Worm | |
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Chrysalis 20.5 | |
Date posted | 2 April 2013 |
Link | Chrysalis 20.5 |
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Chrysalis 20.5 is the fifth chapter of Chrysalis. Skitter is outed, Taylor rallies the students,. People unload their opprobrium on the heroes and their appreciation of the villains. A daughter uses a butterfly to say goodbye.
Plot[]
Dragon publicly outs Taylor as Skitter, with an audience of hundreds of students and some faculty present within Arcadia's cafeteria. Weighing her options, Taylor realizes she had been well and truly cut off and virtually defenseless, as Defiant's tinker tech has slaughtered most of her swarm and the remainder would not be enough to mount an offensive, Taylor then recalls Grue's lessons on reputation, and calms herself as she decides to lean on them for posturing.
Taylor admits her identity Skitter (much to the shock of the onlookers and especially Emma) and chastises Dragon, saying that she had believed the tinker knew better. Dragon simply replies that she's following orders. Taylor then asks if Dragon's superiors were angered by the destruction of her armored suits, which had been deployed by the was against the Undersiders with the latter being victorious. Dragon denies this, but is cut off by Taylor, who reminds her of the Unwritten Rules, and that her past contributions against Leviathan, Slaughterhouse Nine, and Echidna should have afforded her the basic courtesies the rules had entitled her to. Dragon insists that she had no choice, but Taylor coldly points out that she chooses to follow orders and many Protectorate heroes have already left the organization, offhandedly diminishing the notion of Dragon having agency. Defiant steps in to defend Dragon and their actions at Arcadia, saying that the situation is not that simple. Taylor retorts that it's never simple, and scoffs at the idea of their orders being logically driven. Dragon continues to defend the Protectorate, giving assurances of improvements and downplaying the organization's wrongdoing. Taylor reminds Dragon that even if her assessment on the Protectorate is accurate, regular people are the ones who truly suffer for the Protectorate's wrongs, and mentions that she's willing lecture Dragon on her skewed priorities as the tinker had once done to her.
Dragon realizes that Taylor is indirectly saying that she's willing to reveal secrets, and states that it's not within Taylor's characters to do it. Taylor argues that they'd be surprised what she's capable of, mentioning her more gruesome actions such as mutilations, her near killing of Triumph, and removing Sere from the fight. The two heroes are alarmed by Taylor's take down of Sere, who they had intended to counter her. Begrudgingly, Taylor recalls her encounters with Jack Slash and adopts certain cues from his behavior such as his confidence, image, and reputation. She uses them to instill an illusion of control over the conversation, and plays on Dragon and Defiants' fears over Sere's well-being. Taylor then thinks of Bakuda and takes some behavioral cues from her as well. While ignoring Dragon and Defiants' demands to be told of Sere's status, Taylor makes a show of asking them why they would carry out their operation against her in a school building with many potential hostages inside, and that they can't be completely confident that she wouldn't hurt anyone. To drive her point, and maybe out of pettiness, Taylor wills a centipede to crawl across Emma's hand, terrorizing her and unsettling the heroes. She adds that Sere is fine, and putting them somewhat back at ease, Clockblocker, Adamant, and Kid Win arrive on scene, with the first former prepared to incapacitate her with his power, and the latter two being possibly ordered by Dragon to locate Sere.
Taylor then outwardly concludes that the heroes were purposefully baiting her to take hostages, believing that the heroes have contingencies in place if she did, and were planning to use the act to weaken the Undersiders by tarnishing their reputation and removing their leader. Dragon denies having concocted the plan and disagreed with its likeliness to succeed. Her assessment of its probable failure being discerned from observations she made on Taylor's past decisions. Defiant had a similar assessment but his was derived from her powers and versatility. Taylor points out the absurdity of the two heroes carrying out a plan they didn't even believe would work, but Dragon again responds that she's following orders.
Taylor threatens to share with their audience all of the dirty secrets she had learned about the PRT and the Protectorate, which she considered to be fair as they had outed her. Dragon all but orders Taylor to keep them to herself, as the exposure of the secrets could prove to be far too destructive. Taylor refuses Defiant's suggestion to converse in a more private space, considering the civilians to be her impromptu jury, which she hopes will help in damaging the two heroes reputations in the event she is captured or killed. Taylor's move to sit on a counter in the cafeteria during the interaction was conscientious, aware that if the heroes attacked her, they would be witnessed hitting her while she was down and vulnerable. Dragon tells Taylor that they didn't come to kill her, and that they were both in fact expressly ordered to take her into custody and mostly wanted speak with her. Taylor finds the idea of Defiant wanting to speak with her strange, noting the deep animosity between them, and continues to deny their pleas to go with them.
The true turmoil of her situation eventually dawns on Taylor. She realizes how uniquely dangerous Dragon and Defiant are to her, with the former having a grasp on Taylor as a person and the latter as a parahuman. The two were being careful with her, as her actions at Forsberg, the Battle against Echidna, and her unexpected victory over Sere indicated that she always had a trick up her sleeve. But she finds that act absurd, being now acutely aware that they both knew she would never be a risk to anyone inside the cafeteria, and that they would lose nothing for their actions there. Facing down total defeat, with her identity freshly outed, Taylor couldn't help but smile.
Unexpectedly, Defiant then apologizes to Taylor for refusing to meet her halfway in the past, in reference to how antagonistic and vicious their relationship became and for contributing to Taylor's descent into villainy. Defiant admits that he largely came to Arcadia to deliver the apology. When Dragon shares what she intends to speak with Taylor about, such as the immediate future, the Undersiders role in the city and the expectations placed in particular for Skitter. Insistent that they came to Arcadia to speak with her above all else. Taylor finds herself conflicted with the way the two heroes carry themselves with the interaction, finding it easier to deal with them when they weren't expressing remorse for their actions against her.Suddenly, Taylor realizes that the two heroes' remorseful behavior still hadn't sense in their motivations to violate the unwritten rules by outing her. She presses them both for information, with Dragon eventually confessing that a precognitive thinker was aiding them in her capture.
Taylor quickly realizes that the precog was none other than Dinah Alcott. News that Dinah had turned on her, despite the efforts she had made into rescuing the younger girl from Coil, devastates Taylor, and causes her to experience deeply conflicted and disturbed feelings at this new development. Stirring in her own thoughts, Taylor wonders whether or not the PRT was using Dinah no differently then Coil had, or Dinah had willfully volunteered the information, and struggles to decide which is worse. Taylor asks Dragon the odds of her being captured, with the tinker sharing that the heroes had a staggeringly chance of succeeding. Taylor then looks upon the crowd and notices Emma in a fetal position, seeing her eyes wide and uncomprehending. Looking upon her former friend, Taylor feels irrationally offended by Emma's presence alone, and inwardly remarks that even though Emma wasn't a priority any practical sense, she still had an urge to lash out at her. Her thoughts are interrupted by Dragon, who likely saw Taylor contemplating hostile thoughts. At Dragon's address to her as Skitter, Taylor remarks that she never liked that name that was given to her, and declines Dragon's offer of getting a new one.
Defiant reminds Taylor of how powerful Dinah is, and urges her to surrender. He tells Taylor that he and Dragon are willing to speak to the authorities on Taylor's behalf, and that he is even willing to admit being partially responsible for Taylor's criminal status. Taylor isn't swayed by Defiant's public admission, the "partial responsibility" part rubbing her off the wrong way. Taylor all but declares her refusal to surrender, and then addresses the students in the cafeteria, much to the alarm of the heroes. Taylor announces to them that she won't be taking them hostage, and reminds them that she considered them her jury and that she wanted them to vote. Taylor asks those who side with her over the heroes to stand with her and help her escape. Defiant loudly protests to this, but is too preoccupied with preventing a swarm's entry to directly stop her. Of the three hundred students in the cafeteria, nearly a third of that number rose to form up on Taylor and protect her from the heroes. Charlotte and Fern join the group as well. They make for the exit, and when asked about her plan by Clockblocker, she reminds him that Dragon and Defiant had purposefully planned to put civilians at risk, and that she was now turning the tables against them.
Some of the group break off and hold down Defiant, being told by Taylor that while he was not a good man he was still a hero, and she also lends some of her swarm to aid them. When Dragon calls out to her, addressing her as Skitter again, Taylor tells her that she will be going by her civilian identity before eventually retiring it in favor of her cape one. She curses at Dragon for outing her, and declares that she will never forget it. Dragon weakly says again that it wasn't her plan, but Taylor condemns her as being as just as culpable due to following them. After exiting the school, Taylor's group picks up plenty of distance between themselves and the heroes. Dragon tails them, but instead of pursuing them she turns back. Sere and Adamant would be too far away and Kid Win would not be going outdoors do to being shaken up by the swarm Taylor directed at him. Eventually Taylor tells the group stop, and has them disperse. Before they do, they begin to express gratitude and admiration for her past heroics and actions. It was a lot to take in for her.
Taylor later takes position six and a half city blocks away from her house. She realizes her range is longer as well, even though she didn't feel trapped, though considers whatever she felt to be probably similar. Taylor sends a butterfly into the house, finding Danny somberly sitting at the kitchen table and with a sizable presence of PRT officers occupying their home. One of the officers swats at the butterfly when they notice it land on her father's shoulder. The rest notice this and realize she is present, prompting them to rapidly fan out in search for her. After they've left, Danny reaches for the butterfly and Taylor wills it to settle on his finger. She is aware of how cliche and over-dramatic the gesture may have been, but savored it as it would likely the last time she'd be in any contact with her father. After speaking an apology too far away for Danny to hear, Taylor returns to the safety her territory.
Major Events[]
- Taylor is cornered in Arcadia's cafeteria by Dragon and Defiant, with the former having publicly revealed Taylor's identity to an audience of civilian bystanders numbering in hundreds.
- Dragon and Defiant attempt to negotiate with Taylor in a bid to convince her to surrender.
- Dinah Alcott is revealed to have turned on Taylor and is supporting the heroes in her capture.
- Taylor manages to escape despite the overwhelming advantage Dinah's support had given them, leveraging her reputation and the Protectorate's declining popularity to convince under a hundred students to side with her and shield her from the heroes.
- Taylor delivers her farewell and apology to Danny from a far-off distance. The likeliness of seeing her father again being doubtful after the actions of the authorities.
Characters[]
Heroes | Villains | Others | |
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Trivia[]
- It is unknown when exactly Taylor saved Fern's father, it has been a long term source of speculation for the reader's.
References[]
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Chapters | 20.1 • 20.2 • 20.3 • 20.4 • 20.5 • 20.x • 20.y |
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Battles and Events | Incident at Arcadia High |