When the Entities arrived, Gaia called out for aid. Nothing inside the solar system answered the call. Neither did anything from distant stars. Something from in-between, from the Oort Cloud did. It just took time to arrive. S-Class Threats. The Sleeper Subsumes. The Endbringers are unnatural disasters. The thing in the Crystal Forest though, it just waits.
Taylor was there the day it fell to earth.
ULTIMATE ONE: TYPE-Taylor
is a fanfic by StargazingSeraph. It is a crossover between Nasuverse and Worm. It can also be found on Archive of Our Own here.Two years before the beginning of the original web serial, Taylor is out on a field trip with Emma, stargazing at the summer camp they're attending, when ORT lands in the midst of the camp. In the midst of the disaster, Taylor is infected by ORT's Crystal Valley. Though she escapes, the infection is slowly consuming her, bit-by-bit. Taylor is certain that her days are numbered, being a victim of 'Oort-Spider Crystallization', a fatal, incurable affliction for everyone else infected. Little does Taylor know that her infection has created a far more intimate connection with the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud.
Ultimate Family: TYPE Hebert is a series of omakes where Danny Hebert marries Amaterasu, the personification of the Sun, making all the Ultimate Ones Taylor's step-siblings.
ULTIMATE ONE: TYPE-Taylor contains examples of:
- Adaptive Ability:
- ORT's infection of Taylor has granted her a version of this, where anytime she's affected by something, she can cancel it out and then become immune to its effects the next time, although this only applies to parahuman powers.
- Adaptational Heroism: Due to having been infected by ORT alongside Taylor, Emma is still her best friend. Notably, when Sophia approaches with the offer of becoming one of the predators, Emma flatly rejects the offer by telling Sophia to go to the Crystal Valley.
- All Your Powers Combined: When fully utilizing the ORT's power, Taylor has access to every single power she and the Spider has observed, though it's on Taylor to figure out how to best use them. With this, Taylor is able to one-v-one with Leviathan in a way only the likes of Eidolon could hope to.
- Always a Bigger Fish:
- Arc 3 showcases an instance of this, where it's revealed that shortly after Abaddon and Eden exchanged shards, ORT launched an attack on Abaddon. While they're initially fairly evenly matched, once ORT starts to exert the full scope of it's power, it's able to quickly overpower Abaddon, to the point that it would have completely devoured them if the Entity hadn't been able to break free at the last minute, upon which it promptly flees as fast as possible.
- In Chapter 37, ORT finally arrives to Brocktown Bay to deal with Leviathan. Up to this point, Leviathan has run roughshod over the assembled force of Capes fighting it, and even Taylor accessing the powers she's analyzed on top of her ORT drone physiology has simply forced Leviathan to actually get serious to the point it takes everything Taylor has to just restrain the Endbringer enough to drag it to the Ultimate One. When they're face-to-face, ORT chops clean through Leviathan's (admittedly restrained) super-dense body with one blow, obtains the data it wanted, and then drops the crystallized halves to the ground in a way Taylor can only describe as casually dismissive.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Played for Horror, as it's revealed that when Gallant was sent to a hospital with Oort-Spider Crystallization survivors as part of a PR event, his powers allow him to see the thoughts and feelings of those who have been completely consumed, which he describes as "trapped in a cold, crystal body, constantly screaming but making no sound". It's shown that even months later, he still has nightmares regarding the experience.
- And I Must Scream: The ultimate fate of those infected by the Crystal Valley, as their bodies are slowly consumed until they become living hunks of crystal, with their minds remaining fully intact while being completely incapable of moving or vocalizing.
- Claimed by the Supernatural: The primary difference between Taylor and the other victims of ORT's Crystal Valley. While most of them are simply consumed without a second thought, ORT seems to have specifically marked Taylor as it's "drone", and grants her access to a number of abilities to both keep her alive and ensure better access to data. It's also seems to be unusually possessive of her. When Taylor gets her arm amputated to be replaced with a prosthetic, not only does the crystal grow right back, when they try amputating it again, it spreads up and infects one of the doctors.
- The Dreaded: ORT quickly establishes itself as this, having inflicted enormous casualties on the PRT and the Protectorate. It's to the point that many consider to be a possible fourth Endbringer. Even more worryingly, Contessa's Path To Victory is described as actively avoiding any intersection with ORT.
- Eldritch Abomination: ORT is this, as anyone familiar with the Nasuverse will tell you. Even by the standards of Worm, it's shown to be this, as it's infection is completely incomprehensible even to Thinkers. It's also stated to be a blind spot to Contessa's Path To Victory, putting it in the same status as the Endbringers and Scion.
- Evil vs. Evil: Downplayed, as neither of them are really evil in the traditional sense, but while ORT was called by Gaia to deal with the Entities, who are parasites that will eventually destroy the planet, the description of it's thought processes clearly shows that it's not doing it out of benevolent intent, as it has absolutely no problem with killing humans or subjecting/leaving them to horrifying fates. It's best exemplified by the fact that it initially refuses to allow Taylor to use it's power to save the victims of Gray Boy's time loops, only acquiescing under the assumption that doing so will ultimately grant it access to more information streams.
- Hero Killer: ORT is confirmed to have attained this status, as in her thoughts, Bakuda states that it killed around 50 capes within less than a minute. To put that into perspective, over the entirety of his assault on Brockton Bay, Leviathan killed around 40 capes.
- Hope Spot:
- Life-or-Limb Decision: When Taylor manages to infect Leviathan with ORT's crystallization, the Endbringer barely hesitates to hack off the infected portion of its body to avoid assimilation. It then resorts to hacking off as much of its body as it can as Taylor fights to restrain it enough to crystallize and deliver to ORT, but unfortunately for Leviathan it's not enough to save it when ORT finally shows up.
- Muggles Do It Better: Taylor is able to cancel the esoteric effects of every single one of Bakuda's bombs, so how does the mad bomber get around this? By shooting her with a completely ordinary grenade.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Downplayed, as ORT isn't really evil in the way humans understand it, but it has little to no regard for the lives or wellbeing of humans. Notably, it initially refuses Taylor's requests to use Starring Invade to pop the Gray Boy bubbles under the assumption that the information gained isn't worth the effort, but ultimately accedes to her request, under the assumption that doing so will improve her standing with her superiors, thereby granting her, and by extension it, access to larger and more extensive data configurations.
- Single-Stroke Battle: When ORT finally arrives to deal with Leviathan, it slices the Endbringer in two with a single movement. While that doesn't kill Leviathan on its own, it's left completely helpless to being crystallized and assimilated by the Ultimate One in the next few seconds before it drops its crystallized corpse to the ground after getting everything it wanted.
- Worf Effect: In canon Worm, the Entities are by far the most powerful beings in the setting, with even the End bringers being hopelessly outclassed by them. So the fact that ORT is able to go head to head with one (Abaddon) in a fight, and not only match, but flat out overpower it to the point of forcing it to flee for it's life serves as firm indicator as to just how unfathomably powerful the Ultimate One of the Oort Cloud is.
- Your Days Are Numbered: What the prognosis is for anyone infected by the Crystal Valley, as there is no way to cure or reverse it, meaning if they don't get the infected flesh removed (or are unable to if it's through a non-extremity), they will inevitably be consumed.
