She Controls Bugs (Worm AU) Alt Power One Shot

[Gowonzu]

She Controls Bugs.

Emma was scared. She'd been having the same nightmare ever since the charity event. Bug's crawling over her skin. Down her arms, the creeping feeling that every little tiny creature was coming for her. She hated it.

She'd only met Skitter once, and that was enough to make her skin crawl. There had been several other villains at the scene, including three large, monstrous dogs. Yet it was the villain that controlled bugs that had worried her the most. The Undersiders did their thing, causing chaos and fighting heroes. In all that chaos, it was Skitter who had taken notice of her.

Emma could still remember the sight of those terrifying yellow eyes. The mask showed no emotion and yet, it radiated pure contempt towards her. As if Emma had personally offended Skitter by just existing.

Unable to move, run away or scream. Emma was paralysed by Skitter. If it wasn't for Shadow Stalker, her best friend, Emma would have surely died.

Sophia had told her on various occasions since then, that there was no chance of that happening. That Skitter and the rest of the Undersiders were too busy and too far away to even care about a random civilian. Emma knew otherwise, Skitter had singled her out, in a crowd of hundreds, and Emma was certain that the villain had it out for her.

Emma's fear slowly turned into an obsession. Locking herself in her room, Emma would search for any and all information on the upcoming villain. There were posts online, ranging from the curious to the fans, to the wild and to the downright creepy.

The outfit is made out of insect shells and spider silk- That's so cool!

She held a knife to Panacea's throat at the bank, the chick is cold af

Bitch is downright terrifying to look at…. By bitch I mean Skitter, not the other one

Idk guys, anyone else find Skitter kinda hot?

Her power is so creepy, I mean bugs… urgh

But so many at once, that's some high-level mastering, right?

Can she see through them? Or hear?

I know she can talk with her swarm, it's so badass!

Do you think she can control anything else?

I heard she can control other things, like crabs

That's stupid, crabs? She controls bugs!

Emma looked over the photos of Skitter. There were some clearer pictures during her debut at the bank. The fear at the back of Emma's mind was still there, the photos didn't have the same effect as the real thing.

Confronting her fear, making sure that she could control it and not let it rule her. This was how Emma was going to get over this. She'd seen how fear and despair could lead someone down into a dark pit that they would never climb out of. She never wanted to turn into someone like that. Someone like Taylor.

Emma stared back at the photo of Skitter, something about the thought of Taylor evoked a feeling inside her. Taylor was the person Emma feared to become, if she was too weak, Emma may end up just like her. Skitter was the person Emma feared, someone who reminded Emma just how weak she really was in the grand scheme of things.

The thought of these two people, the fear of these two people. From one extreme to the other, they both merged to bring a singular thought. A random thought that Emma had no idea why she came up with it or how it was even possible.

Skitter is Taylor.

It made a stupid kind of sense. Taylor hated her, Emma had pushed her to the limit and beyond. The girl had finally broken last January and now she was out for revenge.

She shook her head. That was too far-fetched. A giant leap in logic, pulling two opposing fears and merging them into one. Her mind was running wild and had come up with the stupidest idea it could think of. And yet, it remained.

The next time she passed Taylor in school, all Emma could think was, 'She controls bugs.'

Emma became hyper-aware of any and all insects that she came across. The fly that wouldn't stop buzzing around her face. The mosquito that wouldn't stop biting her. The cockroach that scurried towards her during lunch. The lice that were passing through the school.

Could she see through all of them? Could she hear me now?

Emma turned back to look at Taylor, sitting in the back of the class, trying her hardest to be ignored, to be invisible. She didn't look up, didn't react at all. Emma felt like she was watching her all the same.

Can she control anything else?

The second important question. Emma's eyes scanned around, were any other creatures acting odd? The gecko climbing on the wall, or the pigeon that kept sitting by the window. During lunch break, Emma spied a rat making its way through the courtyard. It ran right up to her and Emma stomped in response. The rat did as all rats did, ran away.

"Don't get carried away Emma," She thought to herself, wondering how much of this was in her head, "She controls bugs."

By day's end, Emma was at her limit. Her mind was going wild with theories, and none of them was doing her sanity any good. Sophia and Madison had already picked up on her off mood. Emma's reluctance to prey on Taylor was glaringly obvious. She was succumbing to her fear, this was the first step. Avoidance, soon she would lose all confidence in herself. There was only one thing to do, confront Taylor.

"Taylor," Emma barked out, walking up behind the tall teen. Taylor turned to meet her gaze, she looked like the same meek and pathetic girl Taylor always was. "Come with me."

Emma ordered and Taylor obeyed, the two walking out of the school to find a private spot to speak. Some random parking lot, no one ever came down here. She walked into her position and shoved Taylor into her spot. Taylor looked like Taylor, the same uncomfortable dork she always was.

"What are we doing, Emma?" Taylor asked, nervous as all hell. "Why are we here?"

Emma's confidence returned to her. There was no way this pathetic girl could also be Skitter. She just needed a reminder of reality and Taylor needed a reminder of her place. Thinking back on it, it truly was a stupid idea, letting her fear control her like that, creating a ridiculous fantasy.

Emma laughed. Laughed at how stupid she was and how stupid Taylor looked. The girl had just followed her into some random parking lot and had to gall to ask 'what are we doing?'

"You know, Taylor" Emma began, feeling superior again. "I had the weirdest thought the other day. I don't even know where I got it from. Taylor Hebert… She controls bugs."

Emma chuckled again to herself, Taylor laughed too.

Emma stopped chuckling, Taylor didn't.

"What's so funny, Taylor?" Emma asked, annoyed, and confused. Did she misjudge the situation?

Taylor stood a little straighter and projected a little more confidence into her voice as she spoke. "So, you think I can control bugs, and your plan was to confront me? Alone? In an empty parking lot?"

Emma thought about that idea. Why had she thought that was a smart idea? At the very least, she should have brought Sophia along if she was going to confront a potential villain.

Taylor's demeanour had changed entirely, she held a grin that bordered on the sadistic and stood with the confidence of someone who was completely in control. Emma watched in horror as a dark swarm of bugs formed around the girl.

Emma was frozen in fear, she had been right. Taylor was Skitter. Emma wanted to scream, to run away, call Sophia and tell her everything. But she couldn't find the willpower to move. The swarm of bugs spilled out from Taylor and surrounded the two girls.

Taylor watched on with the same grin, blissfully uncaring about how open her use of powers was. There was no one here to see them, Emma had led them into a quiet and solitary location and now she was at her mercy.

"Do you know what I can do?" Taylor asked, taking another step towards Emma.

Emma was panicking now, Taylor walked right up to her face. All manner of creepy, crawling creatures skittered around her body. Taylor waited for an answer to her question.

"Y-you control bugs?" Emma responded, the question seemed rhetorical and yet Taylor wanted to hear it anyway.

"Yes," Taylor agreed, "It's quite a weird power. I don't like bugs. They're… gross. So tiny and pathetic. You might even go so far as to say, I hate them." Taylor brushed some hair out of Emma's face, and she flinched at her touch.

"I tried to see if there was anything else I could control," Taylor went on, "Like… dogs, y'know? Dogs are cool. But alas, I could not." Her face scrunched up in annoyance, "I could control crabs though. Don't really like crabs either… Again, they're so… gross."

Emma wasn't sure where Taylor was going with this, she wanted to wake up from this nightmare, she wanted Skitter to disappear and she wanted to run away.

"I can't control fish." Taylor continued, ignoring Emma's struggle, "But then, I noticed. I could control geckos." To prove her point, a small lizard crawled up Taylor's arm and hopped off, falling to the floor. Taylor stepped on the gecko without a care in the world. "So maybe, I can only control animals of a certain intelligence? But then why not fish? How smart are they? And what about birds?"

Taylor pointed to some birds that were standing on a nearby power cable. A couple of sparrows sat together and made no attempt to move. Taylor's grin dropped in disappointment before moving her pointed finger to Emma's shoulder. A city standard 'rock dove' pigeon landed where she pointed. Taylor's smile returned.

"So then I thought, what about rats?" Taylor turned down at a rat that was passing by. She looked at it for a short while but the rat moved on, afraid of the swarm of bugs around us. "Why can I control one thing, and not the other. I can control little lizards, but not fish. All manner of bird remains out of reach, but this ugly pigeon will dance to my command. I can summon an army of insects, yet the simple city rat ignores me."

Taylor thought to herself in silence, Emma could do nothing but watch on in fear. Taylor finally spoke again, "It was the rats that made me realise…" She pointed to the pigeon, it shat on command, disgusting and humiliating Emma at the same time. "You see, I know most people freak out around rats, I happen to think that they're kinda cute. Certainly better than insects or even… this."

She pointed towards to bird, a look of disdain on her face. Taylor tilted her head to shift that look towards Emma. The same look of disdain bore into her before her grin returned. Emma wasn't sure what face she found worse.

Taylor made a quick gesture, a flick of her wrist as the swarm of insects and the pigeon both flew away. Leaving Emma alone with Taylor again. Emma backed up away from Taylor, finally finding the strength to move. Taylor continued to taunt has as she attempted to climb away.

"So, Emma?" Taylor mocked, walking towards the terrified girl. "Do you know what we are doing? Why are we here? Why you didn't ask Sophia to come with you?" Emma turned to run but found her legs didn't work again. "Do you know what I do?"

Emma felt her body twist and contort, flipping around and prostrating herself before Taylor. Her arm shot out and bent up behind her back. She was in pain, the arm was locked into place and nothing Emma could do would bring it back to rest. She screamed out and felt her voice choke out. Her lungs stopped working as Taylor crouched in front of her.

Taylor lifted her finger and Emma's head followed. Her head was getting dizzy, her chest feeling on fire as she held her breath. Her eyes were trained on Taylor, focused, forced and unblinking. Taylor looked back at her in disgust. Emma almost blacked out. At the very end, Taylor allowed her the breathe again. She let out a raspy gasp for air as her contorted body relaxed again. The pain remained, leaving Emma on the floor, sobbing quietly to herself.

Emma looked back up to Taylor, she didn't dare try to stand, knew there was nowhere she could run to, no one she could ask for help. Emma understood exactly what she meant. With a sneer across her face, Taylor spoke again, with nothing but contempt in her voice.

"I control bugs."

 

[Stormbringer117]

So Taylor can control any being who she believes is inferior to her?

So a Makima power theft fic, me likey.

 

[Ashenerden]

Noooooo! Oh God why is it a one shot?

 

[One-who-reads]

Excellently written.

 

[Gowonzu]

So Taylor can control any being who she believes is inferior to her?

So a Makima power theft fic, me likey.

Click to shrink...

Yes, basically any animal she finds gross, disgusting or despises

Or in Taylors POV, anything she considers a bug.

Noooooo! Oh God why is it a one shot?

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I couldn't make a series out of this if I tried. I could see a sequel where Taylor does the same thing to Sophia and Madison, but it would really just be re-hashing the same idea.

Funnily enough, I got the idea from my original misunderstanding of Worm proper. Back before I read it, I knew that it was about bug control and ended with Khepri. So I assumed that Taylors powers would evolve over time until she could control people. So this kind of power was what I originally thought Taylor was doing until I actually started reading.

 

[Gowonzu]

Oh and may as well shill my other work.

Shadow Bug [Worm AU] (Taylor x Sophia)

Taking on the life of a vigilante in Brockton Bay, Taylor/Bug is in over her head. Saved by the mysterious and brooding hero, Shadow Stalker. The two quickly bond becoming partners, possibly in more ways than one.
Unbeknownst to her, the very same woman is making her civilian life a living hell.

I cbf posting this again to a new site, its 23 chapters deep right now and nearing the end.