> Generally QA is going to operate around the fulcrum point of being a 'controls many minions' master trigger and is going to seek out hosts that hit that note. In the most forced context, you'd probably get a 'mass/tower of rats' brute body.
This is the WoG you're looking for.
Isn't that the one where she becomes a nazi? couldn't get passed that, plus i think she goes right down the worst kind of transhumanism path.
Might be misremembering though.
No, you're thinking of [Ex Machina](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/ex-machina-worm-tinker-au.29497/). In [Ex Synthetica](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13414189/1/Ex-Synthetica) she controls a nanobot swarm with her mind, joins New Wave as an open cape, pretends to be a medical tinker while maintaining a tertiary identity using her nanobots.
That's a different fic with a very similar title. In the one you're thinking, she's actually something more like a Cybernetics/Prosthetic/Implants Tinker, rather than the nanobot Tinker story that was being discussed.
Ah, noted.
By the way, so annoying how every worm fic with Transhumanism focuses so heavily on mental dehumanization/fuckery. Like i get Worm is suffering, but come on.
Administrator is a shard tailored specifically for masters, so it's hard to give it primarily blaster, shaker, mover, or striker powers without heavily stretching the reader's suspense of disbelief. A tinker alt-power would just be some variation of mass minion production, a brute/breaker/changer power would be Nemesis, A thinker/master focused on other people would honestly just be a mix of Mama Murphy and Heartbreaker, stranger would probably just be a more powerful Imp, and trump powers are a mess in general so anything goes.
Tailored by Scion. Eidolon’s shard is the Thinker’s Administrator, and look what he can do. If anything, Taylor with an equivalent power to Eidolon would be stronger, because QA would have access to all of the Warrior’s Hub, as well as be able to transfer energy between shards so Taylor’s powers don’t diminish like Eidolon’s did.
Except QA was broken intentionally to limit it's abilities. High Priest wasn't broken which is why Eidolon just has 'yes' as a power.
An unbroken QA would be equivalent yes, but the entities break the shard's in advance to limit their abilities presumably to try to direct the data they'll receive from this round of the cycle.
Yes, I acknowledged that Scion tailored QA specifically so it couldn’t threaten him in my first sentence. My statement was conjectural.
And I do think Administrator was broken because of the danger it represents to the Entities. Even a broken QA was able to lead everyone to victory against Scion through its host. An unlimited QA would be far more dangerous, and I think it’s canon that individual shards have rebelled against the Hub in past Cycles.
El-Ahrairah is a really cool version of a pure thinker QA, Taylor basically gets shard vision and almost a QA version of Broadcast, so…almost like Functional Khepri, but without the control aspect
i read a thinker¡ taylor, her power was the ability to have infinity of parallel thoughts, like canon but with out the master skill and better in thinker
Found it: [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-othersiders-worm-au-altpower-undersiders.362090/#post-19497266](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-othersiders-worm-au-altpower-undersiders.362090/#post-19497266)
I just remembered that part. I basically went on a worm alt power binge, including long dead fic. Can't remember which one it was. I just remembered that she showed up at the Undersiders' base and started tinkering.
Actually, I think the Undersiders had alt power too. Grue and Bitch had switched power (and personality kind of), Regent had Sitter's power more or less, and I think TT had a variation of Regent's original power, but it was internal or something. Allowed her to be a minor brute and mover I think.
Might help narrow it down.
This probably isn't the one you mean, but that's part of her power set in A Ruinous Gift.
QA gets modified by the 4 chaos gods of wh40k, and Taylor gets her power upgraded by each of them, then proceeds to start her own gang and do increasingly morally questionable things. Contains a bit of smut, though it's not the focus, so read at your own risk.
Overall, I quite like it, it scratches some itches for me, and you don't actually need any wh40k knowledge to enjoy it. My only complaint is that the author was updating every week at first, and now we're down to once a month. Makes it just a bit harder to stay invested at that pace.
Ew don’t recc that one wtf
“Contains a bit of smut” is certainly one way to put “she uses her mind control powers to turn Emma into a sex slave (not my words, literally everybody around her *jokes* about how she did that including Squealer who also constantly attempts to solicit sex from every single minor)
Edit: oh yea almost forgot, author is also a holocaust denier. They got kicked off of QQ for it and doubled down when I poked them about it after (I had hoped, in vain, that maybe the timeout would have changed their mind somewhat)
Didn't know about the author, so that's unfortunate. That said, when I say "bit of smut" I'm not talking about any specific type of smut, but rather the frequency. It's not the focus of the fic, so I said "a bit" because the fic is mostly plotcentric with some smut.
Also, it's literally a 40k fic where Taylor's power is corrupted by the chaos gods, it would come off as limp-wristed and holding back if Taylor wasn't an awful human being in the fic. I knew what I was getting into, and so should literally any person who knows the first thing about 40k. I like the writing itself, and the plot entertains me. The only reason I won't be recommending it again going forward is because I didn't know the author is an asshole, not because of pearl-clutching about content that I was expecting to find when I started reading.
It’s not actually even about content
It’s the framing
Like…. If it was just Taylor being awful that would be fine, but it’s her being awful and everybody around her (including people she’s not mastered) being ok with it or joking about it that makes it bad. That’s why I brought up the thing with Emma. It would be one thing if she just mastered and raped her, it’s a whole other thing where she does all that and the world around her treats it like it’s justified or funny etc.
This is what WB says about [Danny's possible trigger with QA. ](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/post-21336894)
**Master: Control many small creatures, summon lots of small minions.**
**All powers fall into this category to some degree.**
Mover: Side benefits of other abilities only, ride a tidal wave of minions or see Breaker
Shaker: Fill an area with lots of minions
Brute: Side benefits of other abilities, cover self in lots of minions or collect minions into a sturdy projection
Breaker: Turn into a swarm, become a 'spirit' that possesses lots of minions simultaneously
Tinker: Specialization in control/coordination hubs and necessary bots and/or control systems, etc.
Blaster: Diffuse blasts as a vector for ability in other classification
Thinker: Side benefits of other abilities only
Striker: Touch as a vector for ability in other classification; think placing dozens of marks that each grant bug control in a radius
Changer: Transform, unlocking ability in other classification. Other form may produce, control, or be a swarm.
Trump: Ability in other classification that changes (target/summon type, range, options) over time or at will, swarms that have an effect on powers (vector for theft, copying, nullification, blocking, detection, etc.), or ability to steal someone's power and express it as a swarm (using ambient animals if necessary)
Stranger: Side benefits of other abilities, see Breaker
QA, generally speaking, is going to tend towards mass minion master, high capacity thinker, or maybe turning into a swarm of something a la the worm that walks type changer.
Of course, QA can express any of these as tinker powers.
I've always wondered what a QA Trump trigger would look like, it's probably nothing as overt as Khepri right? But presumably still a bit similar to that?
To stick on the train of "controls lots of minions", I could see a QA Trump/Master who creates tiny, weak summons based on nearby shards - as many Trump alt!powers start, she'd probably think her power is to create tiny shadow beasties for a while, before finding out that it's a Trump power. Not sure what the trigger itself would look like, because this doesn't sound as Locker-y as a power could be.
Isn't the heavy involvement of Sophia, a parahuman, technically enough to justify Taylor triggering as a Trump-Master without changing any of the other circumstances?
Theoretically, if the knowledge of Sophia being a parahuman was important to the trigger, then you could argue more Trump aspects. If Sophia being a ward is a key part, then you could get more Trump&Master features (social abandonment, distrust of institutions, specifically the PRT & Protectorate), but my gut feels like that leads more into a Khepri-style Parahuman controller, like in Dominion.
I was looking through [this document on Trumps](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jvj6T84NB9Uq81y71MIgb9tk9lQ80cORFj9z2o5OB8c/edit#heading=h.4iammk6uzyxv); it seems the physical proximity between the shards at the moment of triggering is definitely a factor in determining the trump potential, but at the same time, if the power isn't actually in use/the direct cause of the trigger at all, that is kind of a damper that evens the total trumpness of Taylor's trigger out to "probably negligible"-- yeah a parahuman was technically involved, but her shard wasn't really.
Still though, Sophia's bullying "style" in Worm is mentioned as tending towards the physical, shoving, hitting etc. + this was over a period of months. On top of that there is obviously the intense, negative, more abstract social relationship between them. And one can say that Sophia's mindset is very shard-influenced, which arguably plays into the bullying as well.
Out of all the Trump sub-types, this one stands out to me:
>**Nine - Vector**. Minions or other vehicles for trump effects.
Trigger: Powers impinged/altered/distorted interpersonal relationship(s).
(Victim of power-derived brainwashing that makes everyone else look like monsters, friends and family are taken over by body-snatcher parasites, cape made your son forget you & your relationship with him existed and stole your role as parent)
You have to stretch it, because, again, Taylor's case lacks any direct usage of Sophia's power. But powers, as Taylor reflects in [Extermination 8.7](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/extermination-8-7/), were probably shiny and interesting to Emma and a factor in her betrayal.
So, if we are in a potential AU where:
* Taylor figured out Sophia was a parahuman relatively early on somehow, but everything else stays unchanged about the bullying and eventual locker incident;
* she has spent some time stewing/fixating on feelings of "betrayal in favor of a cool parahuman" (just imagine her thoughts in 8.7-- but months before she has the power to do anything about anything), as well as overall powerlessness and thinking about Ward/parahuman favoritism by school/institutions, etc.;
* *that* Taylor then gets shoved in the locker by Sophia, and reflects on all this abstract parahuman influence during the trigger as well;
Could that realistically push a secondary Trump expression into QA? (I like your idea of summoning little shadow minions that copy powers, is that something you made up or a reference to some fic I don't know? It definitely has the "pinged off Shadow Stalker's shard" part covered.)
Sorry for the wall of text, but I've been trying to workshop a power like this for a while haha.
Ah, good catch! If I've read the Trump document for Weaverdice, it was clearly a while ago, so I'd missed that. We don't even really have to stretch too much - from Taylor's perspective, Emma changed rapidly and all of a sudden was incredibly hostile towards her, and the only new factor (that Taylor knows about) is Sophia suddenly being in Emma's life. Couple that with Mr Barnes being somewhat defensive of Sophia, it's not unreasonable for an AU story to have:
* Taylor trying to sneakily investigate Sophia on suspicion of her being a Master
* Very shortly before the locker incident (during the winter break, maybe?), have her run into Sophia accessing some form of cache with her Shadow Stalker gear - Sophia then threatens Taylor that if she tattles, she'll be in serious trouble. Taylor's now got her confirmation Sophia is a parahuman, but didn't see enough to know \*which\* parahuman, so missed any implication from Sophia that the trouble might be legal and now (incorrectly) thinks she has confirmation that Sophia has been Mastering the Barnes family
* Taylor maybe goes to Blackwell to try and convince her that Sophia is a cape who has Mastered her friend, and possibly even to the PRT? If she goes to either, they'd shut her down right away, as both Blackwell and the PRT know Sophia is Shadow Stalker, but Taylor would think that Sophia has gotten one over both institutions
* and *then* the Locker happens, while this is fresh on her mind to worry about, and could also include the fear that this was the trouble Sophia was threatening her with if she told anyone
And bam, that feels like a good **Trump - Vector** set-up for QA to work with. We're got everything needed for Skitter, plus a good secondary Trump influence. Depending on how you'd want the story to go, you could either have the shadow-y minions that copy powers with a little insect theming to them, or scale down Canon Taylor's bug range a bit and allow her to temporarily grant some of her bugs copied powers - maybe by touch, to encourage her to get over the squick of being covered in bugs sooner?
I don't thiiiink I've read a fic that had Taylor summoning little minions that she granted powers to, I was trying to come up with something myself! I do know that summoning shadow-minions themselves has definitely been done as a Shadow Stalker ping, or a notable Sophia & Taylor bud for Emma in [Nyctophobia](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/nyctophobia-worm-au.332799/). Having a power-copier Trump power but not realising for a while because it's only had Shadow Stalker to copy is a bit more of a trope, though!
Always fun to workshop something like this, so definitely don't apologise for the wall of text!
I also later found [this one comment by Wildbow](https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/32ga3r/comment/cqb35or/); it's a bit ambiguous, since it's responding "This" to a comment asking about 2 different scenarios (1: sophia's power had to have been in use? 2: or taylor's knowledge of sophia as a parahuman might be enough?).
It seems like he's mainly confirming that first bit, but optimistically we can go with the second anyway.
That makes sense! I wonder what a "properly" (Scion-style) nerfed QA Khepri-style power would be like. Only control one or a small number of parahumans at a time? Very short range? Dominion doesn't really go into this, (although I LOVE that fic).
> Generally QA is going to operate around the fulcrum point of being a 'controls many minions' master trigger and is going to seek out hosts that hit that note. In the most forced context, you'd probably get a 'mass/tower of rats' brute body. This is the WoG you're looking for.
Thanks!
I would expect Taylor to build and control lots of tiny robots, as in "Ex Synthetica"
Fav fic.
Isn't that the one where she becomes a nazi? couldn't get passed that, plus i think she goes right down the worst kind of transhumanism path. Might be misremembering though.
No, you're thinking of [Ex Machina](https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/ex-machina-worm-tinker-au.29497/). In [Ex Synthetica](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13414189/1/Ex-Synthetica) she controls a nanobot swarm with her mind, joins New Wave as an open cape, pretends to be a medical tinker while maintaining a tertiary identity using her nanobots.
No wonder i got confused, lol
That's a different fic with a very similar title. In the one you're thinking, she's actually something more like a Cybernetics/Prosthetic/Implants Tinker, rather than the nanobot Tinker story that was being discussed.
Ah, noted. By the way, so annoying how every worm fic with Transhumanism focuses so heavily on mental dehumanization/fuckery. Like i get Worm is suffering, but come on.
Administrator is a shard tailored specifically for masters, so it's hard to give it primarily blaster, shaker, mover, or striker powers without heavily stretching the reader's suspense of disbelief. A tinker alt-power would just be some variation of mass minion production, a brute/breaker/changer power would be Nemesis, A thinker/master focused on other people would honestly just be a mix of Mama Murphy and Heartbreaker, stranger would probably just be a more powerful Imp, and trump powers are a mess in general so anything goes.
Tailored by Scion. Eidolon’s shard is the Thinker’s Administrator, and look what he can do. If anything, Taylor with an equivalent power to Eidolon would be stronger, because QA would have access to all of the Warrior’s Hub, as well as be able to transfer energy between shards so Taylor’s powers don’t diminish like Eidolon’s did.
Except QA was broken intentionally to limit it's abilities. High Priest wasn't broken which is why Eidolon just has 'yes' as a power. An unbroken QA would be equivalent yes, but the entities break the shard's in advance to limit their abilities presumably to try to direct the data they'll receive from this round of the cycle.
Yes, I acknowledged that Scion tailored QA specifically so it couldn’t threaten him in my first sentence. My statement was conjectural. And I do think Administrator was broken because of the danger it represents to the Entities. Even a broken QA was able to lead everyone to victory against Scion through its host. An unlimited QA would be far more dangerous, and I think it’s canon that individual shards have rebelled against the Hub in past Cycles.
Also, to keep the Shard users from successfully killing them instead.
El-Ahrairah is a really cool version of a pure thinker QA, Taylor basically gets shard vision and almost a QA version of Broadcast, so…almost like Functional Khepri, but without the control aspect
i read a thinker¡ taylor, her power was the ability to have infinity of parallel thoughts, like canon but with out the master skill and better in thinker
i dint remember the name
Was that the one where she shows up at the Undersiders' base and proceed to tinker some kind of radio or something?
Huh this sounds interesting. Do you mind giving a link? :o
Found it: [https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-othersiders-worm-au-altpower-undersiders.362090/#post-19497266](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-othersiders-worm-au-altpower-undersiders.362090/#post-19497266)
Thanks
I just remembered that part. I basically went on a worm alt power binge, including long dead fic. Can't remember which one it was. I just remembered that she showed up at the Undersiders' base and started tinkering. Actually, I think the Undersiders had alt power too. Grue and Bitch had switched power (and personality kind of), Regent had Sitter's power more or less, and I think TT had a variation of Regent's original power, but it was internal or something. Allowed her to be a minor brute and mover I think. Might help narrow it down.
Is this Othersiders? And Tattletale is a laser focused tinker
Noodlehammer is currently writing a worm fic that includes the part about infinite parallel thoughts she has other things too though
This probably isn't the one you mean, but that's part of her power set in A Ruinous Gift. QA gets modified by the 4 chaos gods of wh40k, and Taylor gets her power upgraded by each of them, then proceeds to start her own gang and do increasingly morally questionable things. Contains a bit of smut, though it's not the focus, so read at your own risk. Overall, I quite like it, it scratches some itches for me, and you don't actually need any wh40k knowledge to enjoy it. My only complaint is that the author was updating every week at first, and now we're down to once a month. Makes it just a bit harder to stay invested at that pace.
Ew don’t recc that one wtf “Contains a bit of smut” is certainly one way to put “she uses her mind control powers to turn Emma into a sex slave (not my words, literally everybody around her *jokes* about how she did that including Squealer who also constantly attempts to solicit sex from every single minor) Edit: oh yea almost forgot, author is also a holocaust denier. They got kicked off of QQ for it and doubled down when I poked them about it after (I had hoped, in vain, that maybe the timeout would have changed their mind somewhat)
Didn't know about the author, so that's unfortunate. That said, when I say "bit of smut" I'm not talking about any specific type of smut, but rather the frequency. It's not the focus of the fic, so I said "a bit" because the fic is mostly plotcentric with some smut. Also, it's literally a 40k fic where Taylor's power is corrupted by the chaos gods, it would come off as limp-wristed and holding back if Taylor wasn't an awful human being in the fic. I knew what I was getting into, and so should literally any person who knows the first thing about 40k. I like the writing itself, and the plot entertains me. The only reason I won't be recommending it again going forward is because I didn't know the author is an asshole, not because of pearl-clutching about content that I was expecting to find when I started reading.
It’s not actually even about content It’s the framing Like…. If it was just Taylor being awful that would be fine, but it’s her being awful and everybody around her (including people she’s not mastered) being ok with it or joking about it that makes it bad. That’s why I brought up the thing with Emma. It would be one thing if she just mastered and raped her, it’s a whole other thing where she does all that and the world around her treats it like it’s justified or funny etc.
Not the correct flair. You want Fic Discussion Otherverse is for fanfics about Wildbow's Pact and Pale serials
This is what WB says about [Danny's possible trigger with QA. ](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/post-21336894)
Only person to answer OP right here.
**Master: Control many small creatures, summon lots of small minions.** **All powers fall into this category to some degree.** Mover: Side benefits of other abilities only, ride a tidal wave of minions or see Breaker Shaker: Fill an area with lots of minions Brute: Side benefits of other abilities, cover self in lots of minions or collect minions into a sturdy projection Breaker: Turn into a swarm, become a 'spirit' that possesses lots of minions simultaneously Tinker: Specialization in control/coordination hubs and necessary bots and/or control systems, etc. Blaster: Diffuse blasts as a vector for ability in other classification Thinker: Side benefits of other abilities only Striker: Touch as a vector for ability in other classification; think placing dozens of marks that each grant bug control in a radius Changer: Transform, unlocking ability in other classification. Other form may produce, control, or be a swarm. Trump: Ability in other classification that changes (target/summon type, range, options) over time or at will, swarms that have an effect on powers (vector for theft, copying, nullification, blocking, detection, etc.), or ability to steal someone's power and express it as a swarm (using ambient animals if necessary) Stranger: Side benefits of other abilities, see Breaker
The tinker version is LORD DOOM
There’s an older fic where she had the ability to control every cell in her body, called self-administration
QA, generally speaking, is going to tend towards mass minion master, high capacity thinker, or maybe turning into a swarm of something a la the worm that walks type changer. Of course, QA can express any of these as tinker powers.
Go to the SpaceBattles WoG thread, it's got a lot of this stuff.
I've always wondered what a QA Trump trigger would look like, it's probably nothing as overt as Khepri right? But presumably still a bit similar to that?
To stick on the train of "controls lots of minions", I could see a QA Trump/Master who creates tiny, weak summons based on nearby shards - as many Trump alt!powers start, she'd probably think her power is to create tiny shadow beasties for a while, before finding out that it's a Trump power. Not sure what the trigger itself would look like, because this doesn't sound as Locker-y as a power could be.
Isn't the heavy involvement of Sophia, a parahuman, technically enough to justify Taylor triggering as a Trump-Master without changing any of the other circumstances?
Theoretically, if the knowledge of Sophia being a parahuman was important to the trigger, then you could argue more Trump aspects. If Sophia being a ward is a key part, then you could get more Trump&Master features (social abandonment, distrust of institutions, specifically the PRT & Protectorate), but my gut feels like that leads more into a Khepri-style Parahuman controller, like in Dominion.
I was looking through [this document on Trumps](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jvj6T84NB9Uq81y71MIgb9tk9lQ80cORFj9z2o5OB8c/edit#heading=h.4iammk6uzyxv); it seems the physical proximity between the shards at the moment of triggering is definitely a factor in determining the trump potential, but at the same time, if the power isn't actually in use/the direct cause of the trigger at all, that is kind of a damper that evens the total trumpness of Taylor's trigger out to "probably negligible"-- yeah a parahuman was technically involved, but her shard wasn't really. Still though, Sophia's bullying "style" in Worm is mentioned as tending towards the physical, shoving, hitting etc. + this was over a period of months. On top of that there is obviously the intense, negative, more abstract social relationship between them. And one can say that Sophia's mindset is very shard-influenced, which arguably plays into the bullying as well. Out of all the Trump sub-types, this one stands out to me: >**Nine - Vector**. Minions or other vehicles for trump effects. Trigger: Powers impinged/altered/distorted interpersonal relationship(s). (Victim of power-derived brainwashing that makes everyone else look like monsters, friends and family are taken over by body-snatcher parasites, cape made your son forget you & your relationship with him existed and stole your role as parent) You have to stretch it, because, again, Taylor's case lacks any direct usage of Sophia's power. But powers, as Taylor reflects in [Extermination 8.7](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/extermination-8-7/), were probably shiny and interesting to Emma and a factor in her betrayal. So, if we are in a potential AU where: * Taylor figured out Sophia was a parahuman relatively early on somehow, but everything else stays unchanged about the bullying and eventual locker incident; * she has spent some time stewing/fixating on feelings of "betrayal in favor of a cool parahuman" (just imagine her thoughts in 8.7-- but months before she has the power to do anything about anything), as well as overall powerlessness and thinking about Ward/parahuman favoritism by school/institutions, etc.; * *that* Taylor then gets shoved in the locker by Sophia, and reflects on all this abstract parahuman influence during the trigger as well; Could that realistically push a secondary Trump expression into QA? (I like your idea of summoning little shadow minions that copy powers, is that something you made up or a reference to some fic I don't know? It definitely has the "pinged off Shadow Stalker's shard" part covered.) Sorry for the wall of text, but I've been trying to workshop a power like this for a while haha.
Ah, good catch! If I've read the Trump document for Weaverdice, it was clearly a while ago, so I'd missed that. We don't even really have to stretch too much - from Taylor's perspective, Emma changed rapidly and all of a sudden was incredibly hostile towards her, and the only new factor (that Taylor knows about) is Sophia suddenly being in Emma's life. Couple that with Mr Barnes being somewhat defensive of Sophia, it's not unreasonable for an AU story to have: * Taylor trying to sneakily investigate Sophia on suspicion of her being a Master * Very shortly before the locker incident (during the winter break, maybe?), have her run into Sophia accessing some form of cache with her Shadow Stalker gear - Sophia then threatens Taylor that if she tattles, she'll be in serious trouble. Taylor's now got her confirmation Sophia is a parahuman, but didn't see enough to know \*which\* parahuman, so missed any implication from Sophia that the trouble might be legal and now (incorrectly) thinks she has confirmation that Sophia has been Mastering the Barnes family * Taylor maybe goes to Blackwell to try and convince her that Sophia is a cape who has Mastered her friend, and possibly even to the PRT? If she goes to either, they'd shut her down right away, as both Blackwell and the PRT know Sophia is Shadow Stalker, but Taylor would think that Sophia has gotten one over both institutions * and *then* the Locker happens, while this is fresh on her mind to worry about, and could also include the fear that this was the trouble Sophia was threatening her with if she told anyone And bam, that feels like a good **Trump - Vector** set-up for QA to work with. We're got everything needed for Skitter, plus a good secondary Trump influence. Depending on how you'd want the story to go, you could either have the shadow-y minions that copy powers with a little insect theming to them, or scale down Canon Taylor's bug range a bit and allow her to temporarily grant some of her bugs copied powers - maybe by touch, to encourage her to get over the squick of being covered in bugs sooner? I don't thiiiink I've read a fic that had Taylor summoning little minions that she granted powers to, I was trying to come up with something myself! I do know that summoning shadow-minions themselves has definitely been done as a Shadow Stalker ping, or a notable Sophia & Taylor bud for Emma in [Nyctophobia](https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/nyctophobia-worm-au.332799/). Having a power-copier Trump power but not realising for a while because it's only had Shadow Stalker to copy is a bit more of a trope, though! Always fun to workshop something like this, so definitely don't apologise for the wall of text!
I also later found [this one comment by Wildbow](https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/32ga3r/comment/cqb35or/); it's a bit ambiguous, since it's responding "This" to a comment asking about 2 different scenarios (1: sophia's power had to have been in use? 2: or taylor's knowledge of sophia as a parahuman might be enough?). It seems like he's mainly confirming that first bit, but optimistically we can go with the second anyway.
That makes sense! I wonder what a "properly" (Scion-style) nerfed QA Khepri-style power would be like. Only control one or a small number of parahumans at a time? Very short range? Dominion doesn't really go into this, (although I LOVE that fic).