"Taylor moves via explosions and does not appreciate being teased. Where is Lung when you need him?"
—Story Summary
A Worm shortfic by JinglyJangles
. Hosted on the Spacebattles forums.
Warning: Spoilers for Worm from here on out
Taylor Hebert triggered with the ability to spontaneously dissolve her own body in explosive rematerialization. As in canon, she attempts to restrain herself from lashing out in vengeance against her tormentors.
But, she has anger issues.... so what? She is perfectly in control of herself and her powers.
Perfectly-
She is spiraling. Slowly, steadily. Every day it gets worse. But she is in control, she will not BURN UP everything. She will not. She will- she will-
This story provides examples of:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Taylor was charged with "aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, arson, destruction of private property, grand theft, reckless endangerment…" unmentioned: Disrobing the other party of the fight, since her clothes don’t survive her transformation.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: There’s only so much Taylor can bear.
- Madness Mantra: Frequently used, to great effect for both comedy and drama. Neither steps on the other's toes.
- Mythology Gag: In canon, Skitter suffocated Alexandria with bugs. Here, Taylor burned away the oxygen around herself and Alexandria to the point where the latter couldn't stop the former from putting a hand in her mouth with the implicit understanding that Taylor could dump lava down Alexandria's throat.
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Taylor's PHO private chat with Glory Girl involving their rematch. In it Taylor is honestly looking for a fun fight; meanwhile Glory Girl seriously wants to hurt her for what she did. To further elaborate, Taylor talked about how much fun their fight was, and apologized for having gotten blood on Glory Girl's costume (which she then stole to replace her own lost clothing). She even specifically said that Glory Girl's threats were making her hot.
- Running Gag:
- Taylor steals Glory Girl's Dress, then Lung's pants... then Alexandria's costume.
- TAYLOR NODDED
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Coil decides he's had enough of the bay.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Comes with the territory of becoming a lava-spewing explosion-powered humanoid.
- There Are No Therapists: Basically defied, in a sense. Lisa helps Taylor overcome her issues.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Taylor isn't a trained fighter, but is stong enough to go toe to toe with Glory Girl, Lung, and Alexandria, and even win. It's telling that Hookwolf, who was a skilled fighter even before he became a high-end Brute/Changer, chose to run rather than fight Taylor.
- Unstoppable Rage: To Taylor's detriment, for most of the story. As the story progresses, she gets better, first when Hookwolf flees rather than fight her and Taylor doesn't pursue, and then again when Alexandria threatens to go after the Undersiders if Taylor tries to run from their fight. With the latter, Taylor embraces her rage and curbs it at exactly the right moment.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Taylor is a very powerful cape, able to duke it out with the setting's heavy hitters and win. However, her power comes with rather severe anger issues and stunting of social skills. By the end of the fic, however, Lisa has helped her overcome most of these issues, and she is almost perfectly functional, even apologizing to Glory Girl.
