Rot: A worm Fanfiction

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 10, 2020

Taylor Hebert is stuck in the locker and dies. Too bad for the rest of the world she doesn't stay that way. Let the world watch in horror as Taylor comes back from the dead.

This is really just a prologue. I don't know what I've written, but it feels more real when it is published here. I own nothing.

Larry the janitor has worked at this facility for some years, and it was a bitch n' a half to clean. From the putrid lavatories to the gang tags, it is almost impossible for him to do it by himself, almost. He had been called up by the office as several students had reported a foul odor in one of the halls on the second floor. He reached the second floor, hallway c, the one the students had complained to the office about, and he nearly gagged. He thought that it would just be a simple burst pipe, or maybe a rat had decided to kick the bucket behind one of the lockers. It smelled more like twenty rats had committed a mass suicide. The miasma was like a cloud of fog, all bitter iron and sickly sweet decay. Larry used to work as a custodian at a hospital so he was not a squeamish person, five years of plumbing and cleaning this grease-hole would harden most to the gross let alone his years of experience before this school. So, with all the eagerness of he can muster, he sets to work to find the source of the stench.

"No....not this one.....*hurk*, no but close....oh god....yep this is the one."

The locker before him has presence. It's practically alive with an odor which demands
the respect of the custodian, not just his attention. The locker is thankfully locked, which means he gets to walk away from it to go get his keys. He walks off to find his keys, but is back far sooner than he would like to.
The locker was squishy, almost like it was filled with something wet and moist. As he pressed into its door, a painful wet squirt sounded under his hand. The metal wasn't wet, but clearly something horrible lies on the others side. He really didn't want to open it. With a sigh, which was more shallow so as to keep the death fog from leaving a taste on his tongue, he open it. Or at least tried to, it was stuck. He yanked harder on the door, nothing. Getting really tired of this, the smell making his head start to spin, he puts his back into it.
"Splat!"
Larry takes a step back as though physically struck by the smell. A form falls out of the locker the disgusting wet noise originated from it. Larry looks down, and starts screaming. A grey face looks back up at him, its eyes open and milky with Death's blindness. The hands were skeletal, and the feet looked like the same. Her body is covered in black and the skin squirms with maggots. Larry hates this school, he also calls the police, but I thought it was important for us to know how he feels.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 10, 2020

I don't know what is going on. Well that is not true I mean; I KNOW what is going on. After the arrival of the police, followed by me getting gathered up into a body bag, an ambulance ride to the hospital while my father sat unresponsive inside, before being handed over to the morgue, and onto the autopsy table. So yes, I am aware that I'm dead, in fact, I'm a bit disappointed that I somehow managed to get it wrong.

My name is Taylor, nice to meet you! I'm a bit sorry that it is on such a bad occasion, but look at it from my point of view. Here I am talking to myself, in the third person of all things. It kind of sound crazy, but I'm dead so I can get a pass on the whole 'sane' thing. I couldn't even get dying right so I think I'll take a pass on a few things. I mean sure I'm not suicidal or anything it's just well, I'm bored. I can't hear anything, or feel anything, I'm just floating here watching the coroner open my body up. Those bitches at school would probably make fun of me for some how fucking up my death, but they killed me so fuck'em. I'm really bored of death and I have almost all the say on whether it is a justified thing or not.

Not to say that my autopsy isn't interesting, watching my brain get weighed was neat, but I kind of want to move. But bodies aren't supposed to move... well yeah, but if I fucked this up some how I'm wondering why I am continuing to pretend... hey why don't we forget that I'm dead for right now, yeah. I mean if I really well and truly mess up my death, then maybe I can skip it? You guys don't mind me just going for a walk or something, right. I'm probably crazy talking to you, but my brain is currently in a pan so something is clearly wrong with me.

I sit up.

This is so weird seeing this in third person. My head looks weird with the back of my skull removed like that and my scalp pulled down over my face. I can really 'see' out of my own eyeballs right now, my spirit? Now that is a good question, I'm viewing the world from outside my body right now. Like I'm just hovering just behind my dead body right now. Am I a ghost? I can see around me, the coroner is kind of screaming at me, but I can't hear him. The morgue is pretty clean too. I'm not sure how I know that it is clean of things like molds and rotting stuff, besides some of the other bodies of course, but I know that they're there. They make me kind of hungry.

I reach back and grab my brain out of the pan. I slide it back into my head hole giggling like a loon, at least no one can hear me. Inserting the piece of skull with solid chunk and folding back my face. I almost think I feel something happen as I put that stuff back, but I figure it is just my mind playing a trick on me. Ha, get it?

…

Okay wow, tough crowd, or was it? I did laugh after all. I turn looking up at where I'm "at" with my ghost and I get to see how I look. Yep dead Taylor, wide mouthed and curly-haired, and super dead. I shrug and it somehow is relayed to my body. The coroner is freaking out, but I'm not really bothered by this. So, I turn to the opposing side and leap off the table. I didn't fall... okay that's not true, but I can stand! Interestingly my almost purely skeletal legs and feet can move without any muscle, cool. I start to walk. Hmmm...oh, shit I forgot about my organs. They fell out of my open abdomen. I quickly scoop them up and into their cavity, they don't stay. Tring again I press my skin flaps close together to make sort of a bowl, I look around there must be something to hold me together somewhere.

For the first time in maybe four hours, I feel something, and it really isn't my mind making things up this time, I look down to see that a small part of the seem has formed some scar tissue. Cool, I pick up my organs and place them on the next table which is sporting an elderly dead guy. Looks to be finished with his own autopsy. I then, starting from below my belly button to just at my ribs, pinch my skin back together. It takes a hefty amount of work, but as I begin to focus I can make the 'healing' process speed up. I pinch my skin all the way up to my exploded rips. With all of that done I just slide all my organs into their new pouch. I'm pleasantly surprised when I notice that not only had this happened with my head and brain, but that some body sensations, thank you brain, have told me that my organs are arranging themselves. And with that, I feel the second thing, mild hunger. It is different from before, apparently having a working body is different then having a ghostly one, who knew. It's not much, not even a little uncomfortable, but I decide to look around for what could satisfy me.

The autopsy room was stereotypical, it looked a lot like an surgery room like in one of those TV shows. It just had an office area, and more tables, and cabinets with the... Okay maybe it would look like more of a morgue on a TV show. Wouldn't know, didn't really like TV too much when I was alive, prefer a good book. It had jars of stuff on shelves too, I wonder if any of this is stereotypical? I'm not sure; but the dead bugs, preserved organs, and blood I sense in the drains are too close to the living human. He looks upset, he is just staring at me, and his breathing is weird. Food, focus Taylor. Well, barring the catatonic human being, which even dead, I know not to eat, I notice the corpse behind me. He 'feels' like I can eat him. I pull back the covering like I'm revealing that I've made the rabbit disappear, except all I did was expose I nude dead guy... okay no more crazy analogues. I'm sure that they are getting annoying to you, because talking like this is all just a side show act is messing with me.

I look at the cool stiff. The line of stiches looks really... fashionable? Why do I think that heavy stitching on a body is fashionable? Well I am dead myself, so maybe my sense of aesthetics is different. Whatever fashion aside I reach for the seam and cut them open with sharp skeletal hands. Handy, that in defiance of proper biology I can move my skeleton hands. The inside of the man looked delicious. Now I know what your thinking. Taylor you are an undead for maybe 5 or 6 hours, how can you not be grossed out by the thought of eating necrotic flesh. Okay well one, you can see how good those lungs and heart look behind those tasty looking ribs, and two... I reached up under the ribcage and snapped the zip-ties holding the ribs closed. Two the only other food in here is the coroner, and he probably doesn't want to die. Not to mention that he was super respectful to my body, top notch autopsy, 10 out of 10 would die again. The stiffs lungs looked blackish, and you would have bet good money that I would find something like that unappetizing. I rip out the left one. I bring it to my mouth and take my first bite. I could taste! It was spongy, and kind of crunchy on the inside, like cottage cheese and eggshell. The flavor wasn't really strong, but the texture was very yummy. I go in for some more.

At some point halfway through the lung I noticed my flesh repairing. I hadn't noticed it before, but as soon as I moved past the taste it was like my eyes were opened. I couldn't 'feel' it, but I could sense that I had more to myself if that makes sense. Still no eyes, ear, or nose, but I could direct the flesh to things like my feet and stuff. And isn't that weird. Having a certain level of control over your body is normal, having such fine control that you can direct and feel individual cells, that is not normal. Ha, normal like that applies to my situation anymore. I could see everything my entire biology laid out before me, it was mostly inert. Why did it function? Having finished my lung, I look back to the corpse, I think I'll have the heart next. Almost as I soon as I thought that my mouth had a strange sensation around my teeth. I turn to show myself.... fangs, maybe an inch long. Instant adaptation huh, I could feel my cell rearranging, but it seems that my subconscious body really like to eat. Well I think I know what my body is trying to tell me here.

I press my face into that chest cavity and bite. It is really satisfying, the biting, but it is nothing compared to what came next. When people die I'm told that blood coagulates, but no one told me it tasted SO GOOD! It was thick like a milkshake and instant cement, but that taste was pure savory and the texture...like velvet. I sucked until nothing came. I could imagine that heaven was like this. Is it weird that I wish I could bathe in it?

Coming back to myself I notice that my legs and feet are repaired, hands too. Also, the coroner had left, and now was back with what looks like security. How long had I been devouring the body for? They are yelling I can't hear them, but hey, I am sensing my biology really good right now so points for that right. I place my hand behind my ear, you know the universal signal for "what, I can't hear you." They briefly stop yelling, only to start up again. Whatever I walk back over to my missing organs, namely my esophagus and my right lung. I watch them as they slowly back up from my approach. Lifting both up, much to what looks like protest from my audience, decide which I want to eat. I've had lung so... come here you tasty tube. That didn't really go how I thought, as soon as my lips touched my missing throat pipe it squirmed down my throat. I nearly choked more out of habit than reflex, but still watching my body swallow something like that was disturbing. It's funny, but that has to be the only thing that has disturbed me so far. Well at least the living have stopped trying to talk to me, too busy planning to capture me or something. I decide to finish putting myself back together; lung here, heart here, fold and press flaps to ribs, and then...

"Crunch!"

I nearly jumped. I could hear it when I put my rib cage back, still can't hear outside my body, but maybe it is getting better. With myself back in one piece I decide to take stock of my body. I move my joints and find that I'm a little flexible, I test this by leaning back. I can touch the back of my heels! Okay I'm very flexible, good job Taylor if undead gymnastics ever become a thing you'll have a running start. In my self-inspection I noticed something else. I was full of creatures that were not me, I don't know how I know that, but I do know that I can "eat" them with little effort. Doing that doesn't seem to do much... wait, hold on I can read and understand what it was that I just ate...I can change things...I don't know if that is a good thing, but apparently I can change myself and make things inside me too? I'm beginning to get the nasty feeling that I'm not just dead.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 10, 2020

That feeling just continued to get worse as, after munching on some spiders I found in the corner, I was confronted with the police. This language barrier, I guess I could call it, was starting to get really annoying and being deaf is getting old quick. I'm not entirely sure why my senses are even gone. I can still see through my ghost so it isn't like I need my physical eyes, so why do I need my physical ears. It's like some arbitrary restriction designed by someone just to make my un-life difficult. I inspect the ears, they aren't even fucked up! So why, why can't I use them! The police notice either that I can't hear them or am not paying them any attention and one of them, with some brains, pulls out a pen and paper. He starts writing something down. I look around from the corner that I ate the spider in, it kind of tasted like a rather sour sweet, I could eat more of the old man, but with the police here probably a bad idea. The officer turns the paper around, its English, that's all I can tell about it. Oh, I can see it even tell you their are maybe a couple words, but I don't understand what the shapes say. I shrug at the officer and make a gesture to have the pen. He gives it to me with the pad of paper, I try writing on the page, it is just scribbles. It isn't my hands, I can't think in English, am I? Can you not understand me? Am I not talking to myself in English. That is a little existential, I think my body is trying to translate what my ghost is saying, but my brain is broken. I hand back the pad and pen, if they catch my disappointment at my now inability to communicate I don't see it.

After the police figure that walking corpses is not their department a few of them stop tiring to talk to me and go get a doctor. One of them even was brave enough to bring me a hospital gown, he got a great big smile for that one. Although I think it was ruined by my arm falling off when he tried to comfort me if his hasty retreat had anything to do with it. I didn't even realize I was naked, I guess when you die modesty is lost somewhere along the way. I pick up my arm from the ground and reattach it, I notice that my body even though animate is still rotting. A quick change here and there and suddenly I'm not. I know it is stingy, but I like having a body that doesn't collapse on me.

…

It occurs to me that is a normal thing, but I considered a non-rotting body as weird.

Uhh …

Maybe more than a little things about my personality have changed. It would be really nice for my new existence to stop fucking with me.

So, a doctor arrived, weird robes. Wait is that Panacea? That's not a rhetorical question, I'm actually having problems telling people apart. Like faces, are kind of a mess to look at. I'm mostly just going by what they are wearing to tell them apart, but if that is Panacea. Uhhh… I don't think that this is going to go too great. I mean I'm super dead. It's not like it is too much of a problem I just thought she couldn't work on the dead. And even if she can should I let her? She is super serious, walking towards me like I'm some frightened animal or something... wait! I'm undead right? Am I going to have some crazed nutjob with a gun try to prevent the zombie apocalypse? I really don't want to get shot in the face. Well given what I know about my not-biology (because I would have to be alive to have biology) bullets, even in my brain, cannot really get rid of me, but I can see that getting old if every alarmist in the city decide they need to be humanity's savior. Makes me feel kind of bad for the undead. Imagine your just walking along, not really a threat to anyone, and then, Bam! Some asshole decides he doesn't like your looks and just blows in your face, you'd be pissed too!

I look over at the slowly approaching hero, just really taking your time huh. Okay you're in arms reach, just reach out and touch me. She is just slowly reaching out, staring me down like she is tiring to see if the feral zombie is going to bite her. God I am going to have to deal with idiots aren't I. I roll my eyes and just grab her hand. Bad move on my part sure everyone in the room; the police, security, that coroner moved towards me at once, and I would probably be more focused on that if something more interesting was happening with my un-biology. I could read her. Now that sounds bad, I just started out by saying that I could read the things I ate right, well as it turns out that that is an exclusive property of dead tissue. I can read living tissue without eating it, at least skin level. I guess it makes sense. Dead tissue is dead, but because living stuff is still doing stuff, you know cell stuff, I can read living tissue without eating it. I can also read the bacterial life on her skin which look suspiciously edited. It was a bit like the header information at the top of programing suites in school. Describing it like that make sense to me, but it is exactly not like that. It is more like you can tell that certain genes are hand picked, because they compromise the organism so completely it can't function in a natural environment. It is a bit more than that. The edits I've made are more like nature if nature wished to kill things to make them better than natural selection. Is it some how worse that I can edit all of the living stuff too. Even revert the edits too. Which doesn't make any sense, how do you recover genetic information that no longer exists? At least I know I can fix anything I mess up, which is cool. When did I learn so much about biology?

Anyways back to the human in front of me that I kind of have been ignoring. She is concentrating. Like really concentrating some veins are popping up. I can feel her grip on my cells, like slick plastic, slowly try to change me. I yank it back from her, and lock her out of it, after all I didn't give her permission to change my makeup and I am kind of liking some of the experiments I'm conducting in here. She blinks and just tries harder, turns out world's greatest healer is kind of useless against the undead. Score one for the Undead, zilch for the Living. Getting tired of this I slip my hand out of hers, which breaks her concentration, and look around for more things to eat. The others are yelling again, I can hear something, see something too! Having two perspectives is weird but not too disorientating, but that could be because everything looks and sounds underwater. Okay so my body does have a kind of repair function, but what did it repair for me to gain some senses back? Looking at what changed I noticed that my eyes and ears weren't connected before. I feel like smacking my head, of course I can't see or hear my senses aren't attached to my brain! Or wait, what? That still doesn't explain how brain damage is effecting how I view the world in my ghost body. Does the information, or lack there of, that my brain shares with me, change how the world looks? Am I two separate people? That's kind of scary, am I me when I turn my brain off is not something I thought I would think when I got up this morning.

Maybe it doesn't matter I'm getting better and eating helps. Well I just need the right material then, so I know what to eat next. I spot it from across the room sitting in one of the jars, sliced like a turkey. Nodding to myself I start to move over to the brain in the jar. A few of the cops move to intercept, I stop just out of their reach. The one on the right reaches out I bend under his legs like my limbs had their joints cut and dodge around the other. I can feel my muscles physical limits holding me back from what I could really do, but it is enough to flow right by my would-be captors. This is getting fun, I run to the jar my swift body feeling light as I practically pirouette around the others joining in. My body is super flexible. With my long limbs it looks like a spider crawling through fingers when I dodge around the cops and coroner. It was like dancing, if dancing was done by the girl from the Exorcist.

If I started to smile as I danced and cartwheeled over and around them for a bit longer than necessary, I'll deny it. The smooth motion I could do with my new flexibility and strength were kind of mesmerizing if I'm honest, it is almost like I was designed to outpace humans. I checked just to see if I had been subconsciously editing this whole time. I haven't, but I could always use a confirmation. Anyways fun over and three of the four guys getting tired, one backing off, I made it to the jar. Without ceremony I open and pull out nice thick piece of brain like a pickle. And let me tell you, brains are the best. If I had a working larynx or vocal cords, I would have probably moaned out loud. As mortifying as that would be it would be worth the embarrassment. I can't even describe the flavor, but maybe salty? No, it is too complex for that word. It was sort of waxy, but had a chewy feel that didn't make the waxy-like properties unpleasant. I can tell it would better if it wasn't for the preservative being so bitter. I expel that quick, it isn't hard for me to separate it out to waste I'll pee it out later, and won't that be interesting to see what comes out of me when I go to the bathroom. Survey says, uh... nothing. I apparently use it all, no biological waste. It is going to be a short pee.

I reach for more while I go about repairing my nervous system. Man am I glad that this was here, it would be harder for people to calm down if I started eating the last meals brain. Assuming I could even open up his head, I'm not super strong or anything after all. My brain slowly fills in the missing parts and I'm treated to the wonders of well a brain. It doesn't change much, but things I had forgotten I was missing were back. Temperature for example, I could feel it now. I was cold, comfortable and cold. I start on "hooking-up" my more important senses. It doesn't take me long to fix that with the right materials as it turns out I even found time to fix my muteness, while I finished off mister brain. The process of me 'digesting' cellular makeup is just weird. I can turn any cell into any cell I want, all dead but still functioning. It is just easier in I replace cells with new cells of the same type, it isn't a requirement just easier. Is it weird that zero chemistry is going on inside of me, but the ideas of what each cell did in life is what is making me function. My body makes no energy. I should be incapable of movement, but I move. It would be easier, somehow, on me if I started up some chemistry, but it wouldn't be life chemistry. I start it up just as I start to recognize language. " What... PRT seems like.... CDC....It doesn't appear too responsive, maybe it's a bio tinker's construct?"

They were talking about me and I really didn't like the sound of their options for dealing with me. However, that does beg a question of if I am a bio-tinker's pet project, but letting people with a lack of interest in me control me? That's what got me killed. I think I've had enough of people just deciding what should happen to me. "So, I've finally eaten enough nerve cells to reconnect my brain to the rest of my body," I say out loud, a bit scratchy but still normal volume, " I also fixed my vocal cords so that I wouldn't have to write anything down, my hands are still a bit numb."

I am happy with the silence I caused, " I also would like to testify to my murder if that would be alright."

Gryphalcon · Dec 11, 2020

Heh. Looking to continue this?

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 11, 2020

Gryphalcon said:
Heh. Looking to continue this?

Yes, I have something like 70k + words written, I'm just working through them to see what needs work.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 11, 2020

I finished another chapter today so here is chapter 3, enjoy.

As it turns out, no, it wasn't alright. Apparently when you turn into a zombie people tend to look down on you. Well I for one will not stand for this oppression, equal rights for the Undead! Talking was actually the wrong move, imagine that! It is almost like my entire life was trying to teach me a valuable lesson or something, genius Taylor genius. So, for anyone who finds themselves in this position let me give you some advice on how to proceed so you can learn for my mistakes. One, never just start talking out loud people tend to think zombies are supposed to be stupid, any evidence that goes against that makes them jump to conclusions. Two, if you are going to have to talk, try to sound confused or upset with your condition, people tend to find sympathy with the undead if they are self-loathing because they can't imagine being dead as an okay thing. And thirdly, never casually talk about your eating habit to a room full of the living, it bothers them for some reason. Anyways if my joking around isn't enough to convince you, how about what happened next?

Panacea was the first to step out of her shock, " Are we speaking to Taylor Hebert or the bio tinker or master in charge?"

I blink, physically and metaphysically, "What?"

They all stiffen, one of the officers is thumbing his weapon and it is making the slow feeling of dread forming in my stomach get stronger. Oh, hello body emotion feedback how I haven't missed you. While most humans wouldn't get it, having some distance from your problems via emotional deadening is quite comfy. As a side note I can recognize faces again, now that my brain is wired back up together. The blur of a lack of understanding is more like a realization of some answer, rather than some change in my visuals. I just guess I now can understand faces again. Read too, their is an anatomy chart on the wall, I can read Femur from here. Back to the faces though, Panacea is sort of a mousey look her features are sharp, long nose. The coroner looks as little pale, his expressions say barf-y. The officers seem just uneasy. " Look I don't think you understand what's going on-"

" You can stop me from using my powers on your body, the only things I've seen do something even remotely close are breaker states and bio-constructs."

I frown. Well what about dead bodies that don't have your permission?

" Look," it was the coroner's turn I guess, " why don't you come with us, we'll find a nice room and run some test."

And wasn't that a red flag. " Yeah," an officer said, " just come with us so we can help."

This was not good; I do not have the best track record when it comes to authority "helping" me. I look at them, physically unable to keep myself from tensing, I see them getting ready. Fuck this, I need to get out of here. And there is no way in hell I'm going to let them catch me. This body is swift, let's see if it's fast. I leap over the table, my dual perspective's giving me the advantage of seeing the entire room in an almost three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. I've leapt into the middle of the group, coroner dives to the door and Panacea seems to back up, all while the two guards and two police scramble to the offense. Alright three heavy set guys, and one who pulled their gun. I am glad that my body seems made for evasion, because dancing through fists and grapples makes it much harder for people to aim at you. I jump over the coroner's head before anyone can grab me and bolt down the hall. I am fast, and running fills me with glee. Man if I thought the whole doing gymnastics around people was fun, then running was a high. The halls on this floor were mostly empty, and I guess it makes sense. The dead don't need attending to all the time, the dead have all the time in the world. I start to head toward the elevator. My pursuers are really lagging behind me, I reach the doors clicking the up button. I look back. They've barely made it half way down the hall, by the time the elevator dings its arrival. I slip through the door, hitting the ground floor button without my body turning to see it. I stared back down the hall, they were getting closer... and closer... can't this thing work faster! Was I panicking, My legs were bouncing on the balls of my feet to the rhythm of my tapping finger on my thigh. Focus Taylor, we need to focus. I take an inhale that I don't need. They were nearly at the doors when they finally closed.

I let out the held air, again mostly on instinct rather than need. I examine myself as the elevator rises. With my eyes not my power. My limbs are fully healed, no more exposed bones and my chest was fully sealed. The scar tissue was still present from both the autopsy and... The Locker. I scratched up my fingers to bloody ribbons in that metal sarcophagus. I try to remove the scars, my powers do nothing. Strange I could remove other scar tissues on my body, like that scratch from that nail when I was 4. What made these scars different?

I didn't have time to properly find the answer to that, as the elevator opened. The hallway was a lot more busy than the one in the morgue. At least a dozen nurses, with everything from clipboards, IVs, and needles to gurneys and mop buckets. No one looks over at the opening elevator, but they are definitely going to try to stop me when they see the animate corpse running in nothing but a hospital gown. I only hesitate for a second before I'm sprinting across the hall. The shouts of alarm as I leapt, squirmed, and crawled down that hall in a dead sprint. Dodging through tight frames of passage that almost makes it look like the chaos of the hall was a choreographed dance sequence. It was almost instinctual, animalistic as I weaved around, over, and under peoples grasping limbs. I reached the reception, and burst out of the hospital's glass doors just as the fire alarm triggered.

So, I escaped the hospital, to the actual surprise of no PRT hero stopping me at the front door. And I go home. I don't really know what else to tell you. I mean I did get some rather strange looks on the bus ride home, but nothing interesting happened on the way there. The scenery was the same as every day, dreary, wet January in the decaying city of Brockton Bay. I was really just happy that they let me on the bus. Turns out looking like the walking dead is a great way of gaining pity points from some of the bus drivers, or maybe he was just a pervert. I got lucky with the fair too, found a twenty near the bus stop. I messed around with my powers over my body a bit, but other than learning that I really wish to change how my muscles and bone structure work ( if I'm going to have improved muscle shapes my bones are going to have to get stronger and have more anchor points) I didn't really do much. I learned I can smell cancer. Older lady near to the front, has a tumor on her liver the size of my big toe. I thought about telling her, but it wouldn't matter. No one believes you when you look crazy.

Anyways I arrive home, dad isn't here because his car is missing, get the spare from under the rock, and before I know it, I'm home. Home isn't much I'll admit, but despite its small size it is huge without...mom. I shake off that negative thought and decide to look around. Because I'm also hungry and nothing in the normal food is appetizing. I literally follow my nose to see if I can find something edible. It leads me to a sink in the basement, or more exactly the black mold under the sink. I really have no sense of manners if I can stick my surprisingly flexible tongue to the bottom of the sink, and slurp up all that tasty mold. I made noises...I'd be ashamed if I could feel that feeling still. It is sweet, but more importantly I can make more of it inside me which is really giving me some ideas. Snack consumed I head upstairs to take a bath. Warm water is good when your alive, but when you have no internal temperature it is heaven. I hadn't even realized how cold I was, but I must have been freezing. Well I guess there is nothing I can do to fix that as I don't have any real metabolism. I slip out of my bath and into some comfy cloths, bed sounds nice too. I don't know if I can sleep, but even if I can't it will be nice to rest. It has been a mentally exhausting day after all. Sliding under the covers I think of one last thing I want to try. I start coughing, soon a tiny spider falls out of my nose, it's me! Well one is never enough...

Candcg · Dec 12, 2020

I'm enjoying this, hope it continues

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 12, 2020

Candcg said:
I'm enjoying this, hope it continues

Yeah I plan on continuing. Thank you for liking it.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 14, 2020

So I thought that I had a major plot hole coming up that I couldn't fix because I started the story in January, but as it turns out Worm takes place after certain events. SO here is something to tide you over, I don't know if the quality of these early chapters is good.

I may have over done it. I look around at the millions of small spider creatures flowing like a fabric across every surface. They were under my control so it wasn't like it was a mess. I watch as they move at the slightest touch of my mind on their dead flesh. Like waves on the ocean. It says something weird has happened to me as I cannot help but find the lake of fungal spore spider hybrids as adorable. If I am remembering correctly, didn't I die to a bunch of insects? Shouldn't I hate this? I swarm my, well, swarm over my body covering me head to toes. Nothing...

I flow some into my body and become frustrated, " Why aren't I terrified?" I made them go into my mouth, up my nose, behind my eyeballs, nothing.

I check over my brain, nerves, and endocrine system. It is all, while dead, functioning correctly. I mean yeah, all cellular activity is nonresponsive and simulant chemistry is taking place at the will of my subconscious, but I'm getting frustrated so I'm not sociopathic, right? I should be traumatized I'm sure, right? I realize that I don't really know all that much about trauma, so maybe I am and it's something else? I shrug, if these creatures don't cause me discomfort, I guess that I'm fine with it. I hide my swarm in my body and throughout my clothes and decide that my nap was sidetrack. With my body asleep I decided to make some more additions to my body, after all I'll probably got some time before dad-

I bolt upright. "Oh shit, I forgot about dad!" My mind was a scramble of activity as I got my body up. I need to change clothes, Is he still at the DWU? I should call to make sure; he cannot come home to his recently undead daughter just chilling with her spider army in his recently deceased daughter's bed. That would be a good way to give him a heart attack. Hoodie dawned; the phone is in the kitchen. I practically fly down the stairs. " Come on, come on."

"Dockworkers Union this is Kurt speaking."

"Kurt!"

"Who is this?"

"It's Taylor I was wondering if you knew where my dad is?"

"Taylor, I thought he would be with you he was supposed to be with you, he left for your school after they called."

"Shit, thanks Kurt."

"Hey is everything okay?"

Yeah, it's great Kurt I'm a talking corpse trying to find my grieving father, "everything is okay I just need to talk to my dad before it's too late."

"Wha-" *Click*

Okay, so not at work let's try the hospital. I try that, no dice. Okay Taylor think if I was Danny Hebert and just found out that my daughter died in a locker because said daughter didn't mention a two and a half year long bullying campaign that caused her death... Shit...He is going to be so pissed at me...But this is the doomsday scenario I had imagined would happen if he found out, he is already crushed by one death and I have the power to stop it from happening twice! Okay Taylor, no going back, if I really want to protect my Dad, he is going to need to hear my secrets. I exit my house, a photo of Dad I pulled from a frame, spider army to help me scout out clues, and hoodie pulled up.
Operation Suicide Hotline is a go!
…

Probably not the best name....

I worked my way across town from the docks to some of the other sides. Dad is not much of a drinker, but I know that he sometimes drinks when I'm not around and he is thinking about mom. So, armed with that knowledge I hit up every bar and liquor store I can find. The route I took was practically breakneck, a blur of building after building each of them a dizzying array of smells and colors. He wasn't at any of them, along the way I would, at every pay phone, call the house to see if he returned, no luck there either. I'm starting to get worried. My spores are actually real useful beyond being a smokescreen for escaping certain undesirables. I can sense things through them with quite a different set of sensors. I can see light but not in any real detail so I can't see through them, but a more impressive sensory suite of chemical composition sensors and electroreceptors. It made everywhere I went a bit overwhelming as I ran by, but I wasn't confused about where I was going.

The individuals of my spore cloud aren't too impressive, but together I can find anything. I don't know what my max range is with them but after finding, and eating, a few choice carcasses, mostly dogs and cats, my numbers reach the billions. It is enough to be a dense fog over an alleyway. The fact that with them I was picking up evidence for over a dozen crimes that have taken place in this one alleyway I say I got a good career as a forensics scientist. And that train of thought would be exciting if I wasn't turning up jack crap on finding my dad. It was getting late and I was starting to panic, I need to think. The buses had stopped so the bus stop was deserted, perfect for a zombie to hang out and think at. If he is not at a bar maybe he is somewhere else I never see? He isn't with his friends, unless it's Allen and wouldn't that be an awkward visit. He isn't at the hospital, but he could be at the police, or hell he could be at the PRT with Panacea involved in my little "resurrection." Well that's a no go even if he is, the PRT probably convinced him that it is just my corpse piloted by some tinker rather than what is actually going on. He could be at the cemetery...

"Hey, girly looking for a good time?"

The sneering voice, I can smell the chemically aftertaste of flooded dopamine receptors, the lingering dampness of urine. I look up to confirm, yep apparently, I forgot that being alone at night and a woman is a stereotype. Five of them three guys and a surprise two girls, well good to see that the Merchants were an equal opportunity employer. But joking aside this is maybe a bad thing; one it is five against me, two I was just in the middle of an epiphany, three they don't look like they would taste good. Okay that last one is not too true; they remind me of the difference between skirt steak and prime rib. Both can be equally tasty we all just have preference. They are walking this way...might as well see how this goes. I get up and stretch, fixing my spine with soft crunch. " Oooh, look at that boys looks like she wants to play..."

"Oh, will be sure to show her a good time."

I yawn, five more steps, welcome to my parlor said the spider to the flies.

"That is quite a mouth I can't wait to stick my-"

Foods here! They walked into range, and before the second one could finish that though, I stabbed my fist into his throat collapsing his windpipe. "Eddie!" I grab one of the girls and slam my heel into her ankle, snapping it like a pencil. Control over your adrenal glands is useful. Her shrill scream was deafening, but I ignored it in favor of catching a fist aimed at my face.

Or at least I tried to, all it did was mean that the back of my hand connected with face. I fall to the ground and they all start to kick me. It hurts me, my cells lacking the ability to form bruises to help heal. Good thing you can't kill something dead. I feel one of my bones crack, and one of my eyes bursts when I get hit with a heel. They are all yelling, and I am hungry.

I watch as the bitch who took one of my eyes pulls back her leg. I'm starting to move with the kicks, almost avoiding the damage at all. It's almost like the dodging, I just move with their moves. The other woman, with her broken leg, is just sobbing. I see her friend's foot come in for another kick to my face.

I am hungry.

Just as the heeled foot comes into a few inches of my face, I bite her ankle. Blood fills my mouth as my fangs extent into the boney flesh. It is sweet. It is warm. I need it. As my body heals from the meal, the tasty human tries to rip her foot out of my mouth, I'm like a vice. The others have stopped trying to kick me and were now just trying to help her. All except one, "Eddie" seems to have recovered and is kicking me in my stomach. I release the girl just as they were pulling they fall in a heap. At the same time I caught the heel of the kicker, and pulled up. "Eddie" falls flat on his back and I climb on top.

Straddling his stomach, I practically slam the top of my jaw into his shoulder. My two fangs puncturing his filthy army surplus jacket and tee-shirt. My eyes close as I drink his blood while he screams right in my ear. It is sweet, warm, dark, and mine. I pull away far too soon for my tastes, and open my eyes.

The merchant underneath me is unconscious, and isn't bleeding out. I look to the other ones, who are half caring half dragging their member with the broken leg. My food won't get far. The miasma of spores erupts from me and chases after them as I stand in one motion. I run into the cloud of black fog my prey clear to me as they try to run from the sound of my slapping feet. I aim for the more mobile ones, they had dropped their companions in favor of their own skin. I form dense parts of the swarm around their feet causing them to stumble.

This body may not be strong or tough enough to take a punch from these two so I just have to not get hit. I catch up to them and slide under the feet of the one on the right. He twist to face me, a swing already thrown for where my face is. I duck around the fist, slamming my head into his chin as I stand up. He is knocked back just as his friend throws his own punch. I grab his arm as it goes by my head, and pull his body over mine with my body weight. It works, and the merchant thug sails over my body as I spins to pull him during his fall. Yes, I fell on my face, but it flipped the gangster onto his back.

Right on the curb with a satisfying crunch. He wasn't going to get up from that, still alive too. The other bastard was standing over me his boot ready to stomp on the back of my head. I roll to the right, and back up to my feet with a spin. He swung out at me with a slap, I back stepped and countered with my swarm flowing down his throat. This was educational, but really I was hungry and they interrupted my thought. The Merchant was choking as I walked over to the others to round them up. After rounding them up I tied them together with some spider silk I forgot these creature still could do. That would have been helpful during the fight.

One by one I drink some of their blood. It was maybe just a cup from each. What did you think I was going to kill them? Don't be absurd! I even called them an ambulance after taking it with one of their phones. I even thanked them for the meal, even if they were all unconscious for it.

I hightailed it out of there and made my way to mom. The thought I had before I was interrupted was that dad might be at the cemetery. He doesn't like going there unless it is the anniversary, but this was me dying. It was a pretty big event and I checked everywhere else I could think of. It was a bit of a walk but hey I was feeling refreshed after such a hearty meal. Dead tissue was good, but living tissue was king.

As I approached the cemetery, I could see dad's car, perfect! It was then just a simple hop over the fence, and a short jaunt to my passed-out father. Dad was just laying down in the grass next to the small headstone. He looked like he was cold. The bottle in his hand was nearly empty. I wince at that. I know I kept things from him to keep him from being upset, but I am beginning to think that was probably a poor decision. " Come on dad, time to get you home."

"Five more minutes Annie..."

I just smile. He is heavy. I can't pick him up, but maybe I can use that extra blood for something. A few modifications and a quick rearranging to my muscles, and ta-da! I can now lift my much heavier father. Man, this whole being undead and having strange powers is kind of neat. I lift my father into my arms. I look down at mom's grave, I really wish she was here. That's when I feel it a hand gripping my shoulder... not my body's shoulder... MY shoulder. I turn my metaphysical head...….

" Mom?"

"Hey, Sweetie."

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 19, 2020

Another chapter..... It is a bit short, like a lot of these early chapters.

Driving is hard. " Look out for pedestrians dear." Driving with your mom's spirit back seat driving while the families last living member is passed out in the back seat is probably harder.

"He'll be fine, and I wasn't going to hit'em!"

"I wasn't saying you were, honey just to be more observant."

I got off the sidewalk and onto the street, man I think this whole driving thing would be more fun if mom and dad weren't in the car. I doesn't help that before today I had never even driven. It is also probably bad that I have a deep seated trauma around cars in the form of my mother's death. I feel mom squeeze my metaphorical head to her metaphorical chest and stroke my metaphorical hair. I only say metaphorical because as it turns out ghost anatomy is a little fuzzy. It feels like she is stroking my hair, but it also feels like a head pat and a hand holding my cheek. She is also maybe giving me a hug, again it is weird. All I can really say is that mom is comforting me. God it is nice to feel this again. However, she has been doing it since we reunited, and as much as I am enjoying the correcting of my severely lacking amount of physical affection over the past two years...I feel her squeeze a bit tighter... I guess this can happen for a little longer.

"Don't forget your turn signal, Taylor." I smirk hidden away with my body that is actually doing all the driving. So, it turns out that I'm indeed not a parahuman. The evidence of my mom being here and knowing things that I cannot possibly know, like how she has been watching dad at work and me at school, but also monitoring the other going-ons that happen at the cemetery. It is pretty big evidence that I'm not projecting her, she knows things I can't possibly know about. So, I'm dead and somehow got a very abnormal afterlife. Mom says that she has never ran into any other ghosts, but the cemetery feels full is how she described it. There are rules it feels like, but it could be as simple as time or maybe my own knowledge, otherwise I would be running into the dead like crazy. There are more people dead than alive right. So, what am I?

" Be careful of that pothole sweetie, these tires aren't the newest."

I don't know. I swerve around the road hole we are almost halfway... I think...

"Hey mom if were both ghosts why aren't you a zombie?" It feels kind of silly to use the word, but hey I am a zombie so if anyone thinks it is silly I'm the one they can take it up with.

"I'm not sure," she whispers into my hair," but you smell strange."

I laugh, " I'll have you know that I took a shower before I went out on the town tonight."

She laughs, I've really missed her...I'm never losing her again. " Make a turn here Owl."

All in all, the realization of the afterlife, my death, the return of my mother, the driving... I'm still going to have to tell my dad about the bullying. "And you should," did I say that out loud? She continues, " It is absolutely deplorable that Emma would do such a thing to you."

" But mom, dad is going to be crushed!"

"Then that is his hurdle to overcome," she stated with finality, " It isn't right to hide hardship from those that can handle it."

"Oh yeah, dad could handle it with your death in the background," I talked back defensively.

"Taylor Hebert," She screamed in my ear, I swerve a bit, " that is an incredibly inappropriate thing to say!"

I quiet as she continues, " you clearly don't understand your father as well as I do, because if you did you would have known that he would burn the world for this family."

" But..."

" No buts; he would not put this family into debt trying to out sue a lawyer, he would not work himself to death for Arcadia or home schooling, and he wouldn't yell at you if you needed to just take a break from Winslow."

"What would he do," I ask cowed.

" He would find a solution," the confidence of that statement was practically bricks to all the ideas and fears I had about my father's state of mind. I practically deflated. Was I really so foolish to think that the strongest man I know wouldn't be back? Or did I really think that my father was an idiot. That thought hurt, he didn't deserve to be thought of like that. We drove in silence for a long time.

"I love you mom."

I can feel her smiling into my hair, " I know, I love you too Owl." And just like that with a few bloody tears in my body's eyes, we were home. I lifted my father upstairs and into his bed, he hadn't even flinched, he must be really inebriated. Hmmm... I put my hand on his forehead and read his body just to check to see if alcohol wasn't the only thing in him. Nope, he is clean, thank God I don't know how I'd feel if I learned my dad was suicidal. With dad taken care of me and mom, she hasn't let go yet, go downstairs to sit in the living room. Ha, living room.

"So, mom."

"Yes dear?"

"Do you want me to make you a body?"

She is quiet for a while before, " Honey I've already lived a life and-"

" It isn't hard, and my powers seem to be built around stuff like this."

" But Taylor, it wouldn't be mine and what would it be made out of?"

" To answer that first question, yes it would be your body apparently it is a part of whatever information your ghost is so I can read it," It really was, her ghost was full of information and not just on what made up my moms body, " and secondly I can make you a body out of anything biological."

" But it wouldn't be right, it wou-"

" If it wasn't right it wouldn't have been allowed to happen with me, or are you saying that my existence is wrong," It would kind of hurt if she thought the undead were wrong.

" No, never!"

" Then?"

She sighs, " Okay, but if it is dangerous or gross, I reserve the right to hate it." I smile into my mom's chest; we really are all so stubborn.

I wasn't lying when I said that there was "genetic" information on mom's ghost body, there was just more of it than could possibly fit in a human body. Some of it was esoteric, others were certainly from her previous body (it was almost like it was book marked for me), and others were well genius. It wasn't like I was reading one person it was like I was reading multiple possibilities for genetic structure.

It was cool. I first gathered the materials that I would need with my spore spiders (need a better name for those). I mostly gather insects, both dead and alive, from the surrounding area. My range was still not reached but I could reach several blocks in every direction. I also used several fungus and mold I found along the way as they resemble nerve cells quite well. And a tree, it was dead so I don't think anyone will miss it. With all the materials dissolved I brought them back home. Mom was kind of grossed out by all of the things I was going to be using to build her body back, but I started to explain what I was doing in detail and she started to just be really interested. It felt good to be good at something and have someone be interested in it.

As I went along the body began to take shape before our eyes, I was really glad that my powers just knew what was mom and what wasn't because this was a lot of data to go through. Although some of that Other data was interesting, even useful for solving some human structure problems. I asked Mom if she would like any of them, but sadly she refused. I made some information packets of the data within my own supplies to look through at a later date. The brain was the hardest part even with the blueprint, I had to 'run it' to see if it was correct. My mom had to help me to see if it was working correct, and as it turns out sharing my power was really weird but taught me on how I can actually get my mother bound to the actual body.

After a while I was done and a nude inanimate body that was a perfect copy of my mother was sitting on the couch next to me. I double checked that it was all correct, and then decided it was time to pour my mother into it. She was being clingy. " Mom it's not like you're not going to be able to be around me!"

" Five more minutes..."

" Mom it's been five hours its almost morning and Dad could wake up soon."

"Okay, okay, geeze they grow up so fast."

"MOM!"

"Hahahahahahaha."

The process maybe took a couple second, but it took her forever for her to "wake." Almost fifty minutes later when I was near to panic that I had just lost my mom once again.

*gasp*

Oh thank God, I was so sure that I had fucked something up. "Mom," I ask out loud.

She looks over at me, it takes a second, but she smiles, "Hey Owl."

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 23, 2020

Now that there are more of the undead in the world, we can start to look for similarities that they share. Although since it is just two, I don't think that it can count towards any scientific paper. One all undead appear dead, we don't look alive our eyes are foggy and unresponsive, skin has paled and greyed significantly. Two we don't really care for clothing. It's odd, but my mom is, standing next to me helping me make breakfast for dad when he wakes up, fully nude. I'd be embarrassed if I was alive, but dead, ehh … She hasn't even said anything about it. Looking at myself, although not visible on my dark hoodie, I'm still covered in some blood from those Merchants. I... I just now noticed it... Well I guess I'm going to have to take care of that. "Mom?"

"Yes sweetie."

"My clothes are ruined," I pause wondering how to phrase this before realizing if it didn't bother me in front of strangers too much to be naked, telling Mom she is won't matter, "and you're naked."

Silence...

My mom looks down. Her body much of the blueprint for my own adolescent growth if it weren't for stress holding it all back. I guess now with my powers I can get that back for myself, but honestly, I couldn't care less about looks. Being undead it doesn't really matter what I look like. I got my mom back, I'll take it. " Oh!" I smile she really didn't notice. A hasty retreat to my room revealed two things; one the blood on my hoodie was edible without destroying my cloths, and two I was simultaneously both taller and smaller than my mother. We joked about how dad is going to react to seeing her is such a tight shirt. It was nice, being with mom. When we are close, I can feel her spirit touch mine, like a hug or a kiss on the forehead. I don't care what dad says, I'll accept anything if it means that I can be with mom. Another thing that is strange about the undead is we still like food, but only if it is burnt or undercooked. We lost 3 eggs and 2 strips of bacon between us, the eggs raw and the bacon smoked. They were delicious and restorative, but finally we had a human worthy meal in front of us. And just in time too dad was running down the stairs. I guess we are supposed to be dead.

"I swear to god if you fuckers broke into my house just steal my bac-"

Both me and mom look over to see dad standing at the foot of the stair baseball bat barely in grip. He looked from mom to me, his brain practically hamster wheeling harder than I've ever seen. Mom decided to end that prematurely, " now Danny I thought I told you to keep that foul mouth of yours at work." Dad started to gape like a fish. " Yes, it is lovely to see you again dear," she said smiling her hands on her hips were a nice touch, " but please come and sit down, Taylor and I spent all morning trying to make breakfast for you." Dad just nodded and dropped the bat. We sat across from dad as he mechanically ate his food. It was almost fifteen minutes before anyone spoke. " Annette?" Mom just nodded, and dad broke down. Mom and I were swept up into dad's arms as he kissed and hugged us, he was crying so much that I was too. " How... Taylor was-"
"It's fine dad I got better, I fixed it."

After convincing dad to finish his breakfast, he looked hungover but that smile was endless, we moved the conversation to the living room. Dad was sitting with mom on the couch and I took one of the closer chairs to them. " So," Dad starts," How are you two still alive?"

" Honey were not."

"What!"

I took over for that one," dad, me and mom are still very much dead."

Dad look like he was on the verge of a panic attacks, " what..."

"Okay," I severely messed up with my explanation," dad relax, what I mean is that we're undead, I guess."

" How is that not being alive," dad was shaking now, but I think that is just some emotional whiplash from our terrible start.

" It's simple Danny," mom starts and really, she could be more of an expert she has been dead longer than I, " these bodies are just things Taylor built for our ghosts to pilot around."

" So, you're not really here," at least he isn't panicking anymore, but depression isn't much better.

I sigh, " dad it just means that we are in multiple places simultaneously."

Dad takes some time to digest this information, and to be fair it is kind of a stretch for the living to imagine. " Yeah for example when I was just a ghost, I was in four separate places; the DWU with you, with Taylor at school, here at home, and the cemetery," Mom expounded.

Wait, " You were at all those places at the same time?"

" Yes, I still am at them now," Mom further reveals, " Well except at the cemetery and home, I kind of already rejoined with those instances of myself."

" Huh..."

" Hold up," dad was kind of back from his almost morose shock now, and was holding the timeout pose, " does that mean that you both are parahumans?"

" No." " I don't think so."

Dad looks from mom to me at our different responses, " okay why not?"

" Well I've never heard of an undead cape, but I know that even the highest-level brutes can be killed if you destroy them completely," to be honest every cape I've heard of can still be game ended, it probably just takes some kind of a trick.

" Okay how does that explain it?" Really asking the hard questions huh dad.

" Simple I watched my death in full detail, including an autopsy of my corpse with my brain being outside of my body, the draining of all my blood, and seeing the inside of my chest cavity all from a silent third person perspective."

My dad's face is incredibly pale after that explanation, then mom put in her experience and all the two years she saw, and I think that cemented it to my dad that we were truly the undead. I mean describing in full detail that your corpse was essentially a puddle of black ooze at the bottom of your grave is pretty definitive on the whole dead thing. It is kind of weird, but mom didn't watch her death, she sort of just 'woke' up one day. With mom's explanation I decided to fill in what had been going on at school since that summer vacation after mom died. If I was scared that my father seemed to get progressively angrier every second I explained the horrible bullying campaign, mom was there to hold my metaphysical hand. When I got to the locker dad had to get up and leave to the basement. " You're doing great sweetie," mom placed a physical hand on my knee.

*smack*

"Are you sure," I say concerned, " Because I think that dad just punched the stone wall in our basement."

*smack* *smack* *smack*

"Oh, he's fine Taylor, he just needed to go handle his anger."

Dad comes back after, his knuckle on the left hand bloody, "okay, I'm fine, continue." I'm dubious on that fine status, but I continue. I tell them both about my adventures at the hospital and in the streets looking for dad. Dad at least looks guilty at me trying to find him, he is angry that I didn't call for help with the thugs but is mostly satisfied that they were punished. " How did you get me home; I hope you didn't walk."

" You may have a few red-light tickets coming in the mail soon."

Dad just put his head in his hands, " It's okay I helped," mom added cheerfully. Got a chuckle out of dad. With all that information divulged we waited for the last living member of the family to say something. " Taylor, you're grounded." I open my mouth, " not because you were bullied; but because you tried to parent your parent, drove the car through three red lights, lied to me for two years, and died." I shut my mouth at that. Dad looks up at me, he is smiling, a grin ear to ear, " I'm really glad you're both back." Mom hugs dad and I do the same. " So, how long am I grounded for," I ask from dad's chest.

"Forever."

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Dec 26, 2020

Merry Christmas and to those that don't celebrate Happy Holidays!

Now if you're wondering if this happy little reunion was the end of our story, well I've got some bad news for you.

*Knock, Knock*

You see while I was out and about looking for my father, I had seemed to forget a simple plot point. "I'll get it," I say getting up from the chair. I was seen by at least seven people exiting the hospital, one which was Panacea, who was around when I got up from the autopsy. " Hell-" The armor was blue and filled the frame, a neat beard rested beneath an exposed frown. Shit, I close the door before he can even talk. Setting the dead bolt, I turn to the living room, " dad!" I can hear dad and mom getting up and coming over to me.

"What is Taylor," Mom asked.

"Armsmaster is here."

" What the Protectorate hero?" I Nod. Since it is probably apparent to you that being labeled a bio-tinker's construct by one of the most prominent healing hero in the world and having the PRT at your door is a good way to get killed. It wouldn't have been a problem if it was just me, I mean it isn't like not having a body is a permanent problem, but I included mom and dad in this. Sure, mom would be fine, but dad... The knocking was happening again, it was getting more insistent... Dad could get in trouble. Mom walks past me to the door, and me the coward I am can't stop her. I feel her spirit brush past mine, her hand holds mine, it helps with the rampant anxiety. Dad pulls me away from the front entrance and sits me down with him. I can hear the door open; mom is talking to the hero. Before long mom is coming back with Armsmaster and two PRT troopers. Anyone ever tell you that those masks the troopers wear make them look unfriendly. Armsmaster stands and mom goes into the kitchen to get something, I don't know I've been tuning everything out to try and get ahold of myself. Armsmaster stands in front of me, a scary titan of metal. I can't believe that I used to fan-girl about this hero, now that he is here I just want to throw up. "...Taylor?"

I start at my name being said from my father, " sorry could you repeat that I wasn't listening."

Dad smiles, " I was just asking if you were okay."

"I'm fine."

" Then maybe you could answer some questions," Armsmaster practically typewrites into the air. I nod after I realize that was a question not a demand. " Right," he starts, "where were you yesterday at 5PM."

"Was this before or after the autopsy," dad winces at my question, but honestly, I wasn't keeping track of the time.

" After, you were seen leaving the hospital," If Armsmaster was surprised at my lack of denying that I was dead, it didn't show.

" Ah, I was on a bus ride home."

" I see, and after that?"

" Looking for my father."

Armsmaster seems to be cocking his head just slightly, " Are you a Construct?"

Dad and mom tense up beside me, I feel dad put a hand on my knee and mom is practically wrapped around my spirit with hers. " No," I bite out.

" Are you sure," Armsmaster is really animated now almost like he is excited about the possibility of me being artificial, " do you have proof."

"Yes."

Armsmaster seems to almost shift in his stance, " well?"

" I don't want to tell you."

" Cooperation is encouraged, it would be prudent..."

Mom cuts him off, " I'm sorry do you have a warrant, it has been awhile since I've done this, so I forgot to ask at the door."

Armsmaster pauses, " No, this is just supposed to be a friendly-"

" Ah, yes you don't I was just checking," mom's grin was almost convincingly friendly,
almost.

Armsmaster looks like he wants to protest, but tilts his head instead, " are you a parahuman?"

Feeling more confident with my parents backing me up, I shrug, " sure."

" Are you willing to come in for power testing, we have a great facility-" I start to tune him out for this part as not only does it sound like a script, but Armsmaster clearly is just reading it out loud. In fact, why am I even telling you about this part, it's boring, and totally stressing me out. So, while I answer no to an increasingly more and more frustrated cape, let's look at some of the things I'm inventing in my body! Okay so ever since I made mom's body, I've been looking over the Other code for useful data. So far, I've found bones that can produce electricity when stress is applied, some eyes that are built for the undead to use, and a starfish like muscle structure that is ten times stronger than my current ones. This is just some of the interesting things I found that I can actually make. Some designs call for things that require stuff like metal cells or viral making immune cells, these things can't be made by me as the information for them doesn't exist. I don't even know where to start on some of them either. Like indestructible eye lenses for tunneling through high powered laser beams. I would need to invent an entirely new organic crystal cellular structures that works smaller than any cellular biology has any right to be. The cells themselves were possible, but the lasers... I mean there is making it, but the caloric consumption required to actually use it for that stuff... Not even possible. I am also having a hard time finding more and more excuses for where I learned all of this biology stuff, it is like I had the information dumped into my brain when I wasn't looking. Sure the chemical receptors in my swarm make it possible for me to 'see' chemistry in action, but I still don't 'know' how I learned all of these terms. Like where did I learn the word angiomyogenesis, and why do I know that it means the process of repairing heart cells?

Anyways thanks for listening, I guess I should get back to the conversation or something. Armsmaster was annoyed, clearly, he was trying really hard not to move. They were giving me the hard sell on being a Ward, but honestly, I was kind of done with teen things. Can you blame me? Teen things killed me. I don't care if their nice or if it comes with a paycheck, or even Arcadia. I've got mom back I can survive Winslow, just need to make sure that my killer gets caught. " Are you sure that I cannot convince you," Armsmaster practically looks defeated. I mean he looks the same as when he first walked into my house, but well he is every subtle with his body language and I haven't been blinking for awhile. "No," it feels almost rehearsed at this point. Armsmaster looks to my parents, " it is dangerous for new capes in this city, between being forced into a gang to outright assassinations, being an independent is dangerous."

Dad seems to be considering it, but mom beats him to the punch, " You know legally speaking the PRT is a branch of the United States Military, so signing her up against her will would be unwilling conscription." Ten points to mom. Dad seems to give that more priority. Armsmaster seems off put by that, " we are not recruiting child soldiers Article 6.7.a states-"

" Sure, sounds like you are," I stop him before he can continue," are you going to catch my killer if I give you names?"

" Are you willing to let that be a term to joining the Wards?"

" What," why would catching a murder have terms and condition, " a crime has been committed, you are a member of law enforcement."

" You misunderstand, we only handle cases involving parahuman crime. If you were killed, as you claim, then it would be the jurisdiction of BBPD, not the PRT as you weren't attacked by a parahuman."

" Well then I guess I can report to the police and unmask myself to a large public building," it is kind of obvious that being dead would have been quite well known to the police.

Armsmaster frowns, " We could take your statement and forward it to the police, but even then, you are not dead so it would hardly be murde-"

" I watched myself be cut open on the autopsy table," Armsmaster stopped talking when I started, " I then watched as they took out my organs from the opening." I pulled my shirt down a bit to show them the scars on my chest, " they started with my lungs and heart, it got as far as the removal of my brain, don't tell me I don't fit the definitions of dead." I was wondering if that would work at maybe moving this along. It had the desired effect though, several twitches out of Armsmaster and flinching from some of the troopers. The trooper next to Armsmaster was fidgeting from one foot to another, " okay, I understand you may have a case for at least attempted 2nd degree murder, what were the names?"

"Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes, Madison Clements."

" What was the first one, again?"

" Sophia, Hess."

Armsmaster nods and says his farewells taking the two troopers with him. I let out a sigh after I'm sure that they are gone.

With that unpleasant surprise from the local cape scene, barging into my home. In broad daylight no less! We had the unfortunate conversation about what am I going to do with my powers. " I don't want to go out and be a cape yet." I think dad was just releived to hear me say that, but it is true. That dream I had as a kid, where I go out and fight crime with... Emma... is kind of dead. I mean I'll fight if I find a need for it, but my powers are a little, crazy. Not to mention completely optional. I'm not a cape after all, being undead is different. If I did go out and become a cape I would be voluntarily inviting that life into my un-life. I'm not sure that it would be safe for my family to be even remotely involved with the cape scene. "Think it would be better if I just pretended to be normal?"
" I don't know honey," mom put her hand on my shoulder, " but if you don't want to fight, that's fine."

" You do however need to figure out what to do about the gangs," dad starts with his own sigh, " whether you want to fight or not, if the gangs find out that you have powers they are going to want something from you." I think back to last night, the Merchants that I fought. The gangs may not be the only one who wants something, their blood was tasty. " And we should definitely think about some self-defense courses too," mom continues interrupting my thoughts of consumption, " would you be willing to wait for something?"

"Yeah mom," it would be harder maybe but I'm still not sure if I want to be a cape yet, " with my power set, people are not going to like me very much."

"Then maybe you should keep the nibbling to a minimum, Owl," mom was smiling at me, how did she know that I was thinking that? Oh, yeah she is still holding my metaphorical hand. Getting a read on my emotions is cheating mom.

" But I'm hungry," I pout. Dad was cringing at that, but he was human so I guess talk of eating people would be uncomfortable. Mom thought it was cute at least, " you're just going to have to stick to carrion like me, well at least until you fight someone that doesn't mind some cannibalism."

"Okay as interesting as how the other side lives is," dad says getting up to clear the table and clean up, " I really would like to know who we're going to tell about you two."

I hadn't thought of that, " Well I guess just friends of the family."

"Not Alan though."

"Not Alan."

We spend the rest of the morning talking. I died yesterday so I'm not going to school, consider it a sick day.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 5, 2021

Hey I've been holding out on this for too long I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also I've got a few questions: do you think that this should have PHO or interludes from other characters?

As it turns out forever lasted about 3 hours, I needed to collect material, so I excused myself from my family. Dad was initially against me going out, but mom said it was okay. I think she wanted to talk to dad by herself. It didn't take long in my walk to realize I was being watched, a van held some people with something electrical, okay maybe it was nothing. I can "see" for miles around with my spread-out swarm, and it was getting bigger too, but it is still hard to tell what somethings are. Not to mention as it was getting wider, I was starting to get blank spots in my vision. Like I could 'see' it all, but some of it was out of the corner of my 'eyes'. At this rate Brockton Bay isn't going to have any dead creatures left, I keep eating them via spider swarm. I'll probably look into gathering and growing some fungi and bacterial cultures. I am a walking ecological devastator at the rate of subsumed things join my swarm. The constant feeding of my swarm brought me into contact with many new species of animals, plants, and fungi. I was already learning a few things from some of the fungi I found in a greenhouse. A yellow parasol like mushroom, a minor irritant to humans if ingested. The bright yellow color comes from an alkaloid called birnbaumins, in high concentrations it can cause stomach ulcers hence the irritation. Could be useful, I also found some Fusarium mold structures on a poor rat, full body infection it looks like the bones were practically putty. Those were just some of the fungi I found, the dead rat cells were easily reclaimed by me just as were all of these; 253 dead squirrels, 58 dead dogs, 23,475 dead cockroaches, 125,456,807,345,590 living and various bacterial, Protista, and micro-fauna (it could have been more but I've been trying not to take too many creatures from the ecosystem), maybe 62 dead birds... I even found some anthrax, which see as how it is every where in dirt, not too surprising. What is surprising, what I can do with it. I could in theory redesign my swarm into a swarm of modified anthrax and make it airborne. I could also make it stay completely dormant for years before it activated...that is a bad idea...Let's stay away from modifying diseases that are a common bio-terrorism trope, it would send the wrong message. This was not meant to frighten anyone just more of an explanation of what I've found. I also could get genes that are recessive or even the junk stuff so when I find a species, I can extrapolate some of their origins. So, guess who just got bio-luminance. Yep I can now make my spores glow a soft yellow, I am having a hard time with pigments and colorations. If only I could get my hands on some chromatophores, then I could confuse my pre-, I mean enemies. I need to watch that; Humans are not food. Not really if I wanted to be technical, I would benefit much more from a mutual symbiotic relationship with humanity. Maybe not instantly but if human history has taught nature anything is that humans are better taught then eaten.

I really would like to go on with all the 400 plus species of Fungi, Molds, and dead animals/insects, some super sized viruses I found, but we would be here all day and I think you might get bored. To put it simply I have found ways of finding specific genes (Slime Mold is so cool), a way to transfer energy around my body (also slime mold), how to pretend to be an undead fairy, and how to seamlessly integrate the living and the dead (Mom). I'm not sure what that makes me. Anyways I'm headed to the Boardwalk, to fish. My swarm follows me in a circle with me in the center. I've never gone fishing before and I'm pretty sure that what I'm going to do doesn't count.

I take the bus again, as while I could run al the way there it would kind of out me. Climbing on the bus I receive some dirty looks, but at this point I'm kind of expecting people to be shitty to me. After all no one liked me when I was alive, so why should I expect them to like me when I'm undead. I took a seat near the back. The bus ride wasn't long so I reached the Boardwalk some time at mid-day, even if in January the cloud cover makes it almost impossible to see the sun. The Boardwalk is, in tourist seasons at least, one of the nicest places in town. It is home to most of the shops, cafes, and arcades that are not in the dreaded mall across town. I was here mostly just to stand on the beach, but I still think it is important to tell you what the place is like.
The Boardwalk isn't particularly busy today, but it looks like the enforcers are out. I wonder if some kind of event is going on. The enforcers look like PRT troopers, just on a budget and tougher looking. There not my problem as long as there is no one from school I'm safe. As I walk down the wooden slats, I feel like I'm missing something. People are giving me a wide berth, and I'm receiving not only dirty looks, but concerned ones as well. That is a rather big indicator that I'm doing something strange. I check myself over. I'm not missing any parts; I have my wallet and keys... am I barefoot? Yep that's it. That might be the reason people are looking at me, unless I'm missing something else. Oh, that's right it's winter. And it's cold and wet... And I'm wearing only a hoodie and some jeans. I should be freezing, but I'm only cold. I should say I am freezing, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm not uncomfortable. I shrug, let's go to the beach.

Fishing for me probably doesn't look like much. I just sort of stand there and use my spores to search the ocean floor. It was a pain to fix their legs into something more aquatic as I had to do it in recycled batches, one thousand members at a time coming to me getting changed and then going back out, but I manage. I don't really want to fish this way. I'm resisting the urge to jump in the water and catch them with my teeth. I just really want to hunt something. Maybe not even kill it just chase it, maybe catch and release? I don't know. I shouldn't have instincts, I'm dead. I'm so dead that my body is doing un-biology instead of decomposition. Although now that new members of the swarm have cycled back to me, I guess I'm now doing both biochemistry and the other chemistry too. Hmmm... I wonder if I can leave this body. I attempt to leave and it was almost like I set the body on autopilot; I didn't leave I just got introspective. I stopped receiving signals from my body and brain, now i was just floating here watching body me continue to function. It is kind of existential to think that my body will continue to do what is doing with out my mind present forever if I really wanted to. I reconnect as the feeling gets rather intense.

I made a body this morning, I wonder if I can make more bodies? Well of course I can. When mom's was being built, I knew that I could control it, but now mom oversees it. Seeing as my swarm was now able to reach the downtown area I start to build it in a sealed off room of an old warehouse. I was going to just make a copy of me, but I was bored by that idea quick. The body I built was inspired by some of the other code from Mom, a few choice mushrooms, and some experimental stuff that I was working on earlier. It took a lot of trial and error. Some of the setups weren't stable, or the undead organs weren't in chemical balance with some of the living tissues, and some cellular structure were just incorrectly supported. But soon I was able to make a body that had everything I wanted to do with it. I connect the brain to the body, a new structure that would support all the connections and senses. With the brain set up all was left to do was to was connect to it. When I was doing this with mom it was like I was holding her hand as she stepped into the body, so I try to replicate the same thing here.

" Hnng," I can't see the ocean, everything in my vision has gone blurry. I start whimpering as my body floods my nerves with activity, the sand of the breach reaching up to catch me.

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," the world is in two places as I watch my body collapse on the beach, and see the other body spasm in agony. I scream as the world around me melts and distorts between the two views, like my eyes have been stretched across the world.

I curl up into a ball on the concrete. The darkness around me burns and hates me. As the world tries to kill me with sound and smells, new senses that don't have words form in the haze of firing synapses, the hurt so much. I whine to make it stop even as I hear the snapping of glass as reality around me breaks.
I see all of me and the separations in between us. We can see all of us as we each start screaming in the pain we have caused. I feel our ghost stretch in unnatural ways as it starts to splinter at the seams. We quickly sever the pain centers in the new me. We fall separate as our connections become new and heal. I am once again Taylor, but I can feel the other Taylor standing beside the new me. I stand up on the beach and look around. Nobody came over when I collapse so I must have been only screaming in our heads. I check on the swarm as I had lost contact with every thing in that haze of torment. What was that? I know what the other me is doing right now, she is also asking the same question. I decide go on autopilot and watch through my other's ghost.

I watch my new body curl up on itself on the floor, I feel like a piece of shit. I hurt us with out even meaning to. Without the pain, I realize that it technical worked and that I just tortured myself. New me curled up tighter on the floor, I sent some comfort through our connection. I can feel her ghost interact with mine as she works through what went wrong. It is kind of weird comforting me. My awareness was in three and as I stood back up on the beach, I relaxed in the warehouse as my spirit fixed a poor grouping of nerve cells that caused the pain cascade. It was fixing some thing with the way its brain cells were connected, apparently the pain centers of the brain were connected improperly. This appeared to have caused a sensory overload. I decide to watch me some more.
I stand up once the pain of my creation faded, I had my own instance of ghost me just to the right of me. Odd I didn't seem to be in third perspective behind me but like I would walk with me. This is going to be confusing. I can see in the dark with this body, but it is absolute darkness in here, so it is at its worst. The fixes to my brain done, I decide I wish to see what I look like. I look along the walls to see if I can find crack or maybe a door. No such luck, I pout as I realize that the room was well and truly sealed against anything other than the spore spiders who brought my materials into the room. I use the swarm, to look around at the structure encasing me. I am fishing on the beach, I can feel myself their. She is me, I am her it is not as confusing as she thinks, as other me thinks. I find with the swarm some structural cracks in the wall. Perfect, I smile as I line up my fist. The first punch I throw at the concrete wall shakes it, the second cracks it, the tenth makes the hole wide enough...

Or it would if I was Taylor!

If I could describe Taylor body as flagpole (Thin and tall) then my body is a water tower (Curvy and Taller)! I eventually get my hips past the hole. It was bright enough to see and I looked myself over. Damn, Taylor what was I thinking when you made me? My skin was a grey green, with freckles of dark greens. I was tall my head was scraping the ceiling. My hands were covered in sharp bone colored exoskeleton that ended in points; my palms uncovered where bright red. The exoskeleton continued to the forearms, but after that was the huge muscle that was my bicep. I was ripped! My body had muscles and was... proportioned. I didn't have a bellybutton, or nipples, no sex organs, but I was decidedly female shaped. A little too proportioned, my hips looked normal on me I guess, but if you put them on Taylor body it would just look silly. Just along the ribs on my back I had gills that when I opened them were filled with mushroom like frills. My Hair wasn't hair, but tendrils that were speckled with lines of dark greens, I could move them kind of. I was also getting a lot of sensory input from them; smell, minor taste, electroreception, sound, and it all changed when I moved the tendrils in certain ways. More of that exoskeleton covered my chest with plates that gave me the sense I was wearing armor, like a chest plate. I didn't have boobs, but somehow adding the convex plate across my chest made it look like I was hiding some. Man was Taylor body horny or something? It didn't matter too much to me, as no I wasn't, the deposits insulating the body are not fat but a material that both cushions blows and distributes ener-. Yeah, no Taylor body was horny. It is weird that I can now annoy myself, having two brains (three?) is kind of odd. After looking myself over I decide to go look for a mirror as I want to see with my own eyes what my face is like. Spirit me came along it with me.

I am Taylor it just feels like I'm also more, and new. It is really hard to explain. I had just found some dead fish next to some more dead algae, but I was simultaneously searching for a place to look at myself across town. I wonder if dad and mom will like me? I really want to meet them, after all I want to show what I did today! I giggled at the idea of being taller than daddy. I get to see his bald spot when he is standing! I giggle at the beach too. I eventually found a pool of water that was clean enough for a reflection. I had one eye. It was big with a red iris, and a pitch-black sclera. I had a mouth that wasn't really visible, but I could feel it. I smile, my mouth stretches into the right shape, revealing shark-like teeth that zigzag across my smile. I open my mouth to reveal a purple interior with a long-pointed tongue. It is then that I try opening my mouth even farther. It doesn't stop until my eye has been closed by the lower lid. Well enough of that, I close the mouth like a bear trap, its sounds like I slammed two steel plates. I look back to the water, I have no nose just more space for the soft ball sized eye ball, and apparently it is just the main eye as four slits just at the top of the hair line opened to reveal smaller identical eyes. Quad ocular vision is barely a problem for me considering all the senses I have as Taylor Hebert but having much higher field of view plus my new ghost instance is not a bad thing. I take one last look at myself in the reflecting puddle, I nod, yep I'm beautiful. Conformation of this from all of me shouldn't feel like anything, but it does. Done with my vanity for right now, I decide to look around see if anything interesting is worth looking at, I also decide to run around in here I like running in Taylor's body wonder what it is like in this one?

I will try to keep the schedule regular as possible, any comments on how this is going would be helpful....

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 7, 2021

This doesn't look like a consistent schedule... I'm still on the fence about other interludes. This isn't the kind of story where if flips between multiple characters a lot, and I always considered PHO to be kind of "filler-y". Maybe I'll go back and add a whole bunch of other character views of events, there aren't any written right now, but it wouldn't hurt... Anyways here is another chapter.

I smile to myself at the fun I'm having in the warehouse. It seems we like running no matter the body. I had taken a break from the "fishing" as my urges to go for a swim was getting intense, so in order to sate my instincts I went to one of the cafes on the boardwalk. It seems that new me didn't really explain all of the things going on in that body, and I don't really feel like telling you everything either. To summarize she has: carbon fiber bone and body armor capable of withstanding high pressures and breaks along the crystal latus, those eyes can see in the dark and are made of that indestructible crystal cellular lens stuff from Mom, super strength, super flexible like me, and at least 35 common senses that are finer tuned than any of the 21 humans have. So yeah, she is pretty inside and out. I'm actually happy about the work I put into her. It is almost a shame I can't give her sex organs, people would already get super scared of an intelligent bio construct, but a replicating one? Forget it. Besides it's not like I can't give her that opportunity later in her life. It is kind of weird thinking about that stuff for what is essentially me so I'm going to stop now. People watching was good too, I didn't get to actually go into the café. No shoes remember. So, I was just chewing on a piece of fish and sitting down on one of the benches. People were giving me wide birth and odd looks, but no one was confronting me about it so....

The enforcers were looking for something. It kind of took me a while to figure that out, but as I kept looking at them I noticed that they were passing over people after a single glance. Maybe it was a specific person, they keep stopping at people with long hair or blonde hair. I search the field for any candidates. I notice a blonde, she is beautiful. Her clothes look ratty and she hasn't showered, but her eyes are bright and.... panicked? Why was she panicking? I look around it seems like a lot of the traffic has cleared out, just the enforcers. I decide to use some of the swarm to investigate. I look through the blonde's pockets and a lot of the enforcers. All that's in the blonde's are wallets, quite a few of them. I relax at that; the enforcers are probably just cracking down on pickpoc-. Why does that one enforcer have a hypodermic? I "taste" the fluid on the inside is an anesthetic. Shit, this isn't a sting.

The blond is walking towards a café and is still looking around, keeping track of what is looking more and more like kidnappers, the enforcers. I watch as the enforcers become aware of blondie. Blondie notices too and goes through the café to the back, a block down I notice that the one with the hypoderm is doubling back to an alley behind the café. That alleyway is only got one exit and she is going to walk right into him. I can't do nothing. I know I said that I didn't want to be a cape, but I can't let this happen. I won't let this happen. I am hungry. I stand up, okay it's now or never Taylor you want to be a hero, save the girl.

I pull my hood up and sprint down an alleyway that my spores show me takes me to the woman before any of her stalkers get to her and hypo guy waiting down the way. I'm filled with the euphoria that comes with the running but push it to the side. I need to focus. A fence blocks me off from the next alley way over. I crawl up it and leap into the alleyway. Landing right in front of blondie. She is dead stopped right before where I would land. "You are not with them," the question isn't what I'd ask in her situation. "No."
She is thinking I hear the others approaching, " Will you help me?"

"Yes, I plan to," she grabs her scarf and thrust it into my hand, " What is this for?"

" Your new," it seems like a question, but she nods to herself before continuing," It's to hide your identity."

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I can hear the scuffs of boots now they're close. I quickly tie the scarf around my eyes as they are more identifying, and I really don't need them when I got my spirit to guide me. Did that sound as corny as it felt to think? Whatever fight time!
The enemy rounds the corner and stops, clearly, they were expecting a single person. I tense up I don't know really anything about fist fighting, I'm just hoping that my spores can harry them while I get her out of here. After the last fight with the Merchants, I kind of know my limits when it comes to fighting. Getting my shit kicked in while they escape with their victim is not an option. They pullout batons and start to close in. I blanket the alleyway in spores. With them crying out from inside what counts as sometimes my stomach, I grab the startled woman and run towards the exit to this alleyway. Right to hypo guy, he is blocking the exit and looks like he knows how to handle himself. I stop with her before we crash into him, he is giving me a wary look. Blondie is slower than me otherwise I could fold around him and bolt. I lower to a knee, " you're too slow-," without prompt the woman just climbs on. Okay mister kidnapper sir, time to blow your mind. I stand up sprinting, he is just bracing. The alleyway is small and he can touch both walls. I slam my foot into the wall and start to run up the alleyway using the walls as foot holds. I ascend to the almost the roof before taking a jump and clearing out of the alleyway over a busy street almost a story up. Freefall was fun! Landing on hard sidewalk with a not light person on your back was knee shattering. Literally, my knees shattered, causing me to fall to them. hypo guy was waiting patiently for a lull in traffic so he could cross. Blondie was starting to get up from me, " Hey thanks for the help, but I can handle it from here." I sense around with my swarm. I get the impression that several more of the enforcers are getting into hot metal boxes. Cars, there getting into cars. My knees were almost done, she was walking away, and hypo had a lull in three minutes. I grab her leg before she can get too far, " seven cars, thick windows, they will be here soon." My knees restore just as the traffic subsides. Without asking I grab the woman and lift her over my shoulder, and book it. Her protest was ignored in favor of getting out of here. I outrun the hypo guy almost immediately, the cars however.

I had run quite a few blocks and the cars were chasing still. I was almost corralled into the boardwalk area, as every time I try to put some distance one of the cars would cut me off. It was getting frustrating, and the protests from the woman had stopped after the first time it happened. " Got any ideas, " I ask over the sound of wind rushing past my head. We are out running cars, I am not sure how fast I am, but that should be telling. " Can you make it onto one of the roofs?" I nod and repeat the same trick from earlier at another alleyway. On the roof I let the woman down and catch my unbreath. " So, what are you called, the alleyway bandit?" I look up she is still scared I can 'smell' it, but she isn't showing it. Now that I can see her better her eyes are green, a line of freckles go across her nose, she is so pretty. Great poker face too, " I... uh haven't picked one, you?" "Lisa," said Lisa. Finally, it was getting aggravating just mentally calling her blondie or the woman.

" Ok, nice to meet you Lisa," fuck it, " I'm Taylor."

Lisa nods, " Okay are you some sort of hero?"

"Yeah, something like that," I was going to continue but I finally noticed something, new me wasn't in the warehouse anymore. " So, any idea why they are following you," I ask scrambling to see where she went, if spirit me was giggling at body me for making my thoughts so independent then I ignored it.

" No, I just arrived in town."

I am baffled that I can somehow lose myself, " Maybe you stole from the wrong person." Lisa grins like an unfriendly cat, " I don't know why you would think that." I laugh. " I can smell the different leathers in your pocket, and cash is very filthy," found her, " so filthy the bacteria on it is practically a fingermark."

" So super endurance, regeneration, and super senses," she lifts a finger with each power, " anything else?"

" Nope."

" Awfully trusting aren't you," she still has that grin, but it seems sadder, " what if I'm a villainess?"

I look at her, what if she is a villain? I would be open to repercussions if she let lose my identity, and it would risk my parents. The PRT could better pressure me into the wards, oh shit, they could make claims of guilty by association! I look at Lisa, she hasn't stopped grinning that sad grin that I think is supposed to be intimidating or maybe irritating. I look to her body language. She is cold, on the defensive, and is resigned. I was always blamed as the one at fault for my bullying, people said I was making it up. It forced me to the edges of the microcosm of school, is being a villain any different? Even if she is a villain it doesn't matter, she needs help, I need to help her. " I don't really care if you are."

She blinks twice, the grin twitches up and looks softer, " Look as fun as this conversation is the guys after me look dangerous, you should get out of here."

"Nope I'm almost here and if you think I'm fast what till you meet me."

"What?"

A green blur slams into the corner of the roof.

Thorfaxdragonkin · Jan 11, 2021

Lisa just got herself the undead queen as a friend didn't she

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 12, 2021

Thorfaxdragonkin said:
Lisa just got herself the undead queen as a friend didn't she

…maybe

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 12, 2021

I wrote some more stuff in my buffer chapters today, I'm pretty happy so here is the next part... it is a bit short.

I arrive to where Taylor body is located, with my second favorite movement method. Jumping is so much fun, almost as fun as running! I spot Taylor and Lisa, and surprisingly recognize spirit me, on the other side of the roof. I walk over to them; they are so small and cute! As I walk over, I notice Lisa try to back away to where Taylor is standing, it is quite weird to see myself in person. And I knew that Taylor body was horny! My hips are perfect, I'm not bad mouthing my design, in fact I love our bodies. " Taylor who is that?"
Taylor body is right, Lisa is very pretty. I wave, " Hello."

Lisa and we cringe, okay that sounded rough, I cough a little to clear some of that up. With every cough glowing red spores come out of my gills (you know it isn't gills for breathing right?) " So that's how you physically emote," I - Taylor says to me, " I know I put them in there, I was just expecting something less showy."

"Oh, there we go," better my voice was deeper, but it didn't sound like a car crash, " Hello!"

" Wait Taylor you built that!"

" Yes, I built me, or we built us?"

I try as well to phrase it, " we are more than Taylor, but we are Taylor?"

" I still don't get it..."

I can hear spirit body laugh in stereo, I try to explain again this time in unison, " we are Taylor, we have two bodies, two brains, two sets of consciousness, we are the same, but mentally incongruent."
Lisa looked between us from Taylor to me, " why did you make a second body?"

Taylor opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it, " To see if we could!"

Taylor gave me a scathing look, was the arms raised in the air too much? Lisa just laughed, you know the kind of overwhelmed laugh. I hope she is not afraid of us I would love to be her friend. I shifted my tendrils at the sounds of people coming up the stairs, stomping boots they were coming. I shifted stance to defend Lisa. I could feel Taylor ready up her swarm too. I was leaking yellow spore spiders of my own into the air, I upped the yellow pigment to max and added some of my own designs to it. Burning/paralyzing/death cloud is a great deterrent after all. The door to the roof shook as it swung open and a dozen dead guys walked out. I readied myself as they stopped short seeing me. My eye was squinting with anger, my tendrils were ridged with agitation, and my claws lengthen. I could smell at least one guy had pissed his pants. Tough crowd, I could see a heavy shadow form behind me as Taylor had summoned the local swarm. We could blanket this rooftop in a six-inch snow fall of black if we wanted to. They weren't coming to us, but one of them came forward. " Look we are just here for the girl," his voice was reasonable his requests were not, " our employer is paying us a good price, we would... be willing to negotiate some of that as payment."

I peeled my lips back the sharp zigzag clearly displaying what I thought of his bargaining.

" You don't want to cross our emp-"

"Quiet," the growled word was harsh to the ears, Lisa flinched from behind Taylor body, " I don't give a shit who your employer is or his money if you don't want a fight then you're going to have to fuck off!"

I started walking toward, the swarm flowing with me just itching to overtake me and get a bite. The one guy starts backing up, but that's it. They were going to fight, some of them were getting out batons, one guy had a taser, and main guy had a gun. Last warning, my secondary eyes opened each singling out one guy from the crowed, and the main guy gets the main eye. Not backing down, well shit I guess trial by combat was good enough practice. I am hungry. I charged at the main guy, I'm much faster than humans so he didn't even get his gun up before I decked him with my knee. As he stumbled back, I punched him center mass breaking some of the body armor they all were wearing. I then followed through with a clumsy push, oh it did a lot, but that was mostly strength not skill. In the ten seconds that took, the swarm finally reached me and, like flies on a rotting corpse, descended much to the horror on the others. Main guy was able to get up somewhat shakily, but with gun in hand. I zipped over and smacked it out of his hand. He punched back, right into my stomach, it hurt but I could get over it. I lean out of his second punch and throw my own. It launches him across the roof and to the next one. I feel a baton hit my side, I flow with the hit and clothesline two of the attackers. I was much taller and beefier than the enforcers. I took hits but they lacked the power to do any major damage. The swarm was working on tripping them up, and me throwing punches, slowly started to hamper them. I really need to learn how to fight. This was taking to long! I started to just grab the little shits an started to slam them together. That worked a whole lot better, and soon they were all down.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
I call back the swarm and turn to Lisa to check to see if she is okay spirit me is also checking her over for any damage. " Are you okay Lisa?"

"Holy shit, are they alive?"

She was looking over my shoulder at the men on the ground, "oh they're fine I didn't really go too hard on them."

"Is other you okay?"

I look over at my other. She has some bruising from a few of the batons, but her undead-ish immune system is repairing and sealing the damage up, " yeah just some minor bruising."

" Good," Lisa is silent for a while, probably thinking about the stuff going on, " Look Taylor?"

" Yes," Me and new me respond at the same time.

"... okay is their some name I can call you and her to help with the whole hive mind thing you guys have?" I look back at new me, " it is getting confusing internally, but I can't think of a name yet." It's not just the lack of creativity on my part I'm having trouble thinking that me and new me are different. " Then maybe just a cape name for a stand in," Lisa says this after seeing me struggle, " If it is hard to think about each other as separate entities then maybe it would be better to just use aliases."

I nod that makes sense, maybe, " Gorgon?"

New me perks up and walks over to me. " No, that sounds too much like a villain name," Lisa then cringes, " you're not going for a villain rep, are you?"

"No," says new me a nice smile on our face. New me crouches down and starts to wave its tendrils over Lisa's head. " Uh...."

" Yeah new me what are you doing?"

" Well you and Ghost got to check Lisa for injuries maybe I want to."

" Wait, Spirit," Lisa questioned. she starts looking at new me's eye, really inspect it, I don't preen. " Uh... Not important," I backtrack so much is going on, and new me is hungry, so am I, " how about Oculus?"

Both Lisa and new me look at me and my floundering. " Really Latin, you want to be one of those heroes," Lisa look of distain is palpable.

"No."

" How bout Newme," new me actually looked pretty proud of that one.

" How bout no," I started, before reconsidering, " well wait that could be a good one, how does Nimi sound?"

"That is not a bad idea," Lisa says poking one of the tendrils. They are still wrapped around her face, doing their own poking and prodding. She continues, " it isn't taken, and it does bury the lead on what exactly your powers are, and it is short enough for people to think you aren't human."

" How is that a benefit?" I have to agree with other me there. How does appearing as nonhuman help with public relations?

" Simple if people think that you are a case53 no one will think you're a construct, thus the public won't be afraid of a new bio tinker, instead they will just think that your just a poor case53, that's not too scary."

" What's a case 53," Nimi says, the name is growing on me.

" It's the PRT designation for monstrous capes."

" Well then," Nimi stands and holds out her hand for Lisa, " Hi, I'm Nimi."

Wine, Women, and Song by Harvey Danger is a nice song

Thorfaxdragonkin · Jan 12, 2021

Please for the love of all things holy and unholy have someone introduce Taylor to deadspace the amount of horribly hilarious shenanigans that our undead queen will get up to if she has that as a source of inspiration will be just perfect

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 12, 2021

Thorfaxdragonkin said:
Please for the love of all things holy and unholy have someone introduce Taylor to deadspace the amount of horribly hilarious shenanigans that our undead queen will get up to if she has that as a source of inspiration will be just perfect

Dead Space did come out in 2008 so their is a chance that she could of seen it, however it is more likely that she wouldn't have due to her age. Dead Space 2 however comes out on July 25, 2011 and this story does take place in the year 2011, so maybe Dead Space is an Earth Alpha import in 2011? I'll think about it... a lot of the story has origins in myths and media, Dead Space is one of its influences.

Felius · Jan 16, 2021

This seems to be in the wrong subforum.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 16, 2021

Was feeling pretty down so I wanted to post the next chapter ahead of "schedule"...

With the bad guys taken care of and emergency services called, we talked about how to contact each other if something like this happens. I gave the home phone as I don't have a cellphone, Lisa just nodded as though she knew the why and was nice enough to not ask. I wonder how she knows these things, maybe she was setting me up? I don't know how I feel about someone knowing my secrets. That was how Emma could hurt me the most, my secrets. I didn't really care too much about the physical bullying, but it was Emma, standing there waiting for her turn, to deliver the final blow. Not with words, but with my secrets.

We parted ways before the authorities could show up, I'm new and haven't decided on how I wish to be viewed by the police. They at least showed up to my murder, which is more than I can say about most adults. With a final goodbye Lisa left, and climbing onto Nimi's back, I leave too. I hope our parents are okay with meeting my 8-foot-tall tank body. We mostly kept to the roofs, but as soon as we were on a sidewalk, we ran into … " Lisa," Nimi's question was good one what was she doing back here, and how did she know I was going to land here? This is like four blocks away from where we parted. " Hey so my apartment was burned to the ground," she said like she was talking about the weather, " now I'm homeless was well as being hunted, can I stay with you guys for a few days to get back on my feet?"

"I'll have to see if my parents are okay with it," I respond looking around the street, mostly empty just a few cars and one or two pedestrians starring at Nimi. They were avoiding us, but that is better than men with guns in hot pursuit. Nimi just seemed excited to hang out with her new friend, " okay I can carry you!"

I know that Nimi is supposed to be me, and for a lot of it she is, it's her personality. I'm not that happy...It sounds bad when I say it like that, but it's true. Maybe she is just what I'd be like if I never had the locker. Maybe she is my own attempt at cheering myself up, I crack smile at the yelp Lisa makes a Nimi bundles her up bridal style in her arms. I like this me. " I-Is this s-s-safe, woah!" Nimi took off like a bolt, giggling like an idiot, she really likes running. I look down at Lisa from my place clinging to Nimi's back. Well I try too but I realized that my disguise, the scarf that I forgot to give back to Lisa, was wrapped around my eyes. Nimi was too fast so I couldn't see through spirit either, it was lagging behind us by a couple feet. Interesting and potential a problem if someone fast picks me up. Need to defiantly strategize for more fights. I was going to just didn't think I was going to get into a fight so soon. I haven't even started for crying out loud! I pity any cape where this is just how their careers start, get powers immediately get into fights. Then again it could be just this city, I tuned out a lot of the sales pitch/intimidation from Armsmaster's pathetic attempt at playing human. I could even do it better than him, I think I even made a friend. I pull my " mask" down over my lips instead of my eyes. Nimi is really moving! I can't even see where we are going, streets are just flying by. I look down at Lisa, she doesn't look so good. She looks like she's is going to throw up. Nimi slows down as that information is shared. We stop to let a now sick Lisa down out of Nimi's arms. It is getting late in the afternoon now it will be dark soon. At least we are out of the docks. Lisa was heaving a bit on her hands and knees as Nimi profusely apologized while stroking her back.

We decided to walk back, me next to Lisa, Nimi walked behind us still feeling sheepish. My swarm had finally reached the outskirts of Brockton Bay. Congrats me, I can "smell" and "see" my whole city. Lots of stuff was going down, on the streets, thankfully I wasn't in any of the buildings. It was kind of hard to see through it all with just the streets. Plus, humans, while tasty, are gross with their habits. Well satisfied with my semi-omniscience on the ground, I guess the only thing next is the sky. Lisa was quiet as we walked her eyes shifting about even while she held her stomach. She knew somehow that something bad was going to happen to her earlier. I wonder how she did that, but I double down on my own surveillance around us if it looked like the ground was darker due to some "fog" well I don't think anyone will notice. We were walking for some time and it was night now, Lisa looked even more paranoid now. We were close to my house, and I was thinking about how to hide Nimi from surveillance by the PRT, but I think that door has long since closed. Maybe I can just separate her from me. Like have her leave my house to go look for some warehouse to sleep in. I look back at her... she looks so unhappy at that idea. No, she is me, I am her, we will sleep where we want. Nimi looks up at me and smiles, big and toothy. Lisa pushes me out of the way as white blur impacts with Nimi's chest.

" Nimi," I bolt to my downed self, ignoring the blonde woman trying to stop me, " get out of my way."

" What I just saved you from that villainess," Lisa dodged around her and made a bee line for Nimi, " Hey wait!"

This girl who I now realize is Glory Girl, wouldn't let me past. And that emotion thing she has on is annoying. " Lisa how is she," if my voice sound panicky, it's because I'm panicking. " What are you talking about the villain," Glory Girl is thick headed.

" She is breathing, it's choppy, but she doesn't seem too bad."

The tension in my heart lessens, the tension in my body however just gets tighter. I can't hear my double, and it is making me worried. " Why the fuck did you do that," I pushed Glory Girl and it was like pushing a brick wall. I realize picking a fight with Alexandria Jr. is a bad idea, but I'm too pissed to care. Lisa could see where this was going but was busy looking over Nimi, " Hey mayb-"

" What why did you push me," Glory Girl was now shouting at me, " all I did was save you from-"

She didn't get to finish as I punched her as hard as I could in the face. She stumbled out of her hovering on her back foot. It was satisfying all up into the returning punch. It caused pain, but it was just body pain I could stand it-... She fucking broke my neck! Jesus, she needs to learn some restraint! What kind of hero just outright breaks your neck because you punched them. I reach back and snap my head back from it hanging in my hood. Glory Girl is now readying herself for another punch. I can't let her punch me, again. I ready myself bringing up my fists to try and hit her again, but I end up just mostly dodging in that almost dancing way. She's fast, she is also a hell of a lot stronger than me, some of those punches would put holes through me. This is not good, it was stupid of me to just punch her like that. " Hold still you little freak," a punch flies past me as I use its momentum to spin me around my shoulders, making me land a punch to her temple. It didn't hurt her, but it was inspiring. I started to use my dodging to gain momentum for my swings. My punches were wild for a while, but soon I was landing solid hits. They were getting stronger too. It was almost like I was using her attacks to both move myself and make blows. She throws her fists, and I swing my body with the punch to bring an elbow across her jaw. She stumbles at that, I see Lisa get up to try and defuse the situation, " hey guys I think we all need to take step-"

Her punch was fast, faster than I could dodge. My chest cavity caved in as my not-heart and un-lungs ruptured. I felt like I was in slow motion as I flew across the street and into a brick wall. I am in some deep shit with this body repairs are going to take forever, and I don't want Nimi to get taken away from me. I need to repair myself before- " TA-," Lisa's cut off there had me up before my chest could even think about repairing. That emotion thing that was coming off Glory Girl was back. I watched as Lisa was backing away from an approaching Glory Girl. The power-aura-thing was bumping up the fear chemicals in my brain, but I ignored them Lisa was in trouble and I am hungry. This is my body bitch; I am in control of it so you can just fuck off! I reached for my swarm; it had thickened in the shadows subconsciously reacting to the fighting Taylor body was doing. Now it lifted to fill the air all around us. Glory Girl stops going after Lisa as the black fog fills the air, I get walk out of the bricks. My depressed chest cavity clearly visible it wasn't a good look on me. I need to be smart about this. If I can't be faster than my opponent then I need to some how make it harder for her to hit me in some other way. Glory Girl starts to float over in my direction. Okay brain think, I need to make it harder to hit me. My thinking was interrupted by a fist punching through my shoulder. I try to eat through the hand that was now inside my body, but it was blocked by a barrier of some kind. I pull myself off of the arm and back up before dodging a fist aimed at my head. " Oh I get it your some villain too," Glory Girl snarls at me as I dodge. My fog was dark and it was causing some of her hits to miss me, but I needed more than that. Okay what can I do with my fog; spider silk, make it solid in large quantities, bioluminescence ….wait what if I?

I flush the entire area with red pigments and cause the swarm to glow. The previously dark street was now an almost blinding red. It instantly caused the hero to cover her eyes, I backed up away from her, far away. I was now standing between her and my friends. This could work, I watch as Glory Girl shakes off the bright lights and starts to float towards me, or not. I can still see myself is the red fog as my clothing is dark, I need to be better camouflaged if I want to survive this fight. I paint the fog with layers of red and black, the swirls being big and dense enough to obscure a lot of the scene. I then add glowing swirls to my body having it match the patterns all around me. Glory Girl stops even as I move forward. She starts to swing wildly in all directions. I dodge under a right hook and hit the back of her head with a ball of swarm. Confused she swings backwards, I punch the side of her head with my fist. She blindly swings faster, I dodge faster. I am hungry, if my prey is going to speed up then so was I! I throw punches and condensed balls of swarm faster and faster. Her body is impervious to attack, I'm just going to have to exhaust her. Or maybe confuse her? I start making dummy shadows, soon Glory Girl isn't facing one enemy now she is dodging twenty. The shadows are just good distractions, but I time their 'punches' with mine so it looks like my attack could come from anywhere. I duck under a swing that moves seamlessly through some dummies. I throw a ball at the back of her head just as I punch her stomach. Skin, I feel flesh, give! I am behind her having swung under her legs at her retaliation, I can't see her face but I can smell her panic. Suddenly she turns around and runs right into me pretty hard. I watch as we both surprise each other. My head is pulled forward as my teeth hit the barrier just around her neck and then I feel her flesh under my mouth. I don't have time to react as my body surges forward onto her neck.

I lower my swarm's presence in the area, as the hot delicious blood flows into my mouth. The glowing swarm files upwards and defuses into the sky above me as I take in huge gulps of blood. I didn't mean to bite her; I just wasn't expecting her neck to be right in front of me. It's been many hours since I ate anything, and I was damaged. She was so warm, and I could feel my body relax. I lowered Glory Girl to the ground and continued to drink. I moaned as her heart fluttered, I wouldn't kill her, but it was great having something living become a part of me. My swarm cannibalized itself into me, and soon I was all repaired. I needed to make sure that the warm human wouldn't die so I sealed the bite mark and licked up any leftover blood. My long tongue relishing the taste of the now sealed, but still slightly blood covered, flesh that pulsed warmly. I felt wonderful. I lifted myself to seated and looked up my swarm had turned all sparkly in the night sky. I giggled quietly in my head as warmth filled my body.

" Uh... T," Lisa was so pretty, " you know your straddling her right." I snap into focus and look down. Glory Girl is a pretty blonde with the body like a super model, I look up to see Lisa had a shit-eating grin on her face. I stumble off the downed hero, " I'm so sorry I-I didn't," shit, " I'm not-" "This isn't-" I didn't cry, " I'm sorry for drinking you!"

" Phrasing," Lisa your cute but I swear. Oh god, I can feel blood, Glory Girl's blood, flush me. Oh god that's just like presenting. Was I presenting? I mean she is cute... fuck, NO! Bad horny zombie girl! Glory Girl was just looking at me, " did...you just get off on that?" My head was getting dizzy with the amount of blood rushing in it. " NO," I politely say at the top of my lungs.

My legs feel weak. " Riiiiiight," the dragged out "I"'s in her voice remind me of her heavy blood loss she just suffered, " are you going to kill me?"

"What," that pulled me up short.

" No, you idiot," Lisa was practically yelling at her too now, " you attacked us we were walking... to T's house."

Glory Girl sort of just lay there, " but what about the mon-"

"Nimi is not a monster you inconsiderate bitch!" That outburst from me was a bit more heated then I wanted, oh shit, " Nimi!" I run over to check her over. Her body is motionless but she is fine. The middle chest plate is cracked, and her pumping organ is bruised, but she is unalive still. I collapse across her in my relief, " …ow."

"Nimi!" Lisa came over at my yell and sat next to me. Nimi's eye looked sleepy, " hey guys I miss something?"

I start repairing the damage to her body, sacrificing some of my swarm. " You got hurt," she moves, " don't get up I'm fixing it!"

With the repairs finished I asked Lisa to call for an ambulance, I took about maybe a fifth of Glory Girl's blood that is not an insignificant amount. Nimi moves over to Glory Girl and pulls her into a hug. " What are you doing," Glory Girl sputters from Nimi's lap. " Keeping you warm and from going into shock," Nimi's smile was as genuine as it looked. Lisa's snark and grin were a little less so, " still want to hit her?" At least the hero looked a little embarrassed. Together we waited for the ambulance to arrive. " Are you guys really not villains?" A trio of "No," made her keep her mouth shut until the ambulance and police arrived.

Apparently when the police and paramedics arrived and saw that it was some capes in need of assistance the PRT was called. Joy... At least when Nimi started to explain that Glory Girl needed a transfusion of some type O, the paramedics were professional about it and rushed Glory Girl away. Is it weird that I can tell what type of blood someone has by drinking it? The old guy I had at the morgue was AB, and two of the Merchants were B-. It all had a sort of 'flavor'. The police get their statements from us, and our alias's seeing as we are capes. Well Nimi gave her alias, and Lisa was in her civilian clothing, so it was just me who had to come up with something. Or I would've if Nimi didn't just blurt out one of her own, " I'm Nimi and that's Frankie." Frankie? The thought of 'like Frankenstein' floated to my mind. Okay sure it will work for a cape name, at least it's accurate. Well as a cape named Frankie, I gave my statement of events to the police. As I was finishing up the low drone of a motorcycle was closing in. My swarm had seen it for a while it appeared to be Armsmaster coming here. I don't really feel like talking to Mr. Terminator right now. " Hey Officer," I approach the officer who had just finished up talking to Nimi. My voice is a little muffled from behind the scarf, but I was still audible. " Yes?"

"I was wondering if we could leave before the PRT get here."

The officer was immediately on the defensive, " it is protocol sorry ma'am."

I nod, " Oh I see will you try to stop us?"

The officer had to resist the urge to touch her weapon, " Technically no, we have orders to stay out of cape fights, but I really must insist you stay on the scene."

That make sense, I nod again, " sorry for making you nervous, just have had bad experiences with the PR in PRT, what with being Independents and all that."

She relaxes a little, " Ah, yeah I've heard that the PRT can be pretty persistent with their sales pitch."

" Yeah last time was Armsmaster," I elaborate, " I think I ticked him off."

She smiles at that, " yeah that guy has no people skills, never seen him angry though."

"He gets more mechanical."

" Yeah that sound about right," she smiles bigger, " look if you guys really want to leave, I can just claim that you were in a hurry."

" Thanks, I that would help a whole bunch."

She nods. I wave to her and get Nimi to gather Lisa. We are on our way before Mr. Motorcycle can even get here.

I don't remember what state I was in when I first wrote this chapter, but I know that I was tired when I rewrote it a week ago....

Gryphalcon · Jan 16, 2021

I love it!

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 16, 2021

Gryphalcon said:
I love it!

Thanks

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 16, 2021

Felius said:
This seems to be in the wrong subforum.

If it is in the wrong subforum, I have no idea how it would be moved...

… or which subform it would belong to either.

Felius · Jan 16, 2021

Tumultuous_Anxiety said:
If it is in the wrong subforum, I have no idea how it would be moved...

… or which subform it would belong to either.

It should probably be in the main Creative Writing forum, not the Creative Writing Index subforum. And I believe reporting your own post asking for the thread to be moved to the proper subforum is the standard practice in those cases.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 16, 2021

Felius said:
It should probably be in the main Creative Writing forum, not the Creative Writing Index subforum. And I believe reporting your own post asking for the thread to be moved to the proper subforum is the standard practice in those cases.

Okay thanks

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 17, 2021

My life is full of failures, have a random chapter...

I am happy. Taylor defended me, it is strange to think that I wouldn't save myself. I am not the original, I know that, but it is nice to have know that I'm also not expendable. Your not expendable, we are not expendable. I smile at the back of Taylor's head, is it strange to love oneself like a sister? I know I'm different than her, the brain in my head is not an exact copy and while our spirits are linked, it is ours. A continuation of our soul not a copy. We are more. Like the ends of strings are still the same string. I hope mommy and daddy like me. I'm nervous about that. We were just now entering our street, we had elected to risk a bus ride as I was still tired, kind of hungry too. I would go hunt something, but Lisa was still out in the open and I don't want her to be scared of me. The bus ride was thankfully devoid of most people, just the bus driver who stared at my hips until a blood covered Taylor started growling at him. It was uneventful as we road the bus to our street.

The house was in front of me, I could feel my tendrils curl in as I fret over what my parents will think. " Do you think that your parents will be okay with sheltering me?" Lisa's question is one I'm asking myself too. " Yeah I think they will be fine with it, it just needs to be phrased right." They were here, daddy's car was in the drive way. Our house was the same as I don't remember it. Lawn kind of shaggy with yellow grass, a rotten first step, kind of compact, but it has some side lawns. I hope the ceilings can fit me. Taylor finds the spare key and unlocks the front door. Lisa and Taylor go in first. I hesitate at the door, I can see the warm glow of a home I have never been in. I don't know if this is a good idea. I turn to go, but Taylor snags my wrist and pulls me inside. " Don't even think about it, you go I go," the seriousness in her eyes practical burn mine, " besides I think at least mom will recognize your me." She could her spirit will definitely notice that I'm a Taylor. I still don't know why it is to the right of me, Taylor's is behind her head just over her shoulder. Maybe if they are other, they have other rules. I wonder where mommy's is. Also, Taylor calls them mom and dad, why is it that I'm calling them something different. I guess I am a child, what else am I to call them. " Mom, dad I'm back!" Two pairs of feet were running from the kitchen, " Taylor Hebert, I thought I told you to be back befor-" daddy walked around the corner to see Lisa, Taylor, and I standing in the entry way. " Sorry dad, I had a long day." Mommy walked around the corner, and Lisa stiffened up next to me. I wonder what's wrong?

It took some time for us to explain what all happened today. I think that Lisa's eyes bugged out at the pure info dump Taylor made about all the things she had ate/absorbed/found out with her swarm. Mommy and daddy sort of just nodded along with all the various species of fungus Taylor was talking about. Then she told them about me. " So, this is Nimi," Taylor started very casual, mommy and daddy were giving me suspicious looks. " She is also me," very casual. " Wait what," daddy gave Taylor a look like she grew a second head. I mean technically... " I. Mean. We. Are. Both. Taylor," the whole finishing each others sentences is effortless, we don't always know what we are thinking of but when we focus it is like we are thinking together. A bit like tuning radios to the same stations. Daddy's head was watching a tennis match when we did that. Mommy was just looking at me with a contemplative stare, wish she'd hug me. " I made her, she made me, we are new," I was talking like Taylor for a second there, " sorry I'm told that it's very confusing to the outside." Daddy nodded but didn't look like he understood, " yes that is very confusing, mind trying again."

"Uh... Maybe a recounting of the events would help," Lisa ever the voice of reason.

" And who are you," mommy was distracted from her starring to looking at Lisa. I watch Lisa physically move back from her attention.

" Well get to that mom," Taylor sighed, " She happened after Nimi's creation."

Daddy and mommy sat back and listened as we explained the rest of the day.

Mom and dad took Nimi's existence pretty well, she even got a hug from Mom. I think she was a little too happy about the hug, but mom confirmed that Nimi is a new me. It was when we explained Lisa's plight, that they were concerned. Dad particularly at how I had trouble fighting effectively. After explaining the fight with Glory Girl, mom and dad were looking me over for any wounds. Mom also checked over Nimi's chest plate. Dad I think was on the fence on Nimi I hope she doesn't take it too hard. With everything explained mom and dad decided that it was too dangerous for Lisa to be out on the street. Nimi, Lisa, and I had a late dinner of raw eggs and some ham sandwiches. Raw eggs for Nimi and I, the ham sandwich was ate by a bewildered Lisa. Maybe it was because mom was also having a snack of some raw chicken breast? Lisa looks at me her eyes confused and looking for answers. I shrug at her plead for sanity. We make up the spare bedroom and get her one of the replacement tooth brushes. I decide to take a shower, I didn't say no when Nimi decided to take one too. Maybe I should have been more careful with what I accept. Nimi meant a shower together at the same time. Nimi may not have any parts to be embarrassed about, but I did! So now I was standing in my underwear in front of a eight foot tall woman whose hips turn heads fast enough to snap necks. I felt so unattractive next to her, "Look I think we mistook what I said earlier."

" Oh, I only need some help around my back I can't get into the gills."

I sigh, " No I just don't want to be-"

" Naked around yourself," she looks at me with her single open eye, a sad grin on her face, " your not ugly." I feel embarrassed and look at the ground. A large red palm fills my view and lifts my head up to her gaze, " You are pretty Taylor Hebert." I huff at that, me pretty yeah right I was bullied because I was a gangly, big mouthed frea- Nimi lifts me into her lap as she sits down on the edge of the bath and points into the mirror, "you see that lady with the pretty surgery scars?" I look up, it's just me; a little more muscled, a little more pale grey than is normal, too big eyes, too big mouth. " I see a lovely zombie." I blink at that, " isn't that the same as ugly human?" I can feel and see Nimi's head shaking, " No think of all your beautiful features; long dark hair that spills like a slow bleed, pale as teeth skin, the absolutely elegant autopsy scars, ripped as all hell!" I giggle at that last one she had some good points, for a human I was average but as the undead... "Plus that just on the outside, the way you accent yourself with both living and dead cells makes you look like a piece of artwork." Feeling a little better I wonder if other people will think I'm beautiful, " what about Lisa, do you thing she thinks I'm pretty?"

" I don't know about others, but I know that you certainty aren't ugly."

It is weird, Nimi is me or maybe a better explanation is another side of me. How can she almost be someone new... or old, I think back to what I was like before Winslow, before mom. Yeah I was a quiet kid around strangers, but I really opened up around people I knew... I can see it. It's good to know that past me loves future me. I spent along time hugging her.

The shower was still awkward, but I came out of it clean, both of us did. Now came the next problem, sleeping. I know, I know we don't need to sleep, but it has been a long day and I- we are tired. I'll probably do some work on my body, maybe strengthening, with my ghost body. I wasn't fast enough for that one punch Glory Girl threw that caved in my chest. I can take infinite damage sure, I am undead and therefore deathless, but still it isn't good if I have to rebuild my body every fight with capes I get into. Since I'm basically going to be a hero now, it could get civilians hurt, it could get allies killed. I know I don't have to worry about Nimi, she is just as deathless as me, her own ghost body is her template, it's her soul. And isn't that weird, I was having a hard time telling us apart earlier. It wasn't till we started talking to each other did we realize that we are two, instead of one. This is a bit heavy before bed. Nimi wasn't having any of the whole split the bed and just grabbed me. The sheet just barely fit over me as I lay spooned up against the much bigger woman. I tried to wake her up but she was already asleep. I huffed, but eventually fell asleep much to my embarrassed ghost self.

Here it was clearer what we are without the feed back of our bodies. Nimi's side of my spirit was actually a true statement. Think of it like a long library wall, Taylor on one side Nimi on the other and the books are our spirit. Nimi's side has certain books that she can access really easy, I on the other side have my own set of easy books. We can access it all with ease so none of us are missing anything, it is how its prioritized that lead to the changes. My spirit was growing too, in the analogue it kind of falls apart. A bigger shelf isn't what's happening, maybe denser. I don't know if that really makes sense to anyone but us. I spent the night coming up with ideas and restructuring Taylor body with my other half. It was incredibly comfortable. So was Nimi, all of us agreed that Nimi body was a cuddler's paradise. Even with the chest plate, its rounded curve was comfy in a solid chair way, but it was restricting her movement. She should be super flexible like Taylor body, so it needed to be updated. What we went with was a heavy sponge like frill that should absorb that punch that Glory Girl gave her, it has a internal structure like similar in composition to blubber except it's made of super tough abalone layers. I was lucky to have found some of the stuff on my fishing trip. It looked like the chest plate from before, except rougher and squishier. Other me didn't like it, said it made her look less female. I point out that Nimi body doesn't have a physical sex. I didn't know that I could huff inside my head. I caved eventually the new form was thinner and denser around two rather large fluffed out parts that were just as tough but bigger. The entire thing was covered in skin to form a uniform chest. There she has boobs now, happy?

The happy nod from the other side of the library tells me all I need to know. I look it over to see that I haven't messed any of it up. Well despite breasts that are as big as Taylor body's head all good in Nimi body, now Taylor bod... Hey other me did you make some changes? The feeling of looking up, no I just turned on some hormones to help with the changes. I look through the endocrine system, okay it isn't too bad but Taylor body is going to experience some of her own growth spurts soon. I sigh and consider the conversation we had in the bathroom, Taylor is really depressed and while she is already a gorgeous undead work of art, her learned behavior is one of her thinking she isn't. A little confidence boost in exchange for some body fat is worth it. Besides it isn't going haywire, it was already a possible genetic outcome just as the current one is a result of stress and some interactions with salts in the water. I decide to leave it alone and I wind down with the actual changes to my bodies with some relaxing genetic experimentation. Other me helps, and has their own ideas they want to test too, it was a pretty goodnight.

I snuggle the top of my head into my super soft pillow. They are warm, and kind of heavy, but oh so squishy. I feel a hand on my back, huh? Before I can think to escape I'm press into a wall of flesh in the form of my bedmate. " Nimi, sto-" Nimi's giggling rocks my squishy world, " I figured something out that we may have not noticed last night." I struggle to escape the pillows of death my face was mashed into, as I try to think what she could possibly be talking about. The fact that I didn't know meant that I was 'far' from where the info was stored. Like my other was holding it up out of my reach. I grunt, " please get off of me!"

The giggling increased as I struggled hard to get some air, " we like girls."

…

I think my brain stopped, I don't know what to say about that. I... I'm not gay, I don't remember being gay... what is she talking about? I mean there is nothing wrong with being gay, Legend was gay and he is so cool, I just- " I was thinking about everything we did yesterday," Nimi continued,
" and about how I was built." I thought back through the day before yeah all I did was hangout with girls, but that doesn't mean I'm-

" We called Lisa beautiful."

I... well.

" I got a smoking hot body that we both find attractive."

It was designed to-

" and you straddled Glory Girl while drinking her blood, lie to me that you weren't thinking about kissing her as you took her breath away." I had used up all the living blood on changes last night so I wasn't flushed, if I had blood I would be beet red.

"Nimi," I whine as I realize that I'm totally gay.

Thank you to Felius for their help with placing this story in the right forum...

Aleh · Jan 17, 2021

This... very much needs proofreading. The idea is quite interesting, I didn't see anything I overly objected to in plot or characterization... but the prose is nearly physically painful to try and parse.

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 18, 2021

Aleh said:
This... very much needs proofreading. The idea is quite interesting, I didn't see anything I overly objected to in plot or characterization... but the prose is nearly physically painful to try and parse.

Thanks for your critique! I've mostly just been trying to get the story on paper and out of my head. This is the first time I've ever written a story, let alone fanfiction, so it is good to know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. As for the prose I'm an amateur and my education is more towards Mathematics than English, I simply wished to write in the vague manner in which people think. It could honestly use some work, but I am just doing this for fun... Thanks again for the analysis!

Tumultuous_Anxiety · Jan 21, 2021

I rewrote the the Endbringer fight today, it was too... something, it just felt wrong. Here is a new chapter for you though so I think that works some what...

Lisa awoke to a quiet room. No next door neighbors, or downtown traffic, it was nice.

[The ambient sound levels are around 10 decibels, the temperature...]

Yeah I know that, Lisa frowns it was a whole ten seconds of silence. Lisa would never admit to disliking her powers, no on the contrary she thought they were one of the better ones to get. I open my eyes to stare at the ceiling.

[constructed in the early 1980's out of wood, plaster, and...]

I mostly ignored it or tell it to shut up, when it got like this. It has behavior in the sense that sometimes it only tells me what I need to know. I shift under the bed sheets, they are scratchy in the unused kind of way.

[Sheets made of cotton with a 300 thread count haven't been washed in three...]

And other times it tells me every thing about anything. I mentally tell it to shut it, when it gets to some stains. It never really turns off, a constant run-on of information, but it does get 'quieter' every now and again. Yeah my powers are awesome and by far the only thing that is keeping me alive a lot of the time, but they aren't perfect. I think back to the fight last night I grimace. I almost got myself killed, because I started panic talking. I need to get better with working under pressure if that happens again...

[your bladder is full and needs to be emptied, the contents of your bladder are as follows...]

Well better get up.

On the toilet, I attempt to ignore all the information about another families health and hygiene, and thinks about yesterday. My powers were telling her all that morning to prepare for a threat. It wouldn't tell me what threat just that I was being threatened, which is about as useful as telling me nothing. No I guess that's unfair if it hadn't have warned me, I wouldn't have kept such a close eye on my surroundings. It also wouldn't have told me that the smoke I saw in the distance was my apartment, and that there was a threat that way. So thanks power for making me paranoid, I guess. I also wouldn't have run into Taylor. And speaking of Taylor and my power, Taylor was odd. My powers told me she had an abnormal organic structure, but other that it being organic nothing else. [ErrorCode#52-jt:LOGICRETURNERR], honestly that result made my brain itch to receive. A logic error, that would seem to suggest that Taylor was an incorrect input in some computer code or something. My powers didn't even pick up that she was coming to help me when she fell right in front of me. I stopped for falling debris, I got a weird cape instead. Kind of terrifying, my powers got a little farther on her second self, Nimi. [Height: 8'1", Weight: 432lbs ,lighter than normal construction suggests bones replaced with carbon [ErrorCode#52-jt:LOGICRETURNERR]]. Same error, which is weird. I can tell certain things about Nimi, but only for a little bit. I focused on her individual parts on the bus ride last night. If I focused on like her hands or where her organs are, and I can get more info, but eventually it ends in the error code. If anything though it is at least showing me a little about how my powers work. Finished on the toilet I gently flush and decides to brush my teeth.

[sodium fluoride 0.243% cetylpyridinium chloride water...]

Shut it. I can even tell some of Nimi's likes and interests. Like I know that she thinks I'm attractive, which is weird as she doesn't have the sex organs needed for mating behavior. I'm flattered of course it is much nicer than some stranger with a gross fetish that I'm forced to know all about, simply because I looked at them. But it was awkward too. Nimi is Taylor, I cannot get anything about Taylor's likes except when she throws me a bone and talks vaguely in that direction. The only evidence I get from Taylor is through conversation, but I am also getting it from Nimi. Does Nimi liking me mean Taylor is interested? Am I interested? No I don't think I am. While the opportunity to not know your partners deepest secrets is nice, okay a desperate need, I don't know her all that well. I don't even know if she is in to girls.

[yes...]

… Oookay, mystery solved on that one. I guess all the evidence was there I just wasn't using it for that. That made me kind of sad, have I really written off dating entirely. Yeah I'm not a fan of sex... but still relationships can still be asexual right? I mean the only big secret that Nimi has for physical intimacy was holding my hand. And isn't that the most sugar sweet view on intimacy you've ever heard. Its pretty much a common one really, but to be the only thing, that's the strange part. However that's just Nimi, Taylor is a package deal and judging from that little display of blood drinking I'm pretty sure that side of Nimi is less innocent. I spit into the sink.

[blood contains 1.2% less sugar than the national average...]

I wash the sink of my spit, and a bare fraction of blood, Jesus Christ powers! Then there is her family. Danny Hebert head of hiring at the Dockworkers Union, a tough guy maybe somewhere in his early 40's. He is also is totally normal. Annette Hebert however, was dead. I don't know how and my powers weren't getting any errors from her. She is just deceased.

[subject: Annette Hebert died may 10th 2009, no brain activity, zero cellular activity, movement caused by ambient energy, body signals disappear at source. not original body , body little over a day old...]

I don't know how that is possible, the body is built, but it lacks changes that would make it possible to be, well, alive. I don't think it is bio-tinkering, but their is something controlling it. My powers can't get any information on how it is receiving or sending signals, so I can't tell what is really going on. Taylor and Nimi both see her as their mother, and she does share similarities to the undead woman. Namely some of that abnormal structures are caused by dead tissue. Could it be that Taylor was a biological curiosity before her powers, or is Taylor the single most dangerous tinker on the planet. It doesn't matter much to her, Taylor wants to be a hero and is an idealist going so far as to help criminals out of harms way. I think the world can relax once it submits to the idea of Taylor's existence. I should probably leave before this powder keg gets hot, but it might be a bad idea to leave such an unexperienced cape with such scary potential. Well if I did team up with them I'll have to see if I'm on a registry, I kind of liked Tattletale it would be a shame if I had to rebrand. Although Tattletale, Frankie, and Nimi doesn't really fit a theme, maybe a new name, like a real name?

I wish I had my laptop. I had convinced the Hebert's to let me use their computer so that I could look up my bank info, as well as looking at my cape status. It was a pretty funny morning all in all. Nimi walked down the groaning steps sporting some huge breasts causing Danny to pale up and put his head in his hands. They didn't look too big on Nimi's body but Nimi is big so really they where massive. Taylor came rushing down the stairs later, her face an odd green flush. It took them a while to realize what was wrong with this picture. Danny and I could see it if his groaning into a second cup of coffee was anything to go by. I laughed as Annette finally realized that Nimi was essentially naked, and with that Nimi was rushed back upstairs with Taylor and Annette. I don't know what they will do to cloth her, but I'm sure it will be hilarious. " Is it always this exciting here," I grin at Danny from where I'm sat at, a small alcove office. Danny gives that chuckle of a man forced to see his daughter naked and fear for her life. Anyways the slow computer eventually loads the website that has the international cape registry, if your a villain you're on it. Tattletale did finally return a result, I was on the list with a full physical description. Great looks like I'm rebranding. I look around some more to see if any name I want is already taken. Sherlock, no 14 of though are in the United States alone. Sleuth has less but doesn't fit the theme of real names. Pinkerton, Schindler, and Burns are out people either won't get the reference or will think the wrong things. Jacqueline and Conlon are good picks so is Marcel Guillaume. Jacqueline is out villainess in Connecticut, Conlon spells too close to colon. There are twenty results for Marcel in France, but only three for Guillaume. Hmm do I want to pretend to be of French origins? No... What about Izzy Einstein or his partner Moe Smith, they are American detectives and were quite sneaky about it too. Moe isn't a bad choice, but Izzy is better. Moe two matches.... Izzy zero matches. Well Izzy it is! I can wear a hat and trench coat, just like the detective movies, I smile as the frequently forgotten child in me is excited.

Nimi eventually came down. A blanket wrapped around her shoulders, I nod it makes sense. While almost all of the Hebert's are tall, they're twigs compared to Nimi. If they are going to go out were going to need costumes. Mines easy and Taylor's will have challenges but they will be the normal ones. Nimi will need a custom suit if it is just a bodysuit let alone regular clothes. Hmm... unless Taylor has some way of making clothing, that will require funds. I have some breakfast with the Herbert's, the standard small talk, how was the bed and such, but we eventually got to real subjects. " So Lisa what are your plans going forward," Danny was kind even if a small part of him had reservations about me.

[thinks you might be a bad influence on Taylor , is also concerned for Nimi, will give you the a chance to explain...]

" I don't think it will be as easy as skipping town, I was pretty well hidden from people," I start Taylor's parents don't know I'm a criminal so I have to watch what I say, " I wasn't in town for very long, but I only really use cash and had a burner."

A raised eyebrow from Danny and a concerned stare from Annette. These were good people, they actually cared about my well being. " Why all the precautions," Nimi looks at me with curiosity in her big eye. Well I'm not telling them that it's to keep my parents from finding me, " I just don't like people finding information about me."

Nimi believes it, Taylor doesn't look like she does. Neither parent believe it either, but no one decides to fight me, " Anyways I looked online to see if any of my assets were stolen, you know my banking stuff."

" Yeah and," Danny seems more invested in the conversation than previously, he is testing me to see if I'm a criminal running from the law, I am but he doesn't need to know that. " It seems that several attempts on my accounts were attempted, and now I'm broke." Not technically a lie, many of my public and some obscure accounts were drained of funds, but not all. Still not good news I didn't have that much to begin with and now I had even less. " I'm not sure how they got into some of the accounts I have, they were government level accounts and it didn't set off any alarms when they were breached."

Danny back downs at that, alone and cashless was more pitiable than I have money in offshore banking. The whole improper terms makes me sound like a kid. Never been so happy to be underaged. " Where are your parents," Annette's mention of parents makes my internals cringe I have schooled features so it doesn't show. " I'm emancipated from them after I got my GED."

" Are you sure they can't help?" I turn to Danny he is concerned, but didn't want to say that I can be someone else's problem. I laugh, it isn't funny, " they're not even able to help themselves."

Danny stops thinking about me as someone else's problem. I blink at that. These guys really are good people. Annette is resisting the urge to hug me, and more disturbingly hunger for my parents. So, cannibals in addition to undeath. Oh, shit is she... a zombie cape too? This family is weird. " Well dear, you're free to stay here until some living arrangements are made."

Taylor nods, " And me and Nimi can keep you safe even if some people track you to here."

Some more lighter topics later, and I was in Taylors room. She had some posters on the wall of some of the local protectorate. " So, like Miss Militia?" Taylor is cute when she is flustered... oh no. " Yeah she is so cool," Nimi blurts out, " She has done so much just with guns and knives!" Taylor is trying desperately shut her other half up. I grin, despite having the sinking feeling of thinking that the cannibalistic undead girl in front of me as cute. I cover my dread well, " yeah I have to admit her track record is impressive." Nimi releases some pink glowing spores when she is embarrassed and happy, good to know. " Anyways uh... you wanted to talk to us," nice segue Taylor real smooth, " what was it about." I sit down on the floor I had been thinking about this since yesterday, " I want to team up with you guys."

" Uh, that's nice but you don't have any powers right?"

I look between Nimi and Taylor, did they really not notice, " I may have not been too honest with you guys."

They lean forward, " I'm a thinker who went by the name Tattletale."

" You a rogue?"

I shake my head, " I am a thief, but you already know, I mostly just pickpocket people at the boardwalk."

They are both listening intently almost in sync with their mannerisms, " I have a pretty strong powerset, nothing like what you guys have got going on, but still."

" What is it," Taylor has a calculating look on her face.

[will listen to what you have to say before making decisions is used to people betraying her has problems with trusting ,lonely Error...]

I seem to get more information when she talks to me. This at least gives me some idea of what to say next, " it is information extrapolation, given a small amount of information I can gather information through correct guesses."

" So you can tell what I am?"

" No, my power is having troubles with you Taylor, less so Nimi, but I know that your mom is dead."

Taylor just nods at what I thought should have more impact, " what is that all about by the way?"

" Oh, me and mom are undead."

And doesn't that just answer everything, Jesus Taylor, " okay....what does that mean though?"

She started to tell me her tale. It sounded like a Trigger event, but she didn't seem at all bothered by it. It also bumped Taylor, Nimi, and their mother up on my threat scale. If Taylor could actually resurrect the dead, and makes claims of an actual afterlife, that is a crazy power to have. I'm almost relieved when she tells me she can't just raise anyone from the dead, just those she is close to. Good, no one should have that power, and I can never tell anyone that she can do it. I also realize that I have some value to them, with that swarm Taylor could give me enough information to have info on everything going on in this city. " Could we have a practical example of your power," Nimi had been mostly silent, but sure I can do that. I look around the room before getting up and looking out the window. Some cars are parked but mainly the street is abandoned, except for a suspicious looking van." That van is watching the house," I point it out to them as they come over. " Really," Taylor doesn't know? " What does your swarm sense tell you," I asked. Can she not tell?

" Four people (two males, two female), one is drinking something that must be coffee with all the aerosolized caffeine, they are all in front of something with high electrical outputs," she then listed a list of chemical processes that told me everything from where their clothes were bought to what brand of toothpaste they used.

" Okay, so with all of that I can tell you they are PRT, and I can also tell you where they live, how their sex life is going, what pets they have, and everything they had this week for food."

" Woah..." " Wow..."

I kind of preen under there amazement, " but seriously that is an insane amount of information that you had from your power, how did you not know all of that already."

" I know the chemistry of what is going on in the that van and all across the bay, but I don't know what is what," Taylor explained, " as for not picking up on electricals being what, I can't just shift through it all at once, if I try I just always miss something."

That makes sense her brain is only one brain, or well maybe two, it would probably have other things to do then sift through everything. Still, " what are you currently using it for right now?"

" Eating mold."

" What?"

If you are wondering why I wrote Lisa's powers like a run-on sentence from Wikipedia, that is just how I imagined it would work. I know it isn't like that in the story, but this is crack so... I've taken "some" liberties

Rot: A worm Fanfiction

Should I move this to the NSFW forum for more views and stuff

yes

no

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

Making the rounds.

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It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

A Broken God Of Cogs And Gears

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It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

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It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

(confirmed ark survivor)

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

(confirmed ark survivor)

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

Experienced.

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Making the rounds.

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It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

Experienced.

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

Destroyer of Faith in Humanity

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

It's sucking out your insides, don't make it weird

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