Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

[Deathwings]

ARE there natural Eden capes?

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Miss Militia is one. I think it's confirmed in canon and I definitely remember Wildbow confirming it in a WoG post.
Leet as well, tough that one was confirmed only in a WoG post. It's why his Shard is so fucked up, it's one of the Shard that was damaged by the crash.

 

[CptTagon]

intricately engrave image

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engraved

 

[evildice]

I thought that MM was one, actually, and that was why she remembered her Trigger vision. Eden didn't get around to it or something.

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Nope. Also, the reasoning is wrong: Fortuna had to take specific steps, including ingesting psychoactive substances, in order to avoid losing her trigger vision. Eden did encode the "forget everything", just like Scion did, but PtV is hax and found a way around it.

Lisa eventually also found a way around it, so being able to work around the memory loss is not exclusive to Eden shards, either.

Miss Militia is one. I think it's confirmed in canon and I definitely remember Wildbow confirming it in a WoG post.

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Nope. MM is confirmed to be a Scion cape in Eden's interlude, when she looks forward to her perfect future and sees MM -- and then wonders why she's only seeing Scion shards.

MM remembers her vision because her shard's function is to augment (or replace) her memory, and there's no Entity tech support around to correct the oversight.

Leet as well, tough that one was confirmed only in a WoG post. It's why his Shard is so fucked up, it's one of the Shard that was damaged by the crash.

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Yes, Leet is a natural Eden trigger according to WoG.

 

[Ack]

Miss Militia is one. I think it's confirmed in canon and I definitely remember Wildbow confirming it in a WoG post.
Leet as well, tough that one was confirmed only in a WoG post. It's why his Shard is so fucked up, it's one of the Shard that was damaged by the crash.

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No, L33t's shard just hates him.

 

[Beyogi]

No, L33t's shard just hates him.

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Why would a shard even bond with him if it hates him?

 

[TanaNari]

Man, Dinah is going to be one spoiled girl when she's older.

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If I put a character like her in my setting... one of the prices she's going to pay is she'll never age. Because being an undernourished looking ten year old. Forever.

Also. There's been almost no serious attempts at guessing what Emma's planning. It's like no one even WANTS the next chapter.

 

[Ack]

Why would a shard even bond with him if it hates him?

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It hates him because he doesn't just get out there and do shit. He tests, experiments and so on. He's cautious.

As a result, it's actively trying to kill him so it can attach to someone who's willing to get out there and cause real conflict with it.

 

[pepperjack]

It's like no one even WANTS the next chapter.

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I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't negotiate with terrorists dicks.

 

[TanaNari]

Amelia, Ch 395- Sophia


Officer Karacas walked in, wearing her usual scowl. I had no fucking clue how the six foot one pile of muscles got a job in a juvie for women. Either she had a dick or more steroids than the WWE. "Your visitor is here, Hess."


I smirked back at her. "About time." I stood up, crossing my arms. It was the best way for me to cope with these damn cuffs. With my arms crossed they were visible, but the chain holding them together didn't look restraining at all. It was more like a badge, showing the other inmates that I was more dangerous than they were. I am the predator. Yeah, some of them think they're hot shit. Some of them might even be right. But they aren't on my level and these cuffs are proof. As was the fact that whenever I was escorted anywhere, they always kept two guards on me. They fear me, and everyone knows it.


I didn't cause any trouble. I was more than halfway through the sentence and I'd make the other half. Then I'd be out of this fuckhole and free to do whatever I wanted. Well, not quite whatever. Hebert was fucking untouchable, now. Little bitch went and found herself a fucking Class S girlfriend to hide behind. I could take her. I did it once already, and that's before I even knew it was her I was fighting. I could do it again and love every fucking second, and all the bugs in the fucking world wouldn't be able to stop me. But what was the fucking point? She'd just get brought back from the dead again, then run and hide behind her girlfriend or fucking Dragon or the god damn Endslayers.


Let them think they've housebroken me. I know how to play it cool and avoid getting caught. Just ask that loser they stuck in my cell with me. She reminded me an awful lot of Madison. Learned quick and knew her place in the world.


I was still smiling at that thought when we stopped in front of the private room they provided for meetings with lawyers. Still had cameras, but they were crap. No lip reading the inmates with their lawyers or whatever bullshit Tinkers were doing this week. "Swanky."


Karacas didn't say a thing, simply swiping her keycard. The door buzzed and she popped it open. She looked away from me to stick her head in, while the other guy watched me like a rat staring down a cobra. "You have one hour."


I walked in when she stepped out of the way. And for the first time in well over a year, I got to talk to Emma and her father. Both in expensive looking suits. I'd seen Emma on the news once or twice, apologizing like the ass kissing coward that she was. There her skin color was always ice blue. This time was black. Well, brown, but a darker skin color than mine and I wasn't gonna be passing as a mulatto any time soon. She made it look weird, with the naturally straight hair ending in her original red hair color. And the freaky ass solid black eyes. Fuck those are creepy looking.


"Hey, Mister B, didn't expect you to be my lawyer. Innit that some kinda, wussname, that thing where lawyers might want to fuck with the client's chances or something."


"Conflict of interest," he answered. "Even this is edging the line, but there's enough leeway in the law to make it acceptable, now that my daughter's probation is officially over." Hiding behind his lawyer-talk. The man liked to pretend he was a predator, but he was just another herd animal. But useful for controlling all the other prey. Like a Judas goat or whatever. "It helps that you don't have any appeals. When you turn eighteen it's functionally a clean slate. No risk of me sabotaging due process."


But he wasn't here to help me, so I'd already stopped paying attention to him. "Hey, Ems, I see you landed on your feet after I left. Sorta expected you to come around sooner."


She smiled apologetically at me. "Part of the plea bargain. Having to name my co-conspirators and agree not to contact them until the end of my probation. Dad said it wouldn't actually hurt you any, since your case was already closed."


I shrugged. She was right, they had me 'till I was eighteen and not shit anyone could do to make it better or worse. "Nah, it's cool. Can't snitch about somethin' that everyone already knows. Love the new look by the way, did my replacement get her girlfriend to do that up for you?"


Emma kept her eyes on me. Still so fucking creepy. How the fuck can anything glow black? "Replacement?"


I looked at her. If Thinkers are supposed to be so fucking smart, why are they always so damn stupid? "Yeah, replacement. The cunt sucking bug girl. Gotta say, when we were doing our little, umm, lessons, turning her into a predator, I didn't expect us to be quite that good at it. She came out nice, didn't she? Fuckin' the system right in its face and making it thank her for the privilege. Like we used to do. Had that school, your dad, everyone eating out of our hands."


Mister B looked like he'd been slapped. Fucking lightweight. Emma glanced over at him for a moment, before looking back at me. "Have you heard from your family, lately? I mean, since after Brockton Bay was lost."


I shrugged. "Didn't make it out in time." Not that I noticed a difference. "Thought you'd know that."


"No contact clause. Extends to the family of co-conspirators. Anyone likely to transfer messages."


Nice excuse. "As if that'd stop you, survivor."


"And I've been busy," she added. "There's so much to do these days. Avalon's been busy. I'm in charge of R&D for an organization that boasts several of the greatest Thinkers and Tinkers. We're designing some of the premier tech-"


"Woah, when did you start with fancy talk like that?" I interrupted. Emma could talk forever already, but at least she used real people words before.


She paused for a moment and shrugged. "Sorry, the powers. You know how Thinkers get. But like I was saying, we're building hope for the future. Avalon is building that hope. We're building a real future. An entire world, a legion of worlds, that can actually have justice and peace. A world which doesn't have victims. Where you don't have to be a monster in order to survive. Instead of the fucked up life that we-"


She paused. Good, she still knows not to talk about that. I scoffed. "Sorry, Emma, don't work that way. People don't work that way. Always going to have prey, always going to have people to prey on them. It's just how nature works. Stop being such a child."


She took a breath, going to argue her silly fantasy some more. "This is getting off track. I guess I hoped that maybe I was wrong. I see now that I'm not."


"About?" Fuck, anything, just stop with the rambling already.


"About you. Who you are, what you're about. I thought you were a hero, once. That you saved me, but you really didn't. You would have let me get mutilated or worse if I didn't save myself. You're nothing but a mindless thug, Sophia. Worse, even, you're a loser. Prey in the very philosophy you claim to believe in."


I grabbed the table and stood. "You BITCH!" I don't care about the guards, now. Or the consequences. No one gets to disrespect me like that! I'd gotten very good at controlling my power in the last year. Subtle, yeah, that's the word. I shifted just my fingertips, and the table I was holding. It had to be sixty or seventy pounds of metal bolted into the floor. No normal person could have picked it up, let alone throw it at Emma and her dad.


Emma moved forward, changing from brown to blue. The cold coming off of her froze my fingers before I could shift back to normal. I clenched my hands the moment they turned solid, and my fingers shattered like ice. I bit down hard to keep from screaming. I will not let them see me scream.


Emma's dad stumbled backward, stopped by his own chair that was also bolted into the ground. And Emma stood there with the table caught inside her arm. At the wrist and about halfway between her elbow and shoulder, like she was holding a shield, but put her elbow through it. Most of it and her chest were covered in ice.


The door buzzed and the guards rushed in. Well, I was fucked no matter what I did now, but at least the bitch paid for her insults. The big guy, whose name I didn't know since the male guards weren't allowed in the cell blocks, slammed down on me from behind and pushed me face first into the ground and shouting at me to cooperate. Stupid fucker, I wasn't even fighting. I already won what I wanted to win.


Karacas held a stun stick right in front of my face, letting the electricity crackle. She didn't matter, either. I looked up at Emma. You took my fingers, but I got your arm, bitch.


She looked down at me, and I couldn't tell what her tired looking facial expression was supposed to mean before another two officers blocked my view. One of them helped Alan up off the ground. "Are you okay, sir? What happened here?"


"Yeah, uh, I'm fine. Emma, are you okay?"


"Yeah, Dad, alive and well. I countered her phase with my own powers, forced the table back into normal space. She'd have killed you if it phased back how she wanted it to."


Karacas spoke up next. "We didn't realize she could do that, it wasn't mentioned in any of the security procedures the PRT gave us." Way to cover your ass for the fucking lawsuit. "We're going to need to question you both in regards to this incident, and review the security footage. But first, are you going to require medical attention?"


"If Dad's okay, then no. Even if I did, you don't have the facilities to handle my unique anatomy. But I am going to need to exert my powers. So please point the gun away from me for a moment. I'm not entirely bullet proof. And I'm gonna need some new clothes."


"She's cooperating, you can lower the firearm," Karacas ordered.


Moments later, there was a popping sound, and cold mist poured across the floor. Chunks of the metal table splintered and fell to the ground, shattering like so much glass. "My regeneration will take care of the rest in a day or two. But you should get Sophia to a hospital immediately. Maybe there's still time to save her hands."


"Do it. Mister and Miss Barnes, if you'll come this way so we can discuss the incident in detail?"


Two guards lifted me up by my arms, and I forced myself to focus throught the pain. I'd been stabbed before, even shot once, and nothing had ever hurt like this hurt. I snarled at Emma. She looked at me with a face as cold as the ice flaking off of her skin. She didn't seem remotely embarrassed by her near complete nudity, nor did she seem hurt by the jagged chunks of shattered metal sticking out of her wrist and shoulder.


"Just one second, please." Emma walked over to me. "I was going to ask nicely, before. That after you got out, you'd refrain from contacting me. Out of respect for the friendship we once had. Now? Fuck that. I just watched you try to murder my father. So let me make this clear. I am stronger than you, faster than you, tougher than you. I have five ways to see you, three ways to kill you, and twelve other ways hunt you down even without the part where I'm in command of the most powerful Tinker organization ever to exist. Think about all of that before you come near me or anyone I care about ever again. Goodbye, Sophia."


She's not ignoring the pain. I realized. She doesn't feel it at all. She froze cold enough to make her clothes and my hands shatter, and she walks around like it's nothing. Metal is sticking out of her, and she doesn't even fucking bleed! I started screaming as the guards dragged me out the door. "You're a freak! A monster! More like a damn Endbringer than a person! You don't get to look down on me you fucking traitor bitch!"


The door to the room shut. I didn't stop screaming profanities as the dragged me away. No one gets to talk to me like that! Especially not her.


====================


A/N- How did no one guess this? For shame.

And Officer Karacas is a reference. I won't say from where.

 

[pheonix89]

Sophia Hess? You dun goofed.

 

[gatewaewanderer]

I just have to wonder if Emma's going to tell Taylor about this, if she's even going to want to. And what Taylor would have to say about it, for that matter...

 

[MadGreenSon]

A/N- How did no one guess this?

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Didn't care.

Also, isn't this the kind of shit that could get Sophia's sentence extended? By a lot?

 

[jcogginsa]

meh, this one seems below par

 

[dasstan]

And Officer Karacas is a reference. I won't say from where.

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Is her first name Alice?

 

[pepperjack]

I have to say, Sophia seems to have been a little ... Flanderized, here. If that's the word. Lots of fucks and prey.

 

[AliasBot]

I didn't cause any trouble. I was more than halfway through the sentence and I'd make the other half. Then I'd be out of this fuckhole and free to do whatever I wanted. Well, not quite whatever. Hebert was fucking untouchable, now. Little bitch went and found herself a fucking Class S girlfriend to hide behind. I could take her. I did it once already, and that's before I even knew it was her I was fighting. I could do it again and love every fucking second, and all the bugs in the fucking world wouldn't be able to stop me. But what was the fucking point? She'd just get brought back for the dead again, then run and hide behind her girlfriend or fucking Dragon or the god damn Endslayers.

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I'm not sure which is funnier - that Sophia thinks she can take Khepri (seriously, a single Shadowcat would probably be a match for Shadow Stalker, let alone the size of the swarm she can bring to bear), or that she thinks teaming up with other people makes you weak. Setting aside the fact that Taylor was a big part of creating the Endslayers just by virtue of bringing Pantheon together (and personally recruiting Sabah, and Lily by extension), you know who's at the top of the food chain? Humans, among the most social animals in the world. Or, hell, how about the phrase "the strength of the wolf is the pack?" Being solitary doesn't make you strong, it just prevents you from being able to get even stronger - again, look at the Endslayers. They can all be powerful on their own, but it's only together that they unlock their full potential.

"So let me make this clear. I am stronger than you, faster than you, tougher than you. I have five ways to see you, three ways to kill you, and twelve other ways hunt you down even without the part where I'm in command of the most powerful Tinker organization ever to exist. Think about all of that before you come near me or anyone I care about ever again."

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Well, I did hope for an Emma fight scene. That it happened to be against someone so woefully overmatched that the fight was over in seconds, well, that's not Emma's fault.

And Officer Karacas is a reference. I won't say from where.

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I'm going to assume she's not referencing Magic: the Gathering. That's the only Kara(k)as I can think of, so I've got nothing.

 

[Slayer Anderson]

Also, isn't this the kind of shit that could get Sophia's sentence extended? By a lot?

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Potentially.

Of course, given that she's probably at least turned seventeen by now, there's the potential that, since she has a slew of bad press against her, is already in jail...they may push for this incident to be taken to trail, with Sophia sitting as an adult against the charges. Given the clout and money that Taylor and Amelia, or even Emma alone could bring to bear if pushed, they could make Sophia's life a lot worse.

Or they could just not care. 'Cause when all's said and done, Sophia's pretty much a small fish in an even smaller pond.

 

[gatewaewanderer]

Y'know, looking back at this again after the first read through nearly an hour later, I just realized something. I think Emma went in there looking for a fight.

SNIP

She took a breath, going to argue her silly fantasy some more. "This is getting off track. I guess I hoped that maybe I was wrong. I see now that I'm not."


"About?" Fuck, anything, just stop with the rambling already.


"About you. Who you are, what you're about. I thought you were a hero, once. That you saved me, but you really didn't. You would have let me get mutilated or worse if I didn't save myself. You're nothing but a mindless thug, Sophia. Worse, even, you're a loser. Prey in the very philosophy you claim to believe in."

SNIP

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I'm not sure exactly what she was looking to accomplish here. Closure? Reassurance that she's on the right path? The opportunity to personally say "**** you," to Sophia? All of these sound possible, whether she was aiming for one or more or all, or something else, I'm just not sure.

 

[Ampersandwich]

I'm not sure exactly what she was looking to accomplish here. Closure? Reassurance that she's on the right path? The opportunity to personally say "**** you," to Sophia? All of these sound possible, whether she was aiming for one or more or all, or something else, I'm just not sure.

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I don't think she was sure, either.

Whatever it was, though, apparently she got it.

 

[evildice]

I'm not sure exactly what she was looking to accomplish here. Closure? Reassurance that she's on the right path? The opportunity to personally say "**** you," to Sophia? All of these sound possible, whether she was aiming for one or more or all, or something else, I'm just not sure.

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Emma: "The restraining order thing is over."

Sophia: "So?"

Emma: "That means I'm allowed to talk to you again."

Sophia: "And?"

Emma: "And I wanted to find out if that mattered to me or not."

 

[TanaNari]

Is her first name Alice?

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Ding ding ding! Although Alice never had an official last name I could find. So I assigned the name of the voice actress. Lazy writing for a real character, yes. But quite a bit of effort for a one time reference.

I have to say, Sophia seems to have been a little ... Flanderized, here. If that's the word. Lots of fucks and prey.

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Honestly? I think she's been fanon'd to be less psychotic than she was portrayed in canon. If anything, my representation is *subdued* compared to the shit in canon.

I'm not sure which is funnier - that Sophia thinks she can take Khepri (seriously, a single Shadowcat would probably be a match for Shadow Stalker, let alone the size of the swarm she can bring to bear), or that she thinks teaming up with other people makes you weak.

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The zerg would be cheating, in Sophia's mind.

But keep in mind that Sophia doesn't honestly believe the predator/prey bullshit anyway. She's a true psychopath- by the clinical definition of the word. Go ahead, look it up.

The predator/prey bullshit is just her way of convincing herself she's better than other people. A delusion. Well strictly speaking *not* a delusion, but a justification, an elaborate excuse. Again, pretty common psychopathic behavior.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindmelding/201301/what-is-psychopath-0

Emma: "And I wanted to find out if that mattered to me or not."

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Pretty much. I could have told it from Emma's PoV, but people had nagged me for a Sophia chapter way back when (think this story was still on SB at the time) and I decided then that I'd deliver. Eventually.

 

[jcogginsa]

Ding ding ding! Although Alice never had an official last name I could find. So I assigned the name of the voice actress. Lazy writing for a real character, yes. But quite a bit of effort for a one time reference.

Honestly? I think she's been fanon'd to be less psychotic than she was portrayed in canon. If anything, my representation is *subdued* compared to the shit in canon.

The zerg would be cheating, in Sophia's mind.

But keep in mind that Sophia doesn't honestly believe the predator/prey bullshit anyway. She's a true psychopath- by the clinical definition of the word. Go ahead, look it up.

The predator/prey bullshit is just her way of convincing herself she's better than other people. A delusion. Well strictly speaking *not* a delusion, but a justification, an elaborate excuse. Again, pretty common psychopathic behavior.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindmelding/201301/what-is-psychopath-0

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You're using that "Predator and Prey" BS that fanon gives Sophia. In canon it was just a broken analogy

 

[TanaNari]

You're using that "Predator and Prey" BS that fanon gives Sophia. In canon it was just a broken analogy

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Wrong on two counts. First- it was very much covered repeatedly in canon. A broken analogy would be a one off thing. It was called a *philosophy* in canon, and Sophia used it repeatedly.

Second, I'm *not* using it. I'm making it quite clear that it's a justification, not something she actually buys into.

 

[pepperjack]

Honestly? I think she's been fanon'd to be less psychotic than she was portrayed in canon. If anything, my representation is *subdued* compared to the shit in canon.

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I'm not even necessarily comparing it to fanon. She was fucked up in canon, yeah, but she wasn't batshit to the point where she couldn't recognize that Weaver wasn't someone to be fucked with. Weaver. In this chapter, she is not only fucked up (which is right and appropriate), she comes across as though she had been dropped, as a child. Repeatedly.

 

[jcogginsa]

Second, I'm *not* using it. I'm making it quite clear that it's a justification, not something she actually buys into.

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that didn't really come accross at all. Thought if i'm being honest, she wasn't really consistent in this chapter

 

[TanaNari]

but she wasn't batshit to the point where she couldn't recognize that Weaver wasn't someone to be fucked with

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Really now?

There was no release valve for this, no way to vent.
Taylor's face appeared on the screen in the same moment she hit her limit. She rose from her seat, aware of the guards advancing on her, and kicked the television screen, shattering it, amid the protests and swearing of her fellow inmates.
A second later, they were tackling her. Two guards at once, forcing her to the ground.
She screamed something so incoherent that even she would have been hard pressed to interpret it.

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Here she attacks appliances for need to vent. And incoherent screaming. I added it in, because I liked that scene.

"Right," I said. My eyes didn't leave the navigation screens.
"I'll kill you," Shadow Stalker threatened. "Turn this fucking ship around."
She moved, reaching for a crossbow bolt. I reacted, half-rising from my seat, drawing my swarm out-
But Lung moved faster, shoving Shadow Stalker against the side of the ship.
Shadow Stalker went ghostly, brandishing the bolt like a dagger as she passed through Lung.

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So a fight where she's up against Weaver AND Lung. And others, but they're less intimidating. So. What was this about knowing not to fuck with Weaver?


And then there's the one where she uses the same technique shown in this chapter to kick a chair at Weaver. She was handcuffed at the time. And further away, making it less combat effective because it phased back before it collided. It was when Taylor was trying to recruit her to go fight Scion and for some reason I can't find it with the tags.

 

[pepperjack]

Really now?

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Her attacking Emma is totally believable. Her thinking, while chillaxing in her cell, that she had a shot at Khepri is less so. Fighting back while cornered or angry is very different from believing herself actually superior in combat.

 

[doomlord9]

Her attacking Emma is totally believable. Her thinking, while chillaxing in her cell, that she had a shot at Khepri is less so. Fighting back while cornered or angry is very different from believing herself actually superior in combat.

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She's fluffing her own ego. She is important and powerful after all, the only reason Taylor became anything is only because of Amelia. She's not so tough, Sophia kicked her around as Taylor and she could do the same thing when she's Khepri if she didn't cheat and have others fight for her.

She's delusional and insane, her thoughts have as much in common with reality as a fanon Uchiha's does.

 

[TanaNari]

Her attacking Emma is totally believable. Her thinking, while chillaxing in her cell, that she had a shot at Khepri is less so. Fighting back while cornered or angry is very different from believing herself actually superior in combat.

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Not the first person on the planet to try to convince themselves they're better than they really are. Very common behavior. Often exaggerated to the extreme in socio and psychopaths.

Also- the line of thinking makes it clear she can take *Taylor*. Which she, in fact, did do successfully in canon. But the zerg (and all other modified bugs and badass equipment) are in the realm of "hiding behind her girlfriend or Dragon or the Endslayers". Plus if she succeeded, they'd just bring her back.

So, really, it's along the lines of an alcoholic saying "I can quit whenever I want, I just don't want to."

Or have you never been introduced to this sort of behavior before in your life?


EDIT: Dammit, Imp!

She's delusional and insane

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Well, by a non-clinical definition of the words, yes. Clinically... eh, psychopaths aren't (inherently) either of these things. They don't perceive nonexistent things and they comprehend their actions have consequences (they simply don't care).

 

[pheonix89]

Her attacking Emma is totally believable. Her thinking, while chillaxing in her cell, that she had a shot at Khepri is less so. Fighting back while cornered or angry is very different from believing herself actually superior in combat.

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She actually might have a chance at beating Taylor if SS gets to use her power and Taylor doesn't. Course, that's not how a fight would play out, but its SS deluding herself into writing off Taylor's success as being other people's.