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>

Unclear

</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> Taylor Hebert is the main character of Worm. Her name is pronounced "Hee-bert"<ref>Comment on spacebattles by Wildbow</ref>.

Background

Growing up, Taylor's parents told her things like "stick to the Boardwalk". She always scrupulously stayed on the Boardwalk and avoided the bad part of town<ref name="1.03"/>.

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 in early January<ref name="I3c">Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 3</ref> 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"/>

Three months before the story began - once Taylor recovered from her trigger event - she started to prepare herself for when she would become a hero<ref name="1.02">Gestation 1.02</ref>. She started exercising, training her power, doing research and preparing her costume. Her training schedule consisted of running every morning and every other afternoon<ref name="1.03">Gestation 1.03</ref>. 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"/>.

At some point, her backpack was stolen from her locker by the Trio and stuffed in a trash can. She bought a new one for twelve bucks. This incident alerted her to the risk of someone reading her notes, and she rewrote them in code. Around the same time, she began hiding equipment for her superheroing in a boarded-up coal shute in her basement<ref name="1.02"/>.

As Taylor

Appearance

Taylor was a tall, rail-thin, young woman with long, curly black 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"/><ref name="I22">Interlude 22</ref>. She was approximately 5'6" at the story's outset<ref>https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-2#post-14724882</ref>

She had long, dark curly hair<ref name="1.01"/>, which she described as her "only feminine feature."<ref name="1.01"/> Emma described it as "long black curls"<ref name="19.x">Interlude 19.x</ref>

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 had never heard of Trigger Event's, but this may have been a mistake by the author<ref>Comment by Wildbow, archived on Spacebattles</ref>.

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><ref name="I22"/> She suspected that she would hurt herself before she hurt the Trio<ref name="1.02"/>. However, Wildbow has stated that if she hadn't triggered, Taylor would likely have simply stopped going to school<ref>Reddit - "What would've happened to Taylor if she'd never triggered?"</ref>.

Taylor considered joining the Wards, but felt that "the notion of escaping the stresses of high school by flinging myself into a mess of teenage drama, adult oversight and schedules seemed self-defeating."<ref name="1.6">Gestation 1.6</ref> She had no trust in organized institutions, and felt happier having some independence and control<ref>Comment by Wildbow</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"/>. They alternated staying at each others houses every weekend<ref name="1.02"/>.
  • 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"/>.

Other Parahumans

Taylor was a big fan of Alexandria. She used to wear Armsmaster-themed underwear as a kid.^{[citation needed]}

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

On April 8th, 2011<ref name="I3c"/>, Taylor was discovered in the bathroom, ruining her hiding place. Her clothes and bag were covered in juice by the Trio. 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 left school and caught the bus home to clean off. 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. This event is what ultimately pushes Taylor to stop putting off the start of said career<ref name="1.02"/>.

That Friday, she painted and dyed her costume. Over the weekend, she bought the necessary straps, belts, and lenses to complete it. On Sunday, she finished the necessary work; that night, she went out in costume for the first time, crossing into the "bad part of town" just after midnight<ref name="1.03">Gestation 1.03</ref>.

On her first night out in costume, Taylor noticed a group of ABB members, including Lung (who she recognized immediately from the news and online.) She heard them discussing killing "children"<ref name="1.03"/>. She fought Lung alongside the Undersiders.

Equipment

Taylor had a white and black speckled hardcover notebook containing notes and plans for her hero career. It contained "some two hundred pages of detailed writing " - "testing and training I’d done with my powers, pages of crossed out name ideas, even the measurements I was using for my costume in progress." It was written in "a simple cipher", bottom to top. The notebook was soaked through when one of the Trio poured grape juice into the top of Taylor's backpack.<ref name="1.02"/>

She had hidden a gym bag filled with useful tools for her future superhero career behind a panel in the coal chute in her basement, including her partly-finished costume<ref name="1.02"/>. The stored gear consisted of a set of EpiPens, a pen and notepad, a tube of pepper spray meant to hang off a key chain and a zippered pouch of chalk dust, which she took out on her first night in costume<ref name="1.4">Gestation 1.4</ref>. She had also purchased lenses for her mask at the same time as the chalk dust<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>.

As Skitter

Appearance

File:Skitter.jpg

Illustration by cactusfantastico on deviantart

As Skitter, Taylor wears a black-and-grey spider silk bodysuit with armor panels made out of insect shells and exoskeletons augmented with more spider silk. Her mask has sections of armor imitating mandibles that covers her jaw and dull yellow lenses that incorporate lenses from a spare pair of her glasses. Her mask leaves the back of her head uncovered and her hair free to fly behind her.

Personality & Skills

In time she becomes smart and ruthless, arguably due to the influence of her Queen Administrator shard and her career as a supervillain.

Taylor had an unusually high pain tolerance, which she blamed on her exposure to a pain-bomb of Bakuda's<ref name="29.9">Venom 29.9</ref>.

She was trained in hand-to-hand combat by Grue^{[citation needed]}.

She suffered from nightmares<ref>Commment by Wildbow on Infestation 11.1</ref>.

Relationships

Other Parahumans

Over time her shard matures and splits in two, with a sub-shard capable of forming new powers, which will retain similar functionality to the progenitor shard. An example of this is Between Taylor and Aiden.

Civilians

• Taylor resisted attacking the trio with her power, no matter how much she wanted to<ref name = "1.01"/>.

Abilities and Powers

Taylor was rated by PRT analysts as a Master 5<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>, which was later upgraded to an 8<ref name="22.1">Cell 22.1</ref>. A rating of Thinker-1 was added when Emily Piggot deduced she could see through her bugs in a limited fashion<ref name="22.1"/>. Piggot suggested that this should be upgraded when Taylor admitted she came up with the plan to raid the PRT to stop Dragon. It later was.

Taylor's ability is a form of telepathy<ref name="8.4c1">Comment by Wildbow on 8.4</ref> that grants her control over most invertebrates. Her power doesn't work on creatures below a certain size<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Colony 15.1</ref>. At different times, she speculated that she could control anything with an exoskeleton or shell - which wouldn't explain how she could control earthworms - and that it was based on brain size<ref name="3.2">Agitation 3.2</ref>. Her power does not affect squid. It's possible that she could control "bugmen", depending on their brain makeup & chemistry<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 5</ref>.

She can give general instructions, in which case she is only vaguely aware of their movements, or guide individual insects through complex tasks, in which case she is more precisely aware of their movements and environment<ref name="4.3c1">Comment by Wildbow on Shell 4.3</ref>.

Taylor's power had total control over insects<ref name="12.1c1">Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.1</ref>. She was able to make her insects perform feats that they would not normally do<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>, such as walking into fire^{[citation needed]}, producing so much web that they physically couldn't produce any more<ref name="14.4c1">Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.4</ref>, or modulate the amount of venom injected.<ref name="22.1">Colony 15.9</ref>. She didn't require "organized" insects. However, once she ceased controlling them, her bugs would revert to their normal behaviour<ref name="12.1c1">Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.1</ref>.

Taylor had an almost limitless ability to focus on multiple insects at once, or to focus on other things while also using her insects<ref name="11.2c1">Comment by Wildbow on Infestation 11.2</ref>. However, she could be distracted by the difficulty of focusing on her insects' senses<ref name="14.4c2">Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.4</ref>, and by Panacea's modified insects providing contradictory signals<ref name="11.2c1"/>.

The sensory input from her bugs is "fuzzy" and difficult for humans to interpret<ref name="4.3c1"/><ref name="6.1c1">Comment by Wildbow on Tangle 6.1</ref>. She could sporadically hear and see clearly, but it was unreliable<ref name="6.1c1"/>. Practicing didn't seem to produce results<ref name="14.4c2"/>. However, over time, Taylor did in fact learn to sense through her bugs increasingly clearly^{[citation needed]}.

Based on the combined sensory input of large numbers of insects, Taylor can gain a very clear mental picture of whatever they're interacting with<ref name="4.3c1"/>. She can also sense the biology and location<ref name="8.4c1"/> of every bug she can control<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Cell 9.1</ref>. This gave her enhanced aim<ref name="26.6">Sting 26.6</ref>, and the ability to dodge attacks with supernatural reaction times^{[citation needed]}. However, in environments where bugs are scarce, or when dealing with materials that they don't interact with well, her image of the area can become less reliable^{[citation needed]}.

Taylor had a limited range. During periods of stress, it would increase, but the increases weren't permanent<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Infestation 11.3</ref>. Nevertheless, her range did slowly increase over time^{[citation needed]}. Her range was noted as over six and a half blocks during Chrysalis 20.5.

In addition, Taylor has come up with a multitude of creative uses of her power. For example, she can produce and manipulate large quantities of spider silk, coat her insects in petroleum jelly and capsaicin to use them like pepper spray, create humanoid figures<ref name="11.3">Infestation 11.3]</ref>, mask her movements, and clear out rat infestations. She could disguise or project her voice by having her insects buzz and chirp together<ref name="9.6c1">Comment by Wildbow on Sentinel 9.6</ref>.

Taylor was referred to by Glaistig Uaine as the "Queen Administrator"<ref name="27.4">Extinction 27.4</ref><ref name="25.5">Scarab 25.5</ref>, which became a popular fan nickname for the power. In Scion's Interlude it is implied, but not explicitly stated, that her power was originally used to decide and rearrange the configuration of shards within an Entity, and it is referred to as "the administrator shard". It specializes in coordinating control over large numbers of smaller lifeforms<ref name="reddit2">Comment by wildbow on Reddit</ref>.

Her shard originally went to her father before jumping to the more suitable host. Had Taylor's father experienced a more stressful life, it's possible that he could have triggered with rat powers<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref><ref name="reddit2"/>.

Equipment

As Skitter, Taylor wore various costumes made of spider silk.

Before painting, her incomplete costume's fabric was a dirty yellow-gray, and the armour was colored dark mottled brown-gray<ref name="1.02"/>. It was dyed black with grey panelling before she went out<ref name="1.03"/>. The armored sections were made from of finely arranged and layered shells and exoskeletons cannibalized from the local insect population and then reinforced with dragline silk.

It was too tough to cut with an x-acto knife, although it could be slowly cut through using wire cutters<ref name="1.02"/>. The costume lacked the full extent of the armor paneling she had planned out, including protection for the back of her head, but the armor covered her face, chest, spine, stomach and major joints<ref name="1.03"/>. The mask design featured dull yellow lenses and sections of armor designed to imitate a bug’s mandibles.

The lenses of her mask were actually durable, high-end swim goggles tinted to help filter out bright lights, with lenses from an old pair of her glasses sealed inside with silicon<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>.

Utility Backpack

Taylor has a utility compartment for storing necessary items, weapons, and insects in the spade-shaped armor panel that covers her back<ref name="1.4"/>.

In 1.4, Taylor's backpack contained "a set of EpiPens, a pen and notepad, a tube of pepper spray meant to hang off a key chain and a zippered pouch of chalk dust."<ref name="1.4"/>

In 18.3, Miss Militia takes a look at the contents and sees:

• A handgun (Trickster's spare).
• A length of spider silk fashioned into a long cord.
• Pepper spray.
• A changepurse, containing cotton swabs (to muffle the noise), needles, smelling salts, and change.
• A collapsible baton.
• A combat knife (sturdy enough to be used as a crowbar if needed)

As Weaver

Appearance

As Weaver, Taylor wore a light grey bodysuit with cleaner, slim dark grey armor panels. The mantle around her shoulders and the cloth hanging from her belt are marked with electric blue with the Undersiders' emblem (a beetle facing downwards) in miniature at each corner, flipped upside down so that they face upward. <ref name="22.6">Cell 22.6</ref>

Wildbow had her down in his notes as 5’8″ (178 cm), 125 lbs (56 kg) during her stay in prison<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Drone 23.1</ref>. According to her Wards physical, she was five feet and nine inches tall<ref name="25.1">Scarab 25.1</ref>. She later described herself as a hundred and thirty pounds and 5'10"<ref name="26.2">Sting 26.2</ref>

Relationships

Teammates

Chicago Wards

Civilians

As Weaver, Taylor visited Ms. Yamada for therapy.

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.

The Timeskip

Taylor spent the timeskip as a member of the Wards, training Golem

Post-Timeskip

Appearance

Taylor wore a spider-silk version of her Weaver costume. After it was partially destroyed during the oil-rig battle, she wore a costume that combined elements of several provisional costumes she had created in different color schemes.

Personality & Skills

Taylor was an exceptionally accomplished martial artist, who reacted to events seemingly faster than should have been possible due to her enhanced senses. She was able to easily defeat even many powered opponents hand-to-hand.

She was noted for being cold and ruthless by many characters.

She had resolved not to focus overmuch on her identity as Skitter or Weaver, but to try and combine the strengths of both as Taylor.

Relationships

Other Parahumans

Taylor was close to Golem, serving as something of a mentor figure.

After recovering from her injuries during the oil-rig battle, Taylor collected a team of parahumans with a semi-rotating membership from capes she had known in the past. This group included Lung, Tattletale, Shadow Stalker, Cuff, Tecton, and Canary at different points.

Civilians

Emma Barnes' parents blamed her for their daughter's death.

Abilities and Powers

At one point, Taylor was able to distract Scion underwater by forming simulated bodies out of sea creatures.

She was able to choke Softball for an extended period, keeping him incapacitated with coughing but not killing him<ref name ="29.5">Venom 29.5</ref>.

Equipment

She wore the flight pack given to her by Defiant. At times, she also carried nanothorn-enhanced knives of his design, as well as regular knives.

She carried dispensers at her belt filled with silk thread.<ref name ="29.5">Venom 29.5</ref>

As Khepri

Appearance

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

Relationships

Other Parahumans

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.

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 about five thousand capes at once and using their powers in concert.<ref>https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/speck-30-4/</ref> She also gains control of the Clairvoyant which gives Taylor limited omniscience.

Trivia

• Taylor likely triggered Monday the third of January 2011 as it was described as the first day of school in the new year.
• "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 this 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."<ref>https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/extinction-27-2/</ref>
• (To Tecton): “Being good or bad was never a thing for me.  Not really.  It was all about the actions I was taking and why."

References

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