Just a Phase [Worm]

[BF110C4]

Omake: Compromise
(Part I)


Since the Dawn of Parahumans some of the court room's dignity had lessened as it had become more common that the gaudy dressed individuals predisposed towards violent resolution of conflict were no more limited to the defendant side but also part of the law enforcement community and occasionally the security assigned to the venue.

In that sense the fact that the only parahuman in the room was dressed on a conservative dress and not bothering with a mask was almost a relief for the honorable Senior Judge Reginald C. Lindsay.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, thankfully I cannot say this is the worst case I have seen in my career, even excluding all cases involving felonies it doesn't reach my top ten, then again the day is young and everyone here is too stubborn for their own good so we'll see if you have yet to reach a place in my personal hall of infamy."

"Now as you can see, I'm not yet wearing my fancy court robes, I'm not yet issuing verdicts and in fact this is the last step before this whole mess is remitted to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and if it reaches that level of escalation I can assure you there are going to be no winners, just degree of suffering so let's keep this civil, open-minded and don't make me get my gavel."

"First things first. Assistant director Renick, I have reviewed the administrative punishments issued to Shadow Stalker and Ampere. While I am somewhat surprised and dismayed that the ENE missed the serious psychological issues of both ladies, I can see that you are taking measures to address your deficiencies and bringing needed support to them." Reginald saw how the brocktonite relaxed for a second even as the girl tensed in barely contained fury.

"However in the deluge of punitive and economic sanctions I found that the notice to the Brockton Bay District Attorney sending him the collected evidence as well as the recommendations for legal action were missing from the information package you send me. So knowing how overworked you are in the Bay I called my old friend the honorable Mike Garfield who kindly contacted me with the DA in charge of parahuman crimes Richard Logan. He was completely surprised that not a single document passed through his desk regarding this matter and somewhat nonplussed that the PRT would classify this kind of behavior as lesser infractions instead of the far more severe misdemeanors and felonies their actions would normally merit, not to mention the unreported breach of parole of a violent offender alongside the daughter of her sole character witness."

Seeing the bureaucrat pale as he calculated the amount of legal trouble he continued. "It took me up to ten minutes before this meeting for me to reassure mister Logan that the PRT and Protectorate know and abide to the legal limits of the Violent Parahuman Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 2001, that your office is not completely ignoring the moral duties of monitoring juvenile parahuman affiliated to the Wards Program and of the legal responsibilities of enforcing the parole of a violent juvenile offender and that filling a formal complain to the DoJ was unnecessary. We concluded that this oversight probably was an administrative SNAFU and that next Wednesday you will have the missing documents, the full evidentiary and testimonial files, as well as the result of your internal investigation for him to decide if and what charges are merited by the actions of the girls and/or their handlers."

"To lessen his concerns -and mine I should add- that before charges could be filled the Protectorate under false pretenses tried to take outside the BB DA jurisdiction the victim of a crime allegedly perpetrated by parahumans under their chain of command, I already send the deposition Miss Taylor Hebert did in front of me of her assault and imprisonment as well as her previous experiences, and likewise she assures me that she got no problem performing additional depositions as necessary for the record or in case is required testifying in any further procedures in front of a grand jury or a trial. I hope that the PRT offices of both Brockton Bay and Boston will extend every courtesy to allow her so."

"Now to the second point in the docket, the legal emancipation of the minor Taylor Anne Hebert, fifteen years old." Just like his own daughter more than twenty years ago she stood still, overcompensating for what was probably nervous fidgeting she didn't want to show. In contrast her own father was looking defeated.

"After reviewing the CPS/PRT file of the minor in question, the deposition of people of interest, the expert opinion of the designated therapist as well as the interview done with Daniel Hebert as well as Taylor Hebert, I found myself commenting on the following."

"First It should be noted that Taylor Anne Hebert age fifteen has no criminal record at the federal, state or municipal level. While she does have a disciplinary file with the city of Brockton Bay Board of Education those disciplinary records have enough irregularities, especially in regards with the evidence discovered regarding the actions of Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess, that I cannot in good conscience put a weight on them for my decision process. Of the records released by St. George's Academy they show once again no disciplinary records and a marked improvement in GPA compared to those of the last two years and approaching the grades shown during middle school."

"I find that while technically Miss Hebert is currently under employ by the Boston Wards program fulfilling the letter of the law of the requirement of having the economic means to sustain herself, she has in multiple occasions expressed the desire to leave the program as soon as is legally viable. Furthermore while her parahuman ability as described by herself and the preliminary assessment of the PRT has plenty of civilian applications both inside and outside the law enforcement community she has refused the testing of said abilities citing personal reasons, which is completely her right but it prevents her from getting licensed by the Protectorate as an affiliated hero, likewise the NEPEA-5 standards of work require a Parahuman Ability Safety Permit that the PRT is unable to issue without the proper testing."

He drank from his glass of water before continuing. "Without the use of her parahuman abilities she has shown no previous employment as a part or full-time job nor a prospective employer willing to testify his desire to hire her at a living wage; no skills that can be used to start an independent business with a realistic expectation of success, and a yet incomplete education that prevents her from earning a scholarship or grant capable of fulfilling her economic needs."

"However, what worries me the most is her emotional ability to cope with the responsibilities and stresses of independent adulthood. Her coworkers, supervisors and teachers have all expressed concern regarding her aggressive lack of socialization, occasional shows of public emotional distress and what everyone involved, even peripherally, including herself describe as a desire to sabotage all and every effort done by the PRT/Protectorate to make her feel more comfortable. Her currently assigned therapist has, within the limits of doctor-patient confidentiality, told me that he is not confident in Miss Hebert's unsupervised ability to act in her own best long term benefit at this point of time."

"My own interview with her showed me a young lady burned by the actions of former friends, school authorities, the law enforcement tasked to protect people like her and even her own family. Afterwards instead of lashing out with her own abilities or simply running away from her current situation despite finding it intolerable she decided to endure and properly study her rights and responsibilities as well as those of those who are around her."

"I sincerely commend you for that Miss Hebert, especially for the thoughtful review and application of multiple laws and regulation that are at best confusing and at worse outright senseless for those without the firm understanding of legal theory, personally a similar motivation of understanding my own rights and duties back in the time when police and public officials only selectively applied those to black people like me is what got me interested in law and eventually got me my place in court."

"But even then I can see that the actions you're taking are not only done to protect yourself, instead they are a way to stick it to the Man, and while I know more about sticking to the Man that a federal judge should, as my father used to say, make sure that when spite rans out you're not sitting on ashes nor drowning on tears."

"I find myself having serious reservations towards issuing a letter to the State of Massachusetts endorsing the emancipation. However, I do see the potential for things to improve, so show me in six months a solid answer to my concerns, and I will revisit the issue."

"Now, regarding your legal guardianship I believe that you're right about the fact that there is a serious conflict of interest with the PRT and Protectorate that needs to be addressed so…"

 

[BF110C4]

Omake: Compromise
(Part II)

"Now, regarding your legal guardianship I believe that you're right about the fact that there is a serious conflict of interest with the PRT and Protectorate that needs to be addressed so let's begin examining the viability of the current arrangement."

"The contract to introduce Taylor Hebert into the Wards program was presented in the PRT offices of Brockton Bay and signed by both the representant of the Legal Office of the ENE Protectorate and by Taylor Anne Hebert's sole living parent Daniel Hebert who at the time was the legal guardian with full parenting rights and obligations. Videos and Audio recordings show that at no point Daniel Hebert requested the aid of a lawyer, which the state is under no obligation to remind the need or lack thereof nor they showed that he wasn't unable to take rational decisions concerning his and his dependent, that there was no undue pressure applied by the government representative by threat or use of physical harm, application of legal or administrative punishments or the illegal and/or immoral use of authority, no illegal conditions under either federal laws or those of the State of Massachusetts, that the terms offered were within the line guides of the Rules and Regulations for the Wards of the Protectorate of the United States of America and the terms of the contract were not misrepresented as understood in contract law."

Personally, he thought that a middle manager tasked with hiring people for an union should have known better than signing a three years' long commitment in his daughter's name without either consulting with a lawyer or the interested party but frankly the video showed a man still trying to process something in the middle of shock, and only the few questions related to Taylor's safety and some of the conditions of the trust fund convinced him that he actually was aware enough to not consider him 'non compos mentis' during the signing.

"The offer to move the minor Taylor Hebert to the Boston Protectorate Wards Program is neither illegal nor atypical for Ward contracts negotiated by the Legal Office of the ENE Protectorate and the oral and written explanation given about the rights and obligations of ceding legal guardianship 'In Loco Parentis' for educational and living purposes, to authorize medical procedures in emergency situations, the management of parahuman training and law enforcement deployment, as well as other purposes related to the welfare of the minor were neither false nor incomplete to the point an informed decision couldn't be taken."

For the second time in the day the girl looked as if she was barely containing quite an impressive temper, he didn't need a degree in psychology nor his many years of experience in court to understand that she wasn't happy of how fast her father had moved her out of their house and into the Wards.

"Furthermore, there was no specific attempt to make benefits of the program contingent in the signature of an agreement to not press criminal charges against PRT or Protectorate law enforcement officers or administrative personnel or to wave the right to fill a civil lawsuit against either or both organizations. That the Non-Disclosure Agreements signed as part of the induction to the program are standard for the protection of the identity of members of the Ward program and it doesn't include any clause aimed specifically to conceal misdemeanors or felonies of those protected."

The problem was that even without clauses specifically concealing the crimes perpetrated by the two miscreants in question the standard NDAs Taylor's father had signed had few workable loopholes about who was allowed to know about the identities of Protectorate and Wards members which made even explaining things to a lawyer not under federal contract a complicate issue.

"That on itself the offer to move the minor Taylor Hebert outside the jurisdiction of the ENE Protectorate Wards Program and into the Boston Protectorate Wards Program is not part of a recognizable pattern of witness tampering or obstruction of justice on the grounds that the Protectorate makes available legal mechanisms to denounce felonies performed by or against parahumans including across state lines."

"So I consider that the contract between Taylor Hebert and the Protectorate is valid and legally binding, that said I will be following the DoJ inquiry and the BB investigation as well and if there are any ground to substantiate charges of witness tampering, obstruction of justice or even negotiations in bad faith and I will move to invalidate the contract."

"Currently the legal guardianship of the minor Taylor Hebert is in the hands of the Boston Office of the New England region of the Protectorate and administered by the Parahuman Response Team Agent Jane Watkins according with the regulations of the Ward Program. The legal guardianship provided by the Wards for in-base inhabitation normally allow 'Pater Familias' rights to be asserted when they do not directly conflict with law enforcement procedures, when the situation allows the time and opportunity to ask for parental authorization or in matters where the Protectorate might find itself in a conflict of interests, additionally the parents are allowed to rescind this right at any moment as long as the established procedure is followed."

"However due to the activation of the protocols for child endangerment by Taylor Hebert, all custody rights and obligations of Daniel Hebert were immediately and unilaterally suspended, with those not already contemplated by the previous agreement given temporally to Agent Watkins."

"At the same time the Boston PRT and Protectorate, by virtue of having federal jurisdiction regarding cases of abuse and endangerment of a minor parahuman, particularly when the investigation needs to cross state lines; the responsibility to conduct the investigation without exposing Taylor Hebert parahuman status to third parties and the specific laws regarding the crimes committed against Wards opened an investigation of child abuse to determinate if penal charges were required."

"As part of the investigation the medical and psychological records of Taylor Hebert were disclosed to the assigned investigators. It was determined that he origin of injuries previous to her arrival to the Wards Program was for causes not related to actions of her father. Her assigned therapist also determined that while there were concerns of negligent behavior in the preceding months there was no indication of active psychological or physical abuse."

As he said those words he looked at the girl, there was a certain amount of indignation on her face, but thankfully the deeply rooted shame that he saw far too often on persistent abuse victims was missing. "As a reminder Miss Hebert, there is no doctor-patient confidentiality in cases of child abuse, however while this is not the correct forum to show you the exact content of the released information I can assure you that both the documents and the interviews gave the authorities only case relevant information and did not delve too deeply in unrelated private matters."

"The investigators then performed a review of Taylor Hebert residence in Brockton Bay, as well as an interview with Daniel Hebert. Due to the local recertification of the Wards Program these actions were done by Boston agents in a secondary Protectorate administrative office."

"This investigation determined that Daniel Hebert did show concern regarding the basic needs of the minor Taylor Hebert such as proper feeding and clothing as well as ensuring her an education within his means. Furthermore, he showed distress at even the suggestion of turning his anger and frustration against her. However, by his own reckoning he has been taking double turns in his current job for the last two years; he was incapable of noticing and properly addressing the drop of her academic grades, the deteriorating assistance and discipline record accrued during school hours, and the toll and toil of her mental status during the last two years." In his own defense the moment he was made aware of the issues plaguing his daughter he took measures to address them immediately."

"During the interview the investigators noticed symptoms of chronical fatigue and possible depression which are not conductive to the unassisted care of a minor. They also noted that the incidents regarding his daughter all started happening the same year Anette Hebert died in a vehicular accident."

The next document in the case file filled by the PRT intrigued him, it was rare that the infamous Watchdog would offer an official deposition for anything less than Birdcage cases and he wondered if the Protectorate feared the Hebert's case terrible optics enough to waste such a favor on an otherwise routine investigation.

"As an additional note to the case file, upon consult with the WEDGDG office of the Protectorate the parahuman Thinker with the designation Appraiser concluded that Daniel Hebert would not intentionally harm his daughter nor himself."

This time there was a not particular loud noise when Taylor's pen, which she had firmly hold on her hand rolled to the floor, if he hadn't been directly looking at her, he might not have noticed how it went through her hand. He noted how she schooled once more her expression as the rest of the Protectorate and PRT handlers slightly tensed as if they had to restrict themselves from intervening.

"As such the recommendation filled by the Protectorate to the state attorney and family court is to not press for charges, likewise they are agreeable to allow supervised visitation rights, however the PRT/Protectorate will oppose any motion to return full custody to Daniel Hebert until he gets evaluated by a mental health expert and attends therapy for at least three months."

"To that I should add that to prevent further use of the child protection mechanisms I would strongly recommend for Taylor to be asked if he wants to meet his father with a reasonable lead time so in case she got a previous commitment during the time frame or for personal reasons refuses to have the meeting he doesn't have to waste more than an hour in the road."

"And on a personal note, Miss Hebert I can see why you don't want to meet him, you got reasons to be angry at him, but I would still recommend you to see him once in a while and at least put some effort on it, as someone much older than you I can tell you that in ten, twenty years untangling the What If's and the I Should Have's is harder. Also that part of being an adult is to sometimes tackle hard relationships and the problems they come with head on."

"With that your current legal status is clear, so do you have any complains with the PRT agent detached to the Protectorate and the Wards Program and your current guardian, Jane Watkins?"

For the first time during this hearing the young girl stand up to directly talk to him. During the previous interviews they had she had shown to be on the shy side once she decided not to throw her surprisingly controlled spite in his general direction. And thankfully she wasn't directing that spite at Miss Watkins.

"Your honor, before the start of these proceedings I didn't have many meetings with Agent Watkins, mostly to fill some paperwork and a monthly interview she takes with me, with Flechette and with Weld. Other than that, she mostly stood silent during my meeting with the lawyer, mostly correcting which topics and names I could and couldn't mention."

Usually, he was reluctant to allow a minor to talk so openly in open court, even in an affair as informal as this one but after their last meeting in which he had given her an overview of the topics they would touch on the courtroom and the reasons why, the girl had been properly prepped by her legal advisor on how to talk about the topics she could and couldn't touch yet, and just as important she knew how to choose her words for maximum effect.

"Do you know of someone within the local Protectorate or PRT assigned to the Wards that you think would be more appropriate and agreeable to hold your legal guardianship?" He already knew the answer to that would be a simple 'no', they had discussed about it and his take was that, just as every other teen, she was perfectly fine with a distant legal guardian that didn't take too close a look on her room and her complains were mostly to left in record she was not completely satisfied with the current arrangement, quite wise of her.

"Your honor if I may." Without waiting for his approval, the tall man currently standing at the first row of the public seats continued. "James Reed from the Young Guard, your honor."

…and for every wise girl there were ten foolish men.

"As her representative to the Young Guard I have been closely working with Taylor Hebert in a number of topics, particularly regarding the assault and cover-up she suffered in Brockton Bay and to assert her right to not be part of the law enforcement part of the wards and as a legal guardian I would be more readily available and far less biased than miss Watkins or any other employee of the Protectorate and PRT."

Taylor was looking at the man with some astonishment which soon changed to chagrin, the girl had resisted the temptation to interrupt the proceedings despite dealing with some extremely emotionally charged themes and here this man was doing just like in a Judge Judy episode, and to make things worse doing so without asking.

"Denied." The man was opening his mouth again, if he had to guess Mr. Reed was used to interrupt other people and the lack of his robes made him forget that he was a federal judge. "Before you ask why, I want to ask you a question Mr. Reed. What are mandatory reporters and what are their duties."

"You honor?"

"To answer my own question, mandatory reporters are individuals who hold a professional position that requires him or her to report to the appropriate state or federal agency cases of child abuse that he or she has reasonable cause to suspect. In Massachusetts the standard is to send to the hot line an oral emergency report immediately with a 51A written report ready and in the mail within 48 hours, federal standards for employees are laxer mostly using the regulations of the state they are current standing but Protectorate regulations do add the requirement for every adult member involved with wards to take specific classes to identify and classify abuse."

"You had plenty of sessions with Taylor Hebert in which she talked at length of her induction to the Wards and the actions and inactions of her father. What she told you the Saturday 29 of 2011 was not substantially different of what she told you before. So either you ignored previous instances in which you were trained and obligated by law to report a case of abuse or you decided that the ideal mechanism to prevent a meeting between a teenage girl and her father was by interposing a child abuse claim to a federal law enforcement agency."

"In fact the exact words you told Daniel Hebert that day were '…in those cases where there is acrimonious separation, there are regulations that can be invoked to protect the child from their parents. Unfortunately, those regulations are poorly worded; Taylor can claim ex post facto that your relationship was personally damaging and that she requires the PRT to keep the two of you separated for her own well-being.' And that 'the Youth Guard exists to protect her, not you.'"

He shredded the image of the reasonable old man and for the first time during the hearing he acted as the thirty years veteran of the federal legal system he was. "Advising a teenage girl, already hurt by the manipulation of other adults to use a poorly worded regulation that can and has in the pass had put people in jail, deserving or not, instead of the many less confrontational options available starting with simply telling Miss Hebert's legal guardians she didn't want to meet her father tells me many things about your moral fiber, none of them good."

"So yes, your motion is denied and I should point that you still have to fill the mandatory abuse report or the retractation from it, before the legal penalties start falling on your lap."

"So for the moment Taylor Hebert's In Loco Parentis guardianship will stay the same unless there is a more substantial reason not to. In addition, I'm granting her the option to get a guardian 'ad litem' for the purpose of reviewing the viability of civil lawsuits against Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, Brockton Bay Board of Education, the ENE PRT/Protectorate and other involved parties that are legally and morally responsible of this mess. Since any lawsuit will involve confidential and classified information regarding the Wards identities and procedures I am issuing a series of legal requisites that any lawyer willing to take the case need to fulfill before even hearing about it, also since I do know that miss Hebert lacks the expertise to look on her own for these characters in the Boston legal system I took the opportunity to collect a list of law firms that I know are permissible, including two who offer free legal aid clinics as part of their services. Once you have a prospective lawyer I will have a meeting between you, him and the government to see his viability and grand a limited security clearance."

"With that this hearing is adjourned."

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Nothing Left to Lose



It was a late night in Boston as two teenagers stood facing each other in an abandoned warehouse. One held a pleading look in her eyes while the other looked back in anger.

Lily:
"Taylor, you're angry, I get it. Believe me, I know what it's like, but you are making a mistake!"

She did understand truly the PRT had screwed her over on more than one occasion by tossing her around department to department, but what Taylor was doing was a step two far.

"The path of hate is a dangerous track. You take one step, and it's hard to turn back. It pulls you along, and though it seems wrong it feels right."

She couldn't let Taylor do this it would be an action that she could never take back, and would have consequences for far to many people than just herself.

"Don't you see this path you're on leaves a permanent mark. It feels good at first, then it slowly turns dark. With each passing day, you're further astray from the light."

If Taylor left now she would be cut off from anyone who could help her heal, it would only make things worse for her not better.

"Suddenly you lose your way and lose the thread. Lose your cool and lose your head. Every loss is harder to excuse."

It was dangerous for a lone parahuman to live in any city where people like Accord or the Teeth could come after them especially for someone with Taylor's abilities.

"Then you'll see. You'll lose your faith and lose your soul. Till you lose complete control. And realize there's nothing left to lose. Nothing left to lose."

If one of those two manage to get their hands on her they wouldn't take no for an answer like the PRT has been doing it would be either join or die at that point.

"Taylor, trust me, becoming the villain isn't the answer!"

Taylor:
"Is that what you think I am?"

How dare she, after everything the PRT has done to her from the locker, to separating her from her home. She thought she could just let that go.

"The path I'm on is a path paved in black. I'm taking that road and I'm not looking back. Each twist and each turn leads straight where I'm yearning to go."

It may not be the best path but it was the only one she could find that didn't see her trapped with the Protectorate for the rest of her life.

"Yes, it's true, my path is dark, but I see where it ends. My rivals will fall as my power ascends. Despise me that's fine I'm taking what's mine even so."

She would be free, free from Emma and Sophia, from the PRT, the Protectorate, and the Wards. She couldn't live any other way not like she is now.

"Not like you. You lost your nerve, you lost the game. But you and I, we're not the same. I'm not lost, this fate was mine to choose."

For the first time since the locker this was her choice to make no her dad's, not the PRT's, hers.

"So I chose. To lose my doubts and lose my chains. Lose each weakness that remains. Now that I have nothing left to lose. Nothing left to lose."

The PRT had taken everything from her, but now they could take nothing else she wouldn't let them.

Lily:
"You have so much to hold onto."

She still had her dad, and the other Wards would be willing to help her if she just opened up.

Taylor:
"I only want my rightful dues!"

If only the PRT had done their jobs and punished Emma and Sophia for what they did, but no they didn't because the PRT couldn't be seen to make mistakes.

Lily:
"Listen, please (Taylor: Lose). You've lost your grip and lost your mind (Taylor: I'm not gonna lose). All's not lost, don't be so blind (Taylor: I refuse). Cut your losses, drop the IOUs (Taylor: I refuse).

There is still a chance things could get better if only Taylor was willing to work with them.

"Ooh, choose!"

She needed to make a choice here this is her last chance.

Taylor:
"I lose no tears and lose no sleep. What I want, I'll take and keep.

She regretted many things in life ever being friends with Emma for one, but this she would not regret this not for one second.

Lily:
"It's time for you to choose!"

It had to be now any longer and Taylor would not stop what she is doing.

Taylor:
"You can't stop."

There is nothing that Lily could say to her to make her turn back she wont let the PRT take anything else from her.

Both:
"The turning of the screws"

Taylor:
"You'll stay in your cage until I am done, and don't even think about coming after me.

Taylor left the warehouse and Lily behind and when she had moved far enough away she looked back.

"Now I have nothing left to lose."

It hurt more than it should have but it had to be done for her own well being she had to be free consequences be damned.

AN: Listened to this song randomly and had the idea hope you enjoy.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Path to Nothing


It wasn't often that Contessa got time off, but she did occasionally one simply couldn't be on the clock 24/7 it simply wasn't healthy even with Path to Victory guiding her. So every so often when the world is slightly less on fire then it is normally Contessa would sit down in one of Cauldron's many secret lair and take some time to unwind from what ever the Path to Victory had her doing lately.

Usually she would spend such time watching an Aleph film, reading a novel from one of the many Earths Cauldron has access to, or just messing with Rebecca which was a potent stress reliever. However, she wasn't currently doing any such thing what she is doing is going over the latest Watch Dog reports. While most wouldn't consider this a form of relaxation Contessa drew a certain level of amusement in looking at how that group of thinkers interpreted some of her more noticeable actions across the globe, the incident in Florida being a prime example. How they came to the conclusion that there was a family of parahuman alligators living in the swamps was anyone's guess.

While going through the reports was mostly for her own amusement, it did at times give useful information for future paths that she would have to initiate when she started working again. The file she was going over at the moment being an adequate example, apparently a new Ward has a rather powerful immunity to thinker powers , apparently she has been causing quite a number of thinker headaches down in Washington made worse due to her insistence to not go through power testing.

Normally such things were beneath her notice in the grand scheme of things one parahuman that acted as a thinker blind spot wasn't that much of an issue to her goals. But, Contessa did make it a rule to test such immunities herself when she had the occasion just as a precautionary measure, one could never be to careful when it came to the myriad of parahuman abilities that existed. It shouldn't take to much time after all just one quick path and then it was back to laughing at Watch Dog's current affairs.

Contessa put down the file she had been going through and set to initiate a path to get one Taylor Hebert into power testing short, simple, and would probably save Rebecca a headache or two in the future.

'Now then, any second now...' Contessa thought to herself as she waited for the first steps on the path.

After ten seconds passed Contessa blinked looked back down at the file containing all the information currently available on Taylor Hebert.

"Well now that is interesting," Contessa said to herself in mild surprise.

---

Meanwhile at the same time in Boston Taylor Hebert was returning from a late night 'run' when her sixth sense immediately fired off causing the reluctant Ward to activate her power on instinct, as she felt the increasingly familiar feeling of a thinker power pass through her. While normally when Taylor ignored a thinker ability being used on her it felt like a gentle brush against her senses, in contrast this one felt like being brushed by semi-truck going down the interstate. So much so that when it happened Taylor briefly lost her balance and promptly landed on her face.

"Hey are you okay there," came the concerned voice of a PRT agent who was also going down the hall with her at the time.

"Its fine just tried," Taylor responded in slight annoyance at what just happened.

"Okay then you get to bed safely then," the agent replied and walked off.

After the incident in the halls Taylor quickly made her way back up to the Wards section of the building and secluded herself in her room quickly forgetting about the incident thinking it was just another attempt by Armstrong to get information on her to force her into power testing. With that thought in her head and a slight smile on her face at once again blocking an attempt by the PRT to get something over her Taylor closed her eyes and went to sleep.

---

AN: Just a fun little thought about Taylor being immune to Path to Victory.

 

[Vanbers]

Actually I wonder if they would send her to LA. Alexandria/Rebecca Costa-Brown has many, many secrets and she is also one of PtV main focus, to have Taylor close by is begging for an unforseen problem to crop up in such a way it might get one of her secrets out. Personally I would send her to Eidolon in Houston (I think?) where he, another person inmune to PtV and with the potential to generate one or more powers to monitor or contain her can keep an eye on our rebellious Ward.

Click to shrink...

Eh, there's some prime Omake fodder there, though.

See, the thing with Alexandria, is that the reason she's near-immune to all masters is because her brain is offloaded to her shard, IIRC.

So, see, there's a chance her simply observing the world around her counts as a Thinker Power.

So, like, y'know, there's a chance that Alexanria just flat-out can't perceive Taylor, while everyone else can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Director Costa-Brown, here's our new Ward."
"New what? I haven't heard about this."

"Wha- It's Phase! From Boston! She's been completely stubborn about being a Ward, got two Wards in her home city pulled from duties temporarily, we went over this last meeting!"

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember something like that, I have a pretty good memory. Besides, it's only you and me in here."

"Director she's right there!"


"An invisible person?! I'm calling an M/S lockdown, don't worry, we'll catch whoever this is!"

"Just pretending I'm not here. God it's just like being back at Winslow. No wonder Emma fits in so well at the PRT."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although the Eidolon one could have Taylor eventually bonding with the Simurgh over how shitty their dads are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And then- And then he just signs me away! Like I'm some old car he's getting rid of! I just- I just wish he'd actually try being a dad, y'know? It's like I lost both my parents."

[AGREEMENT][SUPPORT]

"Thanks, Sam, you always know what to say."

[RESIGNATION][COMPLAINT]

"Yeah, I mean he's supposed to be the leader of the Triumvirate, but he just spends his time punching muggers, it's so dumb. You'd think he'd use a Tinker or Thinker power like you do, to actually fix something, but I guess you got all the brains."

[GRATITUDE][EMBARRASSMENT][FRIENDSHIP]

"Yeah! Best friends forever!"

"PHASE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THAT'S THE SIMURGH!"

[DENIAL][PARENTAGE]

"Yeah! You're not her real dad! You tell him girl!"

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Phase's 100% Non-Official Power Testing


It had started out like any other day at the Protectorate for me, I got up showered and walked down to the cafeteria for some food. The only difference with today was that it seemed that the strategy to convince me to go into power testing had changed. No longer were the wards and protectorate members actively engaging in conversation with me about why power testing is important for my health and safety as a parahuman, instead they began showing off.

Every time I came across one of my 'fellow wards' they seemed to be in the middle of using their powers in variety of different reasons be it utility or just to show off. Weld had begun shaping his metal body into various geometric shapes of varying complexity and Lightspeed put on an admittedly impressive juggling routine with his abilities. If they weren't being obvious enough they would also speak rather loudly about how they actively try and learn new uses of their abilties and how much it was to find out how to do new things with their powers to who ever was in the area at the time.

It was obvious what they were doing, if trying to convince me to go into power testing in order to join in on ward duties wasn't working, then why not do it to indulge in my own curiosity about my powers. Unfortunately for them no amount of personal curiosity will convince me to subject myself to power testing, and besides its not like I even need to use their faculties to learn about my powers. Which brings me to this moment standing in an empty warehouse in Boston.

All around me were several items I had been able to gather from nearby for the purpose of my experiments. Several rocks, metal pipes, a journal to record notes, and other odds and ends scattered about. The first of my tests involved my ability to phase myself through objects and I could safely say that the material of the object seems to have no effect on my ability to phase through it, I even tried it out on a power line with an active charge going through it with the same results. Unfortunetly, I found myself unable to phase through lightwaves so that left potential invisibility off the table, but I could phase through soundwaves effectively muting my presence but also rendering myself deaf while it was in effect.

The next test was on how my power worked when phasing objects. This experiment showed some interesting results, while I already knew I could fuse objects together through phasing which allowed some basic objects by phasing some metal scraps together. The real interesting results came from my tests to see how many objects could be fused together, their seemed to be no limit to the amount of items that could be over layed with each other. However, the fused objects did increase in weight and I assume density with each new object added in to the mix eventually it got to the point where I could not move the resulting amalgamation.

Following this I tested to see how far I can spread the effect of my power through other objects. From what I figured out it seems the effect of my phasing could be shared throughout my radius of clairvoyance, effectively letting me phase every object that was touch me or touching an object that I was phasing within my radius. The potential combat applications of this was quite impressive in my personal opinion enough so that I assumed if I told the PRT about it I could get myself an aditional shaker rating with my ability to turn the area around me into a rather lethal pit trap.

My final test of the day was all about clairvoyance, which proved to be the most interesting of the day. Normally I used it in conjunction with my phasing ability to pick and choose what I went through and brought with me and to 'see' what was behind doors and walls in order to track criminals and avoid the other wards. The level of detail it provide was on the high end to the point I had to actively ignore a good percentage of it most of the time due to not wanting to know the exact number of dust particles in agiven space at any given time. But when I let run at its full potential I was rather surprised at the sheer level of detail it provided within my radius to the point I was able to read every page of the journal I brought to record any discoveries at once with seemingly no effort on my part. Further testing with this showed that I was capable of reading through several separate books at once while retaining that information with perfect clarity to a point that if I was tested on the information in those books I would be able to get a perfect score on each one without fail.

Ultimately that led me to spend the rest of the weekend holed up in one of Boston's libraries rapidly reading through every book I could find on parahuman law and PRT legal documents regarding the wards program. Its ironic in a way the other wards were right finding new ways to use your powers is fun.

---

A.N: Just something I wrote up on my phone let me know what you think.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Nebulous Acts


The hero known as Nebula was not having a good day, it had started off like any other day he got up went to work then went out on patrol like he did every other day baring special circumstances. That all ended when he was called in due to a reported robbery being committed by suspected parahumans, which turned out to be the duo Snap and Split doing their usual smash and grab job. However, when he managed to arrive on the scene he found both the perpetrators unconscious along side Boston's newest 'independent' hero Ghost. Honestly he didn't know what was going through both the Director's and Gauss's heads when he heard the reports on the new vigilante, couldn't they see their hands of policy was only going to encourage the girl rebel further. What the girl needed in his honest opinion was a firm hand to guide her in the right direction before she screws up and hurts herself further or god forbid someone else.

That exact train of thought was why he was currently spending his off hours going through the Wards and Youth Guard rules and regulation for something he could use to pull Boston's most uncooperative ward out of her shell. Which is currently proving harder than he originally though because for as uncooperative as Phase maybe she clearly studied her manual better than most wards in the past had. Truly it is amazing just how much of a ward's duties are directly tied to them going through power testing before hand, at least now he understood why upper management brought up the issue during every meeting for the past month. Beyond a few low grade PR activities, such as getting her an official PHO account everything that could be assigned to a ward required them to be at least slightly onboard with the program which Phase was certainly not.

Deciding to finish one last page of Phase's contract before quitting and resuming later he seemingly by chance came across a statement regarding a rarely used program that might just be the key to solving his problems with the new ward.

---

It had taken a few days to arrange the meeting after finding out about the program during which Nebula had done further research into what he was planning to do in order to ensure their was no way Phase or the Youth Guard could avoid what was about to happen.

"Ah Nebula good to see you here on time," came the voice of Agent Watkins as she moved to sit down across from Nebula at the table.

Agent Watkins was not an attractive woman by any use of the word nor was she an ugly one if there was a word to describe her appearance it would be simply plain or forgettable if one was feeling rather harsh. The same could be said about her official records no blackmarks to speak of but also no real compliments either, she didn't make any waves in the office and did her job adequately when out in the field was the summation of her career with the PRT from what Nebula had been able to gather about the woman. Which in all honesty was probably the main reason why she is assigned to be the in house guardian for Phase during her stay here in Boston.

"Good to see you too," Nebula responded to the agent. "Have you had a chance to go over the notes I sent you regarding Phase."

"I have and I have to say that your idea is rather unorthodox usually the program you are referring to is used mostly for wards who are on probation or have other issues that would making interacting with their own teammates difficult to the extreme, and while Taylor maybe antisocial she hasn't shown signs of it getting to that point," the agent stated.

"I know but what we have been currently doing hasn't shown any signs of working and she is only drawing herself further away from everyone who is trying to help her," Nebula argued back.

The agent sighed before saying, "It hasn't been any easier on my end either. So far I have only met the girl once, and I've had no further contact with her since. I tried to talk to Weld about getting her to socialize more with the other wards when he came by to see me about her but he didn't think that would be possible."

"That is why this is so important to give her the push through the door that she needs in order to fully integrate with the rest of the team," Nebula informed the agent.

"Still I have to consider that this goes against the Director's orders regarding what to do about Taylor he still thinks that she will open up on her own if we give her enough time to adjust," came the reply from Watkins.

"We have given her over a month and she has only gotten worse and if things continue the way they are she is likely to pull a runner soon and no one wants that to happen especially with Accord and the Teeth operating in the city," Nebula stated firmly.

"Fine you have made your point now what do you need me to do," Agent Watkins replied to the hero.

Nebula smiled before reaching back to retrieve some documents, "just need you sign here as her legal guardian and we should be all set."

Passing the paper along to the agent who quickly signed on the dotted line before passing the paper back to Nebula who quickly filed them away.

"Thank you for your time hopefully this will work and we can finally start making that girl into the hero she could be," Nebula smiled as he finished up with the PRT operative.

Their business concluded with each other both individuals leave the room to resume their other duties for the day not before making sure the paper work involved was properly filed with the rest of the staff involved in the daily ward's operations.

---

It was early in the morning when Taylor heard the knocking on her door, getting up when it became clear that who ever was trying to get her attention wasn't going away Taylor open the door to be greeted by the smiling face of Nebula.

"Hello Phase starting today I am now your official mentor for the duration of your time in the wards," Nebula stated with a cheery tone.

Staring up at the man Taylor said the first thing that came to mind "WHAT!?"

---

Note: Just an omake for events based on the last chapter as for what Nebula did he used a lesser known wards program that only needed the approval of a legal guardian to be implemented rather than needing to go through power test like the other ward's activities/duties. As for what Taylor would be doing with Nebula it would mostly just be following him around while he is on base and listening to him talk, and while he can't force her into combat he can force her to socialize with the rest of the people in the building.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

I wrote this up in reply to the AO3 comments, for chapter 10. When someone asked what they could punish Taylor for for her rather, frank, answers to the tour group.

"Embarrassing the PRT in the First Degree"

O'Hannon tried to hold onto his temper, coffee the only thing keeping awake while dealing with this clusterfuck. Finally Phase and James, the local Youth Guard rep came in and sat down at the table, across from him and Director Kamil who was sitting in to moderate.

O'Hannon didn't waste any time on pleasantries "We are docking your pay for this fiasco Phase."

The infuriating girl just looked back impassively. "On what grounds? They asked me some questions, I answered like you had me there to do."

O'Hannon snarled, "Violations of media relations and PR event guidelines." He tried to keep his blood pressure under control as the girl tried to look clueless. He lost it when she opened her mouth.

"What guidelines?"

O'Hannon finally blew up. "The ones they gave you when they issued your ID! You had to sign for them when you got it and that you read them when you submitted your preliminary costume ideas!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Director Kamil flinch, and reach forward.

Phase ignored his ranting, turning to James. "I'm certain I didn't get any such items, nor did I sign any such paperwork."

Taking the implied hand off James leaned forward, "These would be items issued with Miss Phase's permanent ID, and her costume went in for approval?"

O'Hannon nodded, "Yes! Her not reading the damn thing isn't an excuse."

James just leaned in more, "An ID and costume issued after her power testing is complete? Power testing that has yet to begin for my client?"

O'Hannon gaped and James plowed on. "It is hardly fair to blame Miss Phase for not following regulations she was neither given nor informed existed. As I see it you and the Director caused this situation by pushing my client out there without them." He turned to Director Kamil, "Your organization's impatience and lack of internal communication is hardly Miss Phase's fault. I do hope that the paperwork on those fines haven't gone through yet. Otherwise I will be filing to challenge them, and seek both lost interest and penalties to be paid to my client on top of her illegally deducted wages."

 

[BF110C4]

Ass covering 101

Barring emergencies every third Friday of the month the director of the PRT, his second, the Protectorate Team leader and their liaisons to the local PD had a meeting where they would consider their strategy to deal with crime and emergency response, it was a tradition as old as the PRT Office in Boston and one Director Armstrong was planning to continue for his entire tenure.

Also traditional was the fact that a few days before the meeting the Deputy Director of the PRT Phil Sears would commandeer a secure meeting room, call for takeout and meet with department heads, squad leaders and the occasional cape to avoid being blindsided by external threats and internal screw-ups during the meeting. This was also a longstanding tradition no one wanted to get rid of.

"So gentlemen, what fires we need to put off this week?"

Lieutenant Erik Chase, a former Tactical Response Team member before an encounter with Butcher III cost him a leg took the floor. "External threats, we got the usual players. Blasto is sniffling for material for his tinkering but considering how easily he gave up when we arrived is our opinion that he was just filling his pantry and not actually searching materials for a specific creature. There are whispers from our CI's that the Teeth are going to have a Tea Party, we're coordinating with the Port Authority in case…" During the next forty minutes or so they discussed the parahuman situation in Boston at large, mercifully concluding that none of the known actors had anything particularly obvious on the works.

"So that's all for external problems. What's next on the List?"

"Right now? Phase."

PR and Image department head Bobby O'Hannon interjected before he could tell why the newest Ward in Boston was a problem "Good. My guys at image are chomping at the bit for branding the girl. So far, they are thinking of going all out with the Casper friendly ghost thematic and they want the testing results to know what fabrics and patterns work best with her powers. On the other hand, both Branson and I are really concerned about some of the rumor's mill whispers we have been hearing and I would really appreciate it if you could tell me they are all blown out of proportion, or even better lies and slander."

Gauss didn't bother to contain a snort at the man's plea. "If anything, the fact that you're not panicking about scandals and Branson isn't swearing like a sailor while complaining about fire and brimstone tells me that the mill is slow on the uptake this week. Must be that Taylor won't talk to anyone unless she has no option, but oh boy, when she does she really lays it down!" She continued in a much lower voice. "Not that I blame her."

"Phase came to Boston after two Brockton Wards, one of them being in probation for aggravated assault and battery, in their civilian identities allegedly bullied her into triggering, bullies whose identity she discovered less than thirty minutes after signing during team introductions in the middle of the Wards common room. Less than two hours after that the PRT recruiter sold her father the idea of giving the Protectorate custody of his daughter and expediting a transfer to Boston, close enough to visit, far enough from nazis or killer dragons."

"And just far enough for Miss Hebert to read the Wards rulebook, find the one actionable loophole in the entire glorified pamphlet, confirm it with the unabridged rules and regulations that she received with her signing package and then on arrival claim her constitutional right not to be tested for parahuman powers without her personal and direct consent. A constitutional right no judge will override without clear evidence of her committing at least a Class-B felony." Megumi Miyako was the lawyer in charge of reviewing all aspects of Phase's case, and so far she wasn't seeing an end to the headaches anywhere close.

"And of course, she believes that the entire PRT, Protectorate and Wards are her enemies and does her best to avoid all of us in and out of uniform no matter how uninvolved with her case we are. I just had a very uncomfortable chat with Principal Williams from St. George, after he had an even more uncomfortable one with Taylor so I'm holding my breath about her accepting us for a long time." Gauss added, to the lawyer's explanation.

"So everyone in the labs and testing grounds we can all say goodbye to any kind of tests for the foreseeable future. Great!" Doctor Jeremiah Smith was Boston's PRT R&D chief, and thanks to Armstrong's patronage he had written multiple articles and books on parahuman development, but he was always hoping for one more guinea pig.

"Gauss, I know that triggers are incredibly horrible for those who experience them and nothing that should ever be taken lightly and I'm sorry, but I need to ask. How bad was the bullying in reality, roughhousing that went out of control or something more serious?" Bobby awkwardy asked, Triggers were always a taboo topic for obvious and not so obvious reasons.

"Apparently the bullying started almost two years ago, long before Shadow Stalker and Ampere entered the Wards they were already friends and apparently they bonded over torturing Taylor Hebert, Ampere's family friend from early childhood. Starting more than a year ago the girl started a detailed chronicle of her situation, and as much evidence she could gather, filling multiple notebooks with relentless bullying every day of the week that went from classic bumps in the hallways and stealing homework to Ampere destroying mementos of Taylor's dead mother in front of her."

Lieutenant Chase continued the narrative, far more controlled but still sounding more pissed than his usual surly self. "Meanwhile Shadow Stalker was playing vigilante and was caught by the ENE Protectorate after impaling an E88 skinhead, she was inducted to the Wards under a fairly tame probatory agreement after Ampere's father gave his support as a character witness, allowing her to stay in Winslow High School due to logistical and social reasons. In an astounding case of incompetence, the pre-entry investigation on Shadow Stalker managed to miss both the collusion between her and Ampere, which would have nullified the testimony in her favor, as well as their mutual 'hobby' despite hundreds of messages in their cell phones and their school's social media parading their 'pranks'. Note that it took me less than an hour to find the later." It was obvious that his professional pride was particularly offended by that. "This sad state of affairs continued during Stalker's time in probation and even when Ampere voluntarily entered the Wards herself, with neither their school nor their shared PRT handler noticing anything."

"After a cooldown period in which Miss Hebert hoped that they were finally getting bored of tormenting her, they filled her locker with used tampons from the women's bathroom and let it fester for at least a weekend, and when Monday came, they shoved the girl inside and keep her there for hours until she gained the ability to go through the door to escape. So yeah, a little too extreme for roughhousing gone wrong."

"Shit. I wouldn't want to be the ENE PR department if this leaks, there is no positive or neutral interpretation of their actions, the optics on the local PRT/Protectorate overseers is of incompetence -at best- and the whole story sounds like one of Stephen King books, sensationalist and nasty enough to make page three in the local news even if Kaiser and Lung fight it out in the streets that day and for reporters to make the effort of giving regular updates on the case on slow days. No freaking way of spinning it without outright lying." O'Hannon took a drink from his coffee mug dramatically enough for everyone to wonder if it was spiked with vodka before continuing. "Did the morons at Brockton managed to contain the story?"

"Yes and no. No one noticed that the culprits were Wards nor the involvement of the PRT and the bullying itself hasn't leaked to the media yet but its all there in the student's social media and the locals decided that trying to erase that would do little more than draw unwanted attention." Phil answered, catsup in one hand and a slice in the other.

"Which can change with the smallest leak from either the school side or from the Wards, and Phase is so far no shy about complaining about it. Other than a worse case unmasking we're relatively well isolated from the fallout but we can still coordinate with Brockton for some after the fact follow up articles detailing the vague but pretty strict punishments the school's faculty and the non-disclosed minors suffered in order to defuse the story, maybe talking about a settlement… Phil, I know that face, you know that I know that face! What the fuck the idiots up north did?"

"There's no official punishments to the girls involved or the school's faculty nor a payout on the works for Miss Hebert. Brockton PR strategy is to close their eyes and wish everything away. That means that the police investigation is stalled, no recommendations for punishments can be passed to the appropriate school district and Legal won't authorize a settlement or any form of compensation until the investigation is over, and their intention is for it to take years."

"Are they for real? Meg can they even do that?" Bobby questioned her, already dreading his colleage response.

"So far the people at ENE are obeying the letter of the law. They already introduced the collected evidence and relevant testimonies into the system, doing otherwise would be obstruction of justice, particularly since we know, but the investigators' notes are shining by their absence. If I was a betting woman, I would assume that the game they're all playing is to delay and pray. The lead investigator will run out all the normally allotted investigation time and ask to his section leader for as many time extensions as possible, before that time runs out and the section leader has to ask the director to authorize even more time."

"So… they are waiting until everyone is 18? Can they delay that much?"

"Not really, regs indicate that sooner or later the status of the investigation must be changed to Cold Case, but for that is mandatory for they to analyze whatever evidence they have at hand and give a mandatory report to the DA office, and what they already introduced to the system is enough to fill charges for multiple Class A misdemeanors and at least one Class D felony even before taking into account the probation of one of the culprits. If they try to obfuscate that then it and every delay beforehand will be considered as obstructing justice."

"But then again, they don't need to delay that much, wait a year or so until either or both of the girls involved can get some accomplishments under their names and present the evidence to a DA in a good mood so they can negotiate an extended parole agreement."

"Oh, that's how you'll do it in their place, I guess."

"Fuck no. That house of cards sounds nice and clean in theory, but it has too many moving parts and ways it can go wrong. And when it does go down in flames then everyone in the chain of command even tangentially involved by rubberstamping a delay will be facing conspiracy charges themselves. For it to blow up they just need the girls committing one additional crime, one wrong look from IA for unrelated reasons, that the DA asks for a parole report on SS as part of the background check after she makes an arrest… there are too many ways the delay circle can come to an end even before considering the fact that the victim is going to actively try to kick down the house of cards on everyone's head!"

"And when that happens ENE region will have a disproportionally large percentage of their chain of command paralyzed by an Internal Affairs investigation, with the entire Wards rooster benched, and the Protectorate leadership in charge of the Wards forced to step down. Depending on how it happens and who discovers the smoking gun then they might get rebranded or retired, or it bad comes to worse arrested as accessories after the fact."

"And experience tells us that when shit goes down hard enough in BB it always, always ends up with Boston eventually dealing with the fallout."

"And what if we trip the wire early? I've always said that the best way of dealing with a bomb is by poking it with a pointy stick, a very long one."

"And that's why you're missing a leg."

"What can I say? I didn't have a long enough one with me that day."

"Tempting, but frankly I don't fancy getting myself relocated to Eerie, Indiana. Disaster in the making or not if we intentionally sabotage another regional office all of the directors will pounce on us."

"Eerie, Indiana? Not to a Quarantine Zone?"

"Do you think that The Powers That Be would like a whistleblower in those places?"

"Touche."

"And talking about Miss Hebert, how likely is that she gets to blow the whistle?"

"She signed a standard NDA regarding the Wards and Protectorate secret identities, confidentiality for actions related to law enforcement and regarding protocol and procedures as part of her acceptance into the program. That her attackers are minors themselves add another small layer of safety regarding her spreading their names beyond the judicial system but other than that the ENE region was so desperate to move her out of the state that they didn't force her or her father to sign anything more specific."

"And if the ENE office sends a more comprehensive NDA for her to sign?"

"Then we politely return it to the sender and, if they insist, we call their bluff and even more politely ask for an update on the case, implying that we might formally ask for it on writing. That will make them back-down ASAP."

"Now the girls committed their crimes in their civilian identities when off-duty and their actions are definitely not covered under good samaritan laws so they don't get any kind of immunity to lawsuits, so she can freely sue their civilian identities as well as her former school even if the NDA makes difficult -but not impossible- to sue the Protectorate and the PRT as well. Even if the PRT won't release any of the evidence of the locker 'prank' during this last year she collected plenty of independent evidence of harassment, enough to build a viable case even if part of it is circumstantial. Once the lawsuit is on the docket then is game over, during discovery the fact that the PRT claimed jurisdiction will have to be revealed and since the nature of their crime can't by its nature be directly or indirectly part of Wards activities then there will be no legal recurse to keep said fact, the evidence or the legal status of Shadow Stalker and Ampere secret without perjuring themselves."

"But you said we hold her legal custody, can we block her from suing?"

"We have 'Pater Familias' custody. We can choose to sign her for swim classes at the school, authorize her dentist to get her brackets, and ground her if she misses her homework, but the one person that has the legal right to sue those little shits in her behalf is still her father. And even if we had full custody, if she really wanted, she could request an 'ad litem' guardian, and since there is an obvious conflict of interests between her and the PRT it would be a no-brainer for a judge to assign her one."

"Lucky we that she seems to hate her father almost as much as she hates us. When he tried to give her a good bye hug she phased through him and her parting words probably hurt a lot more than the last time I was punched in the gut."

"Now that's a depressing silver lightning if I ever heard of one. What if we pay a settlement ourselves?"

"On one hand it would trigger the chain reaction we already agreed not to poke with a stick, on the other enough funds to equal a settlement of this magnitude will never be authorized when everything happened well outside our jurisdiction and we have no official reason to justify the expense. Worse case it might accidentally trigger a corruption and embezzlement case against us." Phil answered.

"The other thing she can do, at least legally, is to fill a complaint with some of our watchdogs. I know for a fact that she is talking with Reed from Youth Guard, and while they cannot mess with an ongoing investigation, they're already issuing every fine and punishment they can levy on the Wards handlers, while reinforcing their monitoring of the Wards. As it is they will delay Stalker or Ampere getting back in the field for at least six months so any hope of doing a good enough work to earn brownie points with the DA office is already facing trouble. And God save them if she can get into contact with an IA officer, or a politician read in the Parahuman's Affairs Committee."

"Less legally, but one that no judge would give her more than a slap on the hand, is for her to gather her evidence, which you are telling me she got entire notebooks filled to the brim and talk to the media. No matter how much she decides to disclosure, anything short of revealing other Wards identities will have the ENE region and us tarred and feathered, a noble tradition of this city."

"At least that we can stop without getting into a legal mess. Well, at least as long as someone knows how to stop someone intangible from going anywhere."

"Good question. So, in case we need to stop her from running away to join the circus, to give a personal interview in WBZ News Radio, from going vigilante on the streets or even becoming a villain what options do we have?"

"You can forget Wards support of any kind other than self-defense or her clearly and openly going villain, for any containment action I'm giving Weld standing orders to retreat and stay out of it. No way I'm letting the kids get involved in this shit, even if no one gets hurt and Taylor moves away afterwards Team cohesion and morale would be destroyed for this generation of Wards." Gauss was obviously distracted of even thinking the local Wards would need to put down one of their own, even if that person was keeping them at arm's length.

"Agreed, the last thing the public needs to see is a civil war in the middle of the Wards team. Almost certain it would leak, and that plus the mess of Brockton and we would be seeing the Wards Charter revoked for both regions. Fuck damn it, I wish I had a bottle of bourbon."

"Me too. I agree that the Wards can't be used unless as a last resort, his whole affair is going to be hard on the them already, no need to make it harder. Even then I'm going to request an action plan in case they do need to defend themselves or are caught in the crossfire. As for Protectorate support, Nebula told me the Protectorate own's action plan is on the works. Chase, what can the strike teams can do in case there's no parahuman support available?"

"First, no way to passively bar her way in or out the building, not even by having troopers physically block her path so to enforce any kind of lock-down we are going to need to perform an active take-down even if she doesn't take aggressive actions first, and for that I'm going to need a special authorization."

"I'll have one written by tomorrow."

"Non-lethal we can say goodbye to barriers and hand-to-hand maneuvers of any kind, containment foam, tasers and rubber bullets, flashbangs probably work on her and maybe tear gas if she even needs to breathe in her Breaker state, other than that I need to brainstorm with the rank and file. Also, other than keeping her sedated, we have no way of containing her after capture."

"If I may, tasers might not be out of question. When her Trigger Event occurred, she was in close proximity to two other parahumans, Shadow Stalker and Ampere, Trigger Events in similar circumstances have a tendency to share characteristics of the parahumans inside a certain radius. Shadow Stalker's tests indicate that her Breaker state is vulnerable to electricity so there is a chance Phase herself is vulnerable as well."

"If she is vulnerable to electricity then we can use tasers to subdue and shock handcuffs for containment… If. I would love something a little more concrete than that for my contingency plans Doc."

"Without comprehensive testing or Thinker support we are limited by our passive observations of Phase and our knowledge is likewise very limited. We know for certain that she can enter her Breaker state with her clothing and the objects she is carrying, so far the greatest amount observed is a medium sized school backpack mostly filled with books. We have seen her phasing through a human being without apparent physical damage, his father showed signs of emotional distress but afterwards he didn't have a physical examination performed on him nor did he filled a questionnaire to evaluate if his psychological status was affected beyond the nature of his farewell to Phase, so we have yet to discover if she can intentionally harm someone by interacting with them in her Breaker state or the exact restrictions of her Manton Limit. She asked to switch rooms due to her powers so we are assuming that she got a passive ability that affects her when in proximity to either other people or specifically parahumans, considering her proximity to Ampere before and during her Trigger we consider that this may be a secondary Thinker ability. One of my analysts noted that in the mess hall surveillance recordings she never seems surprised of people coming from blind angles even while distracted, however that same analyst added that it could be hypervigilance due to bullying instead of signs of a Thinker ability."

"Joy, so Thinker four countermeasures at the very least. If she's uncomfortable in a room then we need to consider a twelve feet awareness perimeter." Chase complained.

"And of course, there is very intriguing fact that, every Thinker that has tried to evaluate her has been unable to direct their power towards her. "Watchdog's Thinkers are already offering their help to find how encompassing her abilities are, they have yet to find out how high her Stranger rating is, but its at least a six and raising."

"And with their curiosity an uncomfortable amount of attention from other jurisdictions is coming, particularly since she won't take her power tests in one of the best labs in the country."

"All in all, my preliminary recommendation is that the use of force to contain her should be a last resource, morale tends to take a nose dive when a parahuman either casually ignore every action against her or when the troops are forced to beat the shit out of a teen girl."

"Good, I don't want the ENE to drag us even deeper in this hole they're digging. We accepted Phase in good faith before realizing the shit we were getting into and we will do our best to integrate her into the Wards and if she tries to spread classified information, we stop her as we would with any other Ward or Protectorate cape trying the same but that's where I'm drawing the line. No further interaction between Miss Hebert and the ENE Wards, Protectorate or PRT personnel from any media nor any actions that can be seen as tampering with a witness even if they can be seem as legal out of context, they wanted to make her our problem let them choke on that."

"Aye to that. But it doesn't help her situation at all."

"We keep director Armstrong's strategy and hope she makes friends within the Wards and they mellow her anger enough we can start to mend things."


AN: I have been thinking how Piggot and Armsmaster can keep this PR nightmare completely In-House while people from Boston, YG and WEDGE are actively watching without breaking any laws in the process and this is the answer I reached. In RL crime investigations can take years of research even with clear evidence of culpability and laws and regulations reflect that. So she is acting as if this open and shut case is far more complex and running the time so that she can make the reveal at the local District Attorney when she gets enough political capital to negotiate some agreement that doesn't involve jail or relocation from the girls, for example increasing the probation inside BB well into their twenties instead of them moving to a different city when they graduate to the Protectorate.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Flechette's Notes on Phase


Day 1:

We got a new Ward today transferring in from Brockton, apparently there were some issues at her home department so she has been transferred here. She was a bit stand offish during the greeting but shes probably just nervous about being in a new city. Said she couldn't share a wall with anyone but that probably just power thing so no biggie. Didn't see much of her after that though she just stayed in her room the rest of the night didn't even try and talk to anyone which was a bit worrying, but I am sure she will warm up to us in a few days at least.

Day 2:

Phase was given her tour of the base by Gauss today didn't really talk that much to her today either but Gauss seemed put off by something after the tour gonna try talking to him about it later tonight hopefull it isn't to bad. In other news Roulette and Hunch were talking about Phase too today something about how her power is having some weird interactions with their and whether or not they should inform one of the higher ups about it. Other than that Phase's room has official been moved to the end of the hall so she isn't sharing a room with anyone so no more couch for me tonight.

Day 4:

I think Taylor is avoiding us. All she does is spend time in her room and the gym doesn't talk to us or anything. Hell when she revealed her identity to us she didn't even stay for conversation even after Weld got everyone in the room, just took off her mask and said her name before going back into her room. I know Weld had been telling is to give her time and space but I am starting to get worried its almost been a week and Taylor still hasn't had a full ocnversation with anyone, tried talking to one of the Protectorate members about it but they didn't have anything to say on the issue either. Shes starting school with the rest of the Wards in a few days so maybe I can see if I can run into her in between classes.

Day 7:

I tried talking to Taylor at lunch today and it didn't go as planned, and I might have messed things up. She got mad at me and said somethings before leaving, its given me a bit to think about regarding her situation. Tried talking to Weld about it but he kept changing the subject, which probably means that Taylor was telling the truth about the Wards in Brockton and what they did. Can't say the realization didn't come as a shock but it explains why shes been keeping us at arms length her entire time here if two Wards caused my trigger event would I be the same? But that doesn't change the fact that Taylor needs people in her life who she can trust, I am trying but it seems like everything I do just pushes her further away. Maybe Weld is right and she just needs more time, but I'm afraid if we wait to long she'll be to far gone to help none of the others know what to do either and Taylor isn't giving out any hints.

Day 12:

Almost a whole week and still nothing, no changes Taylor still avoids everyone both at base and in school. Gauss and Nebula came in to see if any of us were willing to talk her into going into power testing but they left dissapointed when we also said we had no idea what to do, that left everyone feeling disappointed for the rest of the day.

In other news I think I have exhausted every conversation topic I could think of trying to get Taylor to communicate. I tried everything music, games, movies, T.V., workout routines, and even what book she was reading and every time she just gave me a single word response before getting tired of me and leaving. It pains me to say this but I don't think Taylor ever intends to integrate with the team, which sucks because there is so much we could do for her if only she let us in.

Day 16:

Had our regular pizza night yesterday and Gauss managed to get Taylor to come out which was a mistake. She was in the room for all of ten seconds before finding an excuse to leave something to do with Lightspeed and his power, but it really brought down everyone's mood for the rest of the night and I think Lightspeed blamed himself for what happened. None of us really stayed that long after that the whole Phase issue completely killed the mood despite Gauss trying to reassure everyone it was alright before trying to go get Taylor. She didn't come back after that so I guess she didn't succeed. I tried saving Taylor some slices but so far they remain untouched in the fridge despite me mentioning it to her.

Day 23:

I got told by Weld today that Taylor will be joining us during the regular Wards base tour today, not sure what Armstrong is thinking but orders are orders so I decided to keep an eye on her during the PR event and hopefully nothing goes wrong.

No other changes in the Taylor situation though besides a few run ins at school and base with each one ending the same way and Taylor politely excusing herself without so much as a hello.

Day 24:

I don't know what I was expecting to happen but it sure as hell wasn't this. At first the tour wasngoing good and Taylor was mostly keeping to herself as always but then she got asked a question and well she didn't sell the best image of the Wards program with her answer. It didn't help that the tour group was recording the whole thing and already the videos have been making the rounds on PHO, I can already hear the rant from the team's PR manager about this hopefully it will all blow over and we won't have to pull double PR duty to make up for it I hope.

It wasn't all bad however, Taylor seemed to open up to Connie a little during the tour so progress I guess.

Day 27:

Well Taylor's a vigilante now apparently not sure what else to say about that. I tried talking to her about it but she just got hostile and defensive about it. I had to promise not to tell anyone to get her to calm down, but she wouldn't listen to me when I tried talking about how dangerous it was to operate alone in Boston. To make things worse I am pretty sure everyone else knows to but won't say anything for some reason, probably afraid if they tried to stop her Taylor would just pull a runner and I can't say that their wrong about that.

Day 29:

Taylor came back rather bruised today after her regular 'runs' tried to talk to her about it but she blew me off as usual. Had to get the word from Nebula, apparently Taylor got into a fight with Snap and Split no serious injuries and they were both captured, but Nebula didn't seem that happy about it. He kept going on about reckless vigilantes and stubborn teenagers so I guess I know where he stands on the issue. But ever since Taylor started her new hobby she has seemed I don't know happier, or at least in a better mood than she has been the past month so thats good? I don't really know anymore so I am gonna take what I can get and hope she starts opening up soon.

Day 35:

Taylor's mood continues to improve which is directly connected to how often she gets to go out for her 'runs'. Both Weld and Nebula aren't exactly happy about what she has been doing but they can't do anything since the Director currently refuses to do anything about it so all they can do is complain about it, just wish they wouldn't do it within earshot of Taylor. But this whole situation ahs given me an idea to try and get Taylor to open up, and all I need to do is figure out Taylor's patrol schedule and 'run into her' while out on patrol and hopefully things work out from there. Anyways thats it for now wish me luck.

AN: Just a short from Lily's perspective written in a journal format, and don't point out that I got the time frame wrong I know but I didn't feel like going through all the chapters to figure out how many days had passed between events so I spaced things out randomly. Besides that let me know what you think.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Just a Butcher


Two nearly identical figures stood facing each other with the only differences between the two being the look in their eyes and choice of clothing. On one side the young woman stood clad in red and grey armor with a look in her eyes of someone who has recently claimed victory, and the other side stood the same young woman but clad in a less elaborate outfit of all grey holding a look of pure defiance towards the world.

It was the one in the armor who spoke first, "So you're what an alternate version of me then come in to say hi or something."

"Pretty much that, but its not that big of a deal, in fact I did something rather similar with a different version of myself, err ourselfs not that long ago it was a rather pleasant conversation all things considered," the dopple ganger admitted.

The armor clad one considered her alternate's statement for a second, "Fair enough I guess not the weirdest thing that's happened to me all things considered but it is up there. So what do we do from here paint each other's nails, braid hair, talk about each other's crush, because let me tell you sister I have a lot to talk about in that department."

The other girl shrugged in response, "Talk I guess thats what me and Pisces did, thats what the other Taylor was called by the way in case you were wondering, besides that we more or less just complained about the Protectorate or the PRT the whole time."

The amored one let out a laugh, "Now that I can do, but before we continue what should I call you because just calling you Taylor is going to get confusing real fast."

"Just call me Ghost its certainly better than the name the Protectorate is trying to give me," the newly identified Ghost informed her counter part.

"Not bad simple but whatever works for you, and as for me you can call me Weaver. And now with that out of the way lets get on to the fun part, whats your story how did you end up as 'Ghost'," Weaver questioned.

"Well it started with The Locker," upon saying that both teens involuntarily shuddered, "what you too, never mind well during that I got powers same as you and ended up passing right through the door infront of Emma and Sophia. Next thing I know I am in the hospital being given a recruitment pitch by Miss Militia and being half out of my mind on drugs I agreed, too. Deciding to make the most of a bad situation I thought I would try and make the most of a bad situation because the Wards couldn't be as bad as I feared they would, but unfortunately I can't have nice things and guess who was waiting for me the moment I walked through the door? Emma and Sophia both. So I made my way out of there as fast I fucking could, but do to the Director being an utter bitch and unwilling to punish those two psychopaths I ended up being shipped off to Boston despite all my protests while Emma gets off scot fucking free for what she did." By the end of Ghost's story she was snarling and clearly worked up into a rage by what happened.

"Well damn that fucking sucks girl makes me almost thankful about the month I spent in the psych ward after getting my powers at least I didn't have to deal with the Protectorate's brand of press ganging new parahumans," Weaver sympathized with her other self.

"Wait so your not a Ward, I assumed because the last version of myself I talked to was in a similar situation."

"Girl do you really think the guys who run their PR department would let a Ward out dressed like this," she said while gesturing at her very intimidating costume, most notably the XV marking on the chest.

Ghost's eyes widen slightly upon looking at the XV symbol adorning her counter part, "Wait you're the..."

"Yep, but trust me I am mostly sane despite what my enemies in the PRT like to claim something to do with power interactions being all wonky and leaving me in charge and the others along for the ride. But yeah I get you the PRT are the fucking worst back when I was trying to be a hero they set up a meeting on truce terms and then promptly double crossed me and attempted to send me to the Birdcage without trial all because the idea of a sane heroic Butcher was inconceivable to them, and they wonder why I returned to the Teeth," Weaver said.

"So you're a villain then?"

"More of a morally black superhero if you ask me not that most people can tell the difference, but enough about me, let's talk about you. Besides I am a bit curious on how the Wards thing is doing judging by the look of your costume, did the Boston department have some budget cuts or something."

"Ha they wish, no I am simply refusing to play their little song and dance and decided to do my own thing because like hell will I work for the organization that enabled Emma and Sophia for two years. Besides its not like they can actually force me to do anything because according to their own rule book all Wards activities can only be performed if the Ward in question has undergone official power testing which according to their own charter is completely voluntary," Ghost said while growing more at ease with her counter part despite the revealation about her status as the Butcher.

"Wait so you're using the PRT's own shitty rule book against them in order to spite them, my god Lisa will fucking love you once she hears about this, Lisa's a friend by the way blond, green eyes, lots of freckles, and one hell of a smart ass thinker."

"Think I have seen who you're talking about not that long ago, she was in a tour group of the Wards base got a front row seat to me airing a few grievances to the adoring public."

"Forget loving you; you're probably her favorite person in that universe unless she is already hanging out with Amy in that universe. Also if you don't mind me asking, what your power because Stratego has been complaining nonstop about blind spots since meeting you."

"So thats what that was... But as for powers I can move through things, danger sense, bit of clairvoyance, and thinker powers just don't work on me not that the Protectorate has given up trying."

"Wait so you insulted the government in front of the public, are currently screwing over the PRT, and thinker powers don't work on you jesus how has Lisa met you and not asked you to marry her yet you check literally all her boxes."

"I don't know I only saw her the once when she tried to use her power on me during the tour. But thats enough of me complaining you probably have it worse being the Butcher and all."

Weaver smiled at her alternate's question, "Actually no once you get past the others' insanity, bloodlust, demands for food, alcohol, drugs, and sex the previous Butchers are actually quite fun to talk with; hell, Fester even dated mom for a bit. Plus with the ABB gone, and the Empire either dead or in a cell things are looking up for the city dad's even okay with the whole running a gang thing despite my initial thoughts, and to top it off I even got a girlfriend our of the deal."

Ghost simply stood silently for a moment before responding, "Wait so your telling me that despite being the Butcher and having 14 crazy people in your head your life is for all intents and purposes looking bright, and not only that your version of dad is aware of your powers and okay with the fact that your the Butcher. What the actual HELL what is with alternate versions of me having more understanding and supportive versions of dad than me first Pisces and now you where's my version of dad who will stand up for me and not let the PRT walk all over him."

Weaver winced at Ghost's outburst, "Sorry didn't mean to poke a wound like that, but I am sure your situation will get better eventually the PRT won't keep you forever if you won't playball at least they have to cut their losses eventually. As for your dad I really don't know what to say to that besides just try not to dwell on it to much."

Weaver would have said more but as she was about to continue Ghost began to shimmer as her form became more translucent.

"Ah crap I guess my time is up here, for what its worth it was nice meeting you Taylor you seem to be doing better than me at least," Ghost said to her alternate.

"And to you as well Taylor hope things work out for you in the end just hold out for a bit more, or if all else fails do what I do 'be gay and do crime' its done wonders for me," Weaver said as her alternate finally faded from view.

---

A.N.: something based on an omake from the Implacable thread can also be found on both Inheritance threads.

Edit: any thoughts or opinions?

 

[Santo]

Nice chapter! Love to see the obvious cracks forming in the team due to Taylor being there. Her weaponizing PHO to further inconvenience the BB Wards is hilarious.

And if that's not a call to post this, I don't know what is. This is an Omake that has been tumbling around my head since shortly after the story started, and it's only now that I finally broke down and put word to virtual paper.

Special thanks to FirstSelector for answering some questions I had for specific details, and for making some suggestions that helped make the Omake better.

Do please lemme know what you lot think of the Omake, and without further ado.

A Friend In Me

=][=​

Alex did what he could not to stare at the new girl.

Objectively, other than shampoo commercial worthy hair, she wasn't much to look at. A late transfer from a dumpster fire city, there was a small amount of talk about her, some even wondered if maybe she was a Ward transferring in from said city.

Her…acerbic personality had put those rumors down quickly and painfully.

Anyone that so much as smiled at the girl got her hackles up and her claws out. Compliments and well meaning questions were met with sneers and open hostility. On the reverse, if she was left alone she was more than content enough to ignore and be ignored.

No, there certainly wasn't much there to look at, not until one paid attention to the details.

She was tall for a girl, five eight at least, but walked with her back bent and her shoulders hunched, as if trying to shrink into herself or readying herself for a blow. She wore oversized hoodies and jeans exclusively, her clothes large enough to completely swallow her figure; they were also cheap, not bargain-bin ratty, but not far from it, easy to replace.

She did not use makeup, granted Alex was utterly ignorant of the arcana that was makeup and its application, he knew only that it was a bunch of different powders and it could take a girl from a six all the way to an eight through its eldritch, indefatigable application.

From what little he had seen of Taylor, she was a solid five, fix her posture, add in her hair falling in a dark curly waterfall, a confident strut to her walk, a better wardrobe, and a smile, and she could easily be a seven, maybe an eight depending on the figure she kept hidden.

Unfortunately Taylor seemed to only have two expressions, 'unfeeling automaton' and 'sneer.'

All things combined to a person that was, on the surface, very hateful.

The thing being, Alex had seen some very similar symptoms before. Except that when it happened to his sister, he had been more than happy to kick teeth in until those bullying her learned that she was off limits.

Was this how Anna might have ended up if he hadn't been around to help? He could picture it, and the mental image made him angry, his sister was a little cinnamon bun that brightened any room she walked into, maybe this girl had been the same.
So Alex decided this girl needed a friend. And he had nothing better to do. But he wouldn't do it stupid.

Information was the name of the game.

He spent two days gathering intel, through that information gathering, he learned two things, the first, Taylor liked to read, the second, she had complete immunity to Lily's weapon's grade pout. This made her a formidable foe, Lily was the darling of the writing club, out of everyone, the only one who'd had the heart to properly critique her capefic had been Alex, and that only because her pout had nothing on Anna's.

If Taylor could withstand it and keep an emotionless face? This might well be more difficult than he'd first expected. Still, not impossible. Lily's utterly failed attempt did, however, inform him how to go about his own, and just like getting an abused dog to allow you to touch it, the first step was to make her comfortable with his presence.

So, on Wednesday January the 19th, Alex launched his Master Plan. He walked to the table the new girl sat at, plopped down his food on the opposite side from her at the opposite corner of the table, pulled out Only in Death, and read as he ate. He could feel Taylor's glare on him and briefly wondered if she was a Parahuman with laser eyes.

He ignored her, reading and eating, and after a good forty interminable seconds, he felt her glare vanish. He continued to read and eat as if he hadn't noticed but kept her in his peripheral vision.

The very instant the girl was finished eating, she stood up and left, Alex said nothing, didn't so much as look up from his book. One of the best conversations he never had, eight out of ten.

When he left school that day, he had the happy surprise of seeing that they shared a route for part of his walk home. He repeated his strategy from lunch, merely walking in the same general area as the girl as he made his way to the bus stop. Her shoulders were hunched, and he caught her glancing at him over her shoulder a few times, but when the bus stop came along, he stopped there and pulled his book whereas she kept power walking.

He shared two classes with the girl, and thankfully the school did not have enforced seating. So he switched things up and sat within three chairs of Taylor, then repeated his strategy of the last day with the same results.

On Friday however, things changed.

He sat at the same spot on the cafeteria, but she did not glare, she merely ignored him. On the walk to the bus stop, she still threw him a glance or two, but did not quicken her step, rather she merely kept an eye on him.

So, come Monday, he sat within two chairs of Taylor in their two classes, and come lunch he sat a little closer to her in the cafeteria. She gave him another look, but this one only lasted twenty seconds. And on the way to the bus stop he walked a little closer to her, not arms length, but still closer. She still gave him looks, and he continued to ignore them.

By the time Thursday came about, Alex had managed to sneak seven entire inches closer to her at the cafeteria, though he still judged it too soon to sit next to her during class.

On the way to the bus stop he was almost within speaking distance of Taylor, perhaps next week he'd be able to walk side by side to her. But that's when it happened, Weld and Reynard were walking on the other side of the street, and Taylor froze.

To stop now might well doom his entire effort, so he walked around her and kept on his way, risking a quick look over his shoulder at her.

Alex had been right; she really had a very expressive face.

She was smiling, but it was not a nice smile. It was angry, vindictive, devious and self satisfied. It was the smile of the cat that got the canary. Alex honestly could not fathom why she would have that smile toward the two apprentice heroes.

Yeah, Reynard's costume was kinda meh. But for that smile to come about?

Alex could not spend much time thinking about this, and as such he continued on his way to the bus stop.

Friday Taylor was in decidedly good spirits. Every now and then, when she forgot to keep her emotionless mask on, a self-satisfied little smirk quirked her lips. It was kinda cute, but most people weren't looking anymore so just about everyone missed it.

Alex decided to keep on steady rather than try to ride the coattails of her good mood, she was still wary around him, and if he pushed, she may well bolt like a particularly skittish horse and he'd lose all progress.

She seemed stuck in her own little world, looking at a long document on her phone, she didn't even glare at him she was so distracted.

The next week went by much the same, Alex was able to get almost a whole foot closer on the table, and he had migrated to sitting next to Taylor in their two classes. But there was something up, she was fidgety, full of nervous energy, though nonetheless happy, happier than he'd seen her so far, which considering it was Taylor, this amounted to being close to neutral, who knows, in another month she might migrate to good, and a year after that, graduate to copacetic.

Alex woke up Friday feeling pretty great, he'd decided that today would be the day that he finally spoke to her. Taylor had been in a good mood the entire week. This would be the closest thing he had to a first impression with the girl, so he prepared his outfit accordingly, he seesawed between his usual cargo pants and a pair of jeans, and ultimately decided on his dark blue cargo pants. He picked his short sleeved maroon shirt, and his usual steel toe boots.

He took the time to check himself out in the bathroom mirror, after all, it would not do to mess up his first impression. He was taller than most boys, standing at an even six foot and burly with it, dark brown hair cropped short, his eyes were a dark brown and he had some bags because he didn't like going to bed on time. He checked his jaw and saw that he should probably shave, he wasn't yet at the point where he could grow a badass beard, and he didn't like the look of the patchy whiskers on his neck and cheeks.

His nose was a little crooked from that time he got in a fight with a couple jocks, taught those assholes not to talk shit about nerdy pastimes.

He flexed at the mirror, the sleeves of his shirt biting slightly into his biceps, drawing attention to them. Spending three evenings a week on the gym ensured he was in good enough shape, though he did have a little bit of a belly that he kept promising to himself he'd get rid of eventually.

He grinned at himself in the mirror, the smile was a little awkward, and his teeth were just a tad crooked, but not enough to need bracers. Alex smacked his lips, feeling they were a little dry and cracked, and realized he forgot to use that lip balm his mother had gotten him, again.

One of these days he'd be a responsible adult and remember to use his lip balm, but that day had clearly not been yesterday, it would probably be today, though he'd not make a promise on that.

He had breakfast with his mom and sister.

"Mornin' dork." Said his sister.

"Mornin' welp." He said to her.

"Morning my spawn." Said their mom.

"Morning broodmother." They said back in eerie unison.

Breakfast was good.

He put on his jacket to make his way to school, his mom berated him that he needed a heavier coat, but he was a big burly guy, and the code of burliness stated that he had to go with a jacket too thin to really deal with the snow outside.

Really, everything was looking up, first period was not as boring as it could have been, he walked to his first class of the day with his latest personal project, and froze the moment he saw her.

Something had gone wrong. Her little smirk was nowhere to be found, she was as fidgety as she'd ever been, but what little expression she'd had gained in the last week was all gone, replaced by a barely hidden glare.

Alex sat on the seat next to her, but did not attempt to strike up a conversation. This was going to set him back, the question was, for how long?

When lunch came about, Alex purposely dithered about, it was important to be consistent, but he had a feeling that Taylor was looking for an excuse to explode at someone, and he didn't wanna ruin his chances.

Just then, he saw Lily move towards Taylor's (and lately Alex's) usual table, oh, this is not the time to try Lily. Alex wondered if he should warn the girl off, but things happened before he came to a decision.

"Hey Taylor." Lily said with a bit of a strained smile.

"Fuck you, Lily." Taylor all but spat in the girl's face, her tone venomous enough to kill at ten paces.

Alex decided that this called for a tactical withdrawal, and advanced in a direction opposite to the one Lily had so valiantly traveled in to be rebuffed at the walls of fort Taylor.

Alex spent the rest of the day paying minimum attention to his teachers, and headed straight home, went up to his room, and sprawled on his bed, his bloody homework could wait. He stared long and hard at the ceiling of his room, but it jealousy guarded the secrets to the universe, and as such, Alex cursed it and its entire bloodline.

Though that was probably a bad thing to do, he spent a not insignificant amount of time under that ceiling, having it drip curses on him would probably be bad. His mom came about some time to inform him he was going to be going on a tour of the Protectorate building with his sister come Tuesday.

Because that was the best thing to do with his Tuesday afternoon; waste a whole two hours to stare for two minutes at a bunch of violent superpowered teenagers like they're animals at the Zoo, only significantly more dangerous.

When Monday came about, he still had no clue as to what he was going to do, Taylor still didn't look as happy as she had during the last week (bar Friday), but she also didn't have that 'I'm going to explode at the first person that greets me' air. So Alex continued with his plan to get her acclimated to his presence, still saying nothing, just reading in her presence while getting physically closer a half inch at a time.

Tuesday went much the same, though he had to eat lunch with what used to be his usual group from the writing club. Lily had decided to make another attempt at sitting with Taylor, but she continued to do it dumb, not giving the poor girl a chance to acclimate to her presence, to stop seeing her as a threat, before speaking to her.

The rest of the school day went as usual, Taylor no longer hunched up when he walked near her on the way to the bus stop, not even if he happened to be at arm's length. So…progress.
He went home, got started on his homework, then went out for their tour forty minutes before they had to leave because Anna was way too excited about getting to see the 'heroes'. To Alex's immense chagrin, a car crash en route to the Protectorate building added forty minutes to their commute, making Anna entirely too smug about her 'foresight.'

This wasn't Alex's first tour so he didn't really pay much attention to what their tour guide was saying, Anna lapped it up though, her dark blonde hair whipping back and forth as she turned to look at everything the guide spoke about, her brown eyes shining with excitement.

Man, maybe Alex was growing jaded in his old age, but Capes just didn't do anything for him, then again Capes had killed his dad, so fuck the lot of them.

The tour made it to the Wards room. "And this is the Wards common area!" The tour Guide said in his obnoxiously professionally excited voice. "The Wards relax here when they're not off learning to be heroes, and we even have a few of them here today!"

Weld stepped up, straightening his back and squaring his shoulders, it was always a surprise for Alex to realize he was taller than the Wards captain. "Hello, and welcome to the Boston Protectorate," Weld said, flashing his pearl—well his teeth weren't actually pearly…or white for that matter. "I'm Weld, the current captain of the Wards, and I'd like to introduce you to my team."

Somehow, the guy managed not to sound intimidating, but if one thought about it even a little, if Weld decided to kill everyone in the room, what in shit would stop him? The guy was made of literal metal.

"You probably know Flechette, Hunch, and Valve already," he continued. "Our newest member here is Phase, though we haven't yet introduced her officially."

Alex turned to look, and almost broke into a coughing fit.

Hunched posture, ratty bargain bin jeans and hoodie, brown curly waterfall worthy of a shampoo commercial, bright green eyes staring at her homework like it held the secret to immortality and eternal youth, and a 'fuck off' aura worn like battle armor.

It had to be some other girl with amazing hair, green eyes, a wide expressive mouth and a formidable 'fuck off' aura.

This couldn't be Taylor.

A blonde girl with green eyes and freckles was staring at Taylor, then stepped forward, speaking in an obnoxiously preppy tone. "So, Phase, what's your power?"

This had the unfortunate side effect of making every eye in the room zero in on the girl, something she didn't seem to notice, her head was tilted a little to the side and she seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"Phase?" Weld said in an attempt to get the girl's attention.

Taylor started and looked at the Wards leader. "Huh?"

Weld gave her a concerned look. "You were asked about your powers."

Taylor looked at Flechette, who now that Alex thought about it, also looked kinda familiar, and the other Ward gave a small, easy to miss shrug. Taylor turned back to the crowd. "I, um, can't say yet. It's a secret until my reveal."

The girl that had asked widened her grin. "Makes sense."

"So, how often do you guys go out and fight bad guys!?" Anna asked, bouncing in place.

Flechette chuckled and answered in Lily's voice. "We go on patrol fairly often, though it's rare for the Wards to go into combat. We're supposed to call it in, and keep people safe while we wait for the authorities. Every now and then things happen and we have to step in, but those are the exception rather than the rule."

Anna and a few of the kids (and teenagers, and adults that should have known better) asked more excited questions, but any question that was about 'Phase' was fielded by Lil-Flechette or by the Tour Guide, giving Taylor no opportunity to answer any of the questions directed at her. Not that she looked like she wanted to answer, she was too busy giving everyone furtive glances.

The rest of the tour was a blur. Alex's thoughts were a jumbled mess, he let Anna's excited babbling wash over him as he tried to work through the conundrum.

Taylor was a Cape.

But, somehow, through some great cosmic joke, she was also a beaten down bullying victim.

Lily was probably a cape.

Taylor had some beef with her, and judging by the vindictive smile she'd had that one time they'd run into Weld and Reynard, she had a beef with all the Wards.

What had the tour guide called Taylor? Phase?

She had been at the school for a month, why hadn't the Protectorate done its usual shindig? If Tayl–Phase was a new Ward, then this was the most anemic Ward reveal ever, she'd had no costume, hell, if anything, she'd put actual effort into looking worse than she did at school.

Where were the rumors to build up hype? The 'leaks' of work in progress concept art? Where was the big press conference with highly curated 'Journalists' to throw softball questions with prewritten politically correct bullshit for answers?

No, something was off.

Doing what little research he could did not shine a light on the issue either. There was nothing on 'Phase', nothing official anyways. The Boston Protectorate official PHO account, as well as the accounts of every 'Hero' and Ward were all unusually silent, even when people pinged them directly.

There was an 'Unannounced Ward' thread sitting at forty pages of mostly obvious PRT shills talking shit, along with a plague of locked threads with plenty of deleted posts, thread and multi-day bans. It took two hours before Alex was able to find a new thread about Phase. The original post mentioned that she'd exploded on an earlier tour, talking shit about the Protectorate and Wards, and about how the Protectorate hid malfeasance, about how she'd been forced to join the Wards against her will.

Two minutes later the thread was locked and the original post was deleted.

Alex sat back and thought.

Taylor was a Cape. She seemingly didn't want to be a cape, or at least, not a cape for the Protectorate.

She was a Ward, but held herself away from the Wards and was actively hostile to other Wards.

Taylor was a Cape.

But she was also a lonely, hurt girl that would sit in the corner and read The Princess Bride rather than risk talking to people.

Taylor was a Cape, but people didn't really get a choice about getting superpowers, as far as Alex knew. She couldn't be blamed for that, especially when she was a Cape against her will.

But she was still a Cape.

Alex's resolve to stop trying to become Taylor's friend lasted until the next day, when he saw that she'd gotten her little smirk back, a little smirk strangely laced with anxiety.

It looked so much like Anna's little smirk whenever she got one over him, and he hated seeing it tainted with fear. She should have a smile that brightened the whole room. Maybe be a motormouth that didn't know when to shut up about the latest thing that struck her fancy.

She shouldn't be this angry, awful shrew pushing people away.

"Anger is merely pain wearing a disguise." His dad's voice said in the back of his mind, and Alex could not help the long suffering sigh that passed through his lips.

He took his seat next to Taylor, and sat a half inch closer to being in front of her at lunch. She'd get curious and say something to him eventually. And when she did, maybe they could have a chat about why the Earth Bet version of the Princess Bride was the clearly superior one.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

There are no words to describe my happiness that this updated again. Good to see Taylor still ruining all of the PRT's plans to get her socializing through completely reasonable means.

One has to wonder what the PR guys were thinking when they agreed to let Taylor participate on another tour after the trainwreck that was the last one, but I guess they needed to get Taylor exposed to different people to wash out the first tour incident.

For Lily I am sorry to say this but Connie is the closet thing Taylor has to a friend in the Wards despite your best efforts.

A flick of my thumb brought up some of the historical footage from PHO of the Brockton Bay Wards getting into fights with the local gangs. Time to make sure their Youth Guard rep was aware of their escapades.

Click to shrink...

I can just imagine the scene:

Aegis was happy today as he addressed his fellow Wards, "Its been a rough two months and I know everyone has been a little tense due to the Youth Guard investigations, but that over and we can finally get back out there and start making a difference again."

Upon finishing his little speech the mask up buzzer sounded as a blandly dressed Youth Guard rep walked in.

"Ah your all still here that makes what I need to do so much simpler, as of this moment all Wards activities are suspended until the completion of an official Youth Guard investigation."

Aegis stared at the man and sputtered, "But we just got through an investigation what do you mean there is another one?!"

"There have been complaints to my department regarding undocumented encounters with some of the local gangs, and as protocol dictates any undocumented encounters must be investigated to ensure the safety of the local Wards."

Aegis groaned in frustration, "And how long will this 'investigation' take."

The rep shrugged, "Standard procedure states that at minimum one week should be spent on investigations to ensure that there are no unknown issues."

"One week isn't that bad," Aegis said somewhat hopefully.

"You misunderstand, its one week of investigations per incident, and your department has dozens of such incidents so at minimum the time set for the investigation is set to a year and a half," the rep clarified.

"A year and a half!"

"Yes exactly, now if you excuse me I have a lot of work that needs doing and I can't spend my whole day in here," with that said the rep turned and left the Wards' room.

Standing there silently for a moment Aegis turned back to look at his team, specifically to stare at Ampere who is the one most likely to blame for the situation.

Ampere for her part at least had the common decency to look ashamed for what her actions had inadvertently caused, unlike Sophia who as far as Aegis is aware still hasn't gotten done with her on going investigation following the Phase Incident.

After the moment of dissapointed silence it was Dennis who spoke up first, "Guess I will go get out the boardgames again?"

Mumbling in agreement the rest of the Wards followed him back into the common room.

 

[Ina_Meishou]

It would be kind of amusing to see Taylor go to trial for her crime of heroing outside her PRT contract.

"Your honor, this young woman is accused of recklessly preventing a robbery, and unlawfully stopping an assault."

"Pardon?"

"Er, of doing these things without proper authorization per her contract."

"I see. And Miss Hebert. Can you explain why you did such a thing rather than simply act within your role as a Ward?"

"I didn't want to join the Wards at all, after some Wards tried to kill me and the PRT covered it up."

"Ah, Miss, you must understand that some danger is present when bringing in villains, and that can't really be used to..."

"I was never a villain, I didn't even have powers. They tried to kill me in their civilian identities, at school."

"...This is going to be one of those days isn't it..."

Realistically I doubt it would go that far. The PRT is more likely to try backroom legbreaking and threats than actually risking a trial. But still, it would be hilarious.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

This has the same energy as Taylor openly reading Catch 22 in Implacable. Also it would a good way to make what the others are hoping to be a fun team building experience and turning it on its head and making everyone feel uncomfortable for the rest of the night.

Click to shrink...

Or even have the realization happen later:

Omake- The Cooler Queen.

Weld wasn't sure why Taylor dug the baseball and glove out of the Wards' sport gear for her latest round of Common Room PR tour duty. When one of the tourists asked if Phase liked baseball the girl just shrugged and said it was something she started to pass the time. At least Taylor caught her latest bounce and put the ball into the glove when a group walked in.

Now if only he could place the song Taylor was whistling when she did her solo game of catch...

----

Armstrong sighed as he recognized the ring from his phone as O'Hannon on the line, with another PR emergency. He picked up immediately.

"I'm going to need another open ended overtime authorization." The voice coming over the line sounded both angry and resigned in equal measures.

Armstrong went with his most likely source of PR headaches, "Phase?"

O'Hannon snorted, "Who else? I was trying to do interest pieces, implying Phase liked Baseball. Steering discussions into debates about which team she'd support. Only for someone on PHO to notice something. Every hear about a film called "The Great Escape"?"

Armstrong frowned, something tickling at the back of his mind. Only to suck in his breath as the information came forth. "Isn't that the one..."

O'Hannon finished the thought, "With a mass Allied POW escape from a German prison camp? Got it in one. Phase has been whistling the show's theme tune and the ball bouncing? The signature move of the film's star! PHO already made the connection and asked where her escape tunnels were. I've got God's own shitstorm to deal with, because if she is the chief Allied POW, then we are"

Armstrong finished this time, "Her Nazi guards. Right, get your people on this. I'll find somewhere in the budget to cover for their pay, somehow."

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Many (Failed) Attempts at Team Building


Weld was once again regretting his position as Wards team leader, truly anything could have been better than dealing with the mess he found himself in now. At least Director Armstrong was in the same position as him when it came to this so at least he could take some reassurance that he wouldn't have to do this alone.

"Are you sure this is the best idea sir, its been over a month now and Phase still hasn't opened up to any of us forcing her into these situations certainly won't help any," Weld said to the Director.

Director Armstrong sighed before answering, "It doesn't matter if I think it is a good idea or not, but both Watch Dog and the Vegas department have managed to kick up enough fuss over the Phase situation there isn't much I can do about it. Best to get it over with and hope that it doesn't damage what progress we have made to much when its over."

Nodding Weld picked up the document from the desk before making his way out of the office. All the while debating with himself over how to best tell the unwilling Ward about the new mandatory 'team building exercises' sent in from the main offices. Flipping through the list of required activities Weld could only hope the damage wouldn't be as severe as Taylor's disastrous first PR tour. Ah who is he kidding this is going to suck and there is nothing he could do about it.

---

Attempt 1 Trust Falls:

"Umm, Taylor your supposed to fall back so I can catch you," Roulette said to the girl was standing as straight as a board.

The girl in question looked at the other ward before responding, "Oh I know."

"Okay, then why haven't you?"

"Because I don't trust you," Taylor said while looking the other girl dead in the eye.

Meanwhile in the background Weld could only sigh and shake his head.

---

Attempt 2 Karaoke Night:

"Hey Taylor I was looking over the song you picked out for us and its apparently all instrumental," Lily said to her duet partner for this bout of team building.

"So it is," was the only response.

"Okay then are you going to pick another or..."

"No."

Watching the scene from the sidelines Weld once again regretted the choices that lead him here.

---

Attempt 3 Sharing Circle:

"Okay Taylor its your turn anything you want to share with the group," Weld asked the girl.

"Last person I shared secrets with spread them to the entire student body at my old school as a means to isolate me, so yeah not making that mistake again," was the girl's rather venomous reply.

"Wait was it the same girl who you know," Roulette asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Yes actually how did you know," Taylor said with false surprise.

"It was obvious in hindsight."

Weld once again determined that he hated whoever thought this was a good idea.

---

Attempt 4 Buddy System:

"Hey Connie weren't you partnered up with Taylor for this," Weld asked the tinker who was silently working on some gadget on her desk.

"Yep," was her only reply before getting back to her work.

"So where is she then, you two are supposed to remain together," Weld said felling is annoyance start to rise.

"She said she wanted to be alone," said the tinker as if that explained everything.

"The purpose of this activity is to build trust among teammates and you can't do that if Taylor isn't here," Weld explained to his teammate.

"And what teammate would I be if I didn't trust my partner to be left on her own," Connie shot back.

Upon hearing the girl's reply Weld could only scream internally at his situation.

---

Aftermath:

Weld sighed with relief after the end of the last 'team building exercises,' finally after two days of dealing with Taylor's noncompliance it was finally over. As soon as he began to relax he felt a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his Wards phone he saw a new message from Director Armstrong detailing another list of mandatory activities, along with a rather short apology from the man himself.

Reading through the list Weld felt his body slump to the floor before letting loose a primal scream of frustrations towards the heavens for their latest bout of cruelty.

---

A.N.: Just something I wrote while sick hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Please Explain


"Would you please explain exactly what the fuck happened," Director Armstrong growled out to Nebula.

While many would believe such a tone would be out of character for the famously friendly man, but they would also have to recall that Armstrong is the director who has to deal with the combination of Accord, Blasto, and The Butcher in the same city, and has held his position for years despite that. Normally he would reserve such a tone for the actual villains he has to deal with but today after what Nebula pulled he felt it appropriate.

Nebula gulped before moving to try and explain himself, "I was only doing my duty inregards to a potential Master/Stranger threat against one of our Wards."

"Yes I read your report, but please explain why that duty includes attacking said Ward without provocation when she stepped in the base."

"Sir, I was informed earlier today that the Ward known as Phase was acting out of character in her civilian identity. Knowing what little we do about her power I believed containing her before she had time to react was the best option, unfortunately she reacted faster than expected and fled before anyone else could stop her."

"And what exactly was this strange behavior that warranted you to call a Master/Stranger emergency against her," Armstrong asked glaring intensely at the hero.

"While on patrol Wards team leader Weld spotted Phase pause suddenly on her way back from school and begin smiling without reason. I believed this was significantly out of character to warrant a low level Master/Stranger evaluation as a precaution," Nebula explained while doing his best to meet the director's gaze and failing.

"She smiled? You called a Master/Stranger emergency because she smiled?" Armstrong asked in bewilderment.

"Based on her previous behavior and interactions with the other Wards I believed that I was within reason to be suspicious."

"So your telling me that you thought it was a good idea to attack a Ward because she was simply having a good day, a Ward mind you is only a parahuman because she was attacked by two other Wards, a Ward that is now missing because she was attacked by yet another member of our organization," Armstrong's tone was cold but Nebula was able to see his body tremble with rage.

"Sir I was only doing what I thought was best I didn't mean to..," Nebula didn't get to finish his sentence before Armstrong raised a hand to silence him.

"No, let me explain to you what you did, you were informed of potentially strange behavior that could just as easily have been explained as a girl having a good day, but instead of simply waiting for more information or asking her yourself you immediately jump to calling a Master/Stranger threat and attempted to capture a Ward with the flimsiest of justifications. And because of that we know have to deal with a runaway Ward, who not only believes that our organization is out to get her but also has the justification of being attacked by a senior Protectorate member after I specifically promised that girl that such an act wouldn't happen. Worse yet due to her anti-thinker power we currently have no means of tracking her since she ditched her Wards phone after leaving the building, as well as no means to actually return her to the building if we manage to find her due to her power."

"If I may interject sir, the fact that she fled could prove that she is under the influence of another parahuman," Nebula tried to reason.

"No she isn't, and I know his because the moment I heard what happened I sent a message over to Watchdog just in case, and while they can't target Ms. Hebert directly they can still confirm that there is no human master operating in Boston or the surrounding area."

Nebula paled at the director's words and there implication. Calling a Master/Stranger test on a Ward was always a big deal, but calling a false one and attacking said Ward because of it was significantly worse, because for all the complaints about Master/Stranger protocols they were still a serious deal and the organization as a whole didn't take kindly to false alarms.

"Sir, I didn't mean for it to get this out of hand if you give me a chance I can..."

"Do nothing, you are official suspended until we can resolve the issue you have created, and for both our sakes hope it is resolved sooner rather than later."

With nothing left to say Nebula left the room without protest. Now alone Director Armstrong thought about what to do, already he sent out agents and other Protectorate members to try and track down Taylor but without thinker support the search was slow. Sighing to himself Armstrong dreaded the reaction of the Youth Guard, already James was making noises and calling his superiors about the situation, not to mention the other directors once they heard of this while he hated to think it many of the more hardline directors would see this as an opportunity to get the uncooperative girl under their thumb, immediately the Vegas director and Piggot sprung to mind due to their personal issues with the girl. But above all Armstrong worried about Taylor herself, this exact scenario was what he feared coming to pass after inducting Taylor into the Boston department if they couldn't bring her back soon either Accord and his Ambassadors would get her, or worse The Teeth might find her first.

Already he could feel a headache forming, because even if they did manage to find her they had no means of bringing her back if she refused, and at the moment she has no reason to trust any of them. The only option they had at potential containment was to use tasers and even then that was a long shot based on vague assumptions about her breaker state by some of the scientists down in power testing. Slumping in his seat Armstrong sent a message to his secretary to bring up some coffee he felt like this was going to be a long night.

---

A.N: A little omake based on if the Protectorate jumped the gun when Taylor was caught smiling after getting the idea to become a vigilante. Anyways let me know what you all think.

 

[SotF]

One idea that hit me when considering that they're dealing with someone their main means of understanding don't work on who can also walk through walls...

A Glimpse Past A Phase...

Glimpse felt sick as he wandered the eerily silent halls of what had been the facilities of the Boston PRT.

One could argue that they had been lucky to have survivors, any survivors, due to other obligations at the time...two wards were still there, one having been home with an upset stomach and the other had been at a family funeral three states away...their remaining protectorate member had been sitting on one of the criminals captured during transfer.

There was little that could be seen of the violence that occurred when they pushed to far.

He couldn't understand why they didn't realized that they'd gone to far to push the girl into doing what they wanted, and she'd decided that the only option was direct retaliation.

Someone who can walk through walls was bad enough for either containing or just keeping out, but add in the anti-thinker part...the teams had little warning because someone who can just waltz into military bases until she got what she wanted combined with a lack of knowledge about what her limits were.

Someone who viewed the PRT and Protectorate as enemies, and anyone associated there were...

He shuddered while looking at the newspapers in the lobby. She'd proceeded back to Brockton Bay and continued the carnage after seeming to finish with Boston's targets.

Several people had died in their sleep, never realizing when she took her revenge, others through the initial rampage with grenades and knives...part of him was grateful that her inexperience hadn't made things worse as she hadn't managed to fully set up the mines placed outside to deal with any that fled the building.

He tried to keep everything in his head as the color began to fade from the world, the first sign of his powers reach ending...

An announcement on the news about the parahuman who did it taking over a TV station and making an announcement before ending herself...

The blinding headache flooded through him and he fought to keep from vomiting while the world faded.

His eyes were watering and sticking, prompting him to reach up and realize that there was blood there as he forced himself to breathe, trying to force himself to remember even as the memories of his powers use began to flicker in his memories, fading into the mists of dreams.

Only a moment later, Glimpse lost his battle with what had once been his lunch while only the slightest glimpse of the future remained for him to try writing down for his bosses in WEDGDG...

He regretted the suggestion to try working around Phase's protections, he regretted the attempt to do so by using his talents to glimpse at it.

By the time he got control of himself back, he only remembered enough for four little words...the merest glimpse of a dream. But one major statement as he tried to remember what, exactly had been so horrific in the vision he sought.

Do not push her...

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Seeing Red

*Warning mentions of suicide*


Emma slumped as she walked through the halls of Winslow ready for another day wallowing in her own misery and mistakes. Glancing back and forth Emma saw the same hallways she always saw for the past year and a half since coming here, old rotted with numerous gang signs marking the walls the only thing different was the fact that Taylor wasn't here anymore. Not that it mattered to anyone other than Emma most people hadn't cared about Taylor when she was here and actively being tormented in front of them, so asking them to care about her being gone just wasn't happening. Emma actually recalled some of her old hanger ons starting some rumors that Taylor had finally killed herself, it almost made Emma want to laugh the thought that someone like Taylor would actually take her own life, no Taylor was stronger than that stronger than all of them, if she was going to commit suicide she would have done it already Emma knows how many dares she and Sophia had given her.

She sighed thinking back to it all before continuing on, it was lunch, and her mom 'forgot' to pack her something again. No that was a lie her mom didn't forget they were just avoiding each other since everything was revealed, unable to even look each other in the eye after her mom found out what she did to Taylor the girl who was like the niece she never had. It was amazing really how quickly she could go back to lying to herself even after everything, at least she could catch herself now and that was progress according to her new therapist.

Walking into the cafeteria she saw the mass of humanity crowded together, the various social circle ranging from gang kids to other less memoriable groups, and her old group her former hanger ons claiming a full table for themselves. As she was looking she saw the newest addition to Winslow, a security guard not one hired by the school but brought on by the insistence of the Youth Guard, since relying on the school to report on the actions of its two Wards clearly wasn't reliable.

Emma almost laughed again at the sight of them, of all the changes that could have been made that was it. No punishments for the people involved no criminal investigation into the school, and certainly no justice for Taylor. Hell from what she heard even Sophia's parole officer got off with a slap on the wrist for clearly not doing her job, she even kept her position of checking in with Sophia from what she heard, of course the woman no longer went to Emma for reports on Sophia's behavior now knowing just how much Emma had been lying to her about those.

Moving through the lunch line Emma grab whatever looked most edible, not caring which, the old Emma would have made a big deal about watching her figure or proper diet but she was well past caring about that at this point. Finding the closest empty seat away from most of the people Emma sat down, and tried to tune everything out.

Was this how Taylor felt, she thought all alone no one to talk to. No it isn't because I would have attacked her for daring to think she was allowed to eat in here with everyone else.

She briefly wondered if Gallant had heard anything back from Boston today, it had been almost two months since their conversation and still nothing from the other Wards about Taylor. She thought about contacting them herself but figured her actions wouldn't be appreciated over there, it wouldn't surprise her they probably heard about everything by now. It sickened her that she ever thought that Taylor would just accept her as a friend again after everything, she knew how bad trigger events where even now she still had nightmares about hers. Only now the roles were swapped she was no longer the victim but the one holding the knife against Taylor, only Taylor never screamed or cried like she did, she just stood silently as she carved away at her best friend with no one coming to help her until nothing was left, she usually woke up after that not even her mind giving her the mercy to stop before the dream was done.

The sound of another lunch tray hitting the spit next to her broke her out of her thoughts. Emma lifted her gaze from her food not having touched it yet and looked at the only person in the school who still associated with her, due to a lack of better options more than an actual sense of friendship. Madison for when Emma got booted out of her old group they kicked Madison out with her, and with Sophia now longer talking to her she ended up stuck with her.

"Jesus Emma what's gotten into you lately, you and Sophia still fighting?" Madison asked.

"No, we are not fighting just not talking to each other anymore," she said. She never really told Madison what happened but there were rumors, not that she paid attention to those things anymore.

"Well it's bumming me out so stop," the other girl said rudely.

God Madison disgusted her Emma thought to herself. She had no idea why Sophia even let her into the group in the first place without proving herself like Emma had and Taylor still needed to. At the time Emma had justified it as just keeping a placeholder for Taylor for when she finally showed some spine and fought back, they would kick Madison out and Taylor would have taken her place in their group. Of course that never happened, Taylor simply had to much integrity to ever stoop to their level she knew that now, but Madison was just a fucking parasite not a survivor like Taylor and certainly not a predator like Sophia. It made her sick thinking more on it, this bitch simply inserted herself in a place ment for Taylor and acted like she belonged there and they just fucking let her with her bullshit cutesy attitude to hide how much of a bitch she really is.

"Hey Emma guess what? I found out what happened to Hebert, apparently she is in some school up in Boston, from what I heard her dad fucking ditched her. Go riddance too if I was her parent I wouldn't want that freak around either," Madison said with a sneer.

In that moment everything stopped, Emma turned her head to look at Madison not noticing her power activate and showing her where to punch to break the other girl's nose.

"First her mom left her, and now her dad ditches her, I wonder if she will finally take the hint that no one wants her and finally do the world a favor and just kill herself to put us out of her misery you know."

Emma felt something break in her mind at Madison's words. How dare she, how fucking dare she say that about Taylor about Annette. She felt her breathing pick up as Madison's nervous system lit up like a Christmas tree in her vision empathizing weak points and old injuries. It was enough as Emma saw red and attacked.

The rest was a blur, at some point the security guard dragged her off Madison and called someone to come pick her up. She came to sitting in the back of one of the PRT's inconspicuous vechicles being driven to the main building to discuss her actions. She wasn't afraid, if Piggot wasn't willing to punish anyone for attempting to kill Taylor she certainly wouldn't lift a finger to do anything about her breaking some bitch's nose, hell she will probably be back in Winslow tomorrow like nothing happened, just like with Taylor.

---

A.N: Hey FirstSelector got a new one for you.

Anyways I decided to do an Emma omake this time, so let me know what you all think.

 

[Ashley9469]

Got an Omake here for you First. I was thinking what if Taylor said fuck it and left before vanishing into the wind and this was the result.

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■

♦Topic: Resignation
In: Boards ► Boston ► New Ward Announcement.

Phase (Original Poster)
Posted on January 6, 2011:

AN: Cross posted to Brockton Bay thread.

This will be my first and only post on this username for reasons that will become obvious.

While under normal circumstances I would be happy to announce my new position at a Ward of the PRT, It is with a heavy heart, but grim acceptance that I announce that due to the direct wilful actions of Director Kamil Armstrong (Protectorate Boston) and Director Emily Piggot (Protectorate Brockton Bay ENE) in the coverup of events of January 3rd 2011 at Winslow High School (Brockton Bay) and previous events, I hereby tender my direct resignation effective immediately from the PRT Wards program with cause.

On January 3, 2011 at approximately 7:45AM, upon arriving at Winslow High School, the Wards Emma Barnes(Amperage, Wards ENE) and Sophia Hess(Shadow Stalker, Probationary Wards ENE) in conjunction with Madison Clements (unpowered minion) shoved me in a locker filled with biohazardous waste before locking it closed behind me in the culmination of almost 2 years of sustained torment both in and out of school resulting in my Trigger Event.

All attempts to report my situation to the authorities were met with outright dismissal and threats in the case of Winslow High, and outright ignorance in the case of police.

Upon awakening in the hospital, and agreeing to join the Wards, it quickly came to my attention that the Wards Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess were using their position as wards to strong-arm the staff to sacrifice a single unpowered girl to keep them happy.

Attempting to bring the situation to the attention of the Director Piggot was met with outright dismissals, and a transfer to Boston in an attempt to remove the victim from the jurisdiction of the crime so that she would not have to remove two of her Wards from active duty.

It is due to these actions by the PRT, and the repeated wilful actions of corruption and malfeasance in all parties involved, that I remove myself from participation in an organization of such criminal actions, that constitute direct violations of their founding charter, and operational mandate, as to render them little more than a domestic terrorist organization.

With regards, Taylor Hebert, (Independent Hero)

The basic premise is that Taylor grabs her stuff, throws the wards crap in a trashcan, and just walks right out through a wall into the night and posts the notice that morning once they start looking for her with thinker powers.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Anti-Bullying


Taylor grumbled to herself as she took her seat in the auditorium with the rest of the students for some kind of mandatory presentation the school was doing today. She would have tried to skip by hiding the bathrooms until it was over, but unfortunately it seemed that Lily was under orders to make sure she showed up to whatever this was. So this was probably another scheme to get her to agree to join the team or something like that, however she had to hand it to whoever came up with this idea they really up their game with this by dragging the whole school into the PRT's needy bullshit.

As she thought this the lights in the auditorium dimmed and Taylor was sorely tempted to just take out her phone and finish a few more chapters of her latest book instead of listening to whatever this is. Unfortunately for her before she could a young woman walked onto the stage and the ear piercing feedback from the microphone broke her train of thought.

Deciding to actually pay attention to what was going on down there, mostly to glare at whoever interrupted her reading, Taylor saw the unpleasantly familiar face of the woman who ran the Ward's PR events for Boston. Taylor didn't remember the woman's name off the top of her head mostly because the only times she met the woman was when she came to Boston, and the other was when she showed up to talk (berate) to her after what she did during the tour.

'So that's what they're doing,' Taylor thought to herself while shaking her head. It was honest in hindsight with most of the 'team' being absent today with only Lily, Reynold, and herself being at school today.

Thinking this Taylor shot a glance to where Lily was seating nearly right behind her, 'Probably to make sure I don't try and ditch this trainwreck halfway through.' Taylor thought with a grimace.

"And now may I introduce the Boston Wards," the PR woman shouted into the mic with false cheer as the familiar forms of Taylor's 'teammates' came onstage with much fanfare from the rest of the student body.

Taylor watched as the team took their positions in various poses for what looked like a rendition of their lunchbox cover. However a closer inspection showed that there were three very obvious gaps in their lineup, which was one more than the absentee Wards.

'Oh god they already worked me into their god damn PR routine didn't they,' Taylor thought while resisting the urge to facepalm.

Luckily or rather unluckily Taylor was broken out of this train of thoughts by Weld's voice coming over the speaker system.

"Hello Saint George High school, today me and my fellow Wards would like to talk to all of you about a very important topic, bullying." Weld said in an even tone as a slideshow started up behind him, and while Taylor couldn't exactly make out his facial features from.where she was sitting she would put money down on him looking directly at her.

'So an anti-bullying seminar they are really doing it,' Taylor thought, 'yeah I mean go ahead blast my experiences to the whole world why don't you.'

It wasn't like Taylor had never heard of anti-bullying seminars or even the Wards doing then from time to time, but it was always something she put down as something that happened at other schools that weren't named Winslow. Apparently Arcadia had one at least once a year if she remembered correctly, of course thinking this made Taylor realize that Emma and Sophia would have been apart of such events and to say the irony left a bitter taste in her mouth would be an understatement.

Deciding not to participate in this farce any longer Taylor pulled out her phone and started scrolling through PHO. All the while Weld and the other Wards went over what Taylor assumed were the standard talking points, see something say something, tell an adult or teacher, and of course don't react, to them as if any of those things actually worked becaused news flash she tried and look where she is now.

Before Taylor knew it Weld got through the last of the slideshow to the obligatory applause of the rest of the school, but instead of walking off stage so Taylor could get on with the rest of her day he did something that Taylor really should have expected by this point.

"Any questions?" He asked as countless hands shot up, mostly to get a chance to talk to an actual hero rather then out of any care bullying or its victims. Because for as much Taylor hated to admit it the Principle was being honest when he said he had a zero tolerance policy on bullying, hell the kids at this school had probably never seen someone being intentionally shoved around in the hall much less what an actual bullying campaign loomed like.

Weld made a an act of looking across the auditorium before his metal eyes settled in Taylor's direction and a pit of dread opened up in her stomach.

'Oh he wouldn't dare,' she thought. But it made sense get her here talk about a topic close to home, and have Lily in the back to let them know exactly where she was sitting so they can go through with their fucked up public therapy bullshit or whatever the hell the plan was here.

"Ah yes you in the back with the curly black hair and glasses," Weld called out giving way to many descriptions about her as all the eyes turned in her direction.

'Welp no use pretending he was talking about someone else now is there,' Taylor thought as she stood up and a mic was handed to her by some rude supervisor.

Sighing to herself Taylor took the mic with a grunt, well if she is doing this might as well make them pay for it she thought before speaking. "Okay fine my question is do any of you up there actually believe the bullshit you're saying or did whoever write your scripts just tell you to say it and you didn't ask any questions?"

The entire room went quiet at her question and Taylor was able to make out a faint grimace on Weld's features from her position.

"Well you see bullying is a complicated topic and..." Weld tried to get something out, and Taylor was almost disappointed she had thought by now they would have expected this from her.

"Then why are you doing this here? And not say a school that actually has a bullying problem, is it because you know they won't care about what you have to say, or doign this at a lower income school just doesn't give the same PR boost as it does here?" Taylor drove in harder she wanted to make whoever came up with this regret it, be it Gauss, Weld, or fucking Armstrong himself.

"Well the Wards and Protectorate have a limited amount of time to do these events and..." Weld once again tried to get out.

"So people in these schools who are probably being bullied just don't matter then? Because let me tell you this what you said up there about dealing with bullies talking to a teacher or getting help doesn't work, and I know because I tried it and it was always my word against theirs and there was more of them then me so guess who got punished for attention seeking behavior." Taylor asked mockingly, she was furious how dare they think she wanted this to put under the spotlight like this.

"Most people like that just want a reaction out of you so ignoring them should make them lose interest." Roulette spoke up for Weld who looked like he was about to melt.

"Nope that doesn't work either, ignoring them just makes them escalate to worse things." Taylor bit back.

"If that is the case I am sure a teacher will step in and do something," Weld said trying desperately to regain control of the situation.

"Wrong, because by that point you already asked them and they put you down as a liar or they aren't paid enough to actually do anything about it. So you go on ignoring them and they keep escalating: fighting back just gets you punished so why bother? Until eventually they escalate so far and you end up in the god damn hospital after what they did. I know most people would think that by that point surely something will be done, and I will admit I hoped that too, for a moment that is. So you know what did happen?" Taylor heard silence which she took as her cue to go on, "Absolutely nothing happened. The ones who put you in the hospital get off without even a slap on the wrist and you get shipped off to a different school district to avoid having to punish anyone or deal with the lawsuit. That is what happens. Be inconvenient enough and you get swept under the rug for your troubles."

Taylor was nearly panting now it hurt to let everything out like that and she knew she would regret it once she calmed down but they fucking deserved it. She took one more look at Weld before handing her mic back to the silent supervisor and sat back down.

Before Weld or any of the other Wards could dig themselves any deeper the same woman from the beginning stepped onto the stage, probably to end this tragedy of a Q and A session.

"Unfortunately that is all the time we have today thank you Saint George Highschool for having us with you today," she said with a level of cheer that sat at odds with the mood in the auditorium.

As the Wards were ushered off the stage the rest of the students made way to leave. Luckily for Taylor due to her position near the back she was one of the first groups to leave which save her from most of the stares that followed her out after her outburst. Deciding she might as well not bother with the rest of her classes today she made her way to her locker to gather up her supplies and make for the exit.

As she made her way out of the building she spotted Lily approaching from the side making a directly beeline towards her.

"Taylor we need to talk," she shouted towards her but Taylor just ignored her a kept walking towards the doors.

"Taylor please," Lily begged, but Taylor wasn't listening she had enough emotions for one day and was done.

Brushing past Lily Taylor walked down the steps at the front of the school and made her way to one of the bus stops. She had new stash for her vigilante supplies a few stops down and she wasn't doing anything else today so might as well start her patrol early.

Sitting down on the bus she open her phone to see numerous messages from the rest of the Wards, the PR manager, and Armstrong himself requesting a meeting at the earliest convience.

'Yeah no,' Taylor thought, 'they put her on the spot like that now they have to deal with the consequences.'

Upon thinking this Taylor had another idea and seeing she had some time before her stop she requested the forms from Jim about a risk to her secret identity. In the mean time she opened one of the PHO threads dealing with the local news only to see some new ones already blowing up about the Ward's latest PR failure.

Smiling to herself Taylor accessed one of the threads, 'might as well fan the flames while she has some time on her hands,' she thought as the bus drove off.

---

A.N: Hey FirstSelector have a new omake for your and let me know what you all think.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Backstage:

"Well, that was a disaster," groaned Weld.

"And whose fault is that, oh fearless leader?" Snapped Connie, her frustration evident.

"Hey, don't look at me," said Weld defensively, "it wasn't my idea. I was told to call on Taylor, and I assumed she had been briefed with a softball question or two, maybe about experiences with bullying as a Case 53."

All eyes turned to the PR coordinator, who wilted under the intense glares of the assembled Wards. "Taylor wasn't briefed. We expected she'd be uncooperative, and didn't want to give her hours to come up with the most damaging question she could think of. Given the damage she did off the cuff, I stand by that decision."

Weld sighed. "So you dropped the ball, cornered her, and got outplayed by a teenager making it up on the spot. Wonderful."

"In the interest of learning from todays disaster," interjected Roulette, "why don't we go do these events at schools that actually have bullying problems?"

The coordinator snorted dismissively. "To avoid outbursts like that. I'm with PR, not Health and Social Services. The logistics are also easier to arrange for the school you actually attend, but that's minor in comparisson."

Stunned silence greeted this cynical admission, only to be interrupted by Lily bursting in. "Taylor just took off, and I don't think she's going home."

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

"In the interest of learning from todays disaster," interjected Roulette

Click to shrink...

Debrief:

Armstrong knew he would never trigger. Because Kamil hadn't spontaneously gained the ability to choke the PR Coordinator from across the briefing room table.

"So, as an opener, did you or did you not read Phase's file? Specifically the parts related to how severely she was bullied in her prior school? A bullying campaign so severe she Triggered?" Armstrong was surprised. By rights he should be thundering to shake the room and have Gauss physically restrain him from leaping over the table to manually strangle the woman in front of him. Instead his words were measured and his tone level. Later he would reflect the outward calm probably emboldened her to say something so stupid.

"Of course I did. That was the point, to get a real response out of her for both the event and to help her connect with her fellow Wards!" Karen actually looked affronted, and left Armstrong momentarily speechless.

Gauss was quick to pick up the slack, "So, your brilliant idea was to ambush a girl that has been socially and physically bullied by putting her, her pain, and her FUCKING TRIGGER on the spot, in public, using our Wards to do it?!"

Karen nodded, "Of course, now that she's opened up to her fellow Wards, I'm sure she'll get over her hangups and get with the program."

Armstrong had to quickly grab Gauss from launching over the table, "YOU FUCKING IDIOT! YOU COULDN'T HAVE DRIVEN HER FURTHER FROM OUR WARDS IF ACCORD HANDED YOU A PLAN TO DO IT!"

Karen backed up, looking around and the lack of support drove home just how little support her brainwave had.

After making sure Gauss wasn't going to beat this woman to death, however satisfying, Armstrong took control of the meeting. "Your words show you have no business being near a Ward. Don't worry about clearing out your desk. As of right now you are to be checked for Master Influence. Should it turn out this level of stupidity is all you? Then we'll consider charges for endangering a Ward's civilian identity."

Karen looked confused as two PRT troopers grabbed her arms, "Risking her identity? I just had Weld pick her out of a question!"

Gauss glared at the woman, "You had Weld pick out Phase straight away, one of the few people not trying to get his attention. That has already been noted and commented on. Your former colleagues are doing overtime to spin this. We are probably going to have to have Weld go out and look like an ass. Apologize and say given the subject matter he picked a shy looking student and didn't mean for things to get this emotionally raw. Which the Youth Guard is going to love, with them already incensed over your PR stunt targeting Phase."

After the former PR Coordinator was escorted out, O'Hannon turned to Armstrong. "We are going to have to send the Wards out on more of these anti-bullying campaigns, to schools where they are lower income and have significant problems. Because Phase just publicly called us out, and not doing it will tell everyone she was right."

Armstrong rubbed his face with a hand, "and it isn't going to have as much impact, because everyone will know we are doing it because we were called out. And that not doing it is worse. SHIT."

Gauss sighed, "And the Wards aren't going to like or trust your people for a good while O'Hannon. That woman just showed them they can't trust PR to have their backs. That is going to be a long time to rebuild for the entire team, not just Phase."

O'Hannon nodded, "I know, I got an all hands meeting after this to drive that point home. Fuck a duck, this probably damaged PR the least with Phase, only because she doesn't trust any of us at all."

Yeah I know I was just pointing out that Lily considers the Protectorate 'home' while Taylor clearly considers it anything but 'home'.

Click to shrink...

"Keep your shirt on Warden, I mean Weld. I made it back in time for the nightly bed check."

 

[The Dude]

We are probably going to have to have Weld go out and look like an ass. Apologize and say given the subject matter he picked a shy looking student and didn't mean for things to get this emotionally raw.

Click to shrink...

"Extra! Extra! Wards leader admits to profiling at local highschool."

Yeah Weld isn't gonna have a good time due to this, especially since he already has to deal with the whole negative impact of being a case 53.

Click to shrink...

Weld: "No."

PR Team: "What do you mean no?"

Weld: "No. En-oh. An adverb used to express refusal, denial, disbelief, emphasis, or disagreement. In my case, all of the above."

PR Team: "Don't be obtuse, that wasn't what I meant and you know it."

Weld: "After the stunt you just had me pull, which I am very much not happy about if that wasn't already clear, I didn't feel it was safe to assume. Especially given that you're now asking me to fall on my sword to cover up a mess you made."

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Well that runs into the same problem Armstrong and Guass have when trying to get her to do anything Wards related. That being Taylor can't participate in most things until after power testing which is still completely voluntary. I can't imagine that a Wards camp even one for unruly Wards would be allowed to operate outside of the program's own safety requirements. And another reason being that Taylor would just straight up refuse to participate in Wards summer camp because of her current predisposition to any Wards activities to begin with.

Click to shrink...

Taylor: "So, you want to ship me to a remote, isolated area with a bunch of would-be murderers, plus their cleaners, fixers, and enablers. How stupid and/or suicidal do you think I am?"

PRT Agent: "This is a PRT-run camp for Wards-"

Taylor: "Exactly what I just said. I already survived one murder attempt by Wards, I'm not going to hand you another shot on a silver platter."

Jim: "I believe my client has made her position quite explicit, and this camp isn't compulsory under her contract or any applicable regulations. If that is all, we will be leaving."

 

[iamnuff]

I don't normally read Omakes (they tend to vary in quality and tone wildly compared to the original story) but the idea of some idiot trying to get Taylor to sit in on a school bullying seminar has dug into my brain.

Anybody remember Taylor's 'Drugs are great' speech from the wards days?

"Don't bother telling the teachers, or your parents, or the police. Nobody gives enough of a shit to stop it unless you trigger, in which case people will be tripping over themselves to pretend that they cared all along, because now that you have superhuman powers, you're useful, and they can try to turn you into a child-soldier."

"Uh, Phase, is there something you want to tell us?"

"No comment."

Although Skitter's take might well be "Not everybody gets parahuman powers from a traumatic event, so you might need to bring a gun to school. Sure, you'll get arrested but you're all minors so as long as you don't kill indiscriminately, probably just get juvie. Juvie probably won't be so bad. Especially if everybody knows what happened to the last person who fucked with you."

a bit more 'rule through intimidation and violence' than Phase would probably be comfortable with. Unlike her canon incarnation, she was never that person.

 

[libertinlary]

If this were a darker story, I'd be curious just how grim shit gets, given there is definitely a possibility there for if someone wanted to write an Omake using that idea.

Click to shrink...

I'll try my hand

PRT psych department special case 3191 records
date (redacted)
Time 2 pm
Subject: Taylor, Hubert being informed about the passing of her father

taylor was brought into a meeting with director Armstrong
Armstrong : have a seat Ph.. taylor
Taylor Sits down at a side table Armstrong proceeds to walk away from a small cabinet located in the corner of the room after closing the door ( records show this was a cabinet containing numerous alcoholic beverages in the trashcan under the desk, set an empty bottle of Tennessee whiskey)
Armstrong seems to struggle to speak for a while ( not due to intoxication but trying to find the correct word to say) " Taylor I'm so sorry, however, is my duty to inform you that your father has passed we shall with your help begin planning a funeral and arraignments for travel "
Taylor proceeds to sit there for several seconds "is that it?"
Armstrong seems slightly confused for a few moments
Taylor proceeds to say the following " I do not see how this has anything to do with me"
Armstrong seems to be slightly struck, and says " Taylor…"
He's got interrupted by Taylor " can you stop being my father when he sold me off to you unless you plan to drag me down there I am not going"
Armstrong looks stunned and simply stares at Taylor who walked out of the room"

Several attempts were made by numerous members of protectorate staff, the wards, and even Jim to convince Taylor to go to the funeral eventually the funeral occurred without Taylor.

Psychological Analysis
Taylor seems to have completely dissociated from human contact entirely the amount of trauma that this represents has only been seen in the most severe cases of abuse however, since we do not have any records of Taylor, being abused by Danny Hubert we believe that Taylor has internalize deep-seated distrust of humanity itself, it is unknown if there's any possible way to restore any semblance of trust in someone who has been so utterly betrayed by the world.
Final note
is my personal opinion as head of the psychological department the damage done to phase is likely irreversible. It should be noted that previous cases like this usually end in mass slaughter of those who have caused damage up to and including the creation of ash beast - dr bright

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Omake: Please Explain 2 Electric Boogaloo


Emma felt like vomiting as she listened to Armsmaster's report her breathing slowly becoming ragged as she processed what he said. It had come in yesterday from Boston, a false Master/Stranger warning had been called on Taylor and one of the Protectorate members attacked her causing her to flee and no one has seen her since. Boston sent out an alert to nearby departments after they couldn't find her after a few days of searching the city.

'It's all my fault, I did this, I ruined everything,' Emma thought to herself on repeat as Armsmaster continued to talk treating Taylor like she was some criminal to be caught.

"While not confirmed it is assumed Phase would return to Brockton if she isn't still hiding in Boston. Phase is to be considered potentially hostile to members of the Wards and Protectorate, if you do spot her call it in and wait for back up to arrive so she can be subdued," Armsmaster stated like he was going over what to do if they spotted Hookwolf on patrol.

It made her sick how Piggot and Armsmaster used the emergency to put the Wards back on patrol, calling all hands on deck as if they actually cared about what happens to Taylor. No it was just an excuse to get more boots on the ground, and the Youth Guard investigation put on hold. Apparently there was a clause that allowed Wards to be returned to duty in the case of an emergency and a runaway Ward certainly counted as one.

'If you hadn't pushed her down so much this wouldn't have happened you worthless monster. You hurt her so much that they thought her smiling was because of a Master, truly one for the record books you must be so proud just imagine what Auntie Annette would think,' Emma's thoughts relentlessly taunted her.

"... The exact nature of Phase's powers are unknown as are their limitations. Currently their is no known limit to her phasing, and it is assumed she possess an extra sensory element to her powers but no further reports have been made as well as a total lack of testing. But due to their potentially lethal applications it is advised that confrontation be avoided by any member of the Wards at all costs, if confrontation is inevitable maintain your distance and only engage at range. At this time no guaranteed counter measures exist so be advised," Armsmaster said like he already assumed things would turn violent if Taylor was ever found.

He was probably still sore about the sensitivity training and wanted to get back at Taylor for it. A feeling that was apparently shared by the rest of the Wards team by the way she saw them twitching with barely concealed excitement. They had been benched for a month now and finally they were gonna be let out again, and against the one who got them benched in the first place undoubtedly they wanted some payback as well.

It was Aegis who interrupted Armsmaster from continuing his slander against Taylor.

"Do we know if she has any goals in mind, or anywhere she will go in particular?"

"At the moment no, but she is on record for numerous complaints about certain members of this department," He looked directly at Emma as he said this he would have looked at Sophia too if she was here, but apparently an emrgency wasn't enough to end the investigation into her. "Other than that her father's house is under surveillance so we will know if she shows up there."

'They are wasting their time spying on Danny,' Emma thought but didn't voice. 'Taylor is certainly smart enough to know going there would be a bad idea, and isn't dumb enough to believe her worthless sack of shit father would help her. He never noticed what she and Sophia did to his own daughter for nearly two years, and his first action upon finding out was to get rid of Taylor.' It just made her blood boil thinking of that man to the point that the only person she hated more than Daniel Hebert was herself.

She was so lost in her thoughts of hatred and self-loathing she almost missed Armsmaster's next announcement.

"Additionally we are going to receive support from the Boston Department in tracking Phase. While their local search is still on going hey managed to spare two of their own Wards to aid in the search. The Wards who volunteered for the search are Flechette and Valve, they are on record as having the most positive relation with Phase and are here to aid us in potentially convincing her to come without issue. Their ETA is approximately twelve hours to finalize the temporary transfer. If there are any further questions speak now," Armsmaster finished flatly.

Now this caught Emma's attention, 'Best relationship with Taylor? Did this mean they were her friendship in Boston?'

A brief spark of happiness lit in Emma as she thought of what to ask them talk to them about Taylor, 'And ruin her friendship with them like you did before to keep her alone forever because you are too weak to stand seeing her happy?' The taunting voice in her mind returned reminding her of what she did.

'Shut up!' She thought back in anger, 'I am not like that anymore I won't hurt Taylor again.'

'Oh yes just like how letting Sophia have her fun was just toughening Taylor up so she can be your friend, and the locker was just a fun prank no harm done. You didn't realize you were hurting her then so how will you realize it now.'

Deciding not to have an argument with herself Emma did the only thing she could and went up to Armsmaster.

Armsmaster looked up from his tablet at her and asked in annoyance, "Ampere do you have any questions about the announcement?"

Emma steeled herself for what she was about to ask, "Yes, I would like to volunteer the search. I want to make things right with Phase so please just let me help."

Armsmaster looked back down towards his tablet before answering, "Your determination is admirable but unfortunately due to your past history with Phase it is believed that your presence during the search will only increase the risk of a violent altercation so it is best that you sit this out until the matter is resolved. If that is all I need to be going have a nice day."

And with that he left leaving Emma alone with her thoughts as her last hope of making this right slipped through her grasp and the voice in her mind laughed at her failure.

---

A.N: Well I finally got the inspiration to write a sequel to one of my older omakes. Not sure if I will follow it up again but if I do it will probably be a Danny or Flechette PoV omake cus I don't think it really works if I write it from Taylor's PoV but who knows I might. Anyways let me know what you think, and FirstSelector here is a new one for you.

 

[apeljohn]

Real Steel

"You know, Director, when Phase first showed up, I was worried she'd be a bad influence. She'd make the environment toxic, sow discord and doubt, turn our young heroes away from heroism...

"You'll be pleased to know I don't worry about that any more."

"That's good to hear, Weld. Does that mean that -"

"It means that I now think she's right, sir. Every ridiculous accusation that she spouted to justify her bad attitude? As far as I can tell, they were all true! Her loathing of the PRT and Protectorate? Justified. Her refusal to risk her life improving our image, when some of us used that image to get away with trying to murder her? Principled. More principled than either of us, when we were 'just obeying orders' to pressure her into shutting up and playing along."

"What are you saying, Weld?"

"I'm saying that either the Wards is a hero training programme or it's a weapons development programme with aggressive PR. It can't be both, because no true hero-in-training would stand for seeing their peers treated like things. I won't stand for it.

"By next Friday I want to see a written agreement that you'll leave Phase in peace and stop trying to shove her into costume. And I want to see measurable progress made in prosecuting Shadow Stalker and Ampere for their actions. Or I'll be resigning from the Wards programme as loudly as I can manage."

"What?! Weld, I can't promise those things! Even if I want to let Phase slope shoulders for the rest of her tenure, there's nothing to stop the Chief Director overruling me."

"You certainly can promise that you'll lay off Phase. You just have to be willing to resign in protest too. I respect you a lot, sir, but it's time to decide: are you a leader of heroes or a servant of bureaucrats?"

"...Anyway, crimes in Brockton Bay are well out of my jurisdiction. I don't have the leverage to interfere in Emily's investigation."

"Even though that investigation has a massive conflict of interest at the heart of it? Seems like the kind of thing Internal Affairs would be interested in. Or the District Attorney. Or, hell, even Congress. Have you actually tried to kick up a fuss? Taken any steps to stop the inevitable slow-walking? Or weren't you willing to burn that much political capital on one ornery Ward?"

"Weld!"

"You may be willing to wash your hands of what goes on in other branches, sir. I'm not. But maybe my resignation will give you a bit more of that leverage you needed?"

"Ah... I'm afraid you actually can't resign, Weld."

"...I beg your pardon, sir?"

"As a Case 53 deemed under-age, you're under PRT guardianship until you reach your majority. Just like... like..."

"Just like Phase. I see. Well, I guess she'll have some company the next time she refuses to participate. And I'm sure our other Case 53s will be fascinated to learn that they're viewed as conscript labour."

"Weld..."

"Although I've got to warn you, sir: if you think Phase has hard skin? She's got nothing on me."

---

Director Armstrong in this fic reminds me unfavourably of what Gilbert & Sullivan memorably called "apologetic statesman of a compromising kind". I've seen the archetype enough times in real-life management: they're your best friend until it would actually cost them income or influence, at which point they go selectively spineless.

He's very happy to tell Phase how he's absolutely on her side, and talks a good fight about all the pressure he's dealing with. But given that he's already passed on several very badly-thought-out orders - because heaven forfend he have to justify his lack of action to others! - it's kinda hard to see this as anything but window-dressing.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

From Lisa's internal monologue it sounded like she intends for a more under the table kind of deal where they don't officially work together but Lisa still feeds Taylor information in exchange for Taylor going after some of her villainous enemies, that way Taylor can still be a hero while Lisa also benefits.

Click to shrink...

The thing is? I can see Lisa taking the Protectorate wanting to exploit Taylor's powers for their benefit, personally. Since that is what her parents did after her own trigger. Enough that if Taylor pulled a runner, Lisa would offer her a place to crash.



Another Boston Tea Party

Taylor was actually on a run, having left her Ghost costume stashed. Not just for cover, but she'd read the PHO boards for Brockton. The damn Wards were sneaking out of lockdown! Just like before the adults allegedly "were doing all they could" and denying their Wards were actually doing it. And they had to be helping them or at least turning a blind eye, again.

So Taylor grabbed her running sweats and pounded pavement to burn out the rage and resentment in the ache of muscles. Hell it was good prep for her hobby. Like the PHO post parodying an Aleph Zombie movie said, "Vigilanteland Rule #1: Cardio".

The familiar girl waiting on the bench pulled Taylor up short however. She tried to remember strange capes that used Thinker powers on her.

The girl on the bench put away her phone. "Right, I'm guessing two things. One, you want things straight up. And two, based on how you came up the hill you figured out the shit happening in Brockton."

Taylor folded her arms, "Verthdani."

Verthdani leaned back, "Guess that answers if you notice when someone Thinks to hard in your direction. So do you prefer Ghost or Phase?"

The taller girl flopped onto the bench, "Taylor will do."

Lisa raised an eyebrow, "really?"

Talyor waved to the slush filled parking lot across from them. "Behold the field upon which I grow my fucks." Taylor took a swing from her water bottle, "Don't really have anyone in my life to protect with a stage name."

Verthdani held out her hand, "I used to be Sarah, but go by Lisa these days. And likewise."

Taylor shook it, "So, what brings you out here?"

Lisa sighed, "Can we move this indoors? There are a few coffee and tea shops nearby. You pick. I'd have been waiting with something warm, but trust only goes so far."

Taylor considered how much this conversation would upset Armstrong, Gauss, and Weld. And decided that it was worth it. She picked a spot at random and collected their drinks that Lisa paid for. "So to repeat, what brings you out here?"

Lisa looked over her shoulder. "The way your 'host family' fucked things up probably caused you to miss some things. Like how we get powers is not something to pry into." Lisa took a sip, "There was once a family, mother, father, older son, younger daughter. Picture perfect, the talk and envy of the neighborhood. Of course it was a fucking lie. The parents were sperm and egg donors more than anything. Their offspring more props for an image than children to be loved. But you don't realize it if you grow up like that, becoming selfish and shallow like your progenitors. Then one day the girl came home, and found her brother hung himself. And she couldn't figure out why. It ate at her until one day it became too much, and she became the girl who could figure out anything. But since she wasn't lucky like Alexandria and got a flying brick's powers to go with her Thinker power, her parents decided to strong arm their surviving offspring into exploiting the stock market with said power."

Lisa sipped her coffee, "That lasted till I said fuck it, siphoned most of their accounts and left them set up to take the fall with the SEC. Drifted a while till I reached Boston and set up shop to use my powers for my own benefit. So I get adults demanding loyalty after treating you like shit."

Taylor eyed her, "And you want to offer me information to go after villains, and remove rivals for you?"

Lisa waggled a hand, "Plenty of people worse than me in this town. And the Protectorate figures you might use enough info you can only get from them to strong arm you into a plea deal. I figure you'll do more good with the info than them, and feel free to hit anything else you notice. Just... I wish I had someone give me a hand when I first started out, and figured you could too."

Taylor sipped her tea carefully, "If I let you hand me info, it will help you. I want some favors in return."

Lisa nodded, not the best result , but not too bad so far. "What do you have in mind?"

Taylor ran a hand through her hair, "The PRT is better at covering shit up than I am at telling it. I want your help to get some big dirt on them, stuff that can be released and not covered up or slander me as 'hysterical' and 'in need of guidance'."

Lisa held out a hand, "Screwing over the PRT? I can get behind that enough to offer a highly discounted rate."

Taylor took the hand to shake, then held up her cup in a toast, "Confusion to our enemies."

Lisa seconded the toast, pretty sure even without her powers that it wasn't just the local villains Taylor was including in that.

Taylor smiled, "About how you are going to pass me info..."

The smile slid off Lisa's face, "Shit, you are going to make me go running with you."

Taylor shrugged, "It's good exercise, and even my Youth Guard rep is worried about my lack of friends. So now I have my new running buddy, Lisa."

Lisa sighed, "And when they ask my last name for a background check?"

Taylor shrugged, her voice going as dry as the Sahara. "Given my last friend had a PRT background check and the shit she pulled that they missed? I don't really trust them to find threats to my person."


Edit: To avoid double posting:

There is nothing in canon to support this one way or another, but logically...
I can easily imagine that the PRT can persuade a judge to order her to submit to power testing under the grounds of needing the information in order to properly contain her should she choose jail.
This would be a proper court order, which if disobeyed carries a contempt of court charge and can let the judge throw her in jail for up to 5 years or until she complies.

Click to shrink...

Can a Juvie contempt charge keep her in jail past 18?