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Everything was the same, except for one of them, a star, just a few miles from me.
I could see it. What it looked like, where it was.
My god they were…
Amazing. Perfect. Beautiful in a way that escaped words. Everything else, everything, paled in comparison.
Another one appeared, swinging into focus.
I have to be there.
...
All I remember is snapping back into focus as I walked into a bloodbath.

A Worm fanfic by CnJLC written on the Spacebattles forums, also the author of Propagation.

Based on the premise of Glaistig Uaine and Skitter swapping powersets.

Gather opens with Taylor Hebert getting back from a night of 'heroing. One that went very, very wrong. Everything is wrong. Everything has been wrong- ever since she found out the truth about heroes, ever since she got these stupid powers.

It started innocently enough when Taylor triggered, becomeing a parahuman and gaining her very own superhuman abilities. A modest sensory power, one that allowed her to track parahumans over vast distances- several miles, in fact -and it gives her insights into their personality and abilities! Not too shabby! Yet Taylor couldn't help think that there was something more to it.

She gets more than she bargained for.

...

It wasn't supposed to be this way. She never meant to kill anyone. But now her power is giving her... urges.

Warning: Full story provides spoilers for Worm.


This series provides examples of:

  • Alternate Universe Fic
  • Anti-Villain: Taylor is set up for this from the prologue onward.
  • Astral Projection: A way of interpreting the ghosts.
  • Blessed with Suck / Cursed with Awesome: The side-effects of her power are making Taylor miserable and like all Worm powers, its fucking with her head, but her power itself is one of the most powerful in existence: the same power as Glastig Uaine in canon, giving her the ability to deploy parahuman ghosts and various fringe benefits.
  • Break the Cutie: Taylor goes through a lot of shit in the first chapters of Worm, but getting powers helps take the edge off it. In this story, it makes it worse
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Once Shadow Stalker knocks Taylor out her ghosts go into automatic protection mode, and show how they might have acted without Taylor holding them back and preventing them from inflicting fatal injury. She lasts seconds.
  • Darker and Edgier
  • Dead Fic: Author has stated that it is officially abandoned on their profile page and last update was in 2014.
  • Fallen Hero: Despite being unconsious and not in control of her powers at the time, Taylor feels she is this after Shadow Stalker's death
  • From Bad to Worse
  • How Do I Shot Web?: Taylor spends a long time attempting to figure out her powers. It turns out, she just needed to be in the right place at the right time.
  • Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality: Averted. Taylor's power is incredibly and broadly useful, it is also Lethal with a capital L.
  • Mook Maker: Taylor can project multiple 'ghosts' of dead parahumans. In addition to possesing all the powers they had in life, these projections are completely expendable- returning whole and undamaged if destroyed -they do not experience pain, cannot disobey a direct order, and regenerate.
  • My God, What Have I Done?
  • Original Flavor
  • Power Copying: A facet of Taylor's powerset.
  • Superpower Lottery: Taylor got Glastig Uaine's power. In canon, that power put her on par with Eidolon is his prime and made Scion fight seriously.
  • Touch of Death, Finger Poke of Doom, One-Hit Kill: Taylor can kill any parahuman instantly with a simple touch, if she so choses. Doing so feels wrong - her power doesn't like collecting from the living.
  • The Assimilator: A facet of Taylor's ability incorporates all the powers of slain parahumans into her own powerset.
  • The Force Is Strong with This One: One of Taylor's primary powers. It grows more potent and accurate with every ghost collected.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Every time Taylor absorbes a new ghost, she gains the ghost's powerset and a deployable minion, and her innate powerset improves as well!

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