Generator Worm (Worm x Generator Rex Fusion)

Long story short, voting is closed (what was the long version?) and I'm mostly elaborating out of fun. Overall, the intention was that Taylor ended 1.3 genuinely confused about what just happened. Though I would also say that a little part of her is in denial of the implications.

In her head Taylor went "Stupid Nanites, give her back"- and mere seconds later, she got what she wanted. That is some real suspicious timing, and 1.4 will elaborate a bit more on that.

'Why was Taylor in denial'? Partially because her self-esteem is awful after all the bullying, and assuming her guess is correct she somehow has a completely revolutionary ability to Cure EVOs.

That's literally the kind of thing people would logically try all kinds of things to get their mitts on, though I don't remember if the whole "An EVO Cure!?" was ever played up.

A/N: This opening arc will probably be closing out soon enough, I don't want to drag things out too long and I want to get around to the more complicated stuff. Apologies in advance for this update.


I still couldn't really wrap my head around everything that just happened- Everything was fine, then it wasn't, I very stupidly risked myself, and then Beverly spontaneously stopped being some maddened beast.

Objectively, the most reasonable thing should have been to ask what happens now- Beverly is very clearly an EVO, meaning she needs to join some group or organization; the Empire wouldn't try to kill a Hero, not obviously anyways.

Despite all that, I couldn't help fixating on "What just happened", I wasn't the world's foremost Expert on EVOs but I was still pretty confident something was off regarding recent events.

Finally, Beverly spoke up- not by much, admittedly. "I... guess?" Vicky turned her confused expression onto me next, not that I would be much more help.

"I really don't understand what happened- one minute Beverly was normal, then she turned into some spider creature, and now she's like that. It all happened so fast..."

My only saving grace is that Vicky isn't technically an authority figure- listening to a Hero is generally a good idea, but at least she won't expect me to give a more comprehensive report on things.

Watching Vicky slowly blink, the blonde lets out a long breath as she rubs the sides of her head. Her eyes flicked specifically to Beverly for a moment, carefully looking the brunette over before shifting to look at both Beverly & myself.

"Breakers are more esoteric in ability, so... Changer? But recovering so quickly from that state of madness most EVOs experience when Turning... Are you able to alter your appearance, or are you stuck like that?"

Beverly's face scrunches up, thoughts whirling, I hoped anyways- I was not interested in finding out what being part-Spider did to all of Beverly's uh... bathroom needs.

Eventually she coughs, a white substance I'm pretty sure is webbing comes out. Hmm, odd, that's not where webbing is supposed to come from- granted, spiders don't only have four limbs, so...

"Is there... something I'm supposed to do? I don't feel anything weird. Which is probably weird in itself, even without looking at you I can still tell you're hovering. Uh, that didn't sound right..."

That gets Vicky to raise an eyebrow, slowly mounting curiosity getting clearer on her face. "That makes sense, we just know how we work- really hard to study EVOs when not a single one can explain coherently their powers to others."

Well I certainly don't know why I hear strange 'noises' that are... definitely not from the Nanites everywhere. Smarter people than I could probably figure something out, I just know it is a waste of time for anyone to ask me how my powers work.

Honestly, I'm not sure even I do- I just hear weird 'noises', totally just a coincidence Beverly went from a monster that nearly inspired the fear of God in me to... I have realized another reason to be concerned for her long-term wellbeing.

Like I could just tell the Nanites what to do... "Really? If so, then... I think I am stuck like this..." Breaking from my thoughts, the sadness on Beverly's face... I couldn't help feeling a bit pained myself.

I... knew what it was like, having your whole world irrecoverably changed because of a single event. I've been so worried what people would do to me I never really thought about how this was affecting others...

I didn't know what to say, school was the only place we really interacted- Dad wasn't willing to buy 'Just Girls Hanging Out With Girls', Mom would have been suspicious if Dad failed to be.

Much as Beverly had been excited about inviting me over to her home, it ultimately wasn't Beverly's decision- I one hundred percent didn't want to pick a fight with her driver, only morons or people unhindered drive wearing shades.

Coming up with something that wasn't just annoying was hard. I hadn't wanted to think about others close to me would handle Mom's... it seems like a bad idea trying to say something cutesy like 'Your big sis won't mind'.

Before I could actually say something, through the 'noise' I can sense rapidly approaching the school entrance before coming to a halt. Technically I didn't know who that was, but I had enough evidence to make a good guess.

Further out I could sense... two different individuals slowly moving through the air? Not like Vicky, it seemed more like those two were being moved, as if the ground itself was somewhere readjusting its position.

Mentally trailing the odd aerial movement, I was getting increasingly confused by what was going on- before the two suddenly stopped... in this direction. I felt concern mounting within me, why would two figures be floating so far away from the building while looking this direction?

"Hey, you alright?" I didn't really need to look behind me to know Vicky had approached me, but before I could turn around- My head ached for a moment, as a chaotic 'noise' suddenly sprung to life from the direction of those two figures.

Shock filled me, as I had a revelation. "Is that a Disrupter?" Just because nobody could figure out to Cure EVOs or prevent it from happening... Destruction is a lot easier than Creation.

-- (What to do?)

[] Get out of the way.
- I don't like the odds of any of us getting hit.

[] Seriously, some 'shiny gun'!?
- Moments like this makes me wish I could explode things with my mind.

[] There has to be something!
- Would running away and dodging really be good enough? If only I could block it somehow...

----

A/N: I understand the vote is a bit vague, mostly on account of Taylor not really understanding her power, but each option will make a different facet of her power very obvious. I will say this, Rex's powers were basically just him using Technopathy to tell the nanites what to do, and that Taylor's problem is really just she doesn't know the actual language to use her powers.

Regarding Beverly, I haven't really shown it off yet, but I imagine her having the ability to choose where she generates webbing from. As for Taylor's concerns on how Spider-like Physiology has altered Beverly... Honestly, not sure. The only example I can think of canonically is Cricket, and for obvious reasons it was never explained just how much it affected her whole body.

I was mainly making a joke on how "Looks constipated" with Taylor having a bit of Fridge Horror at the obvious question. Beverly would probably vomit webbing, given how she coughed up a few bits of it. I don't think I want to explore that question seriously, haven't even gotten to the weirder '53s' like Sveta who is literally a blob of murder-tentacles.

Also should I have the Interlude be a Vote Option? I have about two different ideas right now, I'm kind of tempted to just shotgun all my Interlude ideas- I'm interested in showing both, but I don't know if you all would prefer having some things left as secrets.

I know I've been moving through Arc 1 pretty quickly, but that's mainly because this is the Introductory Arc setting up many of the story's major elements. Everything after this will become much harder on me, with only memories & the wikis to draw from my main concern is getting something fundamentally wrong.

Regarding the Interlude question, I'll probably leave it to a Vote if I can come up with two or three solid ideas- I just won't go out of my way to force multiple Interlude options if I can't think of much. For this Arc, there'd be three options. While these aren't things Taylor would necessarily know, I feel like the main benefit is that you the readers know.

Finally, this turn's votes- 'Get out of the way' would have been the route to focus more on Taylor's sensory abilities. When it comes to 'shiny gun!?', that was going to involve Taylor causing the Nanite Disrupter to self-detonate. So more of a focus on her technopathic capabilities, 'block it somehow'... you'll see soon enough.

A/N: Welp, this is an interesting option alright. Maybe I should have explained more about what might happen... Don't worry, to be clear, everything will be fine.


The immediate thought I had was getting out of the way- so long as it didn't hit any of us, a Disrupter Round shouldn't do much. Empty air wasn't really a danger, I hadn't seen any pics or footage but... I still knew enough.

For a moment, that knowledge angered me- what kind of deranged lunatic tries to make people explode? It would make things so much easier if I could just think problems away, but I had enough evidence to know that wasn't possible.

Still, a part of me couldn't help wondering- would simply moving out of the way be good enough? Going by what I've read Disrupters are rather volatile, so the odds of having multiple rounds was unlikely.

Unfortunately, I've never ran into a real Disrupter before, for all I know it could be some kind of prototype capable of firing multiple shots. I wasn't sure what it would do to Vicky, so I really shouldn't ask her to block it.

Was there truly nothing else I could do? Firing from that distance, it would have to be pretty high-powered to avoid significant deviation from wind movement and planetary rotation, so an ordinary desk would be an ineffective shield.

I realized my mistake when I sensed the Disrupter Round tearing through the free-roaming Nanites in the air. I wasted so much time on thought, I failed to make any preparations.

There... there had to be something I could still do! "Why couldn't I have something useful like making forcefields!?" Faster than I could process a wall made of Nanites formed before me.

The next thing I knew the Disrupter Round impacted the barrier, the chaotic 'noise' rapidly escalating in volume before the barrier exploded and I slammed back first again into wall.

My own questions aside, today has been very weird, Beverly looked frightened as I watched her trying to process what just happened. To Vicky's credit, the Heroine only looked confused for a brief moment before immediately shooting off looking for the source of the attack.

The figures who were responsible seem to have noticed, given they quickly left my sensory range even as Vicky tried to rush after them. "Taylor, are you okay!?"

Looking up at Beverly, the first thing my mind went too? "Just hide the obviously EVO traits and Beverly could easily pass for normal." It was kind of weird that's where my mind went, but I wasn't in a rush to try understanding what just happened.

Once is weird, twice is suspicious- did I really have some ability to control the Nanites? Sure, there are Trumps and there's some speculation that other EVOs manipulate Nanites in some way to use their powers...

But forming a wall made of pure Nanites plus... some degree of influencing EVOlution, that was a strange combination of powers. EVOs typically had a solid singular theme, the general census for the ones that didn't was that multiple EVOlving close together inherited a portion of the others involved.

It doesn't matter right now why I can do these things, the fact I can isn't a secret anymore. Letting Beverly pull me up, I let out a sigh- so much had happened today, and it was going so well...

Finally Velocity appeared at the entrance to the classroom, I was getting some serious Déjà vu vibes. "My name is Taylor, this is Beverly, we have had a very complicated day. Can we not do this right now?"

----

A/N: Okay, I feel extremely bad for this, I was struggling to figure out what to do to meet a proper length. To apologize, I'd like to do the next Update today. I was also figuring I'd technically make it an Interlude, so that 1.6 would be decently long. Again, I really apologize, I'll try to do better with Arc 2.

A/N: Now for someone completely different! This was originally supposed to be one of the 3 Interlude options, but well... I was struggling with 1.5 so, this is happening instead.

Everyday, life was the same- slowly figuring out more about the myriad facets of the EVO phenomenon, making sure nothing went horribly wrong in the process, and striving to make the world a better place.

It wasn't ideal working within Brockton Bay, maybe by myself, but I would have preferred somewhere safer for Beverly if I could. She was the only family I had left, I didn't want to put her in needless danger.

Ultimately, the order came from Director Costa-Brown herself. Intellectually, I can see the logic in Brockton Bay being an interesting location, and I could still get in contact with 'White Knight' if necessary.

Yet I couldn't shake the feeling something was off, why make such a decision to begin with? Even in Providence asking too many questions wasn't likely to end well, so I guess I'll just be stuck with my burning curiosity. So long as Beverly stays safe, I didn't need to be suspicious.

Despite it being three months ago, I still remembered that day- it was initially confusing, the file on 'Taylor Hebert'. There weren't many specifics on how it happened, but there were all the signs of a typical Trigger. By all rights, the girl should have underwent EVOlution.

Instead, there was nothing obviously unusual with the girl- even Panacea's assistance found nothing strange, that one would expect from an EVO. Others might have called it there, but I knew this was too strange for a simple error.

While the average EVO was mainly altered by the Nanites suffusing everything, there are some instances of EVO with a degree of influence on the Nanites. In theory, it wasn't completely impossible for a Humanoid EVO to be capable of obscuring their Nanites from detection.

Special equipment was needed to track down 'Strangers', but one so powerful known science couldn't recognize that the individual in question has undergone EVOlution?

Impossible really has no place in a scientist's vocabulary, but I can definitely understand why most would dismiss anything is going on. That was the easier explanation, and people loved pretending Occam's Razor meant the simplest explanation was always the correct one.

What I needed was more data, but assuming 'Taylor Hebert' is one of the strongest 'Strangers' to exist how would I get said data? Hmm... everyone 'knew' the Wards attend Arcadia, which meant getting reports frequently enough regarding odd events.

I could be paranoid all I wanted, but if 'Taylor Hebert' truly is an EVO of some kind then having six Heroes already on-site would help mitigate any danger she might cause. It wasn't a nice thought putting children potentially in danger, but the other solution was doing nothing at all.

Well, maybe Sophia could be convinced to look out for the other girl, but Sophia was difficult at the best of times. If only that... incident didn't happen, though I wasn't sure how much a therapist without knowledge of nanotechnology could treat the girl's heightened aggression.

Even most Capes still experience some manner of influence on their personality, it just tended to be more obvious in those capable of transforming between Human and EVO. Hopefully I made the right choice...

Cooking is a science, one I find woefully underappreciated. When I wasn't too busy, it was something I liked to work on- partially because I wanted to make actual meals for Beverly, and not just order takeout or pop something in the microwave.

Looking over as I heard Beverly yawning and walking down the stairs, I smiled brightly at her. "I'm making breakfast! I decided on pancakes, not too difficult but not too simple either. I came up with my own recipe."

That gets her to slowly blink, her eyes widening for a moment before assuming a more neutral & awake stance. "O-oh, really? You didn't have to, I really am fine with school breakfasts- I know you have more important things."

Nonsense, I would never consider anyone or anything more important than Beverly. "I don't have to go to work for a few more hours, I don't mind at all."

For a moment, I had the strangest imagery of a wounded dog, before Beverly straightens out more. "Well, what about after work? Taylor is really cool, honest!"

It wasn't something I explicitly arranged, but I remembered telling Beverly several years ago being kind & friendly could help others a lot. Better than letting her continue to seriously entertain the notion of becoming a Cape.

By all accounts nothing seemed strange about Taylor Hebert, though it still would have been nice if I could examine her personally. It was still being perfected, but being able to 'communicate' with Nanites & understand their 'language' would be a major step in developing a real 'vaccine' or even 'cure'.

Current methods of detecting EVOs relied exclusively on recognizing the existence of Nanites inside them, for lack of a better analogy... being camouflaged did nothing to hide one's existence, getting the Nanites to 'announce themselves' would be completely unexpected.

"I still don't get why the people at Winslow treated her so badly, she doesn't really talk about it but... How is such a place even real?" Looking at Beverly, it hurt seeing a forlorn expression on her little sister's face.

Intellectually I knew Beverly needed real stability, but... maybe I'm too selfish, to live without her... "There's all kinds of factors, but something I've noticed is how much society is actually affected by EVOs. I know there are people who try to say otherwise, yet ultimately... it tends to overshadow other matters."

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to rig an obviously false trial just to imprison an innocent EVO- only disappointed. This was supposed to be a happy morning, though.

I would need to arrange things with my superiors and make sure Taylor doesn't stumble across anything secret, technically the 'EVO Threat Ratings' was supposed to have been kept private.

"I think I'll be able to arrange an hour or two later, I wouldn't mind finally meeting this Ms. Taylor. I assume Taylor is a girl, anyways." That gets Beverly to groan, though she does seem more cheerful.

"Geez, mom, now how am I supposed to be a crazy party girl?" We both broke out into chuckles, I even smiled slightly at her and played along a little.

"Well I apologize, did you want my credit card or bank account?" Sighing pleasantly as I gently shook my head, I looked down at the pancake batter. "I'm almost done, you should go get ready for school."

That gets Beverly to rather hastily get up, just as quickly firing back with a "Oh, right, of course!" Watching her running up the stairs, I leaned in closer to smell my pancake mix.

I don't really smell anything, what part got such a reaction? Well, I can ask Beverly later so I know what to do in my future experiments.

Like every other day, nothing unusual had occurred so far. I've been meaning to arrange a discussion with Kid Win, it was getting frustrating Armsmaster hadn't sat the boy down for a proper talk regarding Kid's abilities.

It was something I could worry about later though, today I was going to need to begin sorting things out for Taylor's hypothetical visit. Many people in Providence were mainly focused on business, Director Piggot wasn't much different.

I didn't really get along with her, the Wards are children not just 'toy soldiers' they weren't allowed to use. Sure, she's never said anything like that blatantly, but the woman clearly saw weapons & not people when she looked at the Heroes.

There's really no justification for such behavior, the past is just an explanation- it never gave anyone permission to behave poorly. Still, I could at least respect she wasn't some deranged loon willing to do stupid & horrific things out of paranoia.

Hearing my phone ringing, I pulled it out- no official Caller ID, but I still understood what was going on. "Yes, what's happening?" Getting sudden calls is nothing unusual, I saw no reason this would be different from the norm.

~"Earlier, we received multiple calls from Arcadia about a new EVO. By the time Velocity arrived on the scene, she was already stable. She was introduced as Beverly, and her identity has been confirmed."~

It was only because of my professionalism I didn't drop my phone in shock, I knew it wasn't impossible for Beverly to turn but... I still didn't expect it.

~"She is here with another girl, one Taylor Hebert, there is no need to panic or rush- the situation is entirely under control, and Beverly shows no signs of lashing out."~

I... I couldn't just sit here, I know fully well they're probably treating Beverly like some dangerous animal instead of a scared little girl. My superiors can throw a fit for all I care, I can't work like this.

It wasn't a Containment Room exactly, but it was designed specifically to deal with sudden violence from EVOs. Even without Six backing me up, I didn't need his help getting the Agents to listen to me.

Passing into the room as the door slid away, the first thing I noted was Beverly- I wasn't sure what to make of her transformation, only that... it was less than I feared. I knew at least some EVOs could maintain near-human form, though it wasn't too hard to imagine her looking as before...

The girl next to Beverly, despite having never met, I recognized her- dark brown hair that could easily be mistaken for black, plus green eyes, not to mention her taller-than-average height for a female American teenager.

Before I could say anything, Beverly looked up at me- it didn't take long before she was in arms, crying softly as I stoke her back gently. Hearing someone clearing their throat, I looked over at Taylor Hebert.

"So, I'm guessing you're Beverly's big sis, that means everything is okay now right? I mainly wanted to make sure nothing bad was going to happen..."

There were so many things I was going to have to do, the least I could do is show my gratitude. "Thank you, Beverly has talked a lot about you. Is there anything you need?"

For a moment the teenage girl sits in silence, a thoughtful expression on her face.

-- (What does Taylor do?)

[] Confess.
- Much as I wanted to avoid this, only a fellow EVO can be Beverly's friend now...

[] Ask What Now.
- Beverly is an EVO, what does that actually mean for her future?

[] Question.
- What has Beverly been saying?

-- (What's Next?)

[][Interlude] Figures
- Who were those mysterious figures?

[][Interlude] Crownless
- Someone who hears some curious news.

----

A/N: So, that was a whole thing. I'll probably title Arc 2 as Shift or something, to represent how having started her story it has come time for Taylor to actually deal with the ramifications of how it changes everything she does going forward. Hopefully I'm not too annoying about it, but again I'd like to apologize for how things went with the last Update.

Regarding everything that has happened in this update... overall, I wanted to explore Doc's character a bit. I mostly thought the "Is a Bad Cook and doesn't realize it" was kind of funny, and hey- she canonically is, going by the Wiki. Hopefully I don't get essays on how I 'obviously' did something wrong.

I kind of wish I did more with Six, but well... he's Six, standing menacingly in the corner and surveying the situation is totally what he would have done in this scenario. Man, it'll probably be a while before I can actually do the thing I'm really excited about with him. I would love a good excuse to have him fight Hookwolf, I wanna show why Six is one of the most Dangerous People and not that overgrown puppy.

Some things I should probably clear up- Director Costa-Brown mainly handles the paperwork kind of stuff, whereas White Knight is the one mainly directing the actual martial forces. Partially on account of the whole, ya know, needing to stay in a sterile environment so that kind of complicates speedy orders.

I'd say it is probably a bit more complicated than that, but for canon spoiler reasons I don't think White Knight would work for the people Costa-Brown secretly does. Man, trying to figure all that out is complicated... So much I wanna talk about, ya know?

Anyways, Taylor specifically got transferred to Arcadia on the basis that there is probably something weird going on, and better to be safe than sorry if it turns out she's secretly some High-Level EVO. That was it, Beverly befriending her was basically a coincidence and while it wasn't Doc's intention to have someone spy on Taylor... she's not really surprised it happened, subconscious desires & whatnot.

Regarding her thoughts on Shadow Stalker and Kid Win- it is actual Canon that Sophia's Shard has a greater than normal effect on her, and for IRL reasons she reminds me of someone I know and feel bad for given no one actually tries to help curb their negative behavior. As for Kid Win, basically given Doc is an expert on Nanotechnology she sees certain patterns in Kid Win's tech.

It is about 4:00 PM for me now, if something isn't clear please just ask me and I'll do my best to clarify the issue.