Okay So I was thinking and I think and if I was ever to do a Worm rewrite fanfiction (which will never happen because whenever I try to write anything resembling a story I become five years old mentally) these would be the things that I changed:
By all rights Taylor should be more leftists in nature, what with her being the child of a man that is a leading member of a dockworkers union and a woman who was part of a radical feminist movement and only really left because things started getting a little terrorist-y in tone. I’m not saying she would be screaming marxist theory from the rooftops or anything, she’s like fifteen after all, but the influences SHOULD be there.
I imagine that how this would play out, beyond Taylor being raised in such a way by two loving parents, is that after her mother’s death Taylor looks for any possible way to connect to her mother after death. She plays her mother’s flute (that will later be broken) to hell and back, practices on her mother’s piano, and most importantly reads her mother’s literature.
Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Fanon, The Communist Manifesto, etc. She would read all of these things from a sense of grief, and her general enjoyment of reading, internalizes a LOT of it. Combine her mother’s more intellectual concept of politics and the rage she inherited from her father and that creates some interesting possibilities for Warlord Taylor down the line.
I would also get rid of the romance between her and brian. I love the two characters and individually they are great but as a couple I find them improbably banal. Instead I would make Taylor’s romantic interest be Lisa (hell yeah smugbug). It goes without saying for a lot of people but Lisa and Taylor’s whole thing is so good that I just go rabid everytime.
To further this I will say that Taylor, when she was younger, had a very deep crush on Emma that more or less bordered on genuine love. So when Emma goes and stomps all over that it breaks Taylor’s heart in a slightly different way.
So, when Taylor decides that she can’t fight back, while the canonical inner excuse that it wouldn't be right, she also simply can’t bring herself to do it because it’s Emma. Also, I think this can help Lisa and Taylor grow closer with Taylor confiding More in the blond and Lisa, in turn, confiding more in Taylor. So, when the conflict with Coil comes to a head Taylor isn't simply just fighting to save Dinah, she’s also fighting to free Lisa from Coil’s entrapment.
(Also, just a small little tidbit: I like the idea of Taylor being fluent in French. Her father's last name is French in origin and Annette's name is also French in origin so I think it would be amusing if that was just a little thing she could do. Hell Alec seems like the type that would know French for some reason so maybe they communicate in only French during a team up.)
When the slaughterhouse nine comes around and chaos is being spread I feel that I would let Danny learn that Taylor is in fact skitter, and due to small changes in actions and general perception he gives his approval and says he’s proud of her.
Personally I’m debating on whether or not it should happen (ultimately up to whoever takes up this monumental task) is that during Coil’s attempt at taking over Danny is killed in the explosion at the mayoral debate. This is to further radicalize Taylor into her warlord-ing activities but I can also see a lighter version where Danny is simply paralyzed from the waist down.
This also brings me into: Ward Taylor would be cut. In general I am not a fan of it and instead I would keep Taylor a Warlord over Brockton Bay (let Skitter be the bond villain she was always meant to be damnit, lol). Seeing her actually cultivate that actual position would be incredibly satisfying.
She is ultimately authoritarian but it is undeniable that she is also helping the people. The situation in Brockton slowly becoming better over time with Skitter’s actions, with leftist tactics being implemented- if with Taylor’s own personal biblical flair.
And of course it would have a happy ending, still the end of the world as we see in Ward but I feel like it would be to a lesser extent. It’s more of a happy ending for the undersiders honestly, them in the distance while smugbug raise their adopted kids while being gang bosses.
I am unsure how to properly implement it but I would like For Taylor and Lisa to grow closer to Aiden (and the rest of the chicken tenders). With them, over time, becoming his adoptive parents- Unofficially and then officially.