Aftermath (Worm AU)

[AntonioCC]

The problem is that your "reasonable" explanations, Navrin, was explicitly said to be wrong by the author. When confronted with that you try to escape that appealing to "Death of the Author" ina way that clearly shows that you don't understand it (and when people have tried to show that you are wrong you have ignored them). You then try subjectivist bullshit that doesn't fly either, and now you are being reduced to "weasel words".

TL;DR;

You are this guy:

 

[Ack]

Three times you've asked and three times I've answered: NEITHER. One of them might be considered more or less reasonable than the other by most people, and maybe one will change their perspective with time and/or information, but that's it. And if you're going to insist on making anything about your stories you disagree with into a matter of "right" and "wrong" where you're the tyrant king of your stories and all must bow to your intentions, then I'm not inclined to post in them and end up in yet another pointless discussion where neither of us accepts the other's core premises.

The question you insist on an answer from the two options you've provided is right up there with "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" and not accepting anything other than "yes" or "no".

Click to shrink...

Fail.

 

[esotericist]

This makes me tired.

Edit: To clarify, this is just... such a silly thing to have turn into such an intense interaction.

I think I see where things are going wrong, but I am a conflict-averse person, and I'm not sure I can try to mediate, especially when I feel I (let alone others) have intruded enough on Ack's thread and time.

 

[Megaolix]

And indeed, perhaps it should stop here unless Ack has no problem letting it continue.

 

[cyberswordsmen]

DOTA is intended to only deal with completed and finished works that have been finished with. It doesn't really apply to an ongoing work or series like Acks stuff. To some extent it doesn't even fully apply to Worm as Wildbow still intends to go back and edit it to a new edition.

It is basically intended to express the concept that the non-literal meanings of the text can exist even if the author didn't intend for them to be there or had a different meaning that wasn't communicated to the readers properly.

The idea is that the impression left in the readers has as much value as the impression the author intended.

It doesn't mean that all interpretations are equal but it does mean that discussions need to be based off the work itself rather than them being completely settled by the authors statement.

 

[Ack]

DOTA is intended to only deal with completed and finished works that have been finished with. It doesn't really apply to an ongoing work or series like Acks stuff. To some extent it doesn't even fully apply to Worm as Wildbow still intends to go back and edit it to a new edition.

It is basically intended to express the concept that the non-literal meanings of the text can exist even if the author didn't intend for them to be there or had a different meaning that wasn't communicated to the readers properly.

The idea is that the impression left in the readers has as much value as the impression the author intended.

It doesn't mean that all interpretations are equal but it does mean that discussions need to be based off the work itself rather than them being completely settled by the authors statement.

Click to shrink...

Whereas I am specifically talking about literal meanings of the text.

Now, you can go on about the underlying symbolism of Taylor becoming the Swarm (and whatever else her powers will allow her to do) and I care not at all.

But if you criticise my writing by willfully taking an erroneous statement made by one of the characters, presume it to be true, and defend that 'truth' against an authorial statement that it is indeed false ... that says more about you than about my writing.

 

[Ack]

And indeed, perhaps it should stop here unless Ack has no problem letting it continue.

Click to shrink...

Okay. I'm going to drop this here.

 

[Ack]

Aftermath

Part Nine: All Together Now


Danny

Armsmaster raised his voice slightly. "You've got your orders. Move in."

He started toward the house, and the swarm surrounding it, at a steady pace. Danny felt momentary irritation – I'm not under your orders – but then he shook it off and followed, with the two police officers and the three Wards flanking him. PRT soldiers in full-coverage gear were already fanned out around the house, outside the periphery of the swarm, each one carrying a heavy spray-gun, fed by oversized canisters on their backs. In contrast, the only equipment Danny had on him was a headset with throat microphone.

As they neared the swarm, Danny studied it, although he didn't really know what he was looking for. Taylor's face, he supposed, outlined in the buzzing, humming insects. There was nothing like that, but it seemed to him that the buzzing reached a higher pitch as he got closer. Bugs broke away from the main mass, surrounded him. He flinched slightly, then controlled himself.

"Taylor." His voice was loud in his own ears. "Taylor, is that you?"

There was no answer, although they did land on him. There were bugs on his shoulders, his chest, his face – he flinched again as one crawled near to his eye and on to his glasses – his arms and his legs. One alighted on top of his head, near his bald spot. He stopped moving, so as to concentrate on what the bugs were doing.

Armsmaster stopped also, as did the Wards and the policemen. He was vaguely aware of them watching him, or perhaps just staring at the crazy man who talked to bugs. A heavy scarab beetle droned around him; he held out his hand, palm up, and it landed heavily. He could feel its legs scratching at his skin. It turned to look at him; he brought up his hand to his face and peered at it. Tiny facets of light reflected off of its dark beetle eyes.

"Sir," Armsmaster addressed him, "are you all right?"

He nodded. "Yes, I am." He gestured with the hand that held the heavy beetle. "I think she knows we're here. That I'm here. That it's all right to go in."

"If you say so, sir." Armsmaster started forward again; Danny followed. He had Shadow Stalker to his left and Aegis to his right, with Clockblocker at his back. Clockblocker had a police officer on either side of him, each one wearing what amounted to a biohazard suit. They had to be sweltering in those things.

The swarm rose before them like a living wall of buzzing chitin, flashing back and forth in a manner almost certain to send cold shivers down the backbone of any rational human being.

Almost certain, Danny told himself. Or maybe I'm just no longer rational enough to fear insects, even in a swarm of this size.

Armsmaster was inside the swarm by now, bugs swirling around him, crawling over nearly every inch of his armour. They weren't attacking him, but they certainly weren't giving him the almost-friendly reception that Danny had gotten.

Taking a deep breath, Danny stepped into the swarm as well, crossed the almost-physical dividing line between clear air and buzzing insects. And the swarm parted before him; the humming and buzzing was almost a physical thing, but he walked in a bubble devoid of flying bugs.

<><>​

Sophia

This is all kinds of bullshit.

Shadow Stalker did not want to be here. Hebert shouldn't have died in the locker – that wimp! – but even if she did, she had no business leaving behind any sorts of notes implicating Sophia in whatever happened to her. She should have just kept her head down, taken her medicine like the weakling she was, and not made waves.

But she hadn't. She'd kept notes, apparently. Maybe she was planning to give them to Blackwell, or the cops. Sophia couldn't decide whether Hebert dying was a good thing or not; she was pretty sure that between them and Emma's dad, they'd be able to laugh off anything the snivelling little queef wrote about them. But the idea of Hebert having the gall to even plan to do something like that … it made her grit her teeth.

Whatever. I'm here now. She stuck close to Hebert's dad, not because she wanted to – weak chin, weak eyes, weak man – but because she wanted to keep inside the no-fly zone that somehow existed around him. Behind him, Clockblocker and the police officers were similarly staying close. Wimps. The bugs can't even get to them. On the other side, Aegis was half out of the bubble; the bugs that landed and crawled on him didn't seem to bother him.

I get into the house, I go upstairs to the room, I get those damn notes, and I destroy them. The cops can turn the place upside down after that for all I care. They won't be there.

Earlier, Armsmaster had briefed them on the theory that Taylor Hebert was somehow alive in the swarm. That there was a chance that she was still conscious and aware, in the mass of bugs surrounding her family home. Sophia found that idea to be disturbing in the extreme, and so she did her best to discount it.

Her dad's a Master. Maybe he's doing it. Or maybe it was indeed somehow Hebert, but … well, whoever heard of bugs being smart? Bugs were dumb. And these bugs weren't showing any sign of being anything else. Apart from leaving Hebert's dad alone. Which actually makes it more likely that he's the Master.

She moved with the group, carefully keeping within the bubble of clear air, as they approached the front of the house. It's now or never.

"I'll go in, scout around," she offered. "Make sure there isn't a giant beehive or something just behind the front door."

Armsmaster nodded. "Take care. In and out, thirty seconds."

She smiled behind her mask. I can do that.

<><>​

Taylor

She hadn't been sure, even with the extra bugs she'd brought in, but that was Dad all right. He approached the Swarm, along with the others, and she sent out emissaries to welcome him. Bugs landed on his head and crawled on to his glasses, to make sure it was him, and others landed on his chest and arms and back in the best she could do for a hug, right at that moment.

She was fairly sure that he had spoken her name, but she couldn't understand what else he was saying. It didn't matter; he was here, and he would read her note. He would know that it really was her, that she was alive. Everything else was secondary.

She would much rather it be just him who came into the house, but she didn't want to attack anyone else. That could get Dad in trouble. So she held her bugs in abeyance; they didn't attack anyone, but the only one that they actively avoided was her father. That should show them that he's the important one here.

She was still working on refining her interpretation of bug senses; she supposed that it was because she had a human mind, stored in multiple bug brains, and it was hard enough for her to think straight as it was. The closer the bugs were together, the easier this was for her, and the more human she felt. I need to pull myself together, hah.

Still and all, she had gotten a fairly good idea of who some of the people with her father actually were. Armour and halberd equals Armsmaster. Three of the others are wearing costumes, but they aren't adults. That makes them Wards. The other two, I have no idea.

Wow, Dad's getting a full escort in here. That led to a sobering thought. They think I might still attack him, or the other two, whoever they might be.

Okay, I'll hold off on any aggressive actions unless I'm certain that they're trying to attack me or Dad.

As an afterthought, she pulled all the bugs away from where she had left the note. It was a clear rectangle on the table. They'll notice it. Please let them notice it.

In the basement, she was congregating more and more bugs, pressing them closer and closer together in a single living mound of chitin. If I'm normally smart just like this, I wonder what happens if I get all my bugs really close?

The front door had not opened, but the Swarm detected a shadowy figure moving into the house. She couldn't get any sort of impression of it, save that it was dark, and moved her bugs a little bit when it moved through them. Shadow Stalker, of the Wards, she realised. A nagging memory crossed her mind – I think I saw her, earlier. Why does she remind me of someone? – but then it was gone, as Shadow Stalker started up the stairs. Why are you going that way? Don't go that way. Go to the table. That's where the note is.

Bugs began to flow through the shadowy form, in an attempt to guide her to where the note was.

<><>​

Dana

There was a row of barriers across the road, up ahead. Momentarily, Dana considered crashing the perimeter – way to make a dramatic entrance – but decided against it. It would be much easier to convince whoever was in charge of the PRT operation if she didn't antagonise them from the start.

The blank-visored soldiers on the perimeter were certainly aware of her as she drove toward them; rather than make them nervous, she braked to a halt a decorous distance away from the plastic barrier, then climbed out of the car and hurried toward them. In one hand, she had the briefcase with all her notes; in the other, the case holding her laptop.

"Ma'am, going to need you to stop right there," declared one of the PRT soldiers. He didn't unsling his rifle, but his partner did, even if it wasn't pointed directly at Dana. He did, however, hold his hand out in a definitive 'halt' gesture. "This is a PRT operation. We're dealing with a dangerous parahuman."

"I know," she told them. "That's why I'm here." She swapped both cases to the same hand, and reached into her coat. When she looked up, she was looking into two rifle barrels. She froze.

"Ma'am," the soldier stated much more coldly, "please take your hand out of your coat, slowly."

"It's okay," Dana told him urgently. "Police officer. Dana McAllister, Homicide. I'm just getting my badge."

He jerked the rifle barrel slightly. "Go ahead. Just the badge."

Slowly, Dana withdrew her hand, held up the leather wallet holding the badge. "I need to see your commanding officer, as fast as possible," she told the man. "I have information on the situation here. I'm pretty sure I know who killed the Hebert girl."

"Killed the who what now?" asked the second soldier.

Dana pointed, with the hand holding the wallet, at the tremendous swarm. "I know who caused that."

<><>​

Sophia

Crap.

The bugs were going to be more of a problem than Sophia had envisaged. She could move through the swarm well enough in her shadow form, but they slowed her down, disrupted her. If enough of them flew through her in the right direction, she felt, they could actually move her in that direction. All of which would not have been a problem, except that she wanted to get upstairs in a hurry, and the bugs were actually slowing her down significantly.

Maybe I should have gone in through the roof.

No, then it would have been too obvious.

Crap.

It was too late to change the plan. Once the others got inside, she would be under their eyes, and it would be so much harder to destroy the notes that Hebert had left behind. So she struggled up the stairs, and along the hallway. Bugs buzzed through her body, a few dozen at a time; it was unpleasant and utterly creepy.

Get to Hebert's room. Get those notes.

It had become her mantra.

<><>​

Danny

Just as Danny had been about to glance at his watch – surely it's been more than thirty seconds – Armsmaster raised his hand.

"It's been more than thirty seconds," the armoured hero pronounced. Told you so. "She's not answering her radio. I'm going in to see what's happened. Everyone else, wait here."

Behind him, Danny heard the young hero called Clockblocker mutter, "Right. Wait here in the middle of this massive swarm of flesh-eating bugs."

Fortunately for the teen, Armsmaster either didn't hear the comment, or he simply chose to ignore it. He turned to mount the steps; Danny stepped forward and called out, "Wait!"

Armsmaster paused to look back at him. "What?"

"The first step." Danny pointed. "It's rotted. And maybe I should go with you. The bugs aren't bothering me at all."

Armsmaster shook his head. "No, sir. We're here to protect you. You stay outside until I find out what's happened to Shadow Stalker."

Turning back toward the house, he stepped over the bottom step, and moved up to the front door. Extracting a key from one of the pouches on his belt, he inserted it and turned; the lock clicked. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside.

<><>​

Colin

Armsmaster had never seen so many insects congregated in one place at one time. The swarm was even thicker in the house than it had been outside, and it had been daunting then. He was finding himself having to wipe his visor clear every few seconds just so that he could see, and even then, sight was actually hampered by the sheer number of bugs in the air.

However, Shadow Stalker was not lying on the floor beside the door, and nor was there any giant beehive or other insect nest to be seen. Clicking the chin switch, he tried the radio again.

"Shadow Stalker, come in. Shadow Stalker, come in. You have exceeded your time limit."

There was no answer; he flicked the switch again, changing it over to external speakers.

"Shadow Stalker!" he shouted. "Where are you?"

The sound seemed to almost be absorbed by the mass of bugs, but he was sure that wherever the Ward was in the house, she would have heard. But again, there came no reply.

I should never have let her go in alone, he told himself. This just became a rescue mission.

He chinned his radio on. "PRT command, this is Armsmaster," he reported. "Shadow Stalker is not responding to radio or voice. Taking Aegis into the building for search and rescue. Over."

"Armsmaster, this is PRT command. Message received and understood. Be careful. Command, out."

"Careful, roger. Armsmaster, out." Flicking the radio to the team channel, he went on. "Armsmaster, here. I'm going in to find Shadow Stalker and bring her out. Aegis, you're with me. Everyone else, stay out here. Is that understood?"

"Uh, what about me talking to Taylor?" asked Danny, predictably enough.

"We don't know for a fact that it will work," Armsmaster told him patiently. "We do know that Shadow Stalker has fallen out of communication. I have to assume that something's happened to her, something hostile. Stay out of the house, and remember your emergency protocols. Aegis, with me."

"Sir."

<><>​

Dana

For a few moments, Dana had thought that she was going straight to the man in charge. But when the guard ushered her into the trailer, she was faced with a fresh-faced PRT lieutenant.

"Detective, you're just going to have to wait," he told her. "The Captain's currently busy. We have a problem with the team that's going into the house."

"What sort of a problem?" she asked.

"Sorry, ma'am, but I can't tell you that."

"Well then, what can you tell me?"

He tried not to look harassed, but couldn't quite pull it off. "That the Captain will be able to see you just as soon as he's dealt with the problem."

"Listen," she tried again, "can you at least tell me if it's about Shadow Stalker?"

That scored; she saw his momentary startled look. However, he recovered quickly. "Ma'am, I'm not cleared to tell you what it's about."

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm herself down before she screamed at the man. "Look, are you cleared to talk about Shadow Stalker's secret identity?"

His eyes were guarded now. "Discussing that sort of thing, even if I knew it, which I don't, would get me into a whole world of trouble, Detective."

"How about if she's guilty of murder?" That stopped him; she continued quickly. "Because I'm pretty sure that she's guilty of at least negligent homicide, and probably murder as well, and if I'm right, she's going into that house with the father of the girl she killed, in order to retrieve notes implicating her in a months-long bullying campaign against that same girl."

The Lieutenant blinked. "You have evidence?"

Dana nodded. "Yeah, I've got evidence. It's not absolutely rock-solid, but it's pretty damn compelling."

He sighed and pushed aside paperwork to clear off a space on his desk. "Show me."

She was startled. "We haven't got time!"

"Detective." His tone was firm. "The first thing the Captain is going to ask me when I bring this to him is 'have you seen any proof'? I need to be able to say yes. So make it fast."

Dana took a deep breath, and opened her briefcase.

<><>​

Carlos

"Check the living room," Armsmaster ordered him. "Then the kitchen. I'll check the basement. We'll both check upstairs."

"No problem, sir," Aegis replied. Squinting his eyes, he moved into the living room, feeling the bugs thwacking against his body like living hail. More were crawling on him, but it didn't really bother him. What was odd, however, was that he didn't feel any bugs crushing underfoot as he walked; looking down, he just barely saw the living carpet of bugs moving aside as he put his foot down.

"Sir," he reported over the radio, "these bugs are under outside control. I'm not stepping on any."

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the thunderous drone of tens of thousands of bug wings, and then the armoured hero replied. "Well spotted. Nor am I. Keep looking."

He was halfway through the living room, having ascertained that nobody was in the room, when his radio came to life once more. "Basement. Now."

Armsmaster rarely used that tone, and only ever in the field. Aegis shielded his face and flew across the room, caught the doorframe, and turned in midair to reach the top of the basement stairs. In doing so, he totally failed to notice the piece of paper on the kitchen table. In the basement, the light was on, although it wasn't illuminating much. What it was, however, illuminating, was … worrying.

Armsmaster was halfway down the steps, and Aegis joined him, shielding his eyes while looking at the mass of bugs on the basement floor. It was vaguely human-shaped; two long bumps for arms, a narrower section for two legs, and a bump that could be a head; it lay on the floor of the basement. Worst of all, though, was the fact that it was moving very slightly.

"Oh god," choked Aegis. "Is there … someone under that?"

"Infrared says there is," Armsmaster told him shortly. "Come on, we have to save whoever it is."

As they descended to floor level, he heard Armsmaster speaking quietly, but not over the radio, and knew he must be on the command channel. "Armsmaster to PRT command. Person in basement, buried under bugs. Best bet is that it's Shadow Stalker. We're getting her out now. Pull back the others."

<><>​

Danny

"Pull back. Repeat, pull back."

Danny frowned. "What? Why?"

"No time for questions. Pull back, now."

Already, the police officers were stepping back. Clockblocker put his hand on Danny's arm. "Sir, we really should be getting back, like they say."

"No," snapped Danny, and Clockblocker froze."You can do what you want, but I'm going into the house."

"Okay, you're going into the house," Clockblocker agreed. "We'll be back over here, okay?"

Danny didn't answer; he pushed the door open and entered the house, the bugs still leaving an empty bubble around him.

"Mr Hebert," he heard through the headset. "Leave the house at -"

With a growl, he tore the thing off and threw it to the floor. I'm going to talk to Taylor.

Walking through into his living room, as he had done for years, he looked around. Bugs crawled on every surface, but he barely saw them. He was looking for traces of his daughter.

"Taylor?" he asked. "Are you there?"

And the Swarm spoke to him.

<><>​

Taylor

Go downstairs. Look on the kitchen table. But despite the stream of bugs travelling through the shadow-girl's body, she persevered, moving stubbornly along the corrridor.

Oh. Maybe she's been told about the notes I've been taking. That made sense. But something seemed to tell her that it was a bad idea to let the girl take them. What is it? Why don't I want her to see them? It was something from before she achieved full consciousness, when she was drifting on the wind. Something that she could not remember, not fully.

She observed as the girl reached her bedroom door, still open, and slid inside.

Okay, fine, I'll let her have them. See what she does.

The bugs on the bed drew back, revealing the stack of notes still lying there; Taylor turned her attention to the living room, downstairs, where her father had just walked in.

"Dad," she spoke to him in the multitudinous buzz/hum/click of the Swarm. "Dad. It's me. I'm alive."

She saw him turn his head, listening. "Taylor," he replied, and she understood him. "Taylor. Thank God."

And then Taylor saw what was happening in the bedroom.

<><>​

Sophia

She stopped for a breather halfway along the corridor; leaning against the wall, she let herself slip back to reality, breathing heavily. Thankful that her mask kept out most of the bugs.

"Shadow Stalker! Where are you?"

Armsmaster's voice, amplified by his helmet's speakers, echoed through the house. Shadow Stalker shook her head and went back to shadow, her skin crawling from the number of bugs that had alighted on her during the breather.

This was tiring. It was like wading through molasses, or thick mud, or trying to move against a strong wind. The bugs whipped through her almost immaterial shadow-substance, and while they couldn't touch her or hurt her, they could slow her, wear her out. But I don't lose.

Forcing herself onward, she eased through the open door into the bedroom. Bugs coated every surface, hung like obscene stalactites from the ceiling. And then some of the bugs on the bed moved aside, and she saw the stack of notes. Held together with a bulldog clip.

It couldn't be this easy, could it?

Going solid, she reached down, picked it up. Tried to leaf through it. But the bugs were landing on it, crawling around, preventing her from reading anything all the way through. So all she got was the occasional name, reference to an incident. Dates starting in September of the previous year. Around the time I joined the Wards. Fuck, she's been doing this for this long?

She weighed the stack of papers. It's heavy. Thick. Won't burn easy. There'd been half an idea in her head to put it in the trash or simply light it on fire. But this would be found. Some part of it would be found. Unless she removed it altogether from the premises.

Lifting up her cape, she tucked it down the back of her belt, over her butt. Letting her cape fall, she checked over her shoulder. They'll never notice. I'll just stroll out, destroy it at my leisure.

Under her mask, she smiled. "I win, Hebert."

That was when the first wasp stung her.

<><>​

Taylor

What's she doing? Taylor couldn't figure it out. She's got the notes. Why isn't she bringing them downstairs?

And then she spoke, and Taylor heard it, through the ears of ten thousand bugs at once. It wasn't so much the words, as the tone, the tilt of the head. The arrogance.

That's fucking Sophia Hess.

Wasps swarmed to the attack. Sophia was caught unawares by the sudden change, from passive to aggressive. She was stung half a dozen times before she managed to go to shadow form, to lunge for the window. But Taylor had learned; she had trouble moving against massed swarms. So her bugs swirled through Sophia's shadowy body, pushing her back toward the centre of the room.

She can't stay that way forever. I can outwait her.

And then Sophia went back to normal form just for a moment. And she screamed, loud and long. Even as she tried to draw breath again, bugs scrambled past her mask, down her throat. She coughed, choked … then went to shadow form again.

Taylor stayed on her. Come on. Turn solid. Just once.

<><>​

Carlos

The scream came from above; it resounded in their radio earpieces as well as down the stairs. Aegis' head jerked up, as did Armsmaster's.

"Shadow Stalker," they both stated at the same time. Aegis stared at the older hero as the realisation sank in, and then he gestured at the shape more or less at their feet. "If that's Shadow Stalker, then who's this?"

"I'll find out," snapped Armsmaster. "Go help Shadow Stalker."

"Right," agreed Aegis. He didn't bother using the stairs; once more, he took flight up the staircase, pulling a hard one-eighty to get himself into the front hall. Angling upward, he grabbed the stair rail and swung himself around another one-eighty degree turn. Bugs caromed off of his face as he got to the top of the stairs and swung down the corridor; a couple of stings penetrated; he felt the venom sting, then tingle, then die away as his body adapted.

The noise of the swarm was now a roar; he was fighting against a tempest as he followed the next scream into an open doorway. Every surface was covered inches deep in bugs of all types, and the shadowy form in the middle of the room was literally swamped in them. More stings hit, and penetrated, but he ignored them.

He aimed his spray canister at Shadow Stalker's immaterial form, at the swarm roiling through the space that she occupied, and let fly. Sickly yellowish fog filled the room; he just kept the trigger down. The taste was acrid, and then he adapted to it. Bugs stopped hitting him from the side, and hit him from above, instead, as those that had been on the ceiling, or flying above him, died. Vaguely, he saw a swirl as Shadow Stalker phased out through the wall.

There was one more thing he had to do. "Aegis to all points. Bugs are hostile. Repeat, bugs are hostile."

<><>​

Danny

His head jerked up at the scream from above. "What the hell was that?"

"Shadow Stalker, Dad. Sophia Hess." She was refining her technique, smoothing her words out. It almost sounded like real speech, now. "She just tried to steal my notes about the bullies. I stopped her." She sounded grimly satisfied.

"What … what are you doing to her?"

"Keeping her in place, until the heroes get there. Ah, here comes Aegis. Good. No, not good. No, don't. Shit."

"What? What's happened?"

"He killed the bugs I was using to hold her in place. She got away, with the notes. I'm chasing her, but they've got insect spray. I can't … fuck. She's getting away."

Danny squared his jaw. "No, she's not."

Turning, he dashed from the house.

<><>​

Colin

Bending over the supine form, Armsmaster prepared to sweep away a carpet of living bugs, but he was surprised; all that his gauntlets encountered were empty shells, lifeless husks, that clattered on the concrete floor of the basement. Brushing them aside more readily, he exposed what was below; a dirty-yellow expanse of something smooth, firm, yielding. Vaguely human shaped.

And then it flexed, and he realised what he was seeing. It's a cocoon.

Christ, those bugs cocooned someone.

In the back of his mind, he heard someone telling Danny Hebert to leave the house, but he ignored it. The person in front of him needed his assistance right now.

He had no idea how or why the bugs had managed to cocoon someone, but the situation was undeniable. He tried to tear the stuff, but it just stretched a little; it was tough. Really tough. The same went for lifting it; it was glued to the floor, and he couldn't pull it free.

On the other hand, Armsmaster prided himself on his versatility, and he had brought along his halberd. Pulling the weapon off his back, just as the bugs in the cellar kicked their buzzing to a new level, he heard Aegis' statement over the radio.

"Aegis to all points. Bugs are hostile. Repeat, bugs are hostile."

"Not a surprise," he muttered, as he slid the very tip of the halberd into a pinched-up fold of the material, and unzipped it like a sleeping bag.

The teenage girl within sat up and blinked at him.

<><>​

Sophia

She didn't have to fake her fear. Being swarmed like that had been intensely unpleasant, and she had sincerely feared for her life for just a few moments, before Aegis had stormed into the room. So as she landed, solid, on the pavement outside the Hebert house, and ran toward the nearest PRT trooper, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Help me! Oh god, please help!"

Nor was he slow in providing that help, not when what looked like half the bug population of Brockton Bay was following the dark-clad Ward, with murderous intent. He aimed his spray gun, released the clouds of deadly vapour, and bugs died in their tens of thousands. Sophia stopped in the middle of the spray, luxuriating in it; it tasted acrid on the tongue, and smelled worse, but right then, it was the best smell in all the world.

The bugs fell back; Sophia took the opportunity to activate her radio. "Sorry about that. My headset was playing up. The bugs went nuts and chased me. Whatever's in there wants to kill us all."

"The bugs in the rest of the house are agitated as well," Aegis supplied, on the radio net. "How are you doing, Shadow Stalker?"

She could afford to be generous. "Great, thanks to you," she replied, stepping past the PRT man with a nod; he nodded back. "You got there just in time." There was a trash bin, just up ahead. If she could slip the notes in there …

"Stop right there, Shadow Stalker."

She froze, could not take another step.

"Come back here."

Against her will, she turned. One step. Another. Walking toward Danny Hebert, who had just stepped out of the house. Looking directly toward her. Gesturing her toward him.

She couldn't stop walking, but she could speak. "What the fuck? That bastard's Mastering me! Help!"

Guns were lifted toward Danny; he spoke again. "No-one interferes."

The guns were lowered again. She took another reluctant step. "Fuck you," she gritted. Drawing one of her crossbows, she loaded it.

"I've spoken to Taylor," he told her. "She told me what you did."

Her treacherous feet kept moving her toward him. She tried going to shadow, but it didn't do anything; she changed back. In desperation, she reached back behind her; under her cape, beside where the notes resided, she had a small holdout of arrows. The sharp kind. Just in case.

Fingers made clumsy with haste, she changed out arrows.

"Shadow Stalker!"

It was a woman's voice. Not one she knew. She glanced over, annoyed.

A woman, gun in one hand, badge in the other. "Shadow Stalker! You are under arrest for murder! Drop your weapon!"

She curled her lip. Went to go to shadow form.

"No."

With that negation, which she knew was meant for this and this alone, she stayed solid. Kept walking.

"Shadow Stalker, drop your weapon and surrender, or I will open fire!"

More reluctant steps. A pistol, pointed at her. Danny Hebert, in front of her. And beyond him …

Up until then, she could have given up. Could have surrendered. The deck was stacked against her, everyone working to her ruin. Shit just happened sometimes. She could plead some sort of temporary insanity deal.

But when she saw Armsmaster leaving the front of the house, and who he was escorting, all that went out the window. Snarling, she brought up her arm, aimed the crossbow. Began to squeeze the trigger.

"Last warning!"

You'll never do it.

A tremendous report, a crashing impact. Sophia found herself lying on her back. Her empty crossbow next to her hand. Hot wetness spreading across her shoulder.

<><>​

The woman standing over her, holstering her pistol. Looking down at her with contempt.

"You'll live. And as soon as you're out of danger, I will be reading you your rights."

<><>​

A PRT medic was kneeling alongside her, her costume partly cut away, a bandage on her right shoulder. Armsmaster was looking down at her, his expression probably disapproving. And beside him … she tried to shake her head. Her voice was weak, but she spoke anyway.

"You're dead. You died."

Taylor Hebert, clad from neck to feet in a living curtain of bugs, shook her head. "I got better."

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 1

The sound of the policewoman's gun still echoed from the buildings; Shadow Stalker was on her back.

So, too, was Taylor; the renegade Ward's aim had been impeccable. The arrow stuck out, just under her ribcage. Dark blood welled around it. She half-sat up, the bugs that were providing her modesty moving aside so that she could examine it.

"Don't move!" snapped Armsmaster. "We'll get a medic to you!"

And then Danny was there; he fell to his knees beside Taylor. "Oh god," he groaned. "Not again. Please, not again."

Taylor frowned. "It's no big deal," she told them. Wrapping her hand around the shaft of the arrow, she pulled it from the wound. Blood spurted, and then the bugs closed over it. The bloodflow stopped.

"What the -" began Armsmaster.

Taylor handed the arrow to him. "Evidence of attempted murder, this time," she noted. "Last time was an accident. This time, surely not."

He accepted it, wonderingly, as the bugs drew aside. Several empty husks fell to the ground, as a patch of yellowish cocoon material was revealed. Showing no pain at all, Taylor got to her feet. She looked at the stunned gazes on the faces around her.

" … what?"

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 2

" … while you did use your Master ability on PRT personnel, I have been assured that the circumstances were understandably confused," Emily Piggot stated. "However, it is still against the law, so - "

"So how about this," interrupted Taylor, from beside her father. "Dad and I join the Protectorate – well, Dad joins the Protectorate – and I join the Wards, and neither of us speaks to the press about the monumental fuck-up that was every single minute of Sophia Hess being a Ward, we get a damages payout for all the shit Sophia put me through, and you don't give Dad any shit about Mastering a few dozen PRT goons."

Piggot turned a glare on to Taylor; the girl wasn't noticeably affected by it. "After all," Taylor went on, "that is how you agreed with Glenn and Armsmaster that it would go, wasn't it?"

Piggot blinked. Danny looked at his daughter. "Okay, how did you know that?"

Taylor shrugged and grinned. "Fly on the wall."

The Director scowled. "That's entirely unacceptable. You do not have leave to listen in on private conversations."

Her tone of voice brooked no disagreement; Taylor shrugged again, this time a little uncomfortably. "Well, you were talking about us, behind our backs, even … "

Danny glanced at Piggot. "She does have a point."

Piggot's scowl deepened. "There are rules to be adhered to, even with powers of your scope. In fact, there's an argument to be made that the rules should be adhered to more strongly, in the case of more powerful capes such as yourselves."

Taylor nodded. "Well, to be honest, I'd be the last person to argue against people being held to a certain standard of conduct." She smiled brightly at the Director. "So, how's the case against Shadow Stalker going?"

Piggot nodded. "Middling. She's still refusing to talk, but between the evidence presented, the witnesses who saw her shoot you, and Emma Barnes turning State's evidence … "

Danny's eyebrows hitched upward. "Really?"

"Really." Piggot turned over a sheet of paper. "Now, given Taylor's return to life, you are of course going to have to change identities and move -"

"No," Danny told her firmly. "We're not going anywhere."

"But Taylor - "

"Was in a coma," Taylor stated flatly.

"You were dead!"

"A really deep coma," Taylor insisted.

"The medical examiners - "

"Pay them off," Danny told her.

"And this means you can have her charged for attempted manslaughter and attempted murder on me, as well as the murder of Greg Veder," Taylor pointed out. Her face fell slightly. "Poor Greg."

Danny put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed. "If it wasn't for him … "

She leaned against him. "Yeah. He was a better friend than I knew." It was a melancholy thought.

"So, if you're staying in Brockton Bay," Director Piggot commented, "what cape names are you going to be using?"

Danny tilted his head in thought. "I was thinking … 'Union'."

Taylor snorted. "Showing your Association ties there, Dad."

He grinned, ruffling her hair. "And what were you thinking of, kiddo?"

Taylor rubbed her chin. A few bees and a wasp, appearing as if from nowhere, flew around her head, and then disappeared again. "I think I'll go with 'Swarm'."

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 3

Danny closed the front door behind them and stretched. "Home again. God, was that a long day."

"Oh, god yes." Taylor wandered through to the living room. "I think I know what we're getting with our damages payout." She gestured at the ruined TV. "I don't think that's the ideal way to turn it off."

He joined her, and pulled her into a hug. She leaned into it, head against his chest.

"Yeah, well, I was kind of upset at the time," he admitted quietly.

"Oh hey, I've got something for you," she told him. "I made it specially."

He frowned. "What?"

She headed through into the kitchen, and retrieved a sheet of paper. He took it from her, and frowned. "How did you write this?"

She gestured at the wall, where the tomato paste had dried. "One piece at a time."

He stared at the paper; formed from tiny red dots, the words wandered across the page. They weren't perfectly level, or all of the same size, but the message was clear:

DAD

IT'S ME

I'M ALIVE

I'M IN THE SWARM

I LOVE YOU

TAYLOR​

Tears filling his eyes, he pulled her into another embrace. "I love you too, kiddo," he told her. "I love you too."

The End

Alternate Ending​

A/N: This is not necessarily the end of the story; Union and Swarm may yet appear in sequels. Just so you know.

 

[Chojomeka]

D'aww....and I'm actually fucking surprised that Emma of all people would hand over evidence at all.

 

[Ack]

D'aww....and I'm actually fucking surprised that Emma of all people would hand over evidence at all.

Click to shrink...

Sophia was caught bang to rights. Emma just got in first.

 

[Daunmi]

Epilogue, Part 1

Click to shrink...

What? Nooooo!

A/N: This is not necessarily the end of the story; Union and Swarm may yet appear in sequels. Just so you know.

Click to shrink...

What?! YES!

 

[AylorAivo]

Eh, kinda disapointed Taylor came back to life/got her body back, the only a swarm thing was pretty cool and unique barring oneshots (as far as I know).

 

[Ack]

Eh, kinda disapointed Taylor came back to life/got her body back, the only a swarm thing was pretty cool and unique barring oneshots (as far as I know).

Click to shrink...

If her body is destroyed, she'll be a swarm again until she can pull herself together (yes, I foreshadowed that earlier on in the chapter).

But can you imagine the look on Sophia's face?

 

[Daunmi]

But can you imagine the look on Sophia's face?

Click to shrink...

Was kind of hoping, once the cocoon was mentioned, that SS would be able to kill Taylor, only to have her show up at a trial.

 

[Ack]

Was kind of hoping, once the cocoon was mentioned, that SS would be able to kill Taylor, only to have her show up at a trial.

Click to shrink...

That could happen.

Now that I've finished it, I've had ideas for rewrites. It depends on how good they sound in my head.

 

[Starfox5]

Sweet, happy ending to a great story - tense moments here, it almost got wrong. Nice twist too at the end.

 

[Dr. Mercurious]

Commented on this when it appeared on SV.

Can you JUST picture what will happen when Amy finds out?

Amy: "Come ooooooon!"
Taylor: "No, Amy."
Amy: "But I wanna seeeeeeee!"
Taylor: "NO, Amy."
Amy: "...no one lets me have any fun..."
Taylor: "You're not the one committing suicide!"
Amy: "But you're not committing suicide, you're respawning!"
Taylor: "See my lips. See what they say? No!"
Amy: "...I'll let you touch my breasts?"
Taylor: "Amy, I'm not gay!!"
Amy: *puppy dog eyes*
Taylor: "GAAHH! WILL you put those back in the dog??? "

 

[Prince Charon]

Amy: *puppy dog eyes*
Taylor: "GAAHH! WILL you put those back in the dog??? "

Click to shrink...

That last one is more Bonesaw's thing.

 

[Dr. Mercurious]

That last one is more Bonesaw's thing.

Click to shrink...

Bonesaw: "My eyes! " *takes eyes*
Taylor: "Amy, that was Bonesaw."
Amy: *squirms* "Well....yes."
Taylor: "What are you doing with Bonesaw???"
Amy: "I'm trying to convert her to good. It's not like it isn't possible..."
Bonesaw: *bounces*
Taylor: "This I gotta hear."
Amy: "Well, I told her that if she left the Slaughterhouse 9, that I'd show her something really cool, and I thought of you -"
Taylor: "Did you pimp me out to Bonesaw???"
Amy: "...maybe?"

 

[Ack]

Commented on this when it appeared on SV.

Can you JUST picture what will happen when Amy finds out?

Amy: "Come ooooooon!"
Taylor: "No, Amy."
Amy: "But I wanna seeeeeeee!"
Taylor: "NO, Amy."
Amy: "...no one lets me have any fun..."
Taylor: "You're not the one committing suicide!"
Amy: "But you're not committing suicide, you're respawning!"
Taylor: "See my lips. See what they say? No!"
Amy: "...I'll let you touch my breasts?"
Taylor: "Amy, I'm not gay!!"
Amy: *puppy dog eyes*
Taylor: "GAAHH! WILL you put those back in the dog??? "

Click to shrink...

Bonesaw: "My eyes! " *takes eyes*
Taylor: "Amy, that was Bonesaw."
Amy: *squirms* "Well....yes."
Taylor: "What are you doing with Bonesaw???"
Amy: "I'm trying to convert her to good. It's not like it isn't possible..."
Bonesaw: *bounces*
Taylor: "This I gotta hear."
Amy: "Well, I told her that if she left the Slaughterhouse 9, that I'd show her something really cool, and I thought of you -"
Taylor: "Did you pimp me out to Bonesaw???"
Amy: "...maybe?"

Click to shrink...

So wrong.

Omake'd.

 

[Beyogi]

D'aww....and I'm actually fucking surprised that Emma of all people would hand over evidence at all.

Click to shrink...

Not surprising. They were caught with their pants down. She's associated and helped a murdering psychopath. She's got a lawyer for her dad. They're trying to get out of this as lightly as possible.

 

[Ack]

So here's an alternate ending.

Let me know what you think.

Carlos

"Check the living room," Armsmaster ordered him. "Then the kitchen. I'll check the basement. We'll both check upstairs."

"No problem, sir," Aegis replied. Squinting his eyes, he moved into the living room, feeling the bugs thwacking against his body like living hail. More were crawling on him, but it didn't really bother him. What was odd, however, was that he didn't feel any bugs crushing underfoot as he walked; looking down, he just barely saw the living carpet of bugs moving aside as he put his foot down.

"Sir," he reported over the radio, "these bugs are under outside control. I'm not stepping on any."

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the thunderous drone of tens of thousands of bug wings, and then the armoured hero replied. "Well spotted. Nor am I. Keep looking."

He was halfway through the living room, having ascertained that nobody was in the room, when his radio came to life once more. "Basement. Now."

Armsmaster rarely used that tone, and only ever in the field. Aegis shielded his face and flew across the room, caught the doorframe, and turned in midair to reach the top of the basement stairs. In doing so, he totally failed to notice the piece of paper on the kitchen table. In the basement, the light was on, although it wasn't illuminating much. What it was, however, illuminating, was … worrying.

Armsmaster was halfway down the steps, and Aegis joined him, shielding his eyes while looking at the mass of bugs on the basement floor. It was ... huge. Shapeless, two yards across, a vaguley moving mass of bugs.

"Oh god," choked Aegis. "What is that?"

"I was hoping you might know," Armsmaster told him shortly. "Shadow Stalker might be under there, or they might be nesting."

Aegis had a horrible thought. "Or both."

"Or both," agreed Armsmaster. As they descended to floor level, he heard Armsmaster speaking quietly, but not over the radio, and knew he must be on the command channel. "Armsmaster to PRT command. We may have located Shadow Stalker. We're getting her out now. Pull back the others."

<><>​

Danny

"Pull back. Repeat, pull back."

Danny frowned. "What? Why?"

"No time for questions. Pull back, now."

Already, the police officers were stepping back. Clockblocker put his hand on Danny's arm. "Sir, we really should be getting back, like they say."

"No," snapped Danny, and Clockblocker froze."You can do what you want, but I'm going into the house."

"Okay, you're going into the house," Clockblocker agreed. "We'll be back over here, okay?"

Danny didn't answer; he pushed the door open and entered the house, the bugs still leaving an empty bubble around him.

"Mr Hebert," he heard through the headset. "Leave the house at -"

With a growl, he tore the thing off and threw it to the floor. I'm going to talk to Taylor.

Walking through into his living room, as he had done for years, he looked around. Bugs crawled on every surface, but he barely saw them. He was looking for traces of his daughter.

"Taylor?" he asked. "Are you there?"

And the Swarm spoke to him.

<><>​

Taylor

Go downstairs. Look on the kitchen table. But despite the stream of bugs travelling through the shadow-girl's body, she persevered, moving stubbornly along the corrridor.

Oh. Maybe she's been told about the notes I've been taking. That made sense. But something seemed to tell her that it was a bad idea to let the girl take them. What is it? Why don't I want her to see them? It was something from before she achieved full consciousness, when she was drifting on the wind. Something that she could not remember, not fully.

She observed as the girl reached her bedroom door, still open, and slid inside.

Okay, fine, I'll let her have them. See what she does.

The bugs on the bed drew back, revealing the stack of notes still lying there; Taylor turned her attention to the living room, downstairs, where her father had just walked in.

"Dad," she spoke to him in the multitudinous buzz/hum/click of the Swarm. "Dad. It's me. I'm alive."

She saw him turn his head, listening. "Taylor," he replied, and she understood him. "Taylor. Thank God."

And then Taylor saw what was happening in the bedroom.

<><>​

Sophia

She stopped for a breather halfway along the corridor; leaning against the wall, she let herself slip back to reality, breathing heavily. Thankful that her mask kept out most of the bugs.

"Shadow Stalker! Where are you?"

Armsmaster's voice, amplified by his helmet's speakers, echoed through the house. Shadow Stalker shook her head and went back to shadow, her skin crawling from the number of bugs that had alighted on her during the breather.

This was tiring. It was like wading through molasses, or thick mud, or trying to move against a strong wind. The bugs whipped through her almost immaterial shadow-substance, and while they couldn't touch her or hurt her, they could slow her, wear her out. But I don't lose.

Forcing herself onward, she eased through the open door into the bedroom. Bugs coated every surface, hung like obscene stalactites from the ceiling. And then some of the bugs on the bed moved aside, and she saw the stack of notes. Held together with a bulldog clip.

It couldn't be this easy, could it?

Going solid, she reached down, picked it up. Tried to leaf through it. But the bugs were landing on it, crawling around, preventing her from reading anything all the way through. So all she got was the occasional name, reference to an incident. Dates starting in September of the previous year. Around the time I joined the Wards. Fuck, she's been doing this for this long?

She weighed the stack of papers. It's heavy. Thick. Won't burn easy. There'd been half an idea in her head to put it in the trash or simply light it on fire. But this would be found. Some part of it would be found. Unless she removed it altogether from the premises.

Lifting up her cape, she tucked it down the back of her belt, over her butt. Letting her cape fall, she checked over her shoulder. They'll never notice. I'll just stroll out, destroy it at my leisure.

Under her mask, she smiled. "I win, Hebert."

That was when the first wasp stung her.

<><>​

Taylor

What's she doing? Taylor couldn't figure it out. She's got the notes. Why isn't she bringing them downstairs?

And then she spoke, and Taylor heard it, through the ears of ten thousand bugs at once. It wasn't so much the words, as the tone, the tilt of the head. The arrogance.

That's fucking Sophia Hess.

Wasps swarmed to the attack. Sophia was caught unawares by the sudden change, from passive to aggressive. She was stung half a dozen times before she managed to go to shadow form, to lunge for the window. But Taylor had learned; she had trouble moving against massed swarms. So her bugs swirled through Sophia's shadowy body, pushing her back toward the centre of the room.

She can't stay that way forever. I can outwait her.

And then Sophia went back to normal form just for a moment. And she screamed, loud and long. Even as she tried to draw breath again, bugs scrambled past her mask, down her throat. She coughed, choked … then went to shadow form again.

Taylor stayed on her. Come on. Turn solid. Just once.

<><>​

Carlos

The scream came from above; it resounded in their radio earpieces as well as down the stairs. Aegis' head jerked up, as did Armsmaster's.

"Shadow Stalker," they both stated at the same time. Aegis stared at the older hero as the realisation sank in, and then he gestured at the shape more or less at their feet. "If that's Shadow Stalker, then she can't be under here."

"Correct," snapped Armsmaster. "Go! I'll be right behind you!"

"Going," responded Aegis. He didn't bother using the stairs; once more, he took flight up the staircase, pulling a hard one-eighty to get himself into the front hall. Behind him, he heard Armsmaster's boots pounding up the steps. Angling upward, he grabbed the stair rail and swung himself around another one-eighty degree turn. Bugs caromed off of his face as he got to the top of the stairs and swung down the corridor; a couple of stings penetrated; he felt the venom sting, then tingle, then die away as his body adapted.

The noise of the swarm was now a roar; he was fighting against a tempest as he followed the next scream into an open doorway. Every surface was covered inches deep in bugs of all types, and the shadowy form in the middle of the room was literally swamped in them. More stings hit, and penetrated, but he ignored them.

He aimed his spray canister at Shadow Stalker's immaterial form, at the swarm roiling through the space that she occupied, and let fly. Sickly yellowish fog filled the room; he just kept the trigger down. The taste was acrid, and then he adapted to it. Bugs stopped hitting him from the side, and hit him from above, instead, as those that had been on the ceiling, or flying above him, died. Vaguely, he saw a swirl as Shadow Stalker phased out through the wall.

There was one more thing he had to do. "Aegis to all points. Bugs are hostile. Repeat, bugs are hostile."

<><>​

Danny

His head jerked up at the scream from above. "What the hell was that?"

"Shadow Stalker, Dad. Sophia Hess." She was refining her technique, smoothing her words out. It almost sounded like real speech, now. "She's one of the bullies. She just tried to steal my notes about her and the others. I stopped her." She sounded grimly satisfied. Footsteps sounded from elsewhere in the house; he ignored them.

"What … what are you doing to her?"

"Keeping her in place, until the heroes get there. Ah, here comes Aegis. Good. No, not good. No, don't. Shit."

"What? What's happened?"

"He killed the bugs I was using to hold her in place. She got away, with the notes. I'm chasing her, but they've got insect spray. I can't … fuck. She's getting away."

Armsmaster entered the living room. "Who were you talking to? I heard voices."

Danny turned to him. "Taylor. But that's not important. Shadow Stalker's -"

"- been attacked by the bugs, I know. You're in danger. I have to get you out of here."

He took hold of Danny's arm, started to hustle him from the room. Danny did not resist.

Getting away? Like hell.

<><>​

Colin

Aegis had quickly outdistanced him; as he got to the bottom of the stairs, Armsmaster heard Aegis' announcement. He also heard voices from within the living room; what they were saying was almost drowned out by the droning of the bugs.

Aegis can handle himself. He entered the living room, not altogether surprised to see Danny Hebert standing there. But there was no-one with him.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked suspiciously. "I heard voices."

The expression on Danny Hebert's face, when he turned to Armsmaster, was almost beatific. Tears were running down his cheeks. "Taylor. But that's not important. Shadow Stalker's -"

"- been attacked by the bugs, I know," Armsmaster interrupted impatiently. I understand that he's lost his daughter, but I do not have time for this. "You're in danger. I have to get you out of here."

Danny did not resist as Armsmaster hustled him out of the living room, through the hall, and out the front door. In fact, he pulled free as soon as they were down the steps, and hurried out of the yard.

As Armsmaster followed, he heard Shadow Stalker on comms.

"Sorry about that. My headset was playing up. The bugs went nuts and chased me. Whatever's in there wants to kill us all."

<><>​

Sophia

She didn't have to fake her fear. Being swarmed like that had been intensely unpleasant, and she had sincerely feared for her life for just a few moments, before Aegis had stormed into the room. So as she landed, solid, on the pavement outside the Hebert house, and ran toward the nearest PRT trooper, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Help me! Oh god, please help!"

Nor was he slow in providing that help, not when what looked like half the bug population of Brockton Bay was following the dark-clad Ward, with murderous intent. He aimed his spray gun, released the clouds of deadly vapour, and bugs died in their tens of thousands. Sophia stopped in the middle of the spray, luxuriating in it; it tasted acrid on the tongue, and smelled worse, but right then, it was the best smell in all the world.

The bugs fell back; Sophia took the opportunity to activate her radio. "Sorry about that. My headset was playing up. The bugs went nuts and chased me. Whatever's in there wants to kill us all."

"The bugs in the rest of the house are agitated as well," Aegis supplied, on the radio net. "How are you doing, Shadow Stalker?"

She could afford to be generous. "Great, thanks to you," she replied, stepping past the PRT man with a nod; he nodded back. "You got there just in time." There was a trash bin, just up ahead. If she could slip the notes in there …

"Stop right there, Shadow Stalker."

She froze, could not take another step.

"Come back here."

Against her will, she turned. One step. Another. Walking toward Danny Hebert, who had just stepped out of the house. Looking directly toward her. Gesturing her toward him.

She couldn't stop walking, but she could speak. "What the fuck? That bastard's Mastering me! Help!"

Guns were lifted toward Danny; he spoke again. "No-one interferes."

The guns were lowered again. She took another reluctant step. "Fuck you," she gritted. Drawing one of her crossbows, she loaded it.

"I've spoken to Taylor," he told her. "She told me what you did."

Her treacherous feet kept moving her toward him. She tried going to shadow, but it didn't do anything; she changed back. In desperation, she reached back behind her; under her cape, beside where the notes resided, she had a small holdout of arrows. The sharp kind. Just in case.

Fingers made clumsy with haste, she changed out arrows.

"Shadow Stalker!"

It was a woman's voice. Not one she knew. She glanced over, annoyed.

A woman, gun in one hand, badge in the other. "Shadow Stalker! You are under arrest for murder! Drop your weapon!"

She curled her lip. Went to shadow form.

"No."

With that negation, which she knew was meant for this and this alone, she went solid and stayed solid. Kept walking.

"Shadow Stalker, drop your weapon and surrender, or I will open fire!"

"No, you won't."

The police officer's face was a study in shock. Danny Hebert ignored her, gestured at the crossbow that Sophia was holding. "Put it under your chin."

Slowly, reluctantly, the weapon raised upward until it was resting where he had instructed her to rest it. The tip of the arrowhead pricked gently at the soft skin under her jaw. If I pull the trigger now, it'll go straight through my brain.

She didn't want to do it, but she knew that if he told her to do it, she would. It would happen. She would die. A whimper escaped her throat, and she hated herself for it.

"Mr Hebert." It was Armsmaster, behind Danny. He won't let him do it. Sophia felt tears of gratitude in her eyes.

"Shut up. Don't interfere."

Armsmaster opened his mouth, closed it, then folded his arms. Terror clenched Sophia's gut.

Danny seemed to be studying her, from just a few paces away. Like a bug under a microscope. Something so far beneath him that they barely shared any human ancestry at all.

"Why?" he asked, the compelling tone gone from his voice. "Why did you do it?" There was no anger, no accusation. Just ... curiosity.

Sophia glared back at him, her courage returning. I'll give you nothing.

Danny sighed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell you to pull that trigger."

Her throat locked up. There were many reasons. She wasn't really sure if any of them would count as 'good' to him. I don't want to die.

"Mr Hebert, you can't."

It was the police officer. Her pistol was at her side. Danny turned to face her. "You can't stop me."

"No, I can't," she agreed. "I can't interfere."

"She deserves this. She deserves the same squalid little death that she gave Taylor."

What frightened Sophia the most was the flat quality to his voice. He had gone beyond anger, beyond hot-blooded revenge. What would happen to her now, would happen because he wanted it to happen, not because of a sudden impulse.

"Oh, I agree," the police detective replied. "I agree that she deserves punishment. But what she needs is punishment under law, Mr Hebert. Not lynch law justice."

"Where was the law when she was bullying my daughter?" Danny's voice rose slightly. "Where was the law when Taylor was in the locker, begging and screaming to be let out, and this one was standing outside, laughing?"

There was still anger there. Sophia caught it in the glance that he threw her; the hatred was so palpable that she had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering again.

"Well, when you put it like that, I can't really argue with you," the police officer conceded.

"Good," Danny replied. "Sophia. When I count three, you will squeeze the trigger. One. Two."

"No!" shouted the police officer; Sophia, her finger already taut on the trigger, nearly killed herself with the start of surprise. But the last increment of pressure had not been taken up, and she continued to live. Tears of terror were spilling from her eyes now.

<><>​

Dana

Danny glared at Dana. "Do I need to tell you to shut up as well?"

"Mr Hebert, think. This isn't for her." Her voice was urgent; she tried to think of ways to persuade him not to commit murder right in front of her. "It's for you. Do you really want to take this last step, in front of so many witnesses? What are you going to do? Kill us all? We've done nothing to you. If you do this, the PRT will do its best to hunt you down, imprison you, kill you."

He glared at her. "This isn't murder. She deserves this."

"And even if you're exonerated," Dana went on relentlessly, "what happens then? They'll never forget that you murdered one of their own. You'll always be watched, always be a suspect for Master crimes."

Danny's head dropped. "I can't just let her walk away," he ground out. "Taylor ..."

"She won't just walk away," Dana assured him. "I can pin two murders on her, right now. And there were some notes, in Taylor's bedroom ..."

She and Danny turned to look at the disgraced Ward. She stared back at them, not giving an inch. Danny sighed. "Give her the notes."

With her free hand – Dana could tell how hard she was trying, and failing, to resist – Shadow Stalker reached back, retrieved the notes, and handed them to Dana. She took them, flicked through them. "God," she muttered. "There's enough here to implicate half the damn school."

"Due to her," Danny stated flatly.

"Due to her," agreed Dana. "But think about it. Would Taylor want you to murder her in cold blood, or let her stand trial for everything she's done?"

Danny grimaced. "Fine." He turned to Shadow Stalker. "Unload your crossbow. Give yourself up to the police. Do not resist arrest. Do not attempt to escape from custody."

With shaking hands, Shadow Stalker complied, slotting the arrow into a holder somewhere under her cloak. She dropped the crossbow, then wrenched her mask off; falling to her hands and knees, she threw up convulsively. Danny stepped back from her and nodded to Dana. Then he raised his voice. "Everyone except Shadow Stalker, ignore what I said."

There was a general tide of movement; a few people pointed rifles at Danny, but Armsmaster stepped past them, gesturing for them to lower their weapons.

<><>​

Danny

He watched as Armsmaster approached him. The man's lips were set in a grim line. "That was not a good thing to do."

Danny found that he didn't care much any more. "I stopped."

"Yes, but you Mastered all of us. That's an offence. You could be arrested for that."

"If I hadn't done it, Shadow Stalker might just have gotten away."

"If you'd had Shadow Stalker pull that trigger, that would have been premeditated murder." His voice was angry.

"And whose goddamn fault was it that a Ward saw fit to torment my daughter for months, with no-one stopping her?" demanded Danny. "You're the fucking superhero. She's your responsibility. She did this, she caused this. Which means it's on you. Don't even try to pin it on me."

<><>​

Colin

"He's right, you know."

Armsmaster looked past Danny, to where the police officer was securing Shadow Stalker's hands behind her back. "I didn't ask you."

The woman looked around. "No, but you didn't investigate, either. You never even had an inkling that a Ward might be bullying a defenseless teen to the point that a death occurred. I had to make that connection. After the PRT tried to kill my investigation dead in the water." She waved a hand. "Everything that's happened here today? It's on the PRT and Protectorate. You even try to prosecute Mr Hebert for this, I'll blow it wide open."

Armsmaster gritted his teeth. "So what do you suggest I do?"

She shrugged. "Do what you came here to do. Get him to tell the swarm to chill the fuck out. Then go back to your high-tech base, and look for supervillains to fight. Meanwhile, I'm taking this one downtown to get booked."

Armsmaster shook his head. "That'll destroy her secret identity. Better if we take her."

<><>​

Dana

"For fuck's sake," muttered Dana. "I'm the arresting officer. I'll go with her to your base, make sure she gets properly booked. See her comfortable in a cell. Then I'll go back to the precinct to see about precedent for prosecuting a parahuman who's committed crimes in and out of costume."

"Fine," conceded Armsmaster. "That should cover all of the bases. You say you've got evidence of another murder?"

She nodded. "Kid called Greg Veder. I got a phone call earlier; apparently he was chatting to his buddies on a private channel about how Shadow Stalker came to talk to him about the locker murder, the night he got suffocated. Someone put an extra-large evidence bag over his head."

Armsmaster's tone was sceptical. "So why would she want to kill him? Or even talk to him?"

"I can answer that," Danny Hebert told him. "He approached me, told me who was bullying Taylor. She obviously wanted him shut up. I think … "

He trailed off, staring at the house. Armsmaster turned and looked, and Dana looked as well. The change had happened so gradually that no-one had noticed it, but now it was glaringly obvious.

The swarm was gone.

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 1

As the last of the PRT vehicles rumbled off, Danny closed the front door and looked around.

"Taylor?" he called. "Taylor, I'm home."

Nothing. No reply. Hardly any bugs stirred.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment. He'd had the chance to talk to her again, catch her killer. It was better than nothing.

Walking through into the living room, he eyed the smashed TV, then unplugged it, hefted it and carried it back to the front door, remote and all. Opening the door, he carried it outside and left it next to the trash can. He repeated the trip with the remains of the broken chair and the glass from the smashed bottle of tomato paste. Then he began to scrub the wall clean.

<><>​

In the basement, the cocoon that had been left behind by the retreating Swarm pulsed ever so slightly. It was six feet long, and shaped vaguely like a human being. One end split, and the opening widened, gradually reaching the length of the cocoon.

That which was inside, which had been forming all this time, sat up.

<><>​

Danny was sitting at the kitchen table, resting from the effort of scrubbing at stubbornly resistant tomato paste, when his eyes fell on the paper. Words had been formed on it, made from tiny red dots. The words wandered across the page; they weren't all level, and nor were the letters all of the same size, but the message was clear.

DAD

IT'S ME

I'M ALIVE

I'M IN THE SWARM

I LOVE YOU

TAYLOR​

As he stared at it, eyes filling with tears, there was a step behind him. He looked around, then came to his feet. Taylor stood there, skin glistening and pale, as if freshly formed over her frame. Her hair, likewise, was damp and stuck to her body.

"Taylor?" His voice sounded very far away to him.

She smiled tremulously. "Dad?"

In two strides, he reached her; he took her in his arms and held her as though he would never let her go.

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 2

Emily

"Ma'am, Daniel Hebert is here for the appointment."

Emily Piggot tapped the intercom button. "Send him in."

The door opened, and Danny Hebert entered, followed by a tall skinny teenager. She looked oddly familiar to Piggot.

"Who's this?" the Director asked. "This appointment was with you alone."

Danny smiled oddly. "Director Piggot," he told her, "I'd like you to meet my daughter."

She frowned. "You only had one child."

He nodded. "I do. This is Taylor."

Piggot blinked. "No. Taylor is dead. Or getting around Brockton Bay as a sentient swarm of insects. One of the two."

'Taylor' shook her head. "I figured out how to remake my body. Sort of."

The Director stared. "And you retain your bug control?"

Taylor nodded. "I am the Swarm. The Swarm is me."

No, that doesn't sound ominous at all. "So, what can I do for you … two?"

"I was made the offer to join the Protectorate," Danny told her. "Does that extend to Taylor?"

"As an intelligent swarm, that might have been a little difficult," Piggot noted. "But if you've been … reincarnated, or whatever it is. I suppose … " She interrupted herself, staring at Danny. "You have no reason to like us. Why are you even doing this?"

"The PRT needs more oversight," Danny told her. "Best way to make sure you get it right is to be a part of it."

"And because I want to have a life again," Taylor said, stepping forward. "You guys have the push to say that I was only comatose when I came out of the locker. I want to fake my not dying."

Piggot blinked. That's a new one on me. "We can arrange that, I suppose," she noted warily. "What names were you thinking of using?"

Danny tilted his head. "I was considering 'Union'."

Taylor elbowed him. "Way to go back to your Association roots, Dad."

He didn't deny it, Piggot noticed. She turned to the girl. "And you?"

Taylor shrugged. "Like I said, I am the Swarm."

"Swarm, right …" Piggot made a note. "I'm fairly sure we can work something out."

Taylor grinned. "And I want to do one other thing … "

<><>​

Epilogue, Part 3

" … pursuant to the matter of item number six hundred and thirty-four, egregious assault upon the person of Taylor Hebert; that is, pushing and shoving her during gym class on … "

The voice of the PRT lawyer died away as the door opened.

Sophia, sitting next to the court-appointed ambulance-chaser, didn't bother looking around. Emma, sitting at the far end of the table next to her father and his lawyer, didn't either. Since she had started agreeing to everything they were saying, throwing Sophia to the wolves in exchange for a lighter deal for herself, she hadn't met Sophia's eyes, or done much except look at the tabletop.

"Excuse me," the PRT lawyer announced in irritation. "This is a closed hearing. Only those people directly involved have clearance to be here."

"That's us."

Sophia stiffened; that was Danny Hebert's voice. It featured in her nightmares, now, ordering her to kill herself in slow and grotesque ways. He had owned her, had utterly dominated her. Just being in his presence reduced her to … nothing.

"I fail to see how you have a bearing on what is happening in here, Mr Hebert." The lawyer was obviously well-informed. "And who do you mean by 'us'?"

Sophia slowly turned to look, just as someone else stepped out from behind him. In her peripheral vision, Alan Barnes' jaw slowly dropped. Emma Barnes slid off of her chair in a dead faint.

"No ..." Sophia managed. "No fucking way. You died. I saw you. You were dead."

Taylor Hebert shrugged and gave her a half-smile. "I got better."

The End​

A/N: This is not necessarily the end of the story; Union and Swarm may yet appear in sequels. Just so you know.

 

[Starfox5]

It is grittier and more compelling in my opinion.

 

[Ack]

It is grittier and more compelling in my opinion.

Click to shrink...

Grittier was what I was aiming at.

Also, creepier. "I am the Swarm. The Swarm is me."

 

[Angush]

I like this one much better, though I think it has a few more issues with flow than the first one, mostly because of how it keeps jumping back a few seconds in the first half to show what characters were doing before they said something over comms.

I also feel like there should be a little more justification given to Piggot regarding the Hebert's joining the Protectorate. Something like this, maybe:

...[Piggot] interrupted herself, staring at Danny. "You have no reason to like us. Why are you even doing this?"

"The PRT needs more oversight," Danny told her. "Best way to make sure you get it right is to be a part of it."

"And because I want to have a life again," Taylor said, stepping forward. "You guys have the push to say that I was only comatose when I came out of the locker. I want to fake my not dying."

Click to shrink...

The epilogue is vastly improved, IMO.

 

[Ack]

I like this one much better, though I think it has a few more issues with flow than the first one, mostly because of how it keeps jumping back a few seconds in the first half to show what characters were doing before they said something over comms.

I also feel like there should be a little more justification given to Piggot regarding the Hebert's joining the Protectorate. Something like this, maybe:


The epilogue is vastly improved, IMO.

Click to shrink...

Yoink.

 

[Dr. Mercurious]

Grittier was what I was aiming at.

Also, creepier. "I am the Swarm. The Swarm is me."

Click to shrink...

Creepier? Oooooh yeah. Definitely.

 

[Daunmi]

The voice of the PRT lawyer died away as the door opened.

Click to shrink...

Well, I'm hardly going to say anything other than "I liked it" after saying I was hoping for it!

Also, creepier. "I am the Swarm. The Swarm is me."

Click to shrink...

She's your new headache, Piggot.

God... the point they properly realize how much information she pulls in will be hilarious. All the secrets they'll have lost between her joining and that point!

 

[alethiophile]

I like the new final chapter. "Gritty" fits this story, given the premise and all.

Would be much interested in sequels, if and when they appear.

 

[CptTagon]

I also find the second epilogue superior, though that doesn't imply I disliked the first one.