Worm fanfic where Taylor has biomanipulation powers centered on insects by Cauldron as part of a scheme by Emma to make her a nemesis

Question

The story had a few premises that diverge from the main narrative. For one, Cauldron has a black market where you can buy the vials that give powers. As with the main story, they can't pinpoint powers, but they have a good idea as to what vials give what kind of power, and how much risk was involved. There's also a plan where you can pay for someone else to get powers, with part of the payment going to them, and they're under contract to be your nemesis for a specific number of incidents, I think with some ability to impose upon them what the incidents are. Emma chooses Taylor. Secondly, there's a "comedy hero" or "comedy villain" designation which is respected by most heroes and villains, involving heroes and villains who avoid great harm to others, and focus on entertaining with cheesy one-liners, puns, and ridiculous escapades. Mouse Protector is a well-known case of such a hero.

I think Emma gets some sort of gem-based powers, the ability to summon the gems and grow them out in particular patterns. Taylor is given a vial which has a high risk of mutating people into monsters, but comes out of it with biomanipulation powers, I think limited to insects, with her managing to convince the Cauldron representative (Doctor Mother?) to put down the listing as the most innocuous aspect of the power, being able to control and mold insects. Taylor then becomes the Bee Queen, or maybe Queen Bee, something like that, a bumbling "supervillain" whose bee minions are generally incompetent — I think she even refers to them as "bumblebees" as an allusion to it — with tons of puns and a vague focus on environmental protection as an excuse for the robberies. Because she's playing a "comedy villain", Emma has to treat her as such, and keeps getting foiled, in part because she doesn't know that Taylor can turn herself into a swarm of insects and fly away. Emma becomes progressively more violent, despite warnings that it doesn't read well, and that it could break their contract, leaving Taylor free to do whatever she wishes.

I don't remember how the story ended, or even if it has when I stopped reading it, probably about 2-3 years ago. It would have likely been on the SpaceBattles.com or SufficientVelocity.com forums.

Answer 1

OK, and I found the right keywords for it. "Nemesis" (warning, TV Tropes link), by BeaconHill

The point of divergence from Canon is Taylor not triggering in the locker incident and Emma's entire family dying in a car accident.

It was June 2011, and Emma Barnes was the queen bee of her high school, mercilessly tormenting her lessers. But it wasn't enough. She wanted powers. She wanted to be a superhero, lording over not just her school but her city. When her whole family died in a car crash, she thought it was her chance. But she didn't trigger, and when her friend Sophia – a.k.a. the superhero Shadow Stalker – told her that she probably couldn't, she flipped out. They fought. And then she found Cauldron, offering superpowers in a little silver vial. She jumped at the chance. But she had a little money left over after buying her vial, and she knew exactly what to do with it.

It was June 2011, and Taylor Hebert was out of hope. After two years of bullying, she knew she had no way out, no hope of escape, not with her grades or her family's poor finances. Until one day, a portal appeared in her home, bearing a strange woman with an offer: powers. But the woman asked for one thing in exchange: she would have to be a supervillain, the nemesis to her worst enemy's superhero alter ego. And she wasn't supposed to win, not with her weak vial and the rules of the program stacked against her. But that wasn't going to stop her from trying for her one last chance.

Because, who said the villain had to lose?

Bumblebee is the name that Taylor affects and indeed, it is insect biomanipulation.

Taylor can change into insects of any type, number, and size, but she cannot increase the mass of insects beyond her actual weight. Fortunately, when she leaves Cauldron, she discovers she can control and absorb other insects around her, giving her an incredibly high limit of mass.

The PRT and Protectorate. They both give a lot of leeway to Joke/Humor villains and have special rules about how to handle them. If the Heroes beat them into the ground, they looks like the "bad guys", and if they lose it's completely humiliating. If they push a villain who's been sandbagging too far, they can also effectively create a far worse problem.

Cauldron has to tell Emma about Taylor's demonstrated abilities shown during the initial testing. As Taylor's most powerful abilities (absolute control of other insects, the ability to absorb their mass into her, and body replication) do not show up until after said testing, this means Emma ends up missing critical information that gives Taylor a big edge.

After too many searches for "Queen Bee" or "Bee Queen", worm fanfic "comedy villain" bee got me to it.