Would unmasking Ghost as the Ward Phase technically be allowed, they aren't revealing her civilian identity so they could use that as a justification. Of course doing this would be the equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot since it would show they can't control their own Ward but at least they could deny giving her the money.
This would be a pr disaster on a scale not seen in human history it would be better to just let "ghost have it
Which would matter if Taylor didn't have powers. As you note vigilantism is much more acceptable in Worm (it's legal in RL, just not very acceptable so the restrictions are fully enforced) and Taylor's powers give her plenty of legitimate ways of earning money even without beating up villains.
Quite true, the omake being discussed had her claiming the bounty as Taylor Hebert, not Ghost or Phase.
Two of the problems with using her powers to earn money legally is that first the employer probably needs to inform her legal guardians in order to hire her, which for a runaway is obviously complicated.
The same argument would be made for her using her money to get a safe place to stay. Also, as has been noted her powers allow her to earn money without any sort of employee/employer contract.
To an extent, but there are many things she can do which could not require any sort of licensing.
Those are big ifs, and I don't agree with your conclusion even granting those conditions.
They wouldn't be denying her the money, they'd be fulfilling their obligations as guardians to manage her money for her until she's old enough to do so herself.
It's criminally underused in universe and out?
Probably because Coil knows any outside attention on the ENE department would be very bad for him and his operation. Coil thrives on the corruption and issues in Brockton and having an organization like the Youth Guard poking around in his neighborhood poses a genuine risk of exposing his infiltration. Just look at what happened in Implacable, which this fic is based on, when the Youth Guard got involved all of Coil's moles and Coil himself got exposed during the audit turned full investigation of the ENE.
Yep, I don't even remember it from the original Worm. They had no presence in Brockton Bay when logically they should have gotten involved for Vista, Shadow Stalker, and the entire incident with the bank robbery and the aftermath.
Personally I just head canon that as Piggot hating outside influence in her department, since you know someone from outside would probably call her out on her bullshit. The only reason the Youth Guard wasn't able to get involved in Brockton is probably because Piggot sweeps all her issues under the rug and handles things in house, like she tried to do with Taylor and her situation but Taylor simply wasn't having it, that and all the local Wards were only told the bad stuff about the Youth Guard so weren't keen on getting their help against Piggot's abusive working conditions.
It's a lesser fire in my opinion " a ward member went rough and killed the S9 and we are denying her the bounty for ending that plague on humanity" is sort of a hard thing to spin
It's not just them not interfering with events in BB, that could be excused as BB being unique, they also don't have any presence in Chicago or Boston or New York - all of which we get enough about that if the Youth Guard existed we'd have heard about them in canon.
Even ignoring how the Youth Guard don't do anything in Chcago, Boston or NY, the whole point of them is that a local director can't simply keep them out because they want to.
Oh, that sort of thing would be an absolute disaster and heads would roll over it, possibly even literally but definitely politically. However the issue pretty much everyone would be focusing on is "" a ward member went rough and killed the S9", the rest would be mostly ignored.
which is why it's better to give it to "ghost" pissing off someone who just killed the S9 is a really bad idea especially when the Cost in pr is a nightmare
Wasn't the youth guard from a quest wildbow did after worm was already over?
No, the cost in PR is worse if they give the money to her.
Yup, and they were invented specifically to stop the players from doing anything to get rid of obstacles Wildbow placed in their way, with them having ridiculous amounts of power that they never used (even in the quest) to help anyone.
They can give her say 15% and put the rest in a trust fund.
It could also be an accidental case.
That was in canon and considering the fact that Boston does have a Youth Guard rep on sight with his own office and everything we can reasonably assume some AU elements. Most likely the situation with the Youth Guard is much like the cops dealing with someone with an abusive partner, as in they can't do anything unless the Wards themselves reach out about an issue unless the issues are really obvious or blatant.
I have to wonder where such a reputation started, was it during the Youth Guard's founding when they were still getting their feet under them as an organization and they overreacted to an issue and it just got further distorted from there. Or was it intentionally made that way by Costa-Brown since its inception to prevent outside influence from other organizations on the PRT and Protectorate, after all Costa-Brown is skilled enough manipulator to ruin the reputation of an organization if it benefits her goals in someway. Either way by the time Taylor joins the Wards the negative perception of the Youth Guard has already been embedded in the culture of the Wards which leaves us with what is usually seen in the fanon (not canon cus the YG only appears in that one quest).
Taylor is in odd position with how most Wards don't have a bias or issues with the Youth Guard when they first join, and by the time they do have issues with the program they have already been brought into the Ward's culture regarding the Youth Guard so don't go to them. Whereas Taylor has issue with the whole program from the moment she joined so had no opportunity to absorb the company culture regarding the Youth Guard.
That doesn't mean that there was a rep in Brockton it just means that there were multiple things wrong with the department that needed their own investigations with Youth Guard agents being brought in from out of town. If there was a Youth Guard rep in Brockton I imagine they have landed themself in some pretty hot water due to missing the many things wrong with the local department not even including the issues with Emma and Sophia.
No, they can't. They might be able to let Taylor have enough money to buy a car, but getting an expensive car would probably run into problems and they certainly wouldn't let Taylor have any significant amount as cash.
You misunderstood what I meant.
Just gonna say, the PRT would have a responsibility to ensure Taylor doesn't waste her pay.
No, they have a responsibility as her legal guardians to take care of her, this includes many things including ensuring she doesn't waste her money, regardless of where she got it from.
The PRT cannot make that decision per sae.
That isn't the case in this story since it was stated somewhere in the first few chapters that the PRT does provide funds for Wards they are the guardians of. Since you know they are their legal guardians and are thus required to pay for things like food, clothes, and other essentials so them taking those funds from Taylor's paychecks would be very immoral and probably illegal since they would be doing it without informing Taylor. Plus there is the fact that Taylor isn't making the same amount as the other Wards since the only thing she could be paid for are the tours which at most is only an hour or two at the time.
