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Characters / Worm-in-Waiting

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See the character sheets for Worm and Warframe for more details on the characters' canon counterparts.

Characters from the Worm/Warframe crossover fanfic Worm-in-Waiting. This page is currently under construction.

Many spoilers on this page are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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    Taylor Hebert 
Once an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl, Taylor Hebert underwent a Trigger event after a severe bully campaign orchestrated by her former best friend and two others, culminating in her being shoved in a locker filled with days-old biowaste and subsequently Triggering, resulting in Winslow being destroyed.

Following her Trigger event, Taylor opts to live a normal life and ignore the subsequent development of her having powers. For however long that works...
  • Adaptational Superpower Change: Rather than developing the power to control bugs and insects, Taylor gains the abilities of a Tenno, including the power of the Void.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Zigzagged. Taylor's new powerset is significantly stronger than controlling swarms of bugs and insects, but due to numerous factors, she doesn't want anything to do with the PRT or her powers and wants to pursue a normal life. A stark contrast, considering she practically jumped at the opportunity to become a hero when she got her powers in canon.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: Against anyone on Earth-Bet, her Void abilities fit this to a T and was even able to wound Alexandria, who is notorious for tanking hits that would cripple or outright kill any other cape.
  • Blessed with Suck: Triggering with the Tenno's Void abilities has the bonus effect of making her The Needless and later even fixes her eyesight. These powers also make her the target of several competing factions who either want to kill her (Coil), experiment on her (Cauldron), or enlist her (PRT). In addition, she becomes a favorite of the Man in the Wall.
  • Broken Bird: Her time at Winslow has not been kind to her in the least thanks to the school's Alpha Bitches, and her Trigger event made it much worse. It's telling that, when the PRT agents offer her a place on the Wards, she outright refuses.
  • Classical Anti-Hero: She has powers that she has no control over or doesn't fully understand, and instead of using them, she just wants to live a normal life. For all the good it does her, since her powers are attracting the wrong kind of attention.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: She gradually grows used to the existence of the Man in the Wall, an Eldritch Abomination she once wrote off as being a hallucination.
  • Determinator: It takes a while, but eventually, she develops into this. It's best shown when she battles Alexandria, who is treating her like she was Lung, and instead of cowering or giving in, she fights back.
  • Extreme Doormat: The torturous years of bullying at the hands of Madison, Emma and Sophia turned her into this, and it takes her a long while before she can grow out of it.
  • Flashy Teleportation: Leaves wisps of blue fire anytime she teleports.
  • Friendless Background: Subverted. She used to have a friend in Emma Barnes, but that all changed when Emma got attacked by thugs in an ally, got saved by Sophia, and turned into a raging bitch that made Taylor's life hell for seemingly no reason at all.
  • Hand Blast: As a Tenno, Taylor inherits both their Void Beam and Void Blast powers.
  • Grew a Spine: When she resolves to learn more about her powers. Best highlighted during her confrontation with Alexandria, where instead of cowing to the woman's demands that she come with her or be killed outright like she was some kind of hardened criminal, Taylor defies her and fights back.
  • Haunted Heroine: Her Trigger event, which not only destroyed most of Winslow High but also killed over two hundred people, is the major reason why Taylor doesn't want anything more to do with her powers or even get involved in the cape business.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Unlike other fanfic stories, where Taylor would have jumped at the opportunity to join the Wardes, the deaths caused by her triggering and the revelation that her own bully was a member have her refuse and want to pursue a normal life.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: She's unaware of certain things, such as the Clans (i.e. the Tenno) having the same powers as her and why Alexandria had a Freak Out and treated her like she was a threat to society, among other things.
  • Ordinary High-School Student: Wants nothing more than to be this.
  • Perpetual Motion Man: After developing Void powers, Taylor realizes she no longer needs to eat or sleep.
  • Power Misidentification: By Worm standards, Taylor's powerset is highly unusual in that there are others like her who possess similar powers. What people don't understand is that Taylor's powers have less to do with her and more of the fact that she is a Tenno in all but name at this point.
  • Shrinking Violet:
  • Spanner in the Works: She's this to pre-cogs like Contessa, in that she can throw any predictions involving her into disarray or destroy them outright. When Contessa met her, Taylor followed everything her Path to Victory dictated...up until the end when Taylor does something her powers do not predict or take into account. Unfortunately, this also applies to Coil, who doesn't appreciate her powers meddling with his own.
  • Squishy Wizard: She's able to fire Void beams capable of carving into concrete and can even harm Alexandria. However, she still has the body of a scrawny fifteen-year-old girl.
  • Teleport Spam: Does this in order to run away from Alexandria.
  • Wrong Context Magic: Her powers are this to the Worm universe inhabitants of Earth-Bet. She shares the exact same powers as the Clans, which is impossible as every parahuman's abilities are unique and no two powers are the same.

Heroes

Protectorate

    Armsmaster 
  • Adaptational Nice Guy: Taylor triggering and seeing the video of one his Wards (an emotional ticking time bomb at that) causing said Trigger event leads to him becoming less socially-stinted and abrasive and going out of his way to help her, as well as getting closer to the Wards. It's telling that, where the old Armsmaster would have done anything to get Taylor into the Wards, he approves of her choice to decline the position.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: He figures out how to apply Clockblocker's time-stopping superpower to his halberd, enabling him to instantly time-freeze anyone he uses it on.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: He asks one to himself when conversing with Dragon. He doesn't ask whether or not he's been a good hero or anything like that; he asks whether or not he's a good person.
  • Badass Biker: He owns a customized motorcycle that he uses to patrol Brockton Bay daily, and he's a cape. Of course he's a badass biker!
  • Cool Bike: His bike in a nutshell.
  • Hidden Depths: He's quick to realize his Fatal Flaws for what they are and even recognizes how detrimental they've become to him.
  • Jerkass Realization: Taylor's Trigger event was a huge wake-up call for him; he realizes he could have prevented Sophia from causing Taylor to trigger if he had dealt with the issue of her "anger issues" a lot sooner, or at the very least delay the inevitable breakdown, but he didn't do anything.
  • Married to the Job: Or maybe not, if the Ship Tease between him and Dragon is of any indication.
  • No Social Skills: He admits he finds this to be one of the reasons why people find him difficult to work with except for Dragon. If Assault is to be believed, he's been getting better at it.
  • Powered Armor: It's part of his hero costume.
  • Rebuilt Pedestal: After realizing how little help he's actually been, at least when it comes to dealing with any sort of issues involving his Wards, he's been doing his best to repair what little good faith he might have left with them. And if what Assault says is true, he's succeeding.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Unlike his usual, glory-hog abrasive self, Armsmaster doesn't try to strong-arm or convince Taylor into joining the Wards, but approves of her choice of living a normal high school life. He's also been doing his best to become closer to the Wards, even offering to help them with their homework on occasion if Dragon is to be believed.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Neither he or Assault are happy with Alexandria suddenly attacking Taylor or treating her like she's a criminal on par with the likes of Lung and doesn't buy her excuses. Alexandria's refusal to say anything about why she attacked Taylor don't help matters much, either.

    Assault 

    Conscript 
A soldier-themed cape in Brockton Bay's Protectorate team.
  • Famed In-Story
  • The Ghost: Is mentioned by several characters, but has yet to make an appearance.
  • Original Character
  • Power Nullifier: Their powers allow them to create a field around their armor that makes him immune to Kaiser's powers. They're also mentioned to be a perfect counter to most of Empire 88's capes.
  • Red Baron: He's known as the "Saint of San Diego".
  • The Reliable One: Armsmaster considers them this and the reason why he rarely ever gives them any slack is because of how competent they normally are.
  • Superhero Packing Heat:

The Guild

    Dragon 

    Narwhal 
  • Secret-Keeper: She's one of the select handful of individuals who knows Dragon is an AI.

The Silver Seven

    In General 
  • Breaking the Fellowship: Hero's death, plus the Scouring, are the primary factors why the Silver Seven, and the Triumvirate in general, have all but dissolved.
  • Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Three of their members are named after famous people or places from Greek mythology.
  • Rule of Seven: The team had seven members.
  • Super Team: Each and every member of its roster were not only some of the best heroes in the Protectorate, but also some of the strongest parahumans as well.

    Alexandria 
The leader of the entire Protectorate and the Silver Seven. She's one of the world's greatest superheroes and is a member of Cauldron.
  • Achilles' Heel: Void-based powers and attacks are able to completely bypass her Nigh-Invulnerability.
  • Adaptational Job Change: Downplayed. In canon, Legend was the leader of the Triumvirate. Here, Alexandria is the leader of the Silver Seven, which was this fanfic's version of the Triumvirate.
  • Adaptational Origin Connection: With Mannequin. Prior to Mannequin’s Face–Heel Turn, he was close friends with Argonaut who was in a close relationship with Alexandria. Because of this, Mannequin is aware of her Secret Identity.
  • Anti-Hero: Started out as one, genuinely concerned with saving mankind from the Entities and the Endbringers. Her gradual Sanity Slippage from fighting the Tenno and the Sentients, however, is gradually turning her into a villain.
  • Ascended Extra: Downplayed, she plays a somewhat larger role here than in the original Worm.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: One of the most powerful parahumans in the world and is also the leader of the Protectorate because of it.
  • Berserk Button: Is also her Trauma Button. The second Taylor demonstrates powers similar to that of the Clans, she freaks out and attempst to apprehend and/or kill her. Sajuuk considering the Tenno to be greater threats than her and nearly dying at the hands of a Warframe are major contributions for the making of said buttons.
  • Break the Haughty: Happens to her twice. First time was when she faced Sajuuk, the second was when she fought Specter.
  • Fatal Flaw: Her tendency to punch first and ask questions later.
    • When Sajuuk revealed himself and claimed that Tāwhirimātea wasn't an Endbringer, Alexandria ignored him and continued Cauldron's planned attack on her. This caused Sajuuk and Tāwhirimātea to immediately turn hostile and slaughter everyone except for the Triumvirate.
    • Following the Scouring, Alexandria began hunting for the Clans after hearing Sajuuk mention them as his Arch-Enemy. When she locates Specter, one of the Clans' known members, she immediately attacks her rather than asking her for answers. Specter responds by nearly killing Alexandria before disappearing, leaving Alexandria back at square one.
    • Finally, when she saw Taylor use the same powers as the Tenno, she immediately tries to arrest Taylor in front of Armsmaster and Assault with little explanation given as to why. This causes both Armsmaster and Assault to turn against her and they help Taylor escape while making it so that Alexandria can't come anywhere near her.
    • The absolutely spectacular asskicking that Tāwhirimātea inflicted upon the Protectorate appears to at least partially started her on the path to moving past this - she suggests that Cauldron just flat out reveal the truth about Scion, because all of their other plans have backfired spectacularly.
  • Flash Step: Uses this on Taylor when she tries to escape.
  • For the Greater Good: Her justification for everything to the point where it's become more of an excuse.
  • Genius Bruiser: She is one of, if not the strongest Brute in the world, and she's the brains to match.
  • Knight Templar: She is dedicated to her cause of destroying Scion and the Endbringers, and more recently the Clans, no matter what she has to do. That includes attacking Taylor when she demonstrates abilities similar to that of the Clans.
  • The Leader: Of the Triumvirate and of the Silver Seven prior to its disbandment.
  • Lightning Bruiser
  • Never My Fault: While she is capable of recognizing when her actions are unethical, she is unwilling to take responsibility for them under the justification that sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.
  • No-Sell: Doesn't even flinch when Specter shoots her in the face with a handgun at point-blank range.
  • The Paragon: Is seen as this in-universe.
  • Pride Before a Fall
  • She Who Fights Monsters: Alexandria has been doing everything within her power to prevent the end of the world, and she recognizes that she's had to get her hands dirty to do it, including experimenting on humans and other amoral actions like other villainous capes.
  • Trauma Button: The Clans are this for her.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Has no qualms with nearly breaking Taylor's wrist or using lethal force against her.

     Eidolon 
A founding member of the Protectorate and one of the most powerful superheroes in the world short of Scion and the Endbringers.
  • Glory Hound: Prior to the Scouring, he was upset that he wouldn't play a major role in Cauldron's attack on Tāwhirimātea.
  • Suddenly Shouting: When Sajuuk refuses to answer his question as to whether the former is an Endbringer.

     Legend 
A founding member of the Protectorate.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Downplayed. Due to the Scouring, Alexandria and Eidolon were forced to reveal more about Cauldron's dirty dealings to him. However, he still doesn't know about the Case 53s' true origins.
  • Named by the Adaptation: According to Sajuuk, his name is Nathan.
  • Token Good Teammate: In terms of morality, as he had some serious problems with Cauldron's willingness to go to some very extreme measures.

     Argonaut 
The fifth member of the Silver Seven. A Projection cape who could create shapes capable of holding hundreds of tons. He was also one of the founders of Sentinel. Was killed during the Scouring.
  • Crippling Overspecialization
  • The Lost Lenore: To Alexandria.
  • Mole in Charge: It’s inferred that he was secretly aligned with the Tenno. When he reformed the Guild, he created a series of guidelines and rules called Oaths. These Oaths were virtually identical to the Clans' Oaths, implying that he was secretly a member.
  • The Paragon: He served as a mentor for many heroes and helped reform the Guild into a more respected organization.
  • Posthumous Character: Has been dead for years by the start of the story.
  • Second Super-Identity: Was formerly known as Daedalus before changing his identity to Argonaut.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He’s the founder of Sentinel, the Guild, and served as a mentor for many heroes.

     Icarus 
A Tinker who specializes in engines and power sources. Was completely Locked Out of the Loop about Cauldron.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Her power was geared specifically towards creating power sources and nothing else.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Why Cauldron kept her out of the loop in regards to their activities. They believed that Icarus would become a threat to their organization if she ever learned the truth, not understanding that Icarus would betray them for moral reasons.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Since Contessa's power revealed that Icarus would betray Cauldron if she ever learned the truth, most of the Silver Seven alienated her.
  • Ignored Expert: Tried to warn the other members of the Silver Seven that the airships weren't ready to take on an Endbringer. No one listened to her.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: She knew absolutely nothing about Cauldron or the Entities.
  • Only Sane Woman: Out of all the Silver Seven members who took part in the Scouring, she was the only one who realized just how idiotic and suicidal their plan to provoke an Endbringer was.
  • Posthumous Character: Is long dead by the story's start.
  • Sour Supporter: Wasn't happy about Cauldron's plan to attack an Endbringer, but went along with it anyway.
  • The Spook: When Cauldron did a background check on her, they couldn't find anything about her past or family.

     Hero 

PRT

    Director Piggot 

    Agent Todd Michaels 
  • Foil: To his partner Jessica. Jessica acts stern and professional and dresses for the part, while he is much more casual.
  • Good Cop/Bad Cop: Downplayed. When discussing with Taylor about her powers and future, Todd doesn't try to push her into joining the Wards or make it seem like the only option, while Jessica is slightly more aggressive.

    Jessica Lawson 
  • Death Glare: Gives one to Armsmaster when he goes off-script and gives Taylor the option of trying to return to a normal life.
  • Didn't See That Coming: Was not expecting Armsmaster to join in on her meeting with Taylor, nor did she expect him to advise Taylor to do the opposite of what the PRT wanted.
  • Foil: To her co-worker Todd. Whereas Todd is an older man who acts casually, Jessica is a young woman with a more serious and professional demeanor.
  • Good Cop/Bad Cop: Downplayed in that she isn't playing the bad cop, but unlike Todd, who is gently trying to ease her into possibly joining the Wards, she tries to make it sound like joining the Wards is the best and only option for Taylor.
  • Iron Lady: Is much more professional and down-to-business than Agent Todd.
  • Manipulative Bitch: During the PRT's meeting with Taylor and Danny, she's clearly trying to pressure Taylor into joining the Wards by presenting it as the only option while downplaying the PRT's involvement with Shadow Stalker.

    Mike Noble 
Megan's co-worker in the PRT's PR division and secretly a mole for the Fallen.

Sentinel

An international task force that deals with large-scale cape threats. It was originally formed as a branch of the PRT, but split off and became a PMC after the death of its founders Argonaut and Icarus.
    In General 
  • Oddly Small Organization: For a paramilitary organization that operates on a global scale, they only have a few thousand members. This limits where they can deploy their soldiers without spreading themselves thin.
  • Order Reborn: The original Sentinel project was a branch of the PRT that disbanded following Argonaut and Icarus's deaths. The group later came Back from the Brink and rebranded themselves as a PMC, splintering off from the PRT entirely.
  • Powered Armor: Their soldiers are decked out in high-tech power armor designed to let them fight against villains.
  • Private Military Contractors: They operate as a PMC primarily being backed by Europe and the US.

Villains

Brockton Bay

    Coil 
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: This version of Coil was thrown in prison for killing his commanding officer during Nilbog's rampage, as opposed to being quietly fired to avoid a PR scandal. He's still more or less identical to his canon counterpart though.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: For Taylor's arc, he serves as this alongside the Man in the Wall.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Diabolical Mastermind
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Coil is largely considered to be a minor villain in the city and quite a few characters express surprise upon learning how powerful he really is. This is what enables him to have such an extensive spy network and get moles inside the PRT.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally when he gives an order to his minions, he's confident and self-assured. After Taylor's Trigger event, he starts behaving oddly and appears to randomly change his orders or has no recollection when he gave an order. This is what clues Lisa in that his powers are not working.
  • Properly Paranoid: Though he is a Bad Boss, he's right to be worried that Tattletale is planning to double-cross him.
  • Sadist: Tortures Tattletale even after she already told him everything he wanted to know in another timeline.
  • Torture Technician: Clearly has experience when it comes to torturing people.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Taylor's powers messing with his made him act irrational, allowing for Tattletale to figure out his secret identity without him knowing. This is the only reason that Tattletale is currently able to stay one step ahead of him.

    Lung 
One of the most powerful supervillains in the Bay and the leader of the ABB.

    Yūrei 
An ABB cape.

    Tattletale 
  • Affably Evil: While talking to Taylor on behalf of Coil, she is polite and honest throughout the entire conversation.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Prior to his death, her brother would nickname her "Little Mouseketeer" as she was a fan of Mouse Protector.
  • Anti-Villain
  • Cheshire Cat Grin
  • Double Reverse Quadruple Agent
  • First-Name Basis: She introduces herself this way to Taylor. Justified as "Lisa" isn't her actual secret identity and she doesn't want to be connected with the Undersiders.
  • Guilty Pleasures: She considers listening to the Nexus to be a guilty pleasure of hers.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: When Coil's powers start to go on the fritz, she takes the opportunity to start plotting his downfall.
  • Playing Both Sides
  • Refuge in Audacity: When Coil has her deliver a message to Taylor, she does so unmasked, gives Taylor her civilian identity, and bluntly explains her situation while knowing that the PRT is listening in.
  • Staging the Eavesdrop: Thanks to her power, she knows that Taylor's cell phone is bugged by Dragon and tells Taylor everything she knows about Coil in order to secretly pass this information to the PRT.
  • The Starscream: To Coil.
  • Trapped in Villainy: The only reason she became a supervillain was that Coil threatened her life.
  • Villain Team-Up: She tries to do this with Lung, unsuccessfully.
  • Wild Card

    The Undersiders 
  • Demoted to Extra: Were the protagonists in Worm, are at best tertiary characters here.
  • Hidden Depths: When Coil has his men abduct Lisa in one of his dropped timelines, Rachel jumps to Lisa's defense despite seemingly never getting along with her.
  • No Sympathy: Subverted. When Alec sees Lisa writhing in pain on the ground after overloading her powers, he reacts nonchalantly and seems to only talk to her because he wants to change the radio station. However, Lisa's power reveals that he is concerned for her, but didn't know how to show it.

Others

    Rinke 
A powerful supervillain who transformed the population of Ellisburg into a horde of brainwashed creatures. He was killed by the Tenno before he could really become a threat.
  • A God Am I: Screams this during his rampage in Ellisburg. Unfortunately for him, the Tenno don't believe in gods.
  • Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: No one in-universe ever refers to him by his villain alias Nilbog. Justified, as he was killed in the middle of his rampage before he could establish himself as an S-Class threat.
  • Death by Adaptation: Is killed on the day of his rampage by a Warframe, whereas he survives the events of the story in canon.
  • Immune to Bullets: None of the PRT's firearms were able to harm him.
  • No Body Left Behind: Courtesy of being vaporized by Nova's Antimatter Drop.
  • Posthumous Character: Is dead by the start of the story.
  • The Worf Effect: In canon, he was one of the most powerful and feared villains in the setting. He is easily killed by a Warframe in order to show just how much more powerful the Tenno are.

    Artic 
An ice-themed Tinker eco-terrorist last seen in South America.
  • Eco-Terrorist
  • The Ghost: Is only mentioned.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: He was an environmentalist who previously only attacked drug dealers, but as time went on, his attacks became more bold and extreme to the point.
  • An Ice Person: Most of his equipment either deals with extreme temperatures or causing said temperatures, primarily of the cold variety.
  • Not Me This Time: Initially, some people believed that he was responsible for causing Winslow's ice tree. This was actually the work of the Man In The Wall.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He started off as an environmentalist and primarily attacked drug dealers and the likes before he started taking some bold measures.

    String Theory 
  • BFG: Built one called the D-Driver.
  • Death by Adaptation: Her Mad Scientist tendencies, and amoral actions, have the Tenno assassinate her instead of her canon fate of being thrown into the Birdcage.
  • The Ghost: Never makes an actual appearance. Kind of hard to when you're dead.
  • Godzilla Threshold: Enlisting her help was considered this by Cauldron. However, her technology was one of the only things capable of seriously harming an Endbringer. This ended up making her on the receiving end of this trope, as the Tenno decided to break their Alien Non-Interference Clause to assassinate her after it was made clear she was willing to continue developing weaponry that could destroy the Sentients when one example of such almost destroyed the moon.
  • Mad Scientist
  • Posthumous Character: Was killed by the Tenno prior to the story.
  • The Spark of Genius: Her technology was able to harm a Sentient and bypass its Adaptive Ability. It would have also been capable of severely injuring Endbringers had she lived long enough to improve upon it.
  • You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good!: Megan finds String Theory's decision to go Mad Scientist a waste of potential and believes that she could have created cold fusion reactors with her powers.

Cauldron

A secret organization formed to kill Scion. To this end, they've become The Unfettered and are willing to do anything to achieve their goal.
    In General 
  • Foil: To the Clans. Both groups are known to be secret societies of sorts, but while the Clans are known to a certain extent by the Protectorate, few people even know about Cauldron. Cauldron also actively gets itself involved in worldly affairs for one reason or another, while the Clans are bound by oath to never intervene unless absolutely necessary.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: They kept a few members of the Silver Seven out of the loop in regards to the group's activities and certain topics of information, such as the existence of the Entities.
  • Nebulous Evil Organization
  • Omniscient Council of Vagueness
  • Secret War: They've been trying to hunt down the Clans for years.
  • The Unfettered: Their whole shtick. If they had to, say, damn the whole world to oblivion if it meant it would bring them even so much as a step closer to killing Scion, they would do it in a heartbeat.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: They are willing to do whatever it takes to kill Scion. Whatever it takes.

    Doctor Mother 

    Contessa 
  • Blank Slate: She's completely reliant on her powers to do everything, including eating.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: Her "Path to Victory" shard doesn't work on anything Void-related. The Sentients are also immune to it as well.
  • Not So Stoic: Contessa, one of the strongest Thinkers in the setting, encounters the Man in the Wall while it's assuming her form and tries to think of a way to beat it, assuming it's hostile. The Man in the Wall is never acknowledged by Contessa's powers as being there and is otherwise ignored entirely.
    ‘How do I defeat the opponent before me.’
    The cape blinked as her power… gave her the steps to destroy the Custodian? As far as she was aware, the Custodian wasn’t able to mimic others in any capacity.
    “Can you even live without your power? I mean-“
    ‘Steps to defeating my doppelganger.’
    “It’s dug in so deep, that you can’t even eat without it.”
    Two thousand, four hundred and three steps, of which she cloned herself, then killed the clone.
    “Hmmm, you’re too easy, and therefore, no fun .”
    There was a flash of dark light/mist, and…
    ‘How do I find the teleporter that was just here.’
    … the figure was gone.
    ‘How do I detect the Stranger that was in this hallway.’
    …
    …
    …
    …
    …
    'S-steps to stop panicking'
  • Sharp Dressed Woman: Name one time where she isn't seen wearing her signature suit. We'll wait.

The Tenno and their Allies

The Clans

The Clans are an enigmatic shadow organization with operatives all over the world. Not much is known about them aside from having access to amazing Tinker-Tech and not following the Unwritten Rules.
    In General 
  • Alien Non-Interference Clause: They do not intervene in the affairs of Earth-Bet unless it is absolutely necessary. This rule was imposed by the Grand Master, though this hasn't stopped them from breaking those rules whenever they think it necessary.
  • The Alliance: Their organization consists of an alliance between various different "clans", hence their group's moniker.
  • Ancient Astronauts
  • Ancient Conspiracy: As revealed to Armsmaster by Dragon, in that the Clans have been around for a very long time; way before parahumans even came into being.
  • Anti-Magic: All of them are immune to Cauldron's Thinkers, including Contessa.
  • Been There, Shaped History: They were involved in a few recorded events in human history, up to and including the Siege of Tobruk, the American Civil War, the Siege of Cassel and even World War II.
  • Covert Group: No one outside of other covert groups and high-ranking intelligence officials knows much about them. Word of God says that only a third of the Tenno's actions in modern day are known to the PRT.
  • The Dreaded: It's implied that all of their members have been labeled S-class threats (on the same level as the Endbringers and Slaughterhouse 9). Given what Dragon uncovered about them, it's not hard to see why.
  • Foil: To Cauldron. The Tenno are an Ancient Conspiracy which has existed for thousands of years, whereas Cauldron is a Nebulous Evil Organisation that's only been around for the last three decades. The Tenno are The Fettered, whereas Cauldron is The Unfettered. The Tenno contribute to the status quo through their inaction while Cauldron directly contributes to the same status quo through intervention. The Tenno want to decrease the parahuman population, while Cauldron actively seeks to increase it.
  • The Group: In-universe example. They are referred to solely as "The Clans" by the PRT and Protectorate.
  • Hidden Agenda Villain: They're seen as this in-universe. Practically no one outside their ranks knows what they want or where they came from.
  • Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: Their conversations through the Weave shows that they're prone to arguing and spend just as much time disagreeing with each other as they do planning.
  • One-Man Army: Throughout history, a single Warframe has often been enough to single-handedly turn the tide of a battle.
  • Perpetual Motion Man: The Tenno don't need to eat or sleep anymore, apparently as a result of their exposure to the void.
  • Technologically Advanced Foe: Being from the Origin System, they have access to various Orokin technologies that put them centuries ahead of even the best Tinker-Tech.
  • Theme Naming: Their cape names are just a description of their powers (ex. Charger, Screamer, etc.). This is justified, since those names were given to them by the PRT and Protectorate.
  • The Worf Effect: So far they've defeated individuals like Alexandria, Nilbog, and the Three Blasphemies. All of whom were previously considered nigh-unstoppable.
  • Wrong Context Magic: Their Void abilities are unconnected to the Entities or their shards. This means that the Tenno's powers don't apply to the same rules that regular parahuman superpowers do.

    "GrandMaster" 
The grandmaster of a Tenno clan whose Military Maverick attitude puts her at odds with her subordinates.

    Ordis 
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Ordis is finally starting to break down from being active for multiple millennia. He's eventually ordered to go into dormancy so that he can be repaired.

    Megan Nagel 
The PRT's PR coordinator who works in Department 46. She's secretly a Tenno spy.
  • Alien Among Us: It's ambiguous as to whether or not she is a Tenno herself, but she is working for the Clans and is The Mole inside the PRT.
  • Belief Makes You Stupid: She personally dislikes religion because she believes that they cause people to fight with each other over something that can't even be proved.
  • Cool Sword: She owns Paracesis, a sword that specializes in killing Sentients.
  • Hero of Another Story: If her Superhero Trophy Shelf is anything to go by.
  • Humans Are Flawed: How she views humanity.
  • The Mole: Is a spy for the Tenno.
  • Mole in Charge: She is the second-in-command of the PRT's PR division in all but name. She uses this position to provide information about the PRT to the Tenno.
  • Mundane Utility: She doesn't have chairs in her apartment since she never gets tired thanks to her Perpetual Motion Man powers
  • Named Weapons: Owns the sword Paracesis.
  • Really 700 Years Old: Physically, she looks like an athletic adult woman. It's all but directly stated that she was amongst the Tenno who fought against the Elder Queen and Hunhow. Seeing as how the Tenno have been on Earth Bet since the 600s, this makes her more than a thousand years old.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Despite only appearing in her interlude chapter so far, she's responsible for the PRT's oddly generous behavior towards Taylor. The PRT was originally considering locking Taylor in the Birdcage. She put a stop to this by sending Piggot an email convincing her otherwise.

    Vikare 
The world's first parahuman whose death spelled the end of the golden age of superheroes. Dragon's investigation reveals that there was more to him than meets the eye.
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: In Worm, Vikare was a normal Muggle prior to becoming a superhero. This version was a Warframe that fought off an army of Grineer in ancient times.
  • Adaptational Badass: This version of Vikare is a Warframe who went One-Man Army on an invading force of Grineer and was around since ancient Japan.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: According to ancient Japanese legends, he wielded a bow and a sword against an army of Grineer.
  • But Now I Must Go: After defeating a Grineer army, he turned down Emperor Tenmu's offer to let him stay in Japan and left.
  • Composite Character: He's an Excalibur Umbra Warframe who takes Vikare's name and role in the story.
  • One-Man Army: Single-handedly fought back an invading army of Grineer.
  • Posthumous Character: He was killed decades before the story. However, The Reveal that he's a Warframe puts this into question.
  • Really 700 Years Old: He's been around since the late 600s.
  • Red Baron: The name he earned during his actions in the six-hundreds was also the name given to the survivors of the Zariman Ten Zero by the Orokin Empire: Tenno.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: One of his more prominent features is the sash he wears around his neck.

Temples of Trinity

Shortly after the Endbringer Tāwhirimātea first appeared, the Quills began setting up shop all over the world. These "Temples" served as a combination of community centers and churches for those downtrodden or in need of a safe place.
    In General 
  • Cult: An odd subversion. When first introduced, the Temples seem to show all the signs of being a cult. They're secretive and closed off to the outside world. They recruit people who are down on their luck or in a vulnerable spot. Lastly, they seem to worship the Endbringers. Despite this, it turns out that they're exactly what they advertise: a bunch of community centers and churches that like to help people. Given that they are a front for the Quills, they're arguably a benevolent example of this trope.
  • Seers: As they are a front for the Quills, the Temples have the ability to perceive all possible timelines via their connection to the Unum, something that has been retained when they went over to Earth Bet.
  • Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: At first, they seem reminiscent of a cult. However, the reveal that their caretakers are Quills immediately puts the Temples in the Good All Along category.
  • Truce Zone

    Daniel Bobrow 
A long-time member of the Quills and the caretaker for the Temple in Brockton Bay.

    Cass 
A runaway teenage girl taking refuge at Brockton Bay's Temple of Trinity.

The Nexus of Rails

A mysterious Hacker Collective that's engaged in an unofficial cold war with the PRT.
    In General 
  • Hacker Collective: They're an organization of hackers.
  • Hollywood Hacking: They're able to access anything digital, no matter how isolated or secured it may be. They've hacked various governments, prominent cape organizations, and even the Number Man himself. The PRT even had to resort to keeping their investigations of the Nexus off the computers.
  • No One Sees the Boss: They operate through a network of proxies and civilians, enabling them to avoid capture by the PRT.
  • Ridiculously Average Guy: As a public forum, nearly all of their site's members are normal, everyday people who're Locked Out The Loop about the group's goings-on. This makes it difficult for the PRT to crack down on them, since the public fallout from accusing a random civilian of being a criminal mastermind with no evidence would be immense.
  • Shout-Out: Is one to the real-life hacker group Anonymous, as they're a hacker group infamous for hacking into government databases.

Other Allies

    Kuzunoha 
A Case 53 cape who was originally part of the Silver Seven. Following Hero's death, she left the Protectorate and joined the Clans.
  • Eating the Eye Candy: After Lung transformed back into his human form, he catches her staring at his naked body.
  • First-Name Basis: She refers to Lung as "Kenta" in her letter to Annette.
  • Fox Folk: Her Case 53 mutation gave her many fox-like qualities including a set of ears, fur, and claws.

    Gashadokuro 
A Japanese hero with Tinker powers that he uses to build different types of Humongous Mecha. He appears in one of Daniel Bobrow's visions of the future, where he visits Brockton Bay after a supervillain gang war breaks out.
  • Affectionate Nickname: Is called "Gasha" by Daniel in his vision.
  • Conflict Killer: His arrival immediately puts a halt to the gang war between Empire 88, the ABB, and the Merchants.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He defeated the Ash Beast, an S-class threat that only Scion managed to kill in canon.
  • Famed In-Story: He's well-known in-universe for defeating the Ash Beast.
  • Gravity Master: His Daidarabotchi is equipped with gravity projectors which it uses as a form of telekinesis.
  • Humongous Mecha: His power specialty is building these. His Daidarabotchi walker is described as being several stories tall.
  • Meaningful Name: "Gashadokuro" is the name of a yokai in Japanese mythology. They are spirits that take the form of giant skeletons. Both Gashadokuro and his robots are described as being towering in height.
  • Noodle Incident: The Cacus, one of his previous mecha walkers, is currently at the bottom of the ocean for an undiscerned reason.
  • Original Character
  • Powered Armor: He wears a suit of heavy power armor that uses hydraulics to move around.

The Endbringers

    Tāwhirimātea (Unmarked Spoilers) 
The most powerful and largest of the Endbringers, as well as the only one that is benevolent towards humans. She's actually a Sentient atmospheric processor and relay station.
  • Ambiguously Evil: For a Sentient carrier ship, she's not antagonistic in the least. In fact, some of the areas she hits improve (for a time) and she likes humans so much that she adopted the name they gave her.
  • Benevolent Monsters: Unlike the other Endbringers, she isn't antagonistic in nature and likes humans.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: While she may be a legitimate Benevolent Monster, there's a reason that she's considered the most powerful of all six Endbringers.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Zigzagged. She is a Sentient, but unlike the rest of her kind she doesn't look down upon humans and even seems to enjoy their presence.
  • Brother–Sister Team: With Sajuuk.
  • Destructive Savior: Sure, the areas she hits recover significantly, but she also ends up causing a lot of damage in the process.
  • Fertile Feet: She's essentially a Sentient drone spawning ship.
  • Flying Seafood Special: She resembles a gigantic manta ray in shape.
  • Giant Flyer: She is constantly flying in the sky and almost aways out of reach from capes, requiring Cauldron to built specialized aircraft carriers to reach her.
  • Known Only by Their Nickname: Everyone calls her Tāwhirimātea, despite it not being her true name. She actually likes the name.
  • Living Ship: She's a Sentient and is stated be as much by her brother Sajuuk.
  • Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds
  • Morality Pet: To Sajuuk. She's the one who convinces him to spare Alexandria's life and is the reason that he was unusually merciful to Cauldron's forces.
  • No Name Given: It's never made clear what her actual name is.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Contrary to Cauldron's beliefs, Tāwhirimātea is not an Endbringer, nor is she actively hostile. She's just trying to make human lives a little bit easier. Problem is, the areas she hits also end up causing as much damage as it does recovery.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: She was designated as an Endbringer for a reason.
  • Pet the Dog: She occasionally redirects hurricanes away from major population centers.
  • Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: A lot of people worry that her Pet the Dog moments, like redirecting hurricanes away from major cities and her overall playful demeanor, is part of a malicious plot. "3.10 Firewalker" shows that she's genuinely benevolent.
  • Token Good Teammate: To both the Endbringer and the Sentients. The Endbringers constantly attack humanity, whereas she isn't antagonistic and actually helps some of the areas she hits. Brockton Bay is one such example, though unlike in most cases, it's recovery is stinted by the fact that its problems are Inherent in the System.
  • Walking Disaster Area: Is quite literally a living, moving hurricane.
  • Weather Manipulation: She can alter the atmosphere around her body, creating storms and clear weather at her leisure. This is also how she restores life in some of the areas she attacks such as Brockton Bay, a costal shipping city.

    Eukaryote 

    Shari-Hulud 
  • Ambiguous Situation: It's the only Endbringer whose origins are a complete mystery. It doesn't appear to be anything from the Warframe universe and it acts more like an animal scavenging for food rather than a malicious force of nature. Word of God mentions that its creation is artificial and it was "designed" with modules, further adding to the mystery.
  • Asteroids Monster: How Shari-Hulud fights in a nutshell. The creature itself moves rather slowly, but if it takes enough damage it will split itself into smaller sections that can move faster.
  • Black-Hole Belly: It has one located in the back of its throat.
  • Detachment Combat: Each section of its body can separate to form another sandworm.
  • Extreme Omnivore: It eats anything that passes through its mouth.
  • Kaiju: The worm is over three miles long and more than seventy feet in diameter.
  • Lamprey Mouth
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's also known as the Deathworm.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Its behavior is reminiscent of a hungry animal and it only cares about finding its next meal.
  • Sand Worm:
  • Shout-Out: To the Shai-Hulud from Dune.

Enemies of the Tenno

The Sentients

    In General 

    Sajuuk (Unmarked Spoilers) 
  • Anti-Villain: He's a Sentient, but he is not interested in the destruction of the Orokin or other life forms. Hell, the only reason he attacks Alexandira and Cauldron is because they attacked Tāwhirimātea first.
  • The Blank
  • Deadpan Snarker: He really gets into this when taking about how "heroic" Cauldron actually is.
  • Diabolus ex Nihilo: In-Universe, he's this to Cauldron. Initially, they think he's an avatar for Tāwhirimātea to speak through, only to later learn from their battle with him that he, and by extension Tāwhirimātea, are something else entirely.
  • Flunky Boss:
  • Frontline General: He was the Sentients' vanguard and led the first wave of attack in the Old War.
  • Hates Being Nicknamed: After he's finished beating the shit out of Cauldron, he tells them the true name of their race as to not be named as something else, like what they did with Tāwhirimātea and the Tenno.
  • Heel–Face Turn: In a sense. Since arriving on Earth Bet, he's given up on destroying the Tenno and is content to be left alone in peace. He only gets involved when Cauldron comes knocking and doesn't heed his advice.
  • Hero Killer: Sajuuk and Tāwhirimātea killed a large number of capes during the Scouring, including Argonaut and Icarus.
  • Infallible Babble
  • Jerkass: He really doesn't have a single nice thing to say to Alexandria, Eidolon or Argonaut. To be fair, he isn't wrong.
  • Large Ham: When explaining who, or rather what he is to the Silver Seven.
  • Lean and Mean
  • Meaningful Name
  • Milking the Giant Cow
  • Mind over Matter: Sajuuk is revealed to have Triggered at some point in the past and gained this as a superpower. He can generate a field that allows him to either lower or raise the mass of whatever it is affecting. This is how he moved so fast and punted Alexandria off of him. It only works via line of sight, and only affects one 'thing' at a time, so either him or something else, and technically puts the target in a Breaker state while it is on, so he can't just throw people into stuff and kill them or vice versa. What happens after he puts them into a wall is another story.
  • Mouth of Sauron: Is mistaken as one for the Endbringers by Alexandria.
  • Mr. Exposition: Explains what Tāwhirimātea is, and what he is. The Silver Seven don't believe him until he beats the ever loving shit out of them when they attack his sister.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: He's an ancient human-made, alien, parahuman robot general.
  • Old Soldier: Sajuuk fought in the Old War and led the first wave of Sentients against the Orokin. Word of God even compares him to "an old Vietnam veteran, telling you to get off his lawn while he waves his shotgun over his head."
  • Orcus on His Throne: The Sentients could very easily steamroll over everything in Earth Bet, possibly even the Endbringers, but as far as Sajuuk is concerned, he wants nothing to do with worldly affairs.
  • Scars Are Forever
  • Squishy Wizard
  • Vagueness Is Coming
  • Villain Has a Point: As horrifying as the Sentients' slaughter of the Protectorate’s capes was, Sajuuk was correct when he pointed out that the “heroes” were the ones who started the fight and attacked first.

The Grineer

An army of "demons" who invaded Japan during the late 600s.
    In General 

Others

    The Man in the Wall 
  • Ambiguously Evil: It's hard to tell if he's a genuinely antagonistic force or if he's just trying to nudge Taylor in the right direction.
  • Anti-Magic: He's completely immune to any precog abilities and can even mess with them if he wants, as was the case with Coil.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: With Coil for Taylor's part of the story.
  • By the Eyes of the Blind: Generally, the only people who can see him are precogs or those exposed to the arboriform created from Taylor's Triggering.
  • Doppelgänger: Appears as this to anyone who sees him.
  • Glowing Eyes: The only difference between his doppelganger form and the real deal is that his eyes glow.
  • Horrifying the Horror: Freaks out Contessa, the bogeyman of the cape world, with their appearance alone. More so when she realizes that, as far as her powers are concerned, the Man in the Wall isn't there or just doesn't exist.
  • Humanoid Abomination: It's ambiguous as to what the Man in the Wall's actual nature is, but whatever it is, it's enough to scare the shit out of precogs and Thinkers like Lisa since it's never acknowledged by their powers. This scares Contessa so bad that her power more or less tells her to break down.
  • Invisible to Normals: Most people are unable to see him. This is what initially led Taylor to believe that he was some sort of hallucination caused by her power.
  • I See Them, Too: Word of God says that they can be seen by other people if they want to, as was the case with Assault.
  • It Amused Me: Part of his motivation. He leaves Contessa alone because he found her too easy to rattle.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He's more or less the reason why Taylor decides to stop running from her problems involving her powers and become more actively involved, though whether or not she'll become a cape is up in the air for now.
  • Not-So-Imaginary Friend: An inversion. Since he's Invisible to Normals, Taylor thinks that he's just a hallucination caused by her mental trauma. Then she realizes Assault sees him.
  • The Nicknamer: Is prone to this. He calls Coil "Scarecrow", Contessa "Farmer Girl", Tattletale "Little Mouseketeer", and refers to Taylor as "Kiddo".
  • Offscreen Teleportation: He disappears the moment you take your eyes off him.
  • Outside-Context Problem: In a bigger extent than Taylor, whose powers are somehow interfering with other precogs. The Man in the Wall is so alien that precogs on the same level as Contessa can't do anything about him. Why? Because as far as their powers are concerned, he's not even there or doesn't exist.
  • Perpetual Smiler: He's always smiling anytime he appears.
  • Real After All: Taylor reaches this conclusion when, to her shock, her "doppelganger" turns and addresses Assault by his real name.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Loves doing this to his victims and adds to the misconception that he's a hallucination.
  • Terms of Endangerment: Refers to Taylor as Kiddo and addresses Assault by his first name.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight
  • Villain Has a Point: The Man in the Wall personifies this trope. Much of what they have to say about everyone else tends to be dead-on accurate. For example, he accuses Taylor of running away from her problems and tells her that Nothing Is the Same Anymore since she triggered with superpowers. Taylor later acknowledges that both statements were correct.
  • Voice of the Legion: Whenever he talks, he sounds like several different people speaking all at once.

    Danny Hebert 
  • Anger Born of Worry: He does reign it in, but he is angry at Taylor for not telling him about the bullying.
  • Get Out!: Not said verbally, but his sheer anger upon discovering that one of his daughter's bullies was a Ward sends one of the capes in the room running.
  • Good Parents: Granted, he was in a bad headspace while Taylor was being bulled after his wife's death, but he is remarkably quick to get back into the swing of things.
  • Papa Bear: Do anything towards his daughter, and you will come face to face with a very angry Danny Hebert. The second Sophia Hess, one of Taylor's bullies, is revealed to be Shadow Stalker, he goes apeshit and rages so hard that he causes one of the capes in the room to leave.
  • Parents as People: After his wife's death, Danny was in a bad headspace, which he is very quick to realize when he learns what's happened to his daughter after the Winslow Event.

    Ming 
An elderly woman who speaks to Amy in the Flash Forward of 3.4 Firewalker. She has yet to make a proper appearance in the story.

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