THE END OF TAYLOR HEBERT

Go…it's…h-hot.

Feeling the hard texture of the ground against her face, Taylor realized that she had fallen face first on the ground. She couldn't move, even when she tried, and she already couldn't feel her limbs. What she did feel was a certain heat, and it overwhelmed her entire body.

Confirmed. Heat resistance successfully acquired.

"What..?" she thought weakly, barely registering the words. Was this some part of her powers manifesting, or had her mind finally given way to the strain of her life?

Another cough wracked her body, and so much blood came out that it frothed at the edges of her mouth. Her vision was fading, the edges darkening into a tunnel, but he could see the ground in front of him stained red.

Confirmed. Constructing a blood-free body… successful.

She thought of her father—Danny, her stubborn, kind, and perpetually worried father. Would he ever know what had happened to her? Or her team? Would the Undersiders carry on without her?

With the last of her waning strength, she reached with a shaky hand to try to find the source of the heat that was burning through her body. As her fingers reached a single, jagged piece of rebar lodged deep into her side—a remnant of the collapsing building she'd been pulled under during the fight with the Nine—she understood.

Confirmed. Piercing resistance successfully acquired. Following up with Melee Attack resistance… successfully acquired.

No wonder it felt so hot. Her brain must have been mistaking pain for heat. The rebar was stuck so deep she wouldn't have been surprised if it had torn through several organs.

Confirmed. Pain nullification successfully acquired. 

The overwhelming agony in her abdomen dulled to nothing. For a moment, she thought she'd died already. But no, she was still here, hovering on the edge.

Cold began to creep in.

Confirmed. Cold resistance successfully acquired. Combined with the previously acquired Heat resistance, the skill has progressed to Temperature resistance.

"I don't... want to go..." she whispered, her voice barely audible, the words almost more thought than sound.

. . . . .

Confirmed. Unique skill [Swarm Sovereign] acquired.

In the next instant, she—Taylor Hebert—lost her life.

. . . . .

When Taylor's consciousness returned, she was... somewhere else. No pain. No heat. No cold. No body?

She opened her eyes—or, at least, she thought she did. Instead of seeing the dreary, crumbling remains of Brockton Bay, she found herself staring at a lush, vibrant forest. The air smelled clean and fresh, untouched by the acrid stench of burning and decay that had become so familiar to her.

"What….. happened?" she tried to say, but no sound came out. Panic bubbled up in her mind, but then she realized—she didn't have a mouth. Or hands. Or a body.

Confirmed. Voice function not available. Adjusting. Mental communication initiated.

The words weren't hers, but she somehow understood them. Was this... her power?

Had she triggered again? Was this some post-death dream?

"No," she realized as her "vision" turned downward. Her body—if it could even be called that—was a smooth, gelatinous mass. She poked at her edges experimentally and felt herself ripple.

"I'm... a slime?"

. . . . .

Skills:

- Piercing resistance

- Pain nullification

- Temperature resistance

- Swarm Sovereign

Abilities:

- Blood-free body