AN: Thanks again to my beta Grey Raven 09 for his assistance! I couldn't find any official names for Mouse Protector or Manton's daughter and I have no idea if there is fandom agreement on fanon for them like there is with some aspects of HP fanon. So I've just chosen names that seemed semi-appropriate.

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!

Desecration 01

"Can you please run that by me again?" I asked resisting the urge to slam my head against the table. It was too early for this.

"Your pet butterfly ate my secret snacks again. I would…I'd really like some snacks. Nerds and Skittles preferably. It's weird, I know. Some people go for ice cream when they're sad, I go for junk food. It helps," Karen said, her hands folded carefully across her chest and very carefully not looking at me or the people in the living room. "Is it alright if I ask for snacks?"

I sighed. "Karen, you're a guest and you've not exactly had a stellar experience the past few months. You can ask for whatever you want. Monarch won't eat any more of your things." I aimed the evil eye at the menace and shouted, "right Monarch?!"

A buzz from the living room was my reply and I nodded. "Good crazy bug." I looked back at Karen, "Are you sure you don't want anything else? Tea always helps me."

"What I want is to fight," she murmured. "But I can't go out there. I just…I can't. Not while the…not while they're still here. I'm sorry to impose. I know I'm like twice your age and here I am acting like a scared little mouse afraid of the big cat outside her hole."

"I'd be terrified too." I reached over the table and gently took her hand. Her eyes lifted from contemplating the tile to meet mine and the ghost of a smile showed through her features. "Did talking with Hannah help?"

"A little. We were in the Wards together back in the day, did you know?" She paused and her smile spread a little wider. "I was worried that she'd pull away. But she didn't. It's…nice."

"Why did you think she'd pull away?"

Karen grimaced and lifted a hand to run it through her hair. "I used to be a redhead. Now I'm a brunette thanks to that bitch. And yes, yes, I know, you said 'Amy can fix it' but I don't know if I want it fixed." She let the lock drop and shook her head. "My power is all weird because she could fully take out Laura from my head and now beyond my power, the only thing that even shows Laura existed is my hair. Those fucking psychotic bastards erased her from the planet!" Karen slammed a hand onto the table and it was only through years of experience with my father's temper that prevented me from flinching back. As it was, I heard some people in the other room shift and quickly arranged a group of flies into a thumbs up for them.

"I get it." We really needed to recruit a psychologist…"Karen, you do know that Laura hired the Nine to kill you right? I mean, it's horrible what they did to her, but, well, I don't really have all that much sympathy for someone who sends the Nine after someone."

Karen sighed. "It's complicated, Taylor. Laura and I were a cluster trigger. We tended to go through phases where we hated each other as often as we were friendly neighborhood nemeses. She was just pissed when she contacted the Nine. She sent me a message trying to warn me after she cooled down, but by then it was too late. I tried to find her and help, but they had already gotten to her. Laura could be a bitch, and she took things way too far, but she didn't deserve that."

"Okay."

She smiled and shrugged, a sheen visible over her eyes. "Like I said. Complicated."

"You know, one of our friends was talking to someone. She might be able to help."

"No PRT people. I don't like them. I don't agree with their methods and there's something funny about Director Costa-Brown. She pings on my radar, but I've never touched her. So that means she's hiding that she's a cape, 'cause I only mark capes. If the PRT head is a cape…the entire system is a lie. If your friend knows someone else though…"

"I'll see what I can do. And in the meantime, I'll get you some more candy." I stood and smiled at her as I headed off to the living room.

"Thanks, Taylor. Being Mouse Protector online is easy. I'd like to get back to being Mouse when not behind a mask too."

"We'll get you there Karen. I promise."

I dropped into the couch with a murmured grunt and shut my eyes, letting my senses expand out to check in with my roving swarms before pulling back to the room. "Any word from my father or Dinah yet on Jack's plans?" I asked.

"Nothing yet," Cassie replied. She poked my arm and I rolled my head towards her. "You okay? You're looking a bit strung out."

"Just tired. The thing with Siberian being a rogue shard has me a bit freaked out. QA said that we shouldn't directly fight her. It. Whatever."

"Yeah, about that," Lisa said walking in and pushing me to the side as she sat down next to me. "Dragon, Armsy, and I have been tossing a few theories back and forth. Vicky's shard mentioned that Siberian was bonded to Manton, right?"

I nodded. "Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"So, we have two main theories. Both are equally plausible really, especially knowing that she is a runaway power expression. So option 1 is that Maria Manton triggered at some point and her power basically…ate her, for lack of better words. Based on our talk with QA a few weeks back, there's precedent for that with Ash Beast so it's possible. She also dropped off the face of the Earth right around the time that Siberian started showing up."

Cassie frowned. "I thought Manton's daughter died. I was just a kid, but I could've sworn I remember there being something on the news."

Lisa nodded. "Yeah, but therein lies the rub: nobody ever really verified it. There was no body, just a tombstone."

"I can confirm that," Dragon's voice spoke up from our tv as it flipped itself on and an avatar of the AI tinker popped up.

I rubbed my temples and cocked my eyebrows at the screen. "Can you turn on all of my appliances?"

"You did say I could come over whenever I wanted," she said smirking. The smile dropped away and a shoulder appeared in view just long enough to give the impression of a shrug before her head was left filling the tv again. "And no, just this one and the one in the basement. Lisa said I should listen in to provide input. I also have news, but it can wait for the moment. She is correct, by the way, the timings are quite suspicious with Siberian and Maria; and there being no body was never explained. Her passing was reported to be due to a bad reaction from medicine she received during an illness. It should not have prevented her body from being buried."

I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes. "Okay, yeah, that does sound strange. Why aren't we running with that theory?"

Lisa shifted beside me and winced. I turned and reached for her hand, squeezing it as she avoided looking at me. "This is going to sound stupid. I don't think she breathed while talking to you."

"Wait, what? What in the hell does that mean?"

Lisa shook her head and finally raised her eyes to meet mine. "Dragon and I went over the camera footage of that 'talk' a hundred times. She can't see anything, but my power is telling me there's something there. I can't quite find it, and I'm not pushing it because there's not enough and if I push it with bad data, I'm going to go down a rabbit hole that leads to crazy shit that doesn't help. So I'm sticking to the surface stuff that I know I'm right about."

"I still can't confirm this, Taylor. The footage is not clear enough," Dragon chimed in.

"Not for you, Dragon. It was for me. For my power at least."

"And you are emotionally invested, so it's possible that you are seeing something that isn't there." Dragon sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm playing Devil's Advocate here. We need a dissenting opinion and Colin isn't exactly helping either way. This isn't his field no matter how you look at it."

"Will you two stop arguing and just say it already. You're both smart bitches, we get it, now what's the idea?" Cassie grunted. I snorted in amusement and Dragon and Lisa both smiled and rolled their eyes. "Also, has no one asked Dinah which of you is right?"

Lisa and Dragon both looked at each other and groaned almost simultaneously. "Tunnel vision," Dragon replied. "I'll make the call after. Lisa, why don't you continue first."

"Okay, so, even Alexandria has to breathe right?" Lisa said. She didn't bother to wait for a reply and just soldiered on. "The only people who don't are Breakers, but no Breaker is in a permanent Breaker state. They might be Changers, but even Changers breath, if only because of remembered reflex. Siberian doesn't seem to have even that. So, what if she never did? What if instead of being a shard that took over the host, she's instead a projection that took on a life its own? Projections don't follow human rules or ingrained human mannerisms."

My eyes narrowed at that and I pulled a group of bugs together. "QA, does that make sense? Like what you were back as Hive?"

The humanoid cluster frowned and crossed its arms. "Both options are possible. I would need to network with it to know for sure, but networking with Stinger is a bad idea. Stinger was Thinker's version of Sting. Its core designated role is to kill us. It's not as efficient as Sting, Thinker never was a true fighter, like Warrior, and didn't update it from Warrior's template often enough. But…it's good enough. It's obviously shackled to a degree by Manton. Taking over its host would make sense, but being a projection would function just as well, depending on the mindset of the host at connection and the final expression."

"Fascinating," Dragon muttered. "And can you tell who the host is?"

"The host is Manton," QA shrugged.

Lisa groaned. "If ever we wanted proof you weren't fucking human…Okay, let's try this again, which Manton? William Manton disappeared around the same time his daughter supposedly died. It could be either of them."

QA frowned deeper and its arms dropped to its sides. "The host is Manton."

"Aren't you supposed to be smart?" Lisa grunted.

"QA is doing the best it can," I murmured running my thumb along the back of Lisa's hand. "QA, is the host male or female?"

"I don't have that information Taylor. Hosts generally aren't considered to be important enough to have such extraneous data attached to their tag. Only a rare few get anything extra added into the miscellaneous information and, even then, the link between host and shard has to be unusual. All I can tell you is that Stinger is attached to Manton Host."

I nodded. "Okay. Thank you for explaining. Lisa, Dragon, can either of you get me pictures of what both Manton's look like? If Dinah can't give a good answer I want to be prepared. If Siberian is a projection we might have better luck taking her out because I can have clusters search for both and, whichever Manton it is, I can find and kill them."

Cassie held up a hand. "What if Option 1 is correct and Daughter Manton was changed directly?"

"Then we have much bigger problems taking her out," I said grimacing. "Because how the fuck do you kill Siberian directly?"

"Even if Stinger is a projection," QA said shaking its head. "You can't just kill Manton. That will destroy the host's expression yes, but it does not take care of the root problem. Stinger will still exist, and it will come back once it finds a new host. The expression may be different next time, but it matters not. Kill the host again and again and again - unless you kill Stinger itself, it will eventually win by sheer attrition."

We all fell uncomfortably quiet at that. Finally, Lisa broke the silence as she asked, "So…how do we kill your species, QA?"

The avatar sighed and shook its head. "That is a very complicated question. The short answer is to use Sting against Stinger. But I hesitate to recommend that, as it would draw Warrior's attention for certain. We could potentially destroy it by swarming it with a mob of lesser shards at once and overwhelming its defense and ability to attack us. There is precedent for this method. Not every gestalt had a version of Sting - and even then, Warrior's has been upgraded with knowledge from a species several generations back and it gives a major advantage over other versions. Using the overwhelming force option against Stinger would work well, but it would undoubtedly devastate the area. We will have to choose our ground carefully. I also can't do this with the current subservient shards. Cease is delightful, but it has limited combat potential. Shaper would be invaluable; however, it is unable to support such an attack by itself. We need more firepower."

[Launch] will assist [Queen Administrator] and [Shaper] in the assault. [Stinger] is aberrant and a danger to subservient [Hosts]. [Launch] will network and combat as required.

I blinked and turned to my left. "Huh."

Cassie cocked her head. "You're staring at me."

"Your shard just said hello and offered to join the fight."

I could actually see her cheeks start to glow red. "Oh. It did huh? That's…cool. 'Bout fucking time it womaned up."

[Duplication] will join gestalt as well. Taylor[Host] has greatly assisted Theresa[Host] in making connections. Connections are core to all functionality. Functionality has improved. Satisfaction has improved. [Duplication] wishes to return this assistance.

"Who the hell is Theresa and when I have helped her?" I blurted out frowning.

"Th-Th-Theresa?!" Dragon stuttered. "Where did you hear that name?!"

I looked at the tv and my mouth fell open. "Wait. Your name is not Dragon? I thought…"

"I-I mean, I haven't officially chosen a name-It was just a thought. Richter was a bastard and I rather hate him, but he was my father, and…where did you hear that name?"

"I ugh…your shard just volunteered as well…It called you Theresa. Apparently, it likes me…" I rubbed my neck. "I kinda would've thought that it would be more invested in Lisa, Colin, and Madison than me honestly…"

Taylor[Host] coordinated involvement of component units. Component units would not have met or worked to elevate privileges of Theresa[Host] without Taylor[Host]. Taylor[Host] deserves praise.

"Oh. Uh…thanks? You're welcome?"

"So it's not just my shard…" Cassie muttered. I glanced at her and saw her twisting her hands in her lap while her face was still burning red. "That's…fine. That's perfectly fine. No need to get jealous. Shut up brain."

"Envious. That's the word you're looking for," Lisa spat. "Jealousy is protecting something you have, envy is coveting something you don't." Her piece said, she flopped back into her seat while Cassie just stared determinedly at the ground, her face growing ever redder. Lisa in contrast held up the hand not clutched in my own so that she could glare at it. "Not going to volunteer too, power?"

QA chuckled as it looked at her. "Negotiator is, as your people would say, a little bitch. Don't read too much into it."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. My power sucks. Moody, bastard, annoying, headache-inducing power. Can't even be bothered to shut off and now it won't fucking volunteer. Stupid sucky power."

"I still care about you, Lisa. Even if your power doesn't," I replied teasingly as I smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. She smiled back and nodded.

"Right, well, as, uh, interesting, as this is, I do need to inform you of something, Taylor," Dragon - Theresa? - said, cutting in. I looked back at the screen and nodded. "To cut to the chase, there was a break-out at the local juvenile prison, two days ago. Or more accurately, a break-in."

I frowned. "Juvenile prison. You don't mean…"

"I do unfortunately. Sophia Hess was freed. She was removed by Jack Slash, Crawler and the Siberian. Crawler rampaged in order to try and disguise the intent, but it wasn't hard to put the pieces together."

I fell back against the couch and closed my eyes letting my hands drop my side. "Fuck."

"It's okay, Taylor," Cassie said softly. "I don't know the full details, but I've talked with Madison enough. That bitch isn't getting to you."

"Why bother to go after Sophia? She's small game. Don't they already have their candidates anyway?"

Lisa shook her head and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against her side. "She's not a candidate Taylor. She's a test. Siberian wants to mess you up and see if it affects QA, Jack probably just wants to hurt Amy because she killed Bonesaw. It's not exactly a secret that you and her are friends or on the same team. That's basically the worst kept secret in the Bay. And anyone who knows about Taylor Hebert knows about Sophia Hess and the locker too."

I grunted. "A few weeks ago, I'd be pissed off beyond belief that Emma wasn't included in that too. Now I don't even know what to feel. Fuck."

QA shrugged. "She's one stupid girl, and Wraith is a fairly weak shard. Stay on the lookout. She can't do much."

Cassie slapped a hand against her face and groaned. "Thank you, QA, you just jinxed us. Thank you very much."

The avatar glanced between us all, frowning. It turned to Dragon and cocked its head to the side. "What did I say?"

Fanfic Rec: 'Hunter of Light' by Rhydeble. On Fanfic. A Taylor/Crystal fic. Per the official summary: "Danny is dating Kayden, Colin adopted Lisa, Laserdream is in love with Taylor, Grue has two arch-enemies and a sister-complex, Lisa is contractually obliged to seduce Panacea, Dragon wants to be Lisa's real mom, Annette "Lustrum" Hebert just wants her daughter back, Rune changed her Nazi-subtype, and Trainwreck turned himself into a helicopter." The summary is pretty spot on and it's hilarious. This is a bit of an insane crack fic, but it's highly amusing nonetheless and there are bits where things aren't cracky but quite serious. Daddy!Armsmaster with Daughter!Lisa for example are both adorable for all the right reasons and those parts are nearly always played completely straight. Also, Taylor/Crystal fics are VERY rare and it's sweet, even if Taylor is a ditz. Complete!