First, Guest who commented on chapter 5 on March 13th, My point was that I hadn't seen a Taylor who couldn't or wouldn't take human, or at least humanoid form. Ive read Forged in Blood and Bone, and as far as I was able to tell, she was still able to take at least a human appearance. Basically, what I mean, is, I almost never see Taylor with case 53'esque abilities.

I agree that Queen of the Swarm, kinda, but not really applies.

'Taylor Varga', sorry, but that does not count, she does admittedly have a lizard tale, but literally one of the first abilities she gets is to hide it.

In 'Ship Happens' Taylor becomes a bio-computer, but can still look human, she can also choose not to.

In Queen of Blood, again, she can still pass as human.

Good points though. And as far Sophia not going into her Breaker state, the slime in the manga I was reading, had a special ability that allowed it to consume anything. I assume the translation of the ability would be a trump-like ability to cancel out any powers of the person being consumed.

NOW! I do realize that I am fond of murderhobo esque worm situations, honestly that seems like a natural progression to me. Yeah sure, some people can become heroes, but Taylor has what is literally the worst two years of her life in a universe where people are literally given super powers after having the worst experience of their lives. Not exactly conducive to heroics.

She takes on the role of a cosmic piss bucket, and if thats not enough to break someone after having their mother die, their father die a thousand little emotional deaths, and their sister in all but blood utterly betray them and become their worst enemy, I don't know what is.

And so, with that out of the way, I would like to tap one of my favorite characters for this next one shot.

Lets put a smile on that face

Sophia cursed as she kicked her way through the rubble of Bakuda's bombing campaign, she was happy to get out from behind the console after the fallout out from the Hebert debacle.

She cursed as she remembered that whole situation. She, Emma, and Madison had locked the little weakling into her own locker after they had filled with all sorts of unmentionable filth, most of it coming form the girls sanitation bucket in the locker room.

When they had come back to see if anyone had let her out, the locker looked like its hinges had been cut off and Hebert had been nowhere to be found, and her father, well… He had been found gutted like someone had been playing Aztec priest with his insides, and to be fair his outsides considering it had taken a D.N.A. test to determine his identity since all his important features were removed and his face was smashed in.

Since no one came forward, there was no evidence, and in the end no one could prove she had done anything Sophia and the others had gotten off relatively Scott free, with Emma moving to Arcadia, Madison to Immaculata, and Sophia being stuck on Console until Bakuda started with her little hissy fit. She suddenly was broken out of thoughts as she heard what was piercing screams that trailed off into the gargle of death via blood loss and a punctured lung.

Shadow Stalker faded into her Breaker state and edged into the nearby alley where the sound hand come from before and cautiously peered down it, one crossbow unslung with its tip pointing down the alleyway into a scene of horror straight out of the movies.

A long, thin, bone white figure with greenish black hair, dressed in what looked like a purple overcoat and suit was elbow deep into a shuddering corpse, a nauseating squelching sound permeating the alley as the corpses inner workings were explored by the cheerfully muttering figure.

"Now I know that you know where you got these scars from, but do you know how I got mine? It was a night much like this, but rather then in an alley, it was a place I was supposed to be safe and secure, but instead, b such like I am doing to you know, I was tormented, bullied, broken. And then rebuilt, into something singularly unique. Something that can do things like this without remorse, without hesitation. I wonder if the people who did this to me knew what was going to happen, if they would have still done this…"

Shadow Stalker's crossbow made a metallic clack as it hit the the side of the alley wall, and she cursed as she realized that she had faded back out of her Breaker State when she hadn't been paying attention.

The figure stood up, and up, its long, thin, pale hands and purple covered limbs unwinding to a height of just over 7ft tall, the figures green hair held in a shiny, almost plasticlike greenish black coif that reminded Sophia of old earth Aleph videos of a musician called Elvis. The figure smile cheerfully at Sophia before speaking, its voice high pitched, but raspy like a soprano singer who had been smoking for 40 years.

"Why helloooo there Shadow Stalker. What a pleasure to see you again, might I ask, why a mighty Ward such as yourself, is in an alleyway such as this?"

Shadow Stalker edged backwards as the asexual figure, creeping like some sort of long limbed spider, a slim, serrated knife slipping from one purple sleeve to slap into one purple gloved hand.

"Now… How would you like to know how I got these scars?"

Sophia turned and ran, falling into her breaker state, she felt a spike of fire erupt in her shoulder as she ran, but she didn't stop. She couldn't.

Not as long that thing was behind her.

SceneBreak

Armsmaster stared at his who gasping and wheezing for breath in front of him.

To be fair, he was actually staring at the slim blade curled in her left shoulder, but that was another matter entirely, Sophia had run through the Protecteroate Lobby, setting off a dozen alarms, before stopping at the front desk and demanding to see him, refusing all medical aid until he did.

He watched impassively, hiding his concern as the young Ward in front of him panted.

"Armsmaster, new Cape… they're…. insane!"

Armsmaster place one large armored hand on Sophia's shoulder as the obviously delirious Wards began giggling. The hand was slapped off almost immediately as she grabbed ahold of Armsmaster desperately, the giggles turning into full blown laughter.

"Ha… Help haha…. Me HA…. Please HA! Hahhaha!"

Armsmaster yelled for a medic as Shadow Stalker collapsed, still laughing insanely.

Later that night, PRT medical Bay…

Sophia woke with a gasp.

She could have sworn that someone was in the room with her, but as she looked around the darkened room, with the lights off, the doors closed, and the blinds drawn she calmed down, she was very much alone, except for the glinting red dot of the camera in the corner…

Wait.

The red light of the camera wasn't on.

Temporary glitch maybe?

Sophia mused, but then shook herself as she realized that if the camera was glitching, a PRT officer would be in her room, so that meant they had no idea the camera was down.

Sophia's head whirled around as she heard light foot steps before a leather clad hand clasped over her face, and a single, slim blade came to rest at her throat, and a silken, rotted voice like arsenic and sugar whispered in one ear.

"Hello Sophia. We both now how I got my scars, but I think its high time I give you some of your own."

Later that night when a nurse walked in to check on the hero, she walked into a horror show, and on the walls were thick, clotting letters of deep, blackish red blood, repeating the same to letters, over and over and over.

'hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha'