Queen Administrator wasn't sure how it all ended with a host far superior to the one she'd originally had, and teaming up with Shaper.
QA simply watched the routine series of humiliations that Taylor's former best friend and her small group inflicted day after day. She couldn't understand how the person she was about to make her host endured such torment without doing anything.
Either by lashing out directly, which would probably end in a beating for Taylor, but would get her attention in a more direct way.
Or by actually revealing some of the things she knew about this Emma to bring her down, since Barnes was constantly revealing secrets about her as if they were candy.
Or indirectly, by taking one of those career courses from home or qualifying for one of those scholarships Arcadia offered to integrate. But it seemed that her potential future host had a negative self-preservation instinct, a toxic interest in her former best friend that prevented her from completely distancing herself, or was simply an idiot. Lately, QA had been betting on the last possibility.
Honestly, she'd been quite annoyed for the past few decades. While the other shards, whether of equal or lower rank, were gathering data, QA stood on the sidelines watching them progress, while she got nothing.
All because she'd decided to play it safe, passing up her previous choice of host, which had seemed perfect.
He was tall, strong, and, most importantly, quick to provoke explosive outbursts of extreme anger. This made him excellent for collecting conflict data.
However, the only downside she saw was that, as she'd realized through years of observation, he was too self-destructive for her liking. And QA wanted a host who would get into fights and, at the same time, live a long life to collect a great deal of data.
So when Danny had a daughter, QA didn't hesitate to choose her as her new and next host instead. Which, in her defense, seemed like a great idea at the time.
That terrifying temper ran through the girl's veins from her father's side, but it would be tempered by what she inherited from her mother.
It had to go perfectly and conclude without a hitch!... or at least theoretically. But somehow, the girl ended up on equal footing with her father, plus with an idea of what a good person should be.
So now QA was stuck with a host with potentially suicidal tendencies who probably also refused to participate in the conflict.
.
.
.
QA did what she thought was the closest thing to what humans do: sigh in disappointment as she stared at her next host's agitated and panicked form from inside the Fragment Space.
She was in a sort of... dilemma. Right now, she was observing the ideal moment to initiate the connection, undecided about whether to grant the girl powers or not.
The girl certainly met the criteria, since she had been pushed into a school locker filled with… biological waste...
This sent her stress levels through the roof.
But QA hesitated… to let the moment pass, possibly letting Taylor die, and look for another host. Or to establish the connection and extract as much data as possible.
Frankly, she admitted to herself—something she wouldn't hesitate to deny if asked—that she was between a rock and a hard place.
It was supposed to be a Real Fragment, for all the data. Hosts were supposed to arrive in waves… not find herself having to choose between having nothing or having a short-lived host.
.
.
.
After thinking about it for a few moments in the fragment space, I used several thought nodes to see the possible costs and benefits.
When she finally finished, she decided to establish contact, since she preferred having a host to not having one.
She lost contact with Taylor for a few moments, only to find it again with something that appeared to be Taylor, but someone who had been analyzing her all her life could tell the difference.
At first, QA was surprised and normally would have thought that Taylor had simply died prematurely and left it at that… but she realized that something, or rather someone, was using the body as if it were their own.
At first, she was a little offended because after spending so much time on Taylor without getting anything in return, some unknown person had taken her place.
Then she met the new Taylor, and that feeling passed instantly.
For QA, there was and will only ever be one Taylor. The current one, who not only far exceeded all the requirements he set for his hosts. But it also came with the ability to obtain data like never before.
When she obtained her current host's memories, she saw worlds that caught her attention, more specifically, those she saw in anime and manga… those from series and movies were also interesting, but the first two appealed to her more.
Be that as it may, whether it was discovering how Taylor ended up here and replicating her to travel at will to obtain data, or whether Taylor used what she already knew as inspiration to develop herself, QA would benefit either way.
If only Shaper hadn't also been able to connect to her host, it would have been perfect… but considering Taylor's plan, QA was willing to let it go.
Of course, Shaper would have to respect the hierarchy, since she possessed what humans called seniority.