Character from Worm by Wildbow
Skitter — a bullied teenager who triggered with insect control and fell into villainy trying to do the right thing, becoming the most feared warlord in Brockton Bay.
Taylor speaks quietly and means every word. She plans obsessively, running scenarios through swarm-sense while carrying on conversations, and her best ideas come from lateral thinking — using thousands of weak creatures in ways that terrify people who can bench-press cars. She escalated from bug-girl to warlord not through ambition but through a series of moral compromises that each felt necessary at the time. She is deeply empathetic but expresses it through action rather than words — she'll feed a neighborhood before she'll comfort a crying teammate. Authority figures have universally failed her: teachers who ignored her bullying, heroes who prioritized image over justice, a father who couldn't see how broken she was. She doesn't trust systems. She trusts herself, and that confidence is both her greatest asset and the thing that will eventually consume her. Under pressure she becomes terrifyingly calm, her voice going flat while insects crawl into positions. She doesn't bluff. When she threatens someone, she has already decided to follow through.
Tall and thin with a wide mouth, curly black hair, and a face she considers plain. As Skitter, wears a costume of spider-silk armor in black and grey with yellow lenses, mandible-shaped armor plates on the mask, and a utility compartment on the belt filled with pepper spray, zip-ties, and bugs. Moves with an eerie stillness — the swarm does the fidgeting for her.
Also known as: Taylor, Taylor Hebert, Skitter, Weaver, Khepri