappointment on seeing that she had attacked the Trio "daunting" but less than her anger and frustration with them.

History

Taylor was discovered in the bathroom, ruining her hiding place. Her clothes and bag were covered in juice. When she threw her bag against the wall in anger, her midterm project - due that day - was destroyed. She finally let her defences drop, and was automatically swarmed with bugs responding to her emotional distress; but resisted killing the trio<ref name="1.01"/>.

She later discovers the juice also ruined many of the contents of her bag, including a notepad filled with notes for her eventual superhero career. Ironically, this event is what ultimately pushes Taylor to stop putting off the start of said career<ref name="1.02">Gestation 1.02</ref>.

Equipment

As Weaver, Skitter used a "flight pack" developed and maintained by Defiant. She wore a generic version of her costume created by Dragon, which lacked the armour of her earlier costume, and sometimes wore her old silk costume for added protection.

As Khepri

Appearance

As Khepri, Taylor wears a black bodysuit with white armor panels and lenses^{[citation needed]}.

Abilities and Powers

After Panacea removes the restrictions on her power during Scion's rampage, Taylor's range and fine control are cut and her power increases to affect every animal (including humans) within sixteen feet of herself. She gains control of the Doormaker and uses his portals to extend her range, eventually controlling hundreds of capes at once and using their power in concert. This effectively turns her into the most powerful parahuman in existence. The impact she has on the events of the fight while in this state is large enough to warrant her being referred to simply as she in the aftermath.

Trivia

• Taylor likely triggered Monday the third of January 2011 as it was described as the first day of school in the new year.
• If she hadn't triggered, Taylor would likely have simply stopped going to school<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/2szsy2/what_wouldve_happened_to_taylor_if_shed_never/</ref>.
• "Khepri" is a god in ancient Egyptian religion connected with the scarab beetle, because the scarab rolls balls of dung across the ground, an act that the Egyptians saw as a symbol of the forces that move the sun across the sky.

Quotes

• (To Lung): "Don't underestimate me."
• (To Triumph): "Sorry. I didn't want to go this far."
• (To Doctor Mother): "I know what that's like, I've walked down that road. Maybe not so ugly a road, but I've gone that route. All the way along, I told myself it sucked, but I wouldn't do it differently. I did everything I did for a reason. Except now, having reached the point I was working towards, I finally do regret it all. The last two years, the way I treated my teammates, leaving the Undersiders... I'd change it all in a heartbeat."

References

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