Crawler

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Crawler</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>

Deceased

</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>

{{#if:Crawler's threats to SkitterPrey 14.4|

“	Run, little girl! I’ll get free! I’ll catch you! I’ll hold you down and lick your skin until it melts! I’ll pluck your eyes out with the tip of my tongue! I have your scent and you cannot ever stop me! You cannot ever escape!	”
{{#if:Crawler's threats to Skitter| —Crawler's threats to Skitter{{#if:Prey 14.4|, Prey 14.4}} }} }}

Ned, known publicly as Crawler, is a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine.<ref name="Cast1">Crawler – Member of the Slaughterhouse Nine, Crawler is a monstrous figure who heals with incredible speed and adapts natural defenses or augmentations in response to any healing. - Cast (spoiler free)</ref>

Personality

Crawler is a masochist, eagerly throwing himself into extreme danger in order to expand his abilities and even joining the Slaughterhouse Nine to achieve these means.<ref name="I12e4">Crawler, he knew, wouldn’t show any signs of boredom or restlessness. When he lost patience with things, it was an explosive affair, almost unmanageable.
[...]
Crawler wanted to be stronger, and remained with the group because it put him in constant danger. His other motivation was more subtle. He was patiently awaiting the day Siberian might honestly and brutally attempt to take him apart. The only stick Jack could wield was the possibility that the group might dissolve before that happened. On the other side of the coin, the day Crawler decided there was no longer any threat that could evolve him further would be… troubling. It was why Jack had ordered Siberian to let the boy with the glowing hair go. Finding the lad again would give Crawler something to do, and it would give Crawler a taste for what Siberian had to
[...]
The buried girl was only a candidate because Crawler hoped she was strong enough to fight him. Either she would fail to hurt him and he would grow tired of her, or she would succeed and he would have no reason to stay in the group. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref><ref name=":0" /> He doesn't show signs of boredom or restlessness, but when he loses his patience it tends to be sudden and violent.<ref name="I12e4" /> Crawler revels in his role as a monster and takes sadistic pleasure in taunting and torturing his victims.<ref name="14.4e2">“Run, little girl!” Crawler’s broken voice carried, a rumble so low I could feel it. “I’ll get free! I’ll catch you! I’ll hold you down and lick your skin until it melts! I’ll pluck your eyes out with the tip of my tongue! I have your scent and you cannot ever stop me! You cannot ever escape!” - Excerpt from Prey 14.4</ref> This gave him a fearful reputation among the public.<ref name="1o.6 e1">“Crawler.” No portrait, this time. It was a still from a surveillance camera, a misshapen silhouette, not even humanoid, in a shadowy area. I’d come across stories about him when I’d been researching possible superhero names for myself. Not pretty. - Excerpt from Parasite 10.6</ref>

Nothing pleases Crawler more than being given a chance to get hurt, to the point that he secretly wishes that the Siberian would try to seriously hurt him.<ref name="I12e4" /> This tendency has been used against him numerous times, such as when he was persuaded to voluntarily stand under a bombing run of Bakuda-bombs in hopes of being hurt, resulting in his death.<ref name="14.7e1" />

Appearance

Originally, Ned was a narrow shouldered man, only five and a half feet tall.<ref>Oh, and there were others. Some were harder to recognize. Nine Alan Grammes, who lacked his armor. Nine Neds, narrow shouldered and only five and a half feet tall. When the others had done some damage and given him a chance to regenerate, he’d resemble his true self a little better. He’d be Crawler. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref> One of Ned's clones, somewhat progressed into his transformation, had grown taller and broader, his face growing inhuman with a long tongue, rows of teeth, numerous armored eyes, and an acid sack on his throat. His arms split into two limbs at the elbows, ending in claws strong enough to pierce metal.<ref>The second Crawler was more careful, grabbing a hostage and making his way out the gap. He hadn’t transformed into his truly monstrous self. Bipedal, the size of a bodybuilder, his face no longer human. A long tongue extended out between rows of teeth, and his throat was swollen with an acid sac, as though he had a goiter. Eyes surrounded his face, which was already bearing the rigidity and light armor plating that would intensify with further regeneration.

His arms had already split into two limbs at the elbow, and each ended in claws. He used them for a grip on the metal to climb on the outside of the truck, penetrating metal with strong hands and sharp talons as he dragged his hostage along with him. He perched on the roof, holding the hostage over the disintegration field, staring at the second Azazel. - Excerpt from Interlude 26.x</ref> This may or may not have been how the original Ned's transformation went.

By the time the Slaughterhouse Nine visits Brockton Bay, Crawler resembles a six legged beast the size of a van, best described as a combination of the best traits from a bear and a panther. His entire body is black and iridescent, with armor plates covering the majority of the body, scales in places where flexibility is needed, and spines and bristling hair everywhere else. His mouth is filled with mismatched fangs and acidic saliva. A hundred solid-black eyes run along the entire length of his body, set into the plates of his armor. He had six legs, each forking at the knee or elbow joint. His four rear limbs had one large limb each that forked into scimitar-like claws, with multiple smaller sets of tentacles accompanying them. His two forelimbs similarly had one large limb with claws for each, but had sets of long-fingered hands instead of tentacles.<ref name="I12 e1">Crawler, the most monstrous member of the group, loomed over the rest. His chest was ten feet deep from front to back, his head the size of a small car. He combined the most effective features of a bear and a panther. Sinuous, flexible, bristling with quiet menace, but also brawny with muscle. He had armor plates covering him, with scales where armor wouldn’t allow him optimum flexibility, and spines and coarse hair where the scales wouldn’t do. Head to toe, he had the coloring of an oil slick, black by default, but scintillating with rainbow hues in just the right light. A hundred black orbs studded the length of his body, set into the plates of armor. Caustic venom virtually poured from a mouth that bristled with mismatched fangs, spattering precipitously close to Cherish and eating at the concrete rooftop. Perhaps most unnerving of all were his six legs, each forking at the knee or elbow joint, with one larger limb ending in scimitar-like claws and a smaller set of limbs for each; tentacles for the rear four legs and a long fingered human’s hands for the forelimbs. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref><ref name="Cast2">Crawler (Turned to Glass) –  An inhuman monster, Crawler is arguably the ‘brute’ of the group.  A regenerator, Crawler becomes permanently stronger every time he heals, often gaining non-human attributes/augmentations in the healed tissue.  He eventually became a massive creature, six legged with acid spit, tentacles and eyeballs dotting his armor plated body.  Turned to glass by a bombing run utilizing some of Bakuda’s weaponry. - Cast (In Depth)</ref>

Crawler is still verbally communicative, but his voice comes out as a low, resonant grumble, barely recognizable as human.<ref name="14.4e2" /><ref name="I13.5 e1">Shatterbird scowled. “Then who or what was that? Crawler, do you know?”

Aisha backed toward the front door. She stopped as Crawler appeared in the doorway that led from the kitchen to the front hall, looking through to see his teammates on the far end. His voice was a mangled mess of sounds that only barely approximated anything like speech. “I don’t smell anyone.” - Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>

Abilities and Powers

Crawler's power is permanent adaptive regeneration.<ref name="Cast1" /><ref name="Cast2" /><ref name="list">Ned Crawler Powerful regeneration and gains personal adaptations in response to any damage taken. Slaughterhouse 9 - ParahumanList, Bolded edit by Wildbow</ref> Any injury that he suffers heals at ridiculous speeds,<ref name="I12c1">I should rephrase: The source(s?) of energy that people are drawing from are kind of important & aren’t being ignored/handwaved. That said, some capes are pulling forth ridiculous amounts of energy/mass from nowhere and Crawler is among them. - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 12</ref> usually in a way that alters the healed area to be resistant or immune to the source of damage.<ref name="Cast1" />

Regeneration

Crawler has a "core" that contains his corona pollentia, the destruction of which is the only way to ensure his death.<ref name="r1">Brutes (esp. regenerators) and changers often relocate their cores/coronas to the hardest to access part of their body, or adapt to do without. Crawler's wasn't in his brain, for example. - Reddit comment by Wildbow</ref><ref name="SB1">Crawler = Contessa can avoid harm/evade full grown Crawler until she gets her hands on a weapon/individual that can hurt him, target his core. Not-fully grown Crawler you can best by controlling the damage & resulting evolution to force him into an immobile shape. Bury him in concrete/sand/whatever. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> The core is not located in his brain, but rather closer to his center. Destroying his brain can slow him down, but not kill him.<ref name="r1">Brutes (esp. regenerators) and changers often relocate their cores/coronas to the hardest to access part of their body, or adapt to do without. Crawler's wasn't in his brain, for example. - Reddit comment by Wildbow</ref><ref name="I12 e3" />

He could regenerate hundreds of pounds of flesh in a few heartbeats, extraordinarily fast even compared to fast-regenerating brutes.<ref name="I12 e3">Crawler was one of the two group members who had yet to rejoin the group. He was engaged with a young man with a glow that suffused his hair and emanated from his eyes and mouth. White flashes appeared with little accuracy and devastating effect, carving spherical chunks out of the brute. This only encouraged the monster, and Crawler eagerly paced closer, his wounds closing together with a startling rapidity. So few things could hurt Crawler these days that Jack rarely got to see the regeneration in full effect. Crawler’s healing powers appeared to play out in fast-forward when compared to even the regenerators who could heal wounds in seconds. Hundreds of pounds of flesh were replaced in one or two heartbeats.

One eruption of light hit Crawler in the dead center of his chest. It made him pause, no doubt removing one of his hearts and some of his spinal cord. The boy with the glowing hair pushed his power into overdrive, calling forth a series of flashes that exploded in close succession. One caught Crawler in the face, revealing only a cross-section of his head, complete with a bisected brain, a skull six inches thick and the interior of Crawler’s mouth. Crawler collapsed.

[...]

Crawler’s brain grew back to its full beach-ball size in one or two seconds, followed closely after by the healing of the skull, the reappearance of his facial muscles, then his skin, hair, spines, scale and armor plating, roughly in that order. He shook his head like a dog with water in its ears and looked around, searching for his quarry. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref> His regeneration was able to reject Flechette's bolts, which were able to bond to objects at a molecular level.<ref name=":0">Flechette fired a bolt straight into Crawler. It penetrated his face and stuck there. Little surprise on that front; I’d seen her stick Leviathan with one of those giant needles. Crawler’s face bubbled around the wound where it was rejecting the foreign object. Almost imperceptibly, it began to slide out.

He rumbled with a low, guttural laugh, mocking. Was he enjoying himself? He was a masochist, and it was the rare thing that could hurt him. - Excerpt from Prey 14.6</ref>

Adaptation

Crawler's adaptation is the primary focus of his power, and is the reason he holds his monstrous form. His adaptations do not just provide defensive adaptions, but also offensive ones that allow him to defend himself better.<ref>greatwyrmgold:

Crawler–How does his regeneration “work” if, say, he is cut in half? Which half regenerates? Does he have a “core” like Echidna’s, or does one of his organs function as such? If so, what happens when his Core/brain/heart/spleen is cut in half or destroyed?

Wildbow:

Crawler – Q1A1.
His form is monstrous because the adaptations aren’t purely defensive. His power provides the ability to defend himself better. Multiple legs to give him more stability so he can’t be knocked over, etc. - Comment by Wildbow on Extinction 27.4</ref> Throughout the course of years, this has allowed him to develop a variety of powerful defensive and offensive adaptations.<ref name=":1" />

By the time the Slaughterhouse Nine attacked Brockton Bay the second time, Crawler's armor is able to withstand the blast of a small nuke,<ref name=":1">He can be killed if annihilated, but by the time he shows up in story, he's been at it for a few years, hanging with a pretty nasty group calling themselves the Slaughterhouse Nine. You basically need to dig into the unconventional weapons (ie. stuff made by tinkers; stuff-makers like Iron Man) or very specific powers that can work around armor that can take a small nuke. - Reddit comment by Wildbow</ref> and he can walk unscathed through burning buildings lit by burning white phosphorous.<ref>“And Crawler?” Legend asked.

Piggot spoke, “Legend, Ursa Aurora, Prism, Weld, Assault and Battery will occupy him until we can contain him. He’s still vulnerable to physics. I’m hoping the white phosphorous explosive will keep him in the area long enough for us to put measures in place
[...]
The plane wasn’t as fast as I’d thought it would be. It appeared from the clouds and crossed the skyline a distance away, at an altitude not much higher than me. It left a muted roar in its wake, and the payload of bombs. Black specks, smaller than I would have guessed, but more numerous. Fifty? A hundred? I couldn’t tell from my vantage point, and I doubted I could have made an accurate estimate.

The bombs were targeted at the parking lot where Jack and Bonesaw had been. They detonated across the surrounding neighborhood, a carpet of explosions and flame that ripped through everything. In a heartbeat, an area that had been drowning in stagnant water was lit up by fires that rose higher than the smallest buildings.
[...]
“Crawler’s probably taken worse. I can picture him crawling into an incinerator and sitting in there for long enough that he can take this.”
[...]
Crawler- I could see him prowling the streets, soaking up the flame without a care. He was headed in the general direction of the parking lot where the heroes were, taking his time, his movements languid. - Excerpt from Prey 14.5</ref> Sundancer's abilities may have damaged him, but Crawler would only have adapted to it.<ref>We reached the scene of the ongoing fight with Crawler. Sundancer was off the dog and on the ground the second we could see him, creating her orb and increasing its size. She was fireproof, but she didn’t have the ability to grant that benefit to others. Once she was standing, the orb was free to grow.

[...]

“Don’t use your orb on him,” Tattletale cautioned. “Won’t do us any favors, and it’ll only make him stronger for the future.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.5</ref> His internal organs have been rearranged and reinforced with numerous redundancies.<ref name="I12 e3" /><ref>Wildbow: Crawler's testicles?
Wildbow: They'd be positioned like ovaries are.
Wildbow: The dangly bits dangle because our body needs to contract/drop them to adjust their temperature.
Wildbow: (This is also why they shrink in the cold) - Crawler's too advanced for that. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref> He has hundreds of eyes set into his armor, and an enhanced sense of smell that can be used for tracking.<ref name="14.4e2" /><ref name="RPG1">Question by braincraft: What classification is used for enhanced or expanded senses? There are a lot of characters in Worm that have something along those lines, and outside of Worm there's stuff like Superman's telescopic vision, x-ray vision, and enhanced hearing, or Wolverine's ability to track by scent.

Answer by Wildbow: Thinker. In some rare cases they'd fall under a Brute classification. - RPG.net comment by Wildbow.</ref> His many modular limbs ensure that his dexterity hasn't suffered for his growth, and can even be rearranged to enhance his agility on different forms of terrain.<ref>Crawler had reached Grue and was scaling the side of the building with surprising speed. I’d taken him for a quadruped, but apparently his joints were modular. His proportions were more simian, now, and he was climbing up the side of the building twice as fast as I could have run it if it were laid out horizontally. - Excerpt from Snare 13.6</ref> This, along with enhanced reflexes, makes Crawler a surprisingly agile foe.<ref name="14.4e1">I could sense Regent’s group, running to cover. Ballistic was bombarding Crawler, relying on the impacts to drive the brute back. Crawler was fast -and he was agile, with preternatural reflexes- but Ballistic was unloading on him with projectiles that moved faster than sound. Crawler dodged only two in three, and Ballistic followed up on any successful hits with a series of shots to pound Crawler into the nearest available surface and pin him there. Genesis had formed a body that was winged. It resembled a pterodactyl with arms, a griffon or something in that vein. She was making an effort to drop large chunks of rubble onto Crawler. He was strong enough that it barely slowed him down, but time he spent hauling a section of wall off of himself was time for Ballistic to get his hands on material for another shot. Shatterbird offered support with a constant hail of glass to harry Crawler and keep him from finding traction on the pavement. - Excerpt from Prey 14.4</ref>

Crawler has an incredibly strong caustic spit that he can launch at targets.<ref>I had a single grenade, and I knew that wouldn’t even make Crawler flinch.

Crawler spat a caustic spray onto Cache and Clockblocker. I could see the mucus fizz and pop from my vantage point high above.
[...]
Maybe he’d anticipated that, but he couldn’t have anticipated the acid spittle. Holes began to appear in the fabric of his fireproof costume.

He managed to maintain his composure- I had no idea how. I couldn’t imagine how it must have felt to be down there, feeling the heat and smoke coming in through the widening holes in the fabric. He began using his power, calling up the shadowy geometry that would deposit the heroes onto the battlefield.
[...]
I was so busy tracking Mannequin, looking for an opportunity to shoot him again, that I nearly missed what happened next.

Crawler got close enough for Glory Girl to swing a punch. She took the bait and swung, then twisted in mid-air to deliver a kick. He pulled just out of reach of both hits, then opened his mouth to retch spittle and bile all over her.

It had the same effect on her costume that it did on Cache, only far, far faster. In moments, she was down to the skin-tight costume she wore beneath her white and gold dress, her forcefield protecting her.

I pulled a grenade free. Maybe it could distract him long enough for her to-

Crawler surged forward, slamming his head into her. Like a spiked volleyball, she slammed hard into the ground.

I could see her skin turning red, then black, where the spittle had covered it. Flesh melted away to reveal muscle, then the acidic vomit began to eat away at that. She screamed, frantic, thrashing, oblivious to the flaming patches of ground that she was rolling into. - Excerpt from Prey 14.5</ref> Panacea, struggling to make a counter, described it as consisting of self-replicating digestive enzymes, all floating in a kind of acid.<ref name="14.6 e753">“I can’t- can’t figure out what this venom is. I can’t touch it to see if it’s organic, um, I can only see what it’s doing. At least part of it is enzymes. It’s denaturing proteins in her cells and using the byproducts to build more enzymes, and it’s breaking down lipids as a side effect, shit. Oh god, and there’s more to it. The fluid the enzymes are swimming in is some kind of acid.”

“Can you fix her?” Tattletale asked.

“So much to do,” Amy mumbled, “Have to counter the acid with some kind of physiological byproduct, have to stop the enzymes from liquefying her entire body, and repair the damage. Trying to make some kind of firebreak to stop the spread of the venom, withdraw the proteins the venom is using to propagate itself. There isn’t enough tissue in her body for everything I need to do to fix her.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.6</ref>

Earlier into his development, Crawler's could have potentially been forced to adapt into an immobile shape, allowing him to be buried.<ref name="SB1" /> When one of Crawler's clones was exposed to Armsmaster's nano-thorns, the body parts that were disintegrated regenerated and began producing their own organic nano-thorns, rendering them immune.<ref>Organic nanotech is also a part of what lets geckos crawl on walls. - Comment by Wildbow on 26.x (Donation Interlude; Saint)</ref><ref name="26.x e1">He was struck by the Azazel that still approached, caught by a long tail and flung down at the ground. He rolled, and in doing so, he rolled into the same nano-thorn rails that had taken down his brother. Half of his body was disintegrated in an instant.

It regenerated swiftly as he scrambled away on his three remaining limbs. This time, as the flesh swelled out and took form, there was a blur around his right arm, red, more at his shoulder, along his leg.

The Azazel struck out with a tail, and he blocked the blow with the newly grown arm. The tail sheared off as it made contact with his newly grown defenses. The chunk of metal rolled into one of the cars further down the road. Still, Crawler stumbled from the force of the attack. To avoid being disintegrated, he drew his freshly altered arm back towards the barrier behind him. Where his blur met the blur that extended from the rail, the two nano-growths merely pressed against one another, almost springy, neither severing the other.

He reached back with his unaffected arms and intentionally disintegrated them. They regrew, with alterations matching the ones he’d grown on the other side of the body. Better equipped, he stalked towards the Azazel that had laid down the rails, his back to the one that had struck him from the roof of the bus. - Excerpt from Interlude 26.x</ref>

Imp's power affected Crawler, implying that he cannot adapt to psychological effects.<ref name="I13.5 e1" />

History

[[Category:{{#switch:|File=Files|Template=Templates|articles}} in need of completion]]

Background

From the way he acted, Bonesaw presumed that he did not have a happy home life before triggering.<ref name="i25 e1">Nearly three weeks of work down the drain.

Already, she was figuring out how to solve the problem. She’d have to stagger it, introduce memories in phases, starting with earliest and working her way forward. Maybe it would be easier, organized. She could consider each member of the Nine in turn and decide if they had been treated well as babies, if their home and school lives were comfortable… that would be a yes for someone like Mannequin, less so for Ned, for Crawler.

She typed on the computer for a minute. Special disposal procedures for Crawler. The rest could be boiled to death. - Excerpt from Interlude 25</ref>

Crawler may have fought an Endbringer at some point in the past.<ref>Who says Crawler hasn’t duked it out with one of the Endbringers? - Comment by Wildbow on Snare 13.10</ref>

Some time after triggering, Crawler joined the Slaughterhouse Nine so that he would be in constant danger, and thus be able to adapt and become stronger from the many threats that would be thrown his way. He also wanted the Siberian to one day try to kill him.<ref name="I12e4" />

Post-Leviathan

Crawler came to Brockton Bay with the rest of the Slaughterhouse Nine. His choice of nomination was Noelle, who had been detected by Cherish, likely in hopes of finding a foe powerful enough to injure him. He visited Coil's base, to the vault where Noelle was being kept, but was unable to penetrate the thick metal doors due to Coil's foresight. After a period of frustration, Crawler eventually left.<ref>Interlude 11f</ref>

Later, Crawler and the rest of the Nine participated in the massacre of the Merchants, where he met Scrub.<ref name="I12 e2">Crawler threw himself into the point where the crowd was thickest. Bodies flew as he moved on his two rearmost legs and swept the other four claws and two tentacles through the ranks of the Merchants. When everyone within his broad reach was dead or suffocating from the paralytic venom, he turned toward the wrecked aircraft and began advancing with a more measured pace. Each of the hundred eyes along the length of his body blinked to clear away the blood and dust that had spattered him in his all-too-brief spree.Jack watched as someone drew a gun and pointed it at Crawler, then reconsidered. - Excerpt from Interlude 12</ref> It was here that the new testing regime was agreed upon.

Crawler and a few others from the Nine were relaxing in a abandoned apartment when Imp entered and tried to kill Bonesaw. He was unable to see or smell Imp.<ref name="I13.5 e1" />

He was with the Nine when they were ambushed by the combined team of Travelers and Undersiders. The attackers captured Shatterbird and Cherish, though the Nine were able to capture Grue. Trickster was able to cause him some inconvenience.<ref>Snare 13.5</ref>

In the evening, at the Nine's base at Dolltown he guarded hostages that had been surgically modified to look like the Nine, when his group was attacked by Fenrir's Chosen he ordered the hostages out and fought thehChosen with everything he had.<ref> - Excerpt from Snare 13.8</ref>

The next day he was back trying to fight local parahumans.

Skitter used silk to bind up him up, temporarily immobilizing him.<ref name="14.4e3">Crawler’s pause to grab concrete had bought me time to get my bugs into position. They swept over Crawler, laying down braided ropes of silk joined by adhesive lines and thin gossamer. Even caterpillars began offering their assistance, using the silk they produced for cocoons.

He was a big guy, but it was a lot of silk.

I could see how it hampered his movements. There was even something approximating surprise on his face as he dropped down so all six legs were firmly on the ground, and his forelimbs didn’t extend as far as he’d expected. He tried to run and found himself hampered further.

Crawler sported two or three tons of physical prowess, and his power had fine tuned him into a physical specimen like few others. My bugs had millions of years of evolution to refine the quality of their silk and their ability to produce it.

For now, at the very least, I had the advantage. - Excerpt from Prey 14.4</ref>

Later, during some actual fighting, he attacked a Protectorate team with Mannequin. When the team retreated, Crawler was able to win against Weld without assistance.

Crawler was finally killed when his entire body was turned to silicon by salvaged tinker explosives used in a bombing run ordered by Director Piggot. Piggott convinced Crawler to subject himself to the blasts by telling him - through Weld - that the bombs would be able to hurt him.<ref name="14.7e1">“Crawler and Mannequin observed to be in the blast site.”

“How did they disengage while keeping them there? They- they did disengage?”

“Clockblocker managed to tether Mannequin in place. Crawler freed himself from the same trap by tearing himself in two against the immovable object. It was Piggot who managed to keep Crawler in the blast area.”

“How?”

“She had Weld pass on a message, telling Crawler what we had planned. He was so tickled at the idea that we would be able to hurt him that he stayed where he was while the teams made their retreat.”

“Just like that?”

"Apparently so.”

“If he survives-”

“He didn’t.” - Excerpt from Prey 14.7</ref> He was killed by that bombing run, along with Mannequin.<ref>Interlude 15</ref><ref name="Cast2" />

Post-Timeskip

Ten clones of Crawler were among the ranks of the Slaughterhouse Nine-Thousand; this included nine perfect duplicates and one hybrid with Breed. Several of the Crawler clones were dealt with by Dragon.<ref>Interlude 26.x</ref>

The threat of infant Crawler clones being in the Nine's dimensional headquarters forced the heroes to collapse the entire dimension.<ref name="26.6">“I wouldn’t say that, Chevalier,” Jack responded, his voice carrying through the vast chamber with two or three hundred vats spaced evenly throughout. “See, we mixed things up a little. There’s a specialized cleanup area that can kill the Crawler clones. We gave them their powers right off the bat. Mixed them in with the others. You’ll have to be fairly discerning, and devote manpower to the task.”

I thought about using my power, but there weren’t any bugs native to this area. I was limited to the ones that I’d brought with me. Not enough to cart two or three hundred children off to some special device.

“A distraction,” Defiant said. “There’s another option. A bomb. If we track down the device Dodge used to create and maintain this dimension, we can collapse it.”

“How fast?” Chevalier asked.

“Fast,” Defiant answered.

“Poor sportsmanship,” Jack rebuked them. “Let’s try a different distraction then.” - Excerpt from Sting 26.6</ref><ref name="27.4">“You will help,” Defiant said. “After. When you work, it’s going to be with supervision. Panacea can check your work and vice-versa.”

Bonesaw sighed. “My lab. The alternate dimension, the cloning vats-”

“Destroyed,” Defiant said.

“You’re serious?”

He didn’t respond.

Bonesaw scowled. - Excerpt from Extinction 27.4</ref>

Trivia

• In an early draft of Worm, Guts and Glory, Crawler's names were "Skitter"<ref>The first draft extended from the day that The Brockton Bay Brigade found Amy to the day she got her powers. Kind of unique among those early stories because it remained relatively unscathed through multiple drafts & the worldbuilding that followed. Almost to the point that I could point to it and call it all canon. This was where I first introduced the Nine. Jack (Jack Knife), Crawler (‘Skitter’) and Shatterbird (‘Breaker’) and Mannequin were all in the group, more or less as they are here, along with others that included Nice Guy and Murder Rat. - Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.8</ref> and "Troll".<ref>The first iteration of the Nine, back when I was writing a story with Glory Girl and Panacea as protagonists, the members included many of the same people. Crawler (then named ‘Troll’), Shatterbird (‘Breaker’), Bonesaw (The Maiden) and some who aren’t in this iteration. - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref> The name Troll may stem from Dungeons & Dragons, where trolls are monsters that possess supernatural regeneration. The name Skitter ended up being used for Taylor Hebert.
• Was "unstoppable" in the words of Wildbow and included in the Nine due to the authors admitted predisposition of torturing his characters.<ref>1114: [...]Why oh why author did you give creepy evil mass murderer psychopaths TWO unstoppable guys? [...]
  Wildbow:Why did I give them two unstoppable guys?
  
  I’m a sadist. I admit it. I’ve got a bit of a streak of schadenfreude in me. I enjoy being mean to my characters.
  
  But I’m also glad when they rise above whatever I’ve decided to inflict on them, so it tends to balance out, thankfully. - conversation in Interlude 12</ref>

Fanart Gallery

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  Illustration by Abyranss on Reddit
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  Illustration by DerTodesbote on DeviantArt.
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  Illustration by DerTodesbote on DeviantArt.
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  Illustration by DerTodesbote on DeviantArt.
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  Illustration by Scarfgirl
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  Illustration by Reaar on Reddit

References

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Site Navigation

Slaughterhouse Nine
Leaders	King {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Jack Slash {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Members	Bonesaw {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Breed {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Burnscar {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Cherish {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Chuckles {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crawler {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Crimson {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Gray Boy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hatchet Face {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Hookwolf {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Mannequin {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Miasma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nice Guy {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Night Hag {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nyx {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Psychosoma {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Screamer {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Shatterbird {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • The Siberian {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Skinslip {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Winter {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Bonesaw's Hybrids	Hack Job {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Laughjob {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Murder Rat {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Nighty Night {{#switch: unknown	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Pagoda {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Snowmann {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Spawner {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Tyrant {{#switch: deceased	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }}
Clones	Damsel of Distress II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Damsel of Distress III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger Clones {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} (Harbinger I {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger II {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger III {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger IV {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }} • Harbinger V {{#switch: former	deceased=†	noncanon=≠	former=‡	unknown=*	#DEFAULT= }})