AN: Thanks again to my beta Grey Raven 09 for his assistance!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Worm. If I did, I would be FAR more productive.

Please enjoy and let me know what you think in a review if you feel like it!

Pronouncement 01

I picked my way over the rubble in the city streets, the Wards trailing a little ways behind me and the Protectorate members flanking me. We'd picked up Miss Militia somewhere along our route and Alexandria had flown off. Vista had fallen silent two blocks back. I was starting to worry about her. She's been far too chipper when Clockblocker had come up to Assault and I with her in tow after Leviathan ran.

I'd had a lot of cause to look up signs of shock and depression recently. I had a few bugs on her to watch over her and make sure she stayed with us instead of wandering off now that she was silent.

The medical facility had just come into sight down the street as the debris of one of the houses we passed shifted, sending a small cascade of shingles and siding to the ground and a muffled curse from inside. I glanced over, but I didn't have enough of my new swarm to investigate it yet. The majority was making up QA at the moment and keeping an eye on Vista.

Apparently, I didn't have to worry, since the source of the curse ran out into the street after a few seconds. She was a mess, the dust and grime covering her had nearly turned her red hair brown and her face had streaks of dirt over it. Her clothes were torn and it looked like one of her boots had been torn in half so it was less 'calf high' and more 'ankle high'. None of that stopped me from recognizing Emma Fucking Barnes as she ran right towards me, tears and snot streaming down her face.

The bugs making up QA glared at the girl as she ran towards me. It muttered, "Seriously? I just convinced Shaper to let you back into the population Restore…You have a whole world to choose from and you choose her?"

[Restore] approves of [Queen Administrator] and Taylor[Host]. Emma[Host] demands that it makes amends. [Restore] will stay close.

Yeah…I quickly decided not to even attempt to uncork the mess that that tidbit of conversation held.

While QA and the new power talked, Emma had run up and grabbed onto the front of my costume balling it into her fists. "Taylor! You have to help me! You have to - oh god did I do that?" I motioned for the other heroes to stand back, but I needn't have bothered - Emma's eyes widened and she let her hands drop as she pulled back on her own. Staring at a spot in the center of my chest, she held a hand up to cover her gaping mouth and gagged. "I did that, I made that so small and twisted and sickly and…oh god…No, no, focus, focus, focus! Taylor, there's someone in that basement, I can't get them out. They're trapped and I can't get them out!"

Taking a deep breath and pushing away the first two things I wanted to say to her as well as the follow on third comment, I took another second to actually look at Emma before replying. Slowly, I looked over to QA. "I need the bugs back." It nodded to me and dissolved. I grabbed the swarm and sent them into the house as I focused back on Emma. "How do you know there's a person in the basement, Emma?"

"I can see them," she whispered.

"Okay. I'm checking it out. And, Emma, my name is Queen while I'm wearing this. Just because you know me, doesn't mean you can call me by my name."

"Oh. I…right…I knew that…I'm sorry…I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back, turning her head away. Her eyes fell on Assault and Battery I saw her gaze widen before she stumbled and fell to the ground. She jerked her head to the side and when she looked at Vista she gasped and squeezed herself tighter before rocking softly in the mud she'd fallen in.

Miss Militia moved forward to lean down and whisper to Emma as Battery came over to me. "Do you know what's wrong with your friend?"

"She's not my friend. Not anymore," I said sighing. "And I have no idea, though I can guess."

"Yes, I imagine we all can. Poor girl." Battery trailed off. She raised her hand to point at the house. "Was she right?"

"Give me a moment, they're just getting through the gaps now. It's pretty tight down there. Probably the only way whoever's down there survived the flooding from the waves." I paused as I sent my small collection of insects on a survey of the room. I winced as I received the feedback.

"Damn. Three bodies."

"No, there's only one!" Emma said leaning away from Militia and staring right at me. "There's only one Tay-Queen!"

"Let me finish, Emma," I responded as gently as I could under the circumstances. It was probably still too gruff but this was Emma fucking Barnes, so screw it. "There's three bodies. One's neck is broken, the other is impaled through the chest. The third is huddled on the table in the center of the room. It's a younger boy. He seems okay, but he's unconscious and I think his arm is broken; it's hard to tell."

Assault nodded. "Battery, Clockblocker, Vista, you three get the boy out. Your powers should work best here. Militia do you have the girl here?"

"I'll get her somewhere safe, and find a mask along the way," Militia said nodding never moving from in front of Emma and still trying to calm my former friend as Emma buried her head in her hands. Battery squeezed Militia's shoulder as she led the two teens towards the house, both the Wards throwing quick waves towards me before they stepped into the building. "Queen do you know if she has family in the city?"

"A father and mother. Her sister is probably at college at the moment unless she had the supreme misfortune to be visiting right now," I sighed and shook my head. "Emma, is Alan…fuck I can't even pretend to care about that asshole. Is Zoe alright?"

"Mom was in a different shelter," Emma whimpered. "Dad went to find her. I was supposed to stay put, but I wanted to help…I can find people…I can…I can help…All I've done is break things, I broke you…I broke you and I can see it…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" She started crying again.

I rubbed at my temple and groaned. "Okay, look, I get that you're having a breakdown right now, and I'd love the bigger person, but I'm not. My friend lost her leg, my other friend watched her friend get murdered right in front of her, because of me, and I still have no idea what actually happened to any of the rest of my team. So, if you want to apologize for the past two years, great. Come and find me in an hour or two. But I'm leaving."

"I'm escorting you," Assault said nodding.

"Cool. We're like in spitting distance from the medical tent, but sure, whatever. Oh, and it's close enough that I can leave the bugs here to help with the search and rescue if you want. I don't have many tagged at the moment, but Monarch should be spitting out more critters that can help with the general searches shortly. Well, it can. Is that okay? Now that the crisis is over am I going to get my name put on the fucking list next to Amy if I have the mutant butterfly keep helping?"

Miss Militia turned her head to look at me and I didn't have to see beneath her bandana to know that she was scowling. "Anyone who tries to crucify you for assisting search and rescue after an Endbringer assault will meet the business end of my power. Go find your teammates. We've all lost people and friends today. Grieve for whoever you have to, Queen, and send your creatures to assist with the rescues. I will smooth out any details that need to be smoothed. However it needs to happen. However high it needs to go."

"Awesome. I knew I had your poster for a reason." That rocked her back on her heels and set Assault chuckling as I started walking off towards the medical tent. It was long past time to find my people.

I had barely stepped foot through the plastic sheet marking off the doorway to the makeshift hospital area when I was practically tackled off my feet. My arms instinctively wrapped around the diminutive, sobbing, brunette clinging to me. The quick flash of blue butterfly hair clips had given me enough time to recognize it was Madison who had buried her head in my chest, but really…she should know better than to jump me. She was lucky I hadn't hit her.

"You seem to attract crying girls don't you?" Assault commented leaning against the wall, a grin spread across his face.

"Don't you start too. I already have people - my own team - accusing me of being the leader of a lesbian harem! Madison, that can't be comfortable, you're right on my armor plates. I promise you can glomp me whenever I get out of this thing but right now…"

"You're alive." I heard her whimper through the crying. At least her sobs were leveling off now.

"Yeah."

"Insight said she talked to you, but…An Endbringer was going after you specifically!" Madison squeezed my ribs hard enough I winced. "You're alive."

"I'm hard to kill. You know that, Mads."

I only realized how she had probably taken what I said after she stiffened up and pulled back. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared at the floor, confirming my fear. "Yeah, I do."

"Dammit, Madison, that's not what I meant," I said sighed and rubbing at my temple. "I told you I've forgiven you for that. I meant you've seen what I've had to survive in the past few weeks. I wasn't talking about the fucking locker."

"Oh."

"Look just, just come on, Minion." She did smile a bit at that, so I decided to count it as a win. "Where are the others?"

"This way. Am-Darwin's doing a round to heal up some of the worst injuries with Glory watching over her. The rest of us, we um, kinda have a corner section to ourselves. Apparently we're getting to be one of the larger groups in the Bay."

I paused at that comment and frowned. Geez, when had my little one woman show become so big? We needed a new lair…

Before we moved off completely Assault stepped into formation behind us. I shot him a questioning glance and he just shrugged. "You literally yelled at an Endbringer and got it to chase you. Do you seriously think I'm leaving you alone around capes who aren't already in your harem? The Truce is one thing, but this shit is whole 'nother level."

I shot him a withering glare. "I don't have a fucking harem!" I held that glare for a second then sighed, deflating. "But I know what you mean, and it makes sense. Thanks."

"That's what us heroic types are for," he said saluting me with a grin. Madison just shrugged and kept leading us towards the corner of the building.

"Madison, is Darwin okay enough to be going around the place?"

She nodded, but she didn't have a chance to respond since said biokinetic came out of a side room. Amy nearly rolled the edge of her wheelchair right into Madison's side and was just barely able to stop it in time. She smiled as she looked up at me. "I'm good enough to make sure people are going to live through the day. Sorry, Madison, I'm not used to this thing. At least I'm better with it than with crutches."

"I said I would push you," Vicky huffed as she left the room as well, shooting a mild glare at Amy.

"I'm fine, Vicky. Seriously, you're being overprotective."

I ran my eyes up and down Amy's body. Her new dark purple and orange costume was still torn in multiple places, one entire sleeve missing, her hood was gone though she had a small domino mask in place of it. And of course, the entire portion of her right leg below the knee was missing. I winced at the layer of bandages covering what remained. "You don't look fine."

"Pushing the chair and healing people is taking my mind off of…this," she admitted with a sigh, waving her hand over the stump of her leg. "I'm glad you're okay, Queen. We need to talk later, but I need to finish up my round first. There's a few people I haven't gotten to yet, I only woke up a little while ago."

"Are you really sure you're okay to do this, Amy?" I asked leaning down so that we were on eye level. "Your mom isn't here, it's just us. Are you actually okay?"

She shut her eyes and turned her gaze away for a second. Her hand reached out to hold mine as I laid it on her thigh. "I can't fix my leg, Taylor. I'd have to build a brand new one, hope I get the tissue right so that my body doesn't reject it, make sure it has a type of parasitic construct that can help attach the leg to my body and then die off once the blood vessels and nerves are attached since I won't be able to see it at that point…There's too much that can go wrong. I could maybe make something that just…lives hanging off my body and looks and acts like a leg, but that would be…so fucking weird that I don't even know if I want to consider it. It'd be like having a living parasite 24/7. I'm not comfortable with that."

"So we'll get you a prosthetic or something. There's gotta be a Tinker that does some work like that."

"There is. He's an insane asshole who I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. No, I'll figure something out. When I healed Armsmaster a few minutes ago, he had said he'd talk to Dragon and they might be able to make a cybernetic one that seemed pretty realistic."

"Okay." I nodded and she smiled as she interlaced her fingers with mine. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I think you got it worse."

I snorted and Assault laughed as well behind me. "I just got to be a sack of potatoes for a while as we bounced down the street. Somehow I don't think that compares."

She winked at me and leaned in to whisper, "Yeah, and I'm betting you got to listen in on a group of genocidal abominations arguing about killing you. Or did I miss the mark on that one?"

Blushing I leaned back and glared at her though the color in my visible skin probably took any real harshness from the gesture. "That is privileged information."

"Which going by your previous track record, half the city knows already. Taylor, they're literally calling you the Endbringer Whisperer in here. The battle has only been over for like two hours. Are you trying to break your own record for 'inability to keep a secret'?"

Groaning I stood back up and moved next to Madison. "I'm going to have to hurt Artillery. She's the one who started this. I just know it."

"Oh, take away her candy privileges!" Madison said smiling. "I'll volunteer to police her."

"You're on lair duty, Minion. I'm taking you off of Recruitment and setting you onto Lair Duties. We need to know if it survived and if it didn't, we need a new one. Probably a bigger one since it was getting cramped."

"On it, Mistress." She saluted and everything. Such a good minion.

Vicky rolled her eyes. "If you three are done flirting, I'm going to take Amy to the last few rooms. I'll get her back to you in a few minutes so that she can rest when she finishes up."

"Okay." Amy waved and angled her wheelchair to head off down the aisle. I took Vicky's arm as she passed by me, stopping her for a second. "Thanks for coming back. I'm sorry we never got a chance to talk before this stuff happened."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I do. I…have a lot to apologize for, to a lot of people. You and Amy are kinda at the top, but it's a long list. I gotta go," she paused and flinched as she met my gaze. "Do you mind if I stop by where you girls are staying later on?"

"As long as it's okay with your sister, it's okay with me," I said nodding. She smiled and quickly moved to catch up with Amy.

I looked over at Madison and waved my arm. She frowned at me for a second before her mouth formed an 'O' and she quickly moved to continue leading us towards the rest of the team. As we got closer to the end of the hall I heard a soft melody echoing out into the halls and most of the lingering tension I felt seemed to almost vanish out of my body.

Paige. She was getting better. "Mockingbird is keeping everyone calm?" I asked Madison.

"Yeah. Some were freaking out really bad before; that was when she started. You know I never really listened to her music before? Gonna have to get one of her CD-um, I mean, I'm going to have to convince her to make a CD," Madison corrected quickly as she avoided looking at Assault still following along in our wake. Honestly at this point I didn't really care if the Protectorate knew for sure that Paige was Canary. What were they going to do? Put us under another Kill Order? I'd just fought a damn Endbringer. If they wanted another one of my friends, they would have to…do…something…bad? Yeah, I needed to sleep.

The hero in question, however, just snorted at Madison's gaff. "Either of you ever hear of the villain, Madcap?" I shook my head. What did that have to do with anything? "Look him up. You might find that I have some rather unconventional views on certain government practices."

I just shrugged and nodded. As we walked into the corner section reserved for my team, the remaining members all looked up from their bed or chairs with a smile or wave. Paige's song wound down and she rubbed at her throat, taking a quick drink of water. Cassie apparently was the only one still officially in a bed, though Lisa had claimed one side of it as well. I found it darkly amusing that the two true former villains on my team were the ones lying closest together.

Apparently, Lisa definitely didn't need the bed, as she immediately swung her legs to the side and stood up as Madison and I arrived. "Oh thank god. I was starting to get worried they'd detained you or something," she said a small smile on her face. It wasn't her actual smile; it was closer to her vulpine smirk. Her wink over at Assault just sealed the deal on her trolling behavior.

"Haha, let's all just cool it with the jokes, okay? For like five minutes, please? It's been a long day and my head is killing me." I sunk down into one of the chairs. I reached up to pull off my broken mask only to pause and glance around. "Um, can I take this off in here? Is it…you know what, fuck it. Everyone already knows my name anyway now and if they don't they will after hearing about this battle."

Madison pressed a small black domino mask into my hand as I lifted my mask off. I smiled up at her in thanks and pushed the smaller thing over my features. That was better. Now, I didn't have shards of the damn broken mask digging into my face.

"I'll be in the corridor nearby," Assault said nodding to us all. "Shout if you need anything or if something happens."

"Will do. Thanks for the escort, and saving my ass earlier," I replied. The adrenaline that had kept me going to this point drained out of me with the sight of my team and I couldn't muster up the strength to lift my head towards him. I left my arms on my knees and my head bowed, just concentrating on my breathing.

"Anytime kid."

He left us alone and Lisa and Paige moved next to me. Lisa knelt down in front of me, laying her hands on mine like what I had just done with Amy earlier. "Are you okay, Taylor?"

"No." God, that was wonderful to finally admit. The tightness in my chest loosened as I spoke and my head dipped lower. "The Endbringers are smart, broken computers that want to kill me and Amy. QA agrees that they're right to do so, because it's going against whatever the evil cycle thing is, and I think our powers themselves are inherently bad. I'm not okay at all. I'm just so tired and…I want to go home."

"Okay…I'm not really too sure how to respond to that. I can tell you that we're going to work through…whatever it was you learned, Taylor. Okay?" She rubbed my arms and I let my eyes drift closed as the warmth faded back into my limbs. My mind replayed the kiss she had given me before the battle started, but I pushed it down. This wasn't the time. I needed to talk to her alone…probably at least. That was how this worked right? We needed to talk about things? Right? Fuck, I didn't know the first thing about how to do this.

"Taylor?" Paige asked rubbing hand on my back. "I can sing again. I'm getting better."

"No, it's okay. Sorry, I'm just…tired. I'm spacing out, sorry."

Cassie chuckled; I didn't need to be psychic or have superpowers to hear the slight manic edge in her voice. "Well if any of us deserve to space out, it's you. At least you're on the ground this time. You really freaked me out during the battle, Taylor."

"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was so deep into the Titan. I felt when it died too. I…I don't know if I want to get that deep into my critters again. That…it hurt. That whole battle with it, hurt. And then I messed up more when I drew the fucking thing's attention. Cassie I…"

"Don't you dare apologize for Purity." She sighed and I heard the bed rustle. I moved a few of the remaining members of my swarm to her side and figured out she'd shifted to sit up. "She chose to help. She saved me when I had been nothing but a bitch to her just a few days ago. She…It's not your fault she died, Taylor, so don't take that sacrifice away. Amy already apologized for not finding her body and keeping her alive until she could heal her."

That was enough to have me open my eyes wide and lift my head. Lisa's hands on my arms stopped their rubbing and squeezed. "Wait, what? Amy was bleeding out and had half her leg just chopped off!"

Madison nodded. "And she was unconscious by the time Glory picked her up off the street. She still thinks she didn't do enough."

"Goddamn. We really need to get her to talk to someone professionally," I muttered wiping a hand down my face.

Lisa nodded. "Probably all of us should see someone. I'll see who Glory was talking to and if they do house calls or something over-the-phone. Taylor, you do see the irony here right? Amy blaming herself from something not her fault and you doing the same?"

I let my head fall back to staring at the floor and sighed. "Yeah, I get it. Wait. Purity was reported dead before Amy was hurt."

"Brain death takes a few minutes. If she can keep oxygen flowing and the damage isn't too bad, there's a good chance she can actually heal someone who hasn't suffered major head trauma if she gets to them quick enough," Paige said shrugging.

"Seriously? Amy can bring people back from the dead?" No wonder why the PRT was frightened of her. Well that and the Titan and Monarch in general were all probably good reasons…

"No, Taylor," Madison replied laying a hand on the back of my neck. "She can't bring people back from the dead, just stop them from getting all the way there if she's like right in front of them when they drop."

"Right. Sure. Same difference. I'm going to say she brings people back from the dead and she's never going to live it down," I said nodding and letting my eyes drift closed again.

Cassie laughed, some of the concerning undercurrents having fled this time. "Sure thing, Endbringer Whisperer."

"Have I mentioned today that I hate you?" All of my friends laughed at my flippant comment.

Lisa stood and pulled at my arms. "Come on, you need to lie down. We'll hold the fort and figure out a place to stay while you sleep."

I let her drag me to my feet and lead me to the bed using the few bugs I had with me to guide me instead of opening my eyes. "If the factory is destroyed, someone call my father. I think he owes us. Maybe. Or maybe we owe him. I don't know. Minion?"

"Got it covered, Taylor. Sleep."

I grunted as my friends helped me pull off some of my main armor plates and nearly fell back onto the hospital bed, my head settling next to Cassie. "Sorry for taking your bed."

"There's room. Rest. We got this for a few hours, girl."

Yeah, rest sounded good. I tried to mumble a thanks, but I don't think it was actually intelligible. I breathed in and out a few times and just relished the feeling of having my friends around me again. This was good. We had survived. We might not be entirely intact, but we had survived, and that was enough…right?

Fanfic Rec: 'Taylor Hebert, Ladykiller Extraordinaire' by Kinni. On Ao3. This is a fic without powers usage so far. It's basically Taylor getting annoyed with the bullying and deciding on an…unconventional way to end it. If she can't use logic or ignoring the Trio, why not seduce them instead? Enter Taylor, Ladykiller. Her attacks are super effective on her initial three targets despite her rather hilarious case of 'I have no idea what I'm doing but I can sure as hell fake til I make it!' syndrome. Only a few chapters sadly, but well worth the read for what's there!