Intro:

I stared impassively out the window. At least I had a solid view. The fact that it was a nice view of Brockton Bay tampered most of the enthusiasm I had about the situation.

I had chosen this, so I wouldn't complain. Even if the choice was between the cessation of my being or coming here. It was still a choice I had made, and would make again given the circumstances. I had never thought deeply about death in my last life, but to learn that there was nothing beyond it, at least in my home universe, it was frightening. Even more so when I was bleeding out on the side of the road after inadvertently getting hit by a train.

Suffice to say, I would never cross a road with headphones blasting music into my ears, and my eyes glued to a screen again.

At least I had gotten a good deal, or what I hoped was a good deal out of all this. So long as I tipped the scales in the favor of humanity by a measurable amount I would have held up my end of the bargain. If I failed I died, which was going to happen regardless. What success would look like exactly, I was uncertain. The fact that this was Earth-Bet though, and the scale of the disasters this place was subject to however, gave me an approximation of the level I would need to be operating at. Scion would destroy entire countries, and kill billions in his rampage. Next to that saving a thousand lives wouldn't even be a drop in the metaphorical bucket.

If I played my cards right though, I would be strong enough to defeat him. If not, well I would have died anyway.

Taking a deep breath I mentally went over the resources I could draw on. The identity I had adopted was that of an 18 year old named Eric King. The real Eric was a kid who'd died along with his entire family when Behemoth destroyed his hometown near the end of 2010. Prior to his death he had been the model student and son. Tall, dark hair, blue eyes, athletic, and rich. The perfect package all told.

Ultimately all the potential had gone to waste with his death, and I'd chosen his body to reincarnate into. There were probably better options, but none of the others presented to me came with quite so clean of a slate.

His family was well to do, and while most of what they owned was lost when the Endbringer attacked he had inherited a sizeable nest egg, and an apartment in the better part of town in Brockton Bay. No living relatives and friends meant no excess baggage. No one to question a sudden change in personality. Having died to Behemoth, he wasn't under any suspicion of being a Simurgh plant. A combination of factors that made it ideal for me to sub in so to speak.

I'd 'miraculously survived' where others died. Had been taken to a shelter, healed to perfect health by Panacea. Gotten all my paperwork in order, and booked the next available flight to Brockton Bay.

The net result was roughly 150k in liquid assets, and an apartment. A tidy sum to say the least. Even so, that was the least of my advantages.

The Deity I'd bargained with had gifted me a power. For every parahuman I defeated, I could craft myself one power of equal potency to theirs. It was a hell of a boon to say the least. Even if it left me with the small issue of defeating a parahuman as a baseline human. Not an enviable position to be in for sure. Also not unmanageable.

Being from a reality where this universe was fiction gave me a considerable leg up. Namely the names, habits, and routines of more than a couple of fairly powerful capes. Not to mention the ins and outs of their powers and their weaknesses. Unfortunately my knowledge wasn't encyclopedic, which was fair. I didn't ever think that the events in a piece of fiction I'd partially read through would decide my fate.

That in mind, I had a few capes that I should be able to take on with some preparation. On the top of that list was Taylor Hebert. Who if my timeline was correct, had just recently triggered. Had no physical enhancements. Had a power that while very useful, could be countered.

A protective layer that bugs couldn't bite through, and an attack while she wasn't suspecting it would see me able to claim victory fairly easily against her. Even so, it came with certain risks.

She was the widely acclaimed Queen Escalation for a reason. As long as I played my cards right however, I could potentially get away with assaulting her without clueing her into my identity.

I briefly considered 'coincidentally' passing her on the street, decking her as hard as I could, and claiming I was just suffering from PTSD, apologize, give her some money, and call it a day. No sooner had the idea popped in my head, that I discarded it. There wasn't a concrete agreement between us, but we had both mutually agreed to act in good faith. Besides, If someone randomly knocked me out would I consider that a defeat? Probably not.

More than that, if I tried to stretch the definition of 'defeat' to ambushing an unsuspecting teenage schoolgirl, the Deity I bargained with might lean on there end of the scale as well.

However I decided to defeat Taylor, it would have to be at least a little on the up and up.

Scratching the back of my head, I decided to turn in for the night. My mind churned half thought out ideas, hoping something would click.

-line-

I woke up the next morning at 10 am, and after making myself a decent breakfast of eggs and toast, went to the mall. I had supplies to purchase. Whatever form my plan ended up taking, I needed to be bug proof. So that's where I would start.

Making myself bug proof was a more involved process than I thought, especially without making myself look suspicious as fuck. I couldn't exactly stroll through the city looking like a beekeeper without raising some red-flags. Especially if I was going to be hanging around a highschool, a highschool that was currently hosting a Ward of all things.

In the end, I settled on leather as my material of choice. More specifically, I decided to go full biker. With a helmet that covered the entirety of my face, and the thickest leather I could get my hands on. Even that, I felt wasn't enough. With the amount of bugs she could control Taylor would be able to direct bugs through any gaps in my clothing. If the confrontation lasted long enough, she may even be able to direct them to bite through my protection.

I ended up buying a sewing machine as well.

When I got home I spent hours putting the outfit together. I stitched the pant legs onto the boots so that no bugs could crawl in from there. Then I stitched the waist of the pants with the waist of the leather jacket. Sealing the helmet was a little trickier, but I managed it by wearing translucent nylon stockings over my head, and padded them with extra fabric making them thick enough not to bite through. With some safety goggles to protect my eyes, I felt pretty confident in getting out of the ordeal bite free.

I made a flamethrower with an aerosol can and a lighter. Just in case I needed some extra firepower. Went back out and purchased an EpiPen. It probably wouldn't do squat considering how many bugs Taylor could deploy, but better safe than not.

Looking at the time, it was 8 pm. With nothing else to do for the day, I cooked myself dinner and watched some TV before turning in for the night.

The next day was a Sunday, and I went out and purchased a motorcycle and got the appropriate licensing for it. I barely knew how to ride it, but it gave me a reason to be completely decked out in biking gear, and that felt like reason enough.

The day after that I went to Winslow. It was near the end of February, so Taylor should have been there, but I didn't see her enter. Partly because I didn't want to get too close to the school and give away the fact that I was stalking a student. The fact that I was stalking a 15 year old girl… I wasn't proud of it, but I had to do what I had to do.

Seeing as I had missed her in the morning, I left and resolved to come back in the afternoon.

I ended up just driving aimlessly through the bay. It surprised me a little that I hadn't encountered any villains or heroes since I'd arrived in the Bay. It made sense that they wouldn't be recklessly rampaging throughout the city, but the fact that I could almost mistake Brockton Bay for a regular city seemed wrong somehow.

When I got back to Winslow later in the afternoon, I caught sight of a tall skinny and pale girl with long dark hair hurriedly boarding a bus. The fact that the school's bell hadn't even rung yet made me believe the girl was Taylor. Probably trying to leave early, and avoid the harassment of her three bullies. I noted which bus she was on and drove home.

The next day, I got on the same bus two stops before Winslow. Sure enough, she got on. Noting which stop she got off on. I got off three stops later, and took a bus heading in the opposite direction, collected my bike and went home.

Wednesday morning came along, and I didn't head back to Winslow. Instead I browsed online ads and purchased a nondescript car. Partly because riding a motorcycle in the middle of winter kinda sucked. To be fair, Brocktons winters were mild, but still not ideal for riding. The fact that Armsmaster and Miss Militia rode their own motorcycles all year round was commendable. The fact that there was a large number of non-caped people doing the same made me scratch my head in confusion. Maybe they didn't feel the cold chill of the wind cutting into their clothes as keenly as I did?

Regardless, I drove my new car to the bus stop Taylor had gotten off on the night before and waited patiently. When she got off, I followed her in my car to where she lived and once again noting the address drove off.

I spent the next week observing her. Barring the weekend, she followed her routine like clockwork. She would wake early every morning, go for a run, come back to her house before taking the bus back to Winslow.

She did a fair job of sticking to the nicer parts of town, but it was still winter. The nights were long, the mornings cold, and there weren't that many people out and about. Despite her efforts, there were a couple dark and deserted alley ways on the route she took.

It was in one of those alleys where I made my move.

AN:

Hi, after a couple years of lurking on this site I thought I'd post something. Whats better than a Worm SI, am I right?

Something that always bothered me about how stories similar in concept to mine functioned is the way the MC would gain charges for new abilities. Most authors default to word count which in my opinion makes no sense. If a character is getting stronger he should earn it. Not just arbitrarily be handed power by the author every x amount of words.

So Eric will be able to craft a power every time he defeats a parahuman, the only condition being that the power he crafts can't be stronger than the power of the person he defeats.

On that note, I literally just wrote this on my phone in like 3 hours. I have some ideas for what power I want to give him but suggestions would be nice.

Since this is the first time I've ever posted anything on here, and I'm doing it on my phone, my formatting may be fucked. I apologize for that in advance. No clue how to thread mark this as I'm posting, so I will try and fix that later.

Hope you enjoy it, and I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms.