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><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 Anne Hebert<ref name="14.8">Prey 14.8</ref>, 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. 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 begins, just before they enter high school<ref name="1.01">Gestation 1.01</ref>, Emma unexpectedly abandons Taylor to form a trio with Sophia Hess and Madison Clements. They began aggressively bullying Taylor, including one event in early January<ref name="I3c">Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 3</ref> that causes Taylor to trigger. They send her vicious e-mails, upend trash over her desk, and steal her mother's flute from her locker<ref name="1.01"/>. Others join in, ‘accidentally’ skipping her when passing out assignments and adding their own voices to the taunts and emails.
Taylor begins lying low in the bathrooms during lunch and comes 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 begins -- once Taylor recovered from her trigger event -- she started to prepare herself to 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 colors<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 seemingly never heard of Trigger Events, but this may have been a mistake by the author.<ref>Comment by Wildbow, archived on Spacebattles</ref>
"I didn’t follow that stuff, didn’t buy into the hero worship. I’d always found the capes interesting, I’d followed the non-gossipy news about them, but with the exception of a phase around the time I was nine where I’d had an Alexandria t-shirt and had my mom help me find pictures of her online, I had never really got giddy over any particular hero." - Tangle 6.7
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" />
- Mrs. Knott, who taught Computer sciences was Taylor's favourite teacher.[citation needed]
Students
- Taylor believed that she didn't have friends and boys didn't like her<ref name="1.01"/>, though this was mostly due to bullying.
- 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 other's 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
Story beginning
On April 8th, 2011<ref name="I3c" />, Taylor was discovered in the bathroom, ruining her hiding place. The Trio drenches her clothes and bag in juice. When she throws her bag against the wall in anger, her midterm project -- due that day -- is destroyed. She finally lets her defenses drop and is automatically swarmed with bugs responding to her emotional distress, but she resists killing the trio<ref name="1.01" />.
At home, Taylor discovers the juice also ruined many of the contents of her bag, including notes on her eventual superhero career. This event pushes Taylor to stop putting off the start of said career<ref name="1.02"/>. That weekend Taylor completes her costume and on Sunday night goes 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 that first night out, Taylor notices a group of ABB members, including Lung (who she recognizes immediately from the news and online). She hears them discussing killing "children"<ref name="1.03" />. She fights Lung alongside the Undersiders.
Equipment
Taylor has a white and black speckled hardcover notebook containing notes and plans for her hero career. It contains "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's written in "a simple cipher", bottom to top. The notebook is soaked through when one of the Trio pours grape juice into the top of Taylor's backpack.<ref name="1.02"/>
She hides 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 consists 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 takes out on her first night in costume<ref name="1.4">Gestation 1.4</ref>. She purchases lenses for her mask at the same time as the chalk dust<ref name="8.5">Extermination 8.5</ref>.
As Skitter
Appearance
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
Teammates
Other Parahumans
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. Even later, Director Tagg ordered her rating to increase by two in every category, trying to make sure his soldiers didn't underestimate her.
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 bug-like Case 53s, 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>.
Skitter's power gives her total control over insects<ref name="12.1c1">Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.1</ref>. She can make her subjects do things that they would not normally do<ref>Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>, such as walk into fire[citation needed], produce so much web silk that they physically couldn't produce any more<ref name="14.4c1">Comment by Wildbow on Prey 14.4</ref> or stinging while injecting little<ref name="15.9">Colony 15.9</ref> to no venom<ref name="6.7">Tangle 6.7</ref>. She doesn't require "organized" insects. Once she stops controlling them, her bugs revert to their normal behavior patterns<ref name="12.1c1">Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.1</ref>.
Taylor has 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 can sporadically hear and see clearly, but the "signal quality" is unreliable<ref name="6.1c1"/>. Practicing doesn't seem to produce results<ref name="14.4c2"/>. However, over time, Taylor does 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 gives 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 has 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 Chrysalis 20.5, eventually reaching over six and a half blocks. 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, deploy groups of bugs to create humanoid figures<ref name="11.3">Infestation 11.3]</ref>, mask her movements, and clear out rat infestations. She can 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>.
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"/>. She dyes it black with grey panelling before she goes out<ref name="1.03"/>. The armored sections are made from of finely arranged and layered shells and exoskeletons cannibalized from the local insect population and then reinforced with dragline silk.
The spider-silk fabric is too tough to cut with an x-acto knife, although it can be slowly cut through using wire cutters<ref name="1.02"/>. The costume lacks the full extent of the armor paneling she planned, including protection for the back of her head, but the armor covers her face, chest, spine, stomach and major joints<ref name="1.03"/>. The mask design features dull yellow lenses and sections of armor designed to imitate a bug’s mandibles.
The lenses of her mask are 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 contains "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 wears 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 in 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
Other Parahumans
Civilians
As Weaver, Taylor visits Ms. Yamada for therapy. The Public start to see weaver as a hero following the Behemoth battle.
Equipment
As Weaver, Taylor uses a flight pack developed and maintained by Defiant. She wears a generic version of her costume created by Dragon, which lacks the armor of her earlier costume, and sometimes wears her old silk costume for added protection.
The Timeskip
Taylor spends the timeskip as a member of the Chicago Wards, training Golem, and participating in many Endbringer fights.
Post-Timeskip
Appearance
Taylor wears a spider-silk version of her Weaver costume. After it's partially destroyed during the oil-rig battle, she wears a costume that combines elements of several provisional costumes she had created in different color schemes.
Personality & Skills
Taylor is an exceptionally accomplished martial artist; her enhanced senses enable her to react to events faster than she should be able to. She can easily defeat even many powered opponents hand-to-hand.
She is noted for being cold and ruthless by many characters.
She resolves 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 is close to Golem, serving as something of a mentor figure. She also spends a large amount of her time with Chicago wards but is considered not to be as close with them as she is with the Undersiders.
After recovering from her injuries during the oil-rig battle, Taylor collects a team of parahumans with a semi-rotating membership from capes she had known in the past. This group includes Lung, Tattletale, Shadow Stalker, Cuff, Tecton, and Canary at different points.
Civilians
Emma Barnes' parents blame Taylor for their daughter's death.
Abilities and Powers
At one point, Taylor is able to distract Scion underwater by forming simulated bodies out of sea creatures. Again showing her ability to control animal life with simple nervous systems.
She chokes Softball for an extended period, keeping him incapacitated with coughing but not killing him<ref name ="29.5">Venom 29.5</ref>.
Glaistig Uaine calls Taylor "Queen Administrator"<ref name="25.5">Scarab 25.5</ref>, queen being one of the regal titles that Glaistig Uaine uses for those with powerful and fully developed shards<ref name="27.4">Extinction 27.4</ref>, which became a popular fan nickname for the power. In Scion's Interlude it is implied, but not explicitly stated, that Taylor's power was originally used to determine 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>.
Equipment
She wears the flight pack given to her by Defiant and for long-distance transport flies a small craft she calls the Dragonfly. At times, she also carries nanothorn-enhanced knives of his design, as well as regular knives.
She carries dispensers at her belt filled with silk thread.<ref name ="29.5">Venom 29.5</ref>
As Khepri
In the losing struggle against Scion, Taylor felt like her own power was worthless. She approached Panacea and Bonesaw, asking for a power modification via her Corona Pollentia. Panacea was able to modify her power, but at the cost of Taylor's control over her own body and speech, and a gradually deteriorating mind.
Appearance
As Khepri, Taylor wears a black bodysuit with white armor panels and lenses[citation needed]. She is missing an arm, and appears to not be able to control her body very well. Throughout the fight with Scion, she usually had Doormaker and Clairevoyant attached to her, though when Doormaker ran out of energy for his power, she left him behind.
Personality
Relationships
Teammates
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 her in the aftermath.
Abilities and Powers
After Panacea removed 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 then gained 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, combined with Taylor's multitasking abilities, gave effectively gave her a view over the entire battlefield, regardless of different dimensions.
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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