Alrighty, so this is a rewrite of my first entry into the Worm community and as compared to its original iteration I now actually have a general feel for what is acceptable and what is to be expected when it comes to the source material. I now know that a locker sequence is sort of considered to be passé/cliché what have you, yet it sets the scene so please just deal with it and save us all the time nattering about when the author legitimately does not care about your opinion on the subject because he's heard it one too many times already.
That being set aside, I hope you all enjoy the rewrite and I look forward to Taylor and Lisa's adorkable couple shennaginans along with conquering a criminal empire while trying to deal with the fact they are super powered teenagers in a grimderp universe.
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Taylor held her knees to her chest, sobbed, breathed in the oppressing stench of rotting tampons and vomit, frantically slapping away at the insects skittering across her blemished skin. A few moments of this she then threw up what little was left in her stomach on herself before letting out a quiet sob
Hyperventilating she eventually steeled her inner rage and yelled, "LET ME OUT!"
She screamed this as she slammed her fist into the side of the locker she knew that cunt Sophia shoved her into, and once again received no response for her efforts.
"WHY!?" She sobbed out not for the first time, wondering what god she had pissed off to curse her to be the personal punching bag of a psychotic bitch that somehow never managed to get caught torturing her.
As she sat there in her despair Taylor Hebert fell further into herself as she realized a rather horrifying truth.
"I want to die..."
She had enough, a year and a half, eighteen months of psychological torture and physical abuse had driven her to the point that she wanted it all to end. She had been shoved into this locker yesterday, had been left to rot in filth, carrying a fever from what had to be lethal bloody toxicity, and with her luck STD's courtesy of the rotting tampons and used needles burning through her veins, and thus she finally gave up.
As everything faded to grey Taylor found herself startled as a strong voice spoke up, "Are you a coward?"
Fuck you, Taylor thought out. She was no coward, she had held strong when no one in authority would do anything to stop Sophia's campaign of torment. She had held it together as her dad fell deeper and deeper into apathy as mom's death slowly killed him. She held it together when Emma betrayed her for no reason and joined Sophia's group of sycophants, she'd held it together for years...
She was just...tired of holding it together, tired of waiting for someone with power to actually do their fucking jobs.
She wasn't a coward, she had just acknowledged that those in authority would never help her, so what was the point of holding on?
"Why not rebel then?"
Rebel? Fucking seriously? With what? The conditions at Winslow were bad enough for an underfunded high school, exactly how was she supposed to 'rebel' against anything when the system itself was so poor they couldn't even maintain the schools smoke alarms, much less it's security cameras and metal detectors.
"That's the point isn't it?"
What's the point?
"They have done everything in their power to break you. Yes while this is horrific, if you curl up and die they'll only laugh at your weakness, will they not? That is the point; they took all of your power from you and the only way to truly begin your retribution is to rebel against that. To grasp the power offered to you, to become the predator, to become the alpha that they all wish they were and yet will learn to fear."
Taylor glanced about the empty white space surrounding her, glanced down at her hands, and whispered, "There's so many against me...what...what could I possibly do to stop it?"
The voice that had been whispering to her let out a deep bass rumble as it seethed out, "EVEN THE WOLF FALLS VICTIM TO THE TIGER TAYLOR HEBERT."
Taylor sobbed as she covered her ears, half expecting to feel blood running from ruptured eardrums as she shook her head. Blinking rapidly she met the gaze of a figure dressed in red and black armored robes, stunned all she could feel from the figure was imposing, unyielding power.
I'm no tiger, she thought out sadly, the figure tilted her helmed head to the side, then whispered in reply, the overwhelming power she had spoken with beforehand now gone.
"Do you want to be? The tiger that is, the predator, the one who bows to none and only answers to themselves?"
Taylor didn't hesitate as she squared her shoulders and glared at the figure before her directly, "Yes."
"Then I chose well, Taylor Hebert, now return to your life, and carry on the legacy of Darth Revan."
The armored figure removed her glove, gently caressed Taylor's cheek, then she screamed in agonizing bliss as pure power tore through her body, after that, she knew nothing.
An immeasurable amount of time later Taylor's eyes snapped open and she let out a gasp as she looked about her surroundings in near uncomprehending shock.
She was on a hospital bed, she was clean, everything smelled of antiseptics and the only noise was coming from the machine at her bed side. Taking in deep breaths she slowly sat up and stared down at her hands in confusion then shook her head slowly, had it all been a dream, a hallucination?
No... No it couldn't be, the power it...she still felt it...
With barely a thought she extended her hand towards the desk focusing on the pen sitting on it, a moment later it shot to her hand, rolling it in her palm for a time she eventually cocked her head to the side. With a thought it soon rose up and took itself apart above her palm as the various pieces began orbiting about Taylor.
Smirking she put the pen back together and then sent it back to the desk, leaning back into the bed she couldn't help the dark chuckle that escaped her lips as she closed her eyes.
Oh Sophia had absolutely no idea what she was up against now, and the hilarious part was her worst nightmare would never have been a thing if she hadn't triggered her rise to power.
The irony was...delicious.
Slipping back into the realm of Morpheus Taylor couldn't help but think that Revan was a rather good name for a super villain.
After awaking Taylor meditated while sitting cross legged on her hospital bed, extending her senses around her she felt the presence of everyone moving about the massive sprawling medical facility going about their everyday tasks. She listened to all their inane little thoughts as they moved about blissfully oblivious to the fact that their every action was being observed by a disinterested teenager in the process of honing her super powers.
"They're like ants, nothing more than insects at all, really..." She mused to herself as she shifted her focus and then paused as a painfully familiar blue fire in a sea of mundane grey flared out towards her.
"Dad," she whispered quietly, and a moment later she wiped the tears from her cheeks and took in a deep breath while settling herself with a slow exhale. When the door swung open Taylor didn't have to fake her smile as she jumped off her bed while wrapping her arms around the man who entered her room.
-
Danny Hebert had been scared, terrified even, that his little girl would not want to see him, that after missing the horror show that her life had become over the past two years she would rightfully blame him for what she had gone through at that fucking school and the now blatant betrayal of her former best friend.
So when she jumped off her bed and wrapped her arms around his neck while whispering, "Dad...I missed you so much..." into his ear Danny nearly froze up as he pulled her close while letting out a quiet sob.
They stood there like that for about a minute before they finally broke away from each other; he stared down at his little girl as she adjusted her glasses while he gently pulled a lock of her dark curly hair behind her ear as he shook his head slowly.
"I'm so sorry Taylor, I...I should...I should have been there for you."
She met his gaze evenly, her eyes burning with an intensity he had only ever seen in her mother as she nodded slowly, "Yeah, you should have been there for me dad."
It took all his will power to not reel from that blow but then Taylor smiled at him, "But you're here now, and that's what counts, right?"
Danny took in a sharp breath, and then pulled Taylor in for another hug, "Here now and always..."
They stood there for a time when Taylor eventually muttered, "You took the deal didn't you?"
Danny grimaced as he nodded, deciding not to hide the truth from his little girl, "I had no choice, either pretend what they let happen to you didn't happen and cover the medical costs, or-"
"Or you pursued justice, inevitably failed since we're a lower middle class family and don't have that kind of money to throw around, and then we'd very likely lose our home in order to cover the court costs."
Danny froze as Taylor gently broke away from him and kissed his brow, "You're a good man dad. You did what you had to do, and I don't blame you for doing what was practical."
He barely suppressed a sob as he pulled Taylor into another hug, completely unaware of his daughter's seething thoughts in relation to the girls who had tried to drive her towards suicide for the laughs and little more.
That...was probably for the best; Taylor Hebert had a very creative mind after all, it was best not to know what was running through it.
-
She woke up screaming, breath ragged as she ran her hands across her sweaty brow and through her hair, glancing about she listened for her dad but she hadn't managed to wake him this time.
Good.
It had been like this for almost three months now, waking up in terror, reliving her trigger, and causing her dad to panic while he ineffectually tried to calm her down.
It was better this way, him being unaware that is, he had enough going on in his life without having to micromanage her emotional bullshit after all.
Slipping out of bed she pulled on a pair of charcoal grey cargo pants and a black tank top, after fishing out a pair of socks from her dresser she pulled on the old combat boots Emma had bought her back when...
Back when they were still friends...
Truth be told she should have thrown them out but...she was a practical girl no matter what, and they were solid boots.
Pulling on her favorite blue hoody and one of her mom's old denim jackets Taylor grabbed a Red Sox cap off a hat hook and pulled her hair through it before settling it into place. Hands in pockets, one holding a knife, the other a can of mace, she walked out into the misty night trying her best to not think about anything.
She wandered the streets in a minor daze, lost in thought as she tried to process the past couple of weeks, and what it really all boiled down to was that she was perfectly fine with becoming a villain. She just...wanted to be one of those enlightened villains, like, Moriarty, or Jack Sparrow, and the like. She was all for vested self-interest she just had no desire to needlessly hurt anyone in the process, and well...
Thinking about Sophia and Emma a moment she had to adjust her thoughts.
Ok, almost anyone, good clarification there.
As she considered this change in her thought process she heard someone talking at the mouth of the alley she was walking along, Taylor slowed her pace and rested against the grimy wall while shooting a look around the corner.
There was a large group of men, all of them were armed, Asian, and looked pissed off which only meant...
Taking in a sharp breath, she quietly muttered, "Shit...ABB...How the fuck did I wander all the way out to the Docks? Stupid! Fucking stupid Taylor!" . Still self admonishing herself Taylor looked around the corner again and saw a massive man she had recognized from pictures posted on the PHO message boards and very nearly pissed herself as she slipped back into the alley.
Lung.
The 'went toe to toe with Leviathan' Fuck Mothering Dragon of Kyushu Lung.
Lung was snarling, and Taylor barely managed to pick up "…the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot. You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?"
The fucking Dragon of Kyushu was going to kill kids?
Taylor was hyperventilating at this point but she managed to take in several deep breaths before nodding to herself slowly coming to a decision.
She might be an up and coming villainess, in her own mind at least, but kids...
She stepped out of her alley and allowed the Force to gather around her as she muttered, "I really wish I was a Tinker, a lightsaber would really be handy right about now..."
With that, a dumpster at her left went flying and hit Lung directly in the head as she she shrugged while muttering, "Oh well."
As Lung went barreling down the alley with a consolation prize in the form of a warped dumpster surrounding him as he hit a building she turned to his unpowered punks and raised her hands towards them, jerking them back aggressively. All of their weapons tore away from them and she had to quickly side step to avoid getting impaled by the very large variety of shooty and stabby implements as they flew past her. Cracking her neck to the side she stared down the now rather spooked gangbangers and chuckled lightly while speaking up.
"Running would probably be the best idea you've had all night."
Before they could respond the dumpster at the far end of the alley exploded in a wave of molten steel and fire, a man now wreathed in flames stood up and roared out, "YOU DARE!?"
As the mooks ran away in terror Taylor could only think of one thing to say at her new predicament.
"Ah, shit…"