Just a Phase [Worm]

[The Unicorn]

Also there is the fact that Taylor is doing the whole vigilante act using a loophole in a poorly redacted YG free time regulation, one that the ENE Wards are going to start using to breach the restrictions imposed by the YG to their actions. Even if Jim's superiors are cynical enough to dismiss a teen going on her own to do unsanctioned vigilante justice without no one to keep an eye on her or to ensure she doesn't bite more than she can chew, they will draw the line at their punishments being ignored by a whole department using a loophole found and exploited by Taylor 'Pain in the Ass' Hebert, at which point the YG will have to rewrite many of their vague regs and Jim personally will have to tell Taylor that Ghost is permanently benched and if she wants to go out and punch criminals before her 18th birthday her only legal recourse is to do her power testing and join the Wards.

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The YG rules won't get rewritten before Taylor is 18 because of any actions Taylor or Emma do - those sort of beurocratic actions take too long.
More importantly, there's no mention of "their punishments being ignored by a whole department using a loophole found and exploited by Taylor" (who the YG don't consider a Pain in the Ass, quite the opposite). Rather there are two Wards planning to do the exact same thing Taylor is doing, except without the use of a Loophole to avoid supervision since they are not supervised.
Even if they did use the same loophole, it would just be Wards using the loophole, and if they were injured doing so the YG would never admit fault on that - they'd place the blame on the PRT (although the PRT might try to place the blame on the YG).
If there was anything about an entire department trying to use the loophole, that would be the PRT lying and forcing children to act as superheroes instead of what they want to do while pretending they are using the loophole, not actually using the loophole

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Also there is the fact that Taylor is doing the whole vigilante act using a loophole in a poorly redacted YG free time regulation, one that the ENE Wards are going to start using to breach the restrictions imposed by the YG to their actions. Even if Jim's superiors are cynical enough to dismiss a teen going on her own to do unsanctioned vigilante justice without no one to keep an eye on her or to ensure she doesn't bite more than she can chew, they will draw the line at their punishments being ignored by a whole department using a loophole found and exploited by Taylor 'Pain in the Ass' Hebert, at which point the YG will have to rewrite many of their vague regs and Jim personally will have to tell Taylor that Ghost is permanently benched and if she wants to go out and punch criminals before her 18th birthday her only legal recourse is to do her power testing and join the Wards.

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I'm not sure that is entirely correct. Taylor is actually using a combination of loopholes, the relevant ones here being that a) the PRT owns your primary heroic identity, and you can't use it without their permission/authorization, and b) you aren't allowed to have a secondary heroic identity. Taylor doesn't have an official primary identity, so Ghost isn't an unauthorized secondary identity. This isn't true for literally any of the Brockton Bay words, meaning that unless they take refuge in audacity by creating villainous identities to attack areas that the Wards would have patrolled were they not benched, the BB crew will still get in trouble where Taylor won't.
*EDIT* And if they do go the villain route, now they face potential criminal prosecution, not just whatever administrative penalties exist under the rules and regulations. So,just cjanges where the risk of punishment comes from.

 

[BF110C4]

You expect a teenager on earth bet with a shard in her head to be logical. Remember that the first time Taylor went out as a cape in canon she picked a fight with one of the most powerful capes in Brockton.

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It was partly because she was stir crazy after three months of suppressing the urge to go out and use her powers to cause 'CONFLICT', partly half suicidal from the trio once more torturing her, and finally she heard that Lung was hunting children without knowing he was after the Undersiders, which made her throw away her remaining common sense and go all out against him.

The YG rules won't get rewritten before Taylor is 18 because of any actions Taylor or Emma do - those sort of beurocratic actions take too long.
More importantly, there's no mention of "their punishments being ignored by a whole department using a loophole found and exploited by Taylor" (who the YG don't consider a Pain in the Ass, quite the opposite). Rather there are two Wards planning to do the exact same thing Taylor is doing, except without the use of a Loophole to avoid supervision since they are not supervised.
Even if they did use the same loophole, it would just be Wards using the loophole, and if they were injured doing so the YG would never admit fault on that - they'd place the blame on the PRT (although the PRT might try to place the blame on the YG).
If there was anything about an entire department trying to use the loophole, that would be the PRT lying and forcing children to act as superheroes instead of what they want to do while pretending they are using the loophole, not actually using the loophole

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Thing is that there will be no evidence of any kind that the Protectorate/PRT forced the children to break the rules, and on the other hand they can actually carry interviews/interrogations after the fact and turn the tables on the YG by pointing that their favorite Not-A-Ward gave them the idea and the Boston Wards do have evidence of obeying every regulation without failure while pointing the only person able to influence Taylor there is Jim from the YG, and that they're willing to take those statements to the special subcommittee for parahuman affairs if they want to. Pointing others for blame only works if no one can point it back at you with more evidence that you have available.

Plus rules and regulations are actually way easier to patch than laws, they can be done by an internal review board and then issue to all interested parties in a few months. In this particular regulation regarding free time the just need to add a few lines regarding no unsupervised law enforcement actions and to clearly describe their intended activity and location in case of emergencies, limits that are well within the expectations regular teens would face from their parents and therefore nor particularly restrictive or in violation of their privacy.

I'm not sure that is entirely correct. Taylor is actually using a combination of loopholes, the relevant ones here being that a) the PRT owns your primary heroic identity, and you can't use it without their permission/authorization, and b) you aren't allowed to have a secondary heroic identity. Taylor doesn't have an official primary identity, so Ghost isn't an unauthorized secondary identity. This isn't true for literally any of the Brockton Bay words, meaning that unless they take refuge in audacity by creating villainous identities to attack areas that the Wards would have patrolled were they not benched, the BB crew will still get in trouble where Taylor won't.

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I just read the last interlude, the ENE Wards saw that Taylor was using a loophole to get out and start planning how to get out on their own. With that kind of escalation from the Wards the YG will have to update multiple rules and regulations which could lead to a deliberate breach of the rules through the malicious use of loopholes before everyone does it and the way they do leaks to the public at large causing a PR headache for the Young Guard.

 

[Blade4]

You expect a teenager on earth bet with a shard in her head to be logical. Remember that the first time Taylor went out as a cape in canon she picked a fight with one of the most powerful capes in Brockton.

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To protect kids from murder and attacking at range with insects then discovered the fun way Lung had super senses and could somehow hear her on a roof over the insect swarm. She was also very much in a suicide by cop/villain mind set anything to end the pain. Here she is still stressed and functionally in a slow burn but she is not being assaulted daily and she is in therapy and slowly recovering and then decides gee if i play legal games i can still go out and punch criminals and this game of chicken wont end in Director Armstrong dragging me into his office with Jim right next to him saying "We know you are Ghost. As a Ward you cant just go out untrained and unsupervised and no back up to fight. You are going through power testing. And you are now going to have at least one other ward or Protectorate member with you at all times since we cant trust you not to go risk your life for fun."

 

[Magazinegecko82]

To protect kids from murder and attacking at range with insects then discovered the fun way Lung had super senses and could somehow hear her on a roof over the insect swarm. She was also very much in a suicide by cop/villain mind set anything to end the pain. Here she is still stressed and functionally in a slow burn but she is not being assaulted daily and she is in therapy and slowly recovering and then decides gee if i play legal games i can still go out and punch criminals and this game of chicken wont end in Director Armstrong dragging me into his office with Jim right next to him saying "We know you are Ghost. As a Ward you cant just go out untrained and unsupervised and no back up to fight. You are going through power testing. And you are now going to have at least one other ward or Protectorate member with you at all times since we cant trust you not to go risk your life for fun."

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She sees the prt, protectorate, and wards as enabling her tormentors. She is a teenager making bad decisions because she just wants to escape from an environment that in her mind is filled with people just like her abusers.

 

[Blade4]

She sees the prt, protectorate, and wards as enabling her tormentors. She is a teenager making bad decisions because she just wants to escape from an environment that in her mind is filled with people just like her abusers.

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And she has put a timer on herself where she will have to run. Or go through with being a ward.

 

[Magazinegecko82]

And she has put a timer on herself where she will have to run. Or go through with being a ward.

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Except she doesn't realize it because she's an edgy teenager

 

[BF110C4]

Except she doesn't realize it because she's an edgy teenager

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Not an edgy teenager, a traumatized one with legitimate trust issues after her best friend tortured her for years, her father got rid of her on the words of strangers and every figure if authority has prioritized everything else before her welfare.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

OTOH I felt if going this direction it would be better for Taylor to fall into Heroics. Witness something while on a run, and turn to walk away. Just like everyone did for her when she was in trouble.

And use that moment to get into things. Because yeah it's a risk, but she wants to look at herself in the mirror in the morning.

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It would be amusing in that situation if the PRT went 'yes now she will definitely be onboard now that she sees what we are fighting for.' Even congratulating Taylor for her actions and being extra friendly. Only for Taylor to still tell them where to shove it and go be a hero on her own terms. Would be a real slap in the face for them.

Hell now I need an omake of just that scenario

And she has put a timer on herself where she will have to run. Or go through with being a ward.

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I mean that was always going to be the case regardless of if Taylor decided to go be a vigilante. The PRT wasn't going to just let the valuable anti-Thinker sit on her ass indefinitely eventually they would have done something to force the issue beyond Armstrong's slow and steady approach. Does the vigilante thing speed things up? Yes absolutely, but it isn't the source of it.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

It would be amusing in that situation if the PRT went 'yes now she will definitely be onboard now that she sees what we are fighting for.' Even congratulating Taylor for her actions and being extra friendly. Only for Taylor to still tell them where to shove it and go be a hero on her own terms. Would be a real slap in the face for them.

Hell now I need an omake of just that scenario

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I imagined it more that she still wasn't IDed as Taylor in this mess. For a joke I was thinking she grabbed a costume from a nearby shop.

The Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride. And that's the name she gives. Of course PHO immediately gets the joke. "We had another DPR franchise open in Boston."

Would work better if say the school theater group managed to recruit her, Taylor eventually going along with it so she had more excuses to avoid the Wards Quarters, and none of the Wards were part of it because it was such a time sink. So she had a bit of stage training to use that costume sword.

I mean that was always going to be the case regardless of if Taylor decided to go be a vigilante. The PRT wasn't going to just let the valuable anti-Thinker sit on her ass indefinitely eventually they would have done something to force the issue beyond Armstrong's slow and steady approach. Does the vigilante thing speed things up? Yes absolutely, but it isn't the source of it.

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The PRT's issue, as I noted before? Is they don't have any levers in this situation.

Taylor's broken no laws, so they can't force a plea deal on her.
Social pressure from the Wards? She already assumes they all are monsters, their approval is more likely to make her question what she's doing wrong.
Same goes for the Protectorate and PRT.
And her surviving family.

Basically every bridge the PRT burnt either through action or inaction is now one they find they need to cross to get Taylor to be their hero.

The Regulations? Yeah, those are reins designed to hold a Ward back. You don't push with reins. And the Youth Guard isn't going to let the PRT pull with them.

Plus it is hen's teeth rare to get a Ward willing to talk and dish dirt to the Youth Guard. For their goal of oversight? Taylor Hebert is the goose laying golden eggs. It is going to take a damn lot for them to burn her now.

 

[The Unicorn]

Thing is that there will be no evidence of any kind that the Protectorate/PRT forced the children to break the rules,

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That's not how it works. You don't need evidence to assume the people nominally in charge were the ones giving orders, and in the case of advocacy groups they generally assume that whoever they're advocating against is at fault unless there's abundant evidence they weren't (and sometimes even then).

and on the other hand they can actually carry interviews/interrogations after the fact and turn the tables on the YG by pointing that their favorite Not-A-Ward gave them the idea and the Boston Wards do have evidence of obeying every regulation without failure while pointing the only person able to influence Taylor there is Jim from the YG, and that they're willing to take those statements to the special subcommittee for parahuman affairs if they want to. Pointing others for blame only works if no one can point it back at you with more evidence that you have available.

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It's still the PRT's fault not Taylor's and as others noted, breaking rules Taylor didn't.

Plus rules and regulations are actually way easier to patch than laws,

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Easier? Sure. Quicker? Not when multiple organizations with antagonistic goals are involved.

With that kind of escalation from the Wards the YG will have to update multiple rules and regulations which could lead to a deliberate breach of the rules through the malicious use of loopholes before everyone does it and the way they do leaks to the public at large causing a PR headache for the Young Guard.

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Nope, the YG will want to update the rules to prevent cases like Taylor's from reaching that point and will put all the blame on the PRT trying to force Taylor to join. Any publicity of the incident will reveal the PRT's actions and lack thereof regarding Taylor and so harm the PRT, not the YG.

If anything the YG will use this to expand their power and limit the PRT more regarding Wards.

 

[Dakkah]

Also there is the fact that Taylor is doing the whole vigilante act using a loophole in a poorly redacted YG free time regulation, one that the ENE Wards are going to start using to breach the restrictions imposed by the YG to their actions. Even if Jim's superiors are cynical enough to dismiss a teen going on her own to do unsanctioned vigilante justice without no one to keep an eye on her or to ensure she doesn't bite more than she can chew, they will draw the line at their punishments being ignored by a whole department using a loophole found and exploited by Taylor 'Pain in the Ass' Hebert, at which point the YG will have to rewrite many of their vague regs and Jim personally will have to tell Taylor that Ghost is permanently benched and if she wants to go out and punch criminals before her 18th birthday her only legal recourse is to do her power testing and join the Wards.

Click to shrink...

*They're going to try and fail to copy her loophole.

The next key piece was the PRT's regulations on vigilantism for Wards. Obviously the PRT wanted to discourage us from heroing on our own time, but the interesting part was that those rules were buried in the byzantine labyrinth of Image and PR regulations. Since the PRT controlled our 'heroic persona,' they dictated where and when we officially appeared.

Emergencies, to my surprise, were covered by an exemption clause, but the offending Ward would be up to their eyeballs in paperwork afterwards. More importantly to me, we were explicitly forbidden from 'maintaining a secondary persona,' which was the rule that I would most likely be breaking with my plan.

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Unlike T they don't even have any (im)plausible deniability, and T is both an active lurker and ballsy enough to tattle on them. Plus if they pressure her too much I fully expect her to leg it, and they probably know it too.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

*They're going to try and fail to copy her loophole.

Unlike T they don't even have any (im)plausible deniability, and T is both an active lurker and ballsy enough to tattle on them. Plus if they pressure her too much I fully expect her to leg it, and they probably know it too.

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More to the point? From what little they have, and an omake gamed out? They recognize they don't have a certain way to even hold Taylor, even if they are willing to go lethal force on her.

Edit to Avoid a double post:

Flechette's Notes on Phase

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.

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Just rereading a few things, and this part jumped out at me. Not sure if it was intentional or not KingCrimson? But while the Nuremberg Defense is often paraphrased, "I was only following orders"? The most common phrase used by the defendants was "Befehl ist Befehl". Which more literally translates to English as "Orders are orders."

Which says alot about the Boston PRT just going along with the coverup so they can use Taylor, or attempt to do so.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

I imagined it more that she still wasn't IDed as Taylor in this mess. For a joke I was thinking she grabbed a costume from a nearby shop.

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I mean I am not sure how successful Taylor would be with that since her power is very distinctive unlike a standard Alexandria or Brute package. The moment the mysterious vigilante starts phasing they will know it is her.

That and the whole a crime just so happens to take place in front of a costume shop just feels like a cliché and stretches my suspension of disbelief. Could be that Taylor risks outing herself to help others which runs against PRT policy for a Ward giving her another reason to not like the PRT.

As for the theater group that is an even bigger stretch since Taylor will have to get over her very low self esteem issues, and her issues with highschoolers which is second only to her issues with the Wards and authority figures. So yeah she isn't joining any social club any time soon.

The PRT's issue, as I noted before? Is they don't have any levers in this situation.

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The issue is that Taylor is a very isolated person who subconciously craves interaction, just look at her in canon with the Undersiders and how she latched on to them, and we have already seen cracks start to form in Taylor's interactions with Connie and Lily. What has been slowing this process down is that her biggest source of potential friends, highschool, also has the same baggage as the Wards. So eventually peer pressure might win out if Taylor doesn't find friends outside of the Wards and classmates, but luckily it seems that Lisa is likely to step in soon.

Not sure if it was intentional or not KingCrimson?

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It has been awhile since I wrote that and I don't have any notes, I literally just write omakes in the comment section in one go when an idea hits me, but I am pretty sure it wasn't it was just a phrase that fit.

Also has to do with how Lily from her own perspective in the main story pretty much admitted to herself that the PRT would cover up murder if it made them look bad.

 

[Blade4]

The issue is that Taylor is a very isolated person who subconciously craves interaction, just look at her in canon with the Undersiders and how she latched on to them, and we have already seen cracks start to form in Taylor's interactions with Connie and Lily. What has been slowing this process down is that her biggest source of potential friends, highschool, also has the same baggage as the Wards. So eventually peer pressure might win out if Taylor doesn't find friends outside of the Wards and classmates, but luckily it seems that Lisa is likely to step in soon.

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She is or was a full on extrovert. Her current self is from years of torture and Emma curated Pavlovian learning, made worse here because Emma is a cape with a power to see and exploit weaknesses, that everyone is out to get her and she cant trust or open to anyone that in canon was only broken by a thinker 7 and the insanity of the cape scene. Functionally before they can help they have to both admit fault and realize that Taylor is a torture victim who frankly needs major mental help not shoved into a costume and sent on pr patrols..

 

[JustOneGuy]

She is or was a full on extrovert. Her current self is from years of torture and Emma curated Pavlovian learning, made worse here because Emma is a cape with a power to see and exploit weaknesses, that everyone is out to get her and she cant trust or open to anyone that in canon was only broken by a thinker 7 and the insanity of the cape scene. Functionally before they can help they have to both admit fault and realize that Taylor is a torture victim who frankly needs major mental help not shoved into a costume and sent on pr patrols..

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An analysis is that the behavior described correspond best to an introvert actually : limited number of close friend with switch between over enthusiastic (motormouth syndrome) and quiet depending on energy level. The bullying cut both the friends and more importantly forced her into a "social" role constantly (being forced to interact and pay attention to peers, in this case defensively), denying the escape of isolation.
The undersider provided a mean to restore both : small group of friend whose interaction could start and en on her timetable (ignoring alec when he is playing videogame, for example, would not carry any consequence)

Contrasted to emma much greater number of superficial friend (made more extrem by the trauma, as she deliberately went in that direction) with no fatigue from being 'on stage' interacting socially, but anxiety when said interactions are cut.

another introvert in winslow is... sophia hess : few friends, preference for activity where the main piece is not social regular use of an escape activity.

In the end, if Sophia had saved (and or twisted to her view) Taylor instead of Emma, the dynamics would have been very different, and probably healthier on both sides.

 

[The Unicorn]

She is or was a full on extrovert.

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I assume you meant Introvert, right? Because someone who babbles to their one and only friend is an introvert, not an extrovert.

 

[Blade4]

Maybe misremember fanon or maybe i am just full of shit. Perhaps a little of both.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Functionally before they can help they have to both admit fault and realize that Taylor is a torture victim who frankly needs major mental help not shoved into a costume and sent on pr patrols..

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I mean the same can be said for all parahumans, outside the ones Cauldron created, unfortunately based on the way Shards pick hosts and influence things those more likely to seek mental health are unlikely to get powers.

I do have to give the Wards program credit for at least forcing the Wards to see therapists, even if the rotating therapist rule is dumb, but from what we have seen most Wards, and parahumans in general, are more interested in going out and doing things instead of talking about their feelings.

that everyone is out to get her and she cant trust or open to anyone that in canon was only broken by a thinker 7

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Not sure how much of her falling in with the Undersiders was Lisa manipulating her as much as it was Taylor just wanting human connections and friends after two years without either. What Lisa and the rest of the Undersiders had going for them was that they were a group around Taylor's age that were unconnected from her trauma, the trio and highschool, which is why the relations between Taylor and Wards is so bad cus they constantly remind Taylor of Emma and Sophia.

In the end, if Sophia had saved (and or twisted to her view) Taylor instead of Emma, the dynamics would have been very different, and probably healthier on both sides.

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Not likely since even before Sophia and Emma met Sophia was already a budding psychopath, and I am pretty certain that the whole reason why she did whole Taylor must prove her strength thing is cus she wanted Taylor out of the picture since she felt threatened by her. In all likely hood Sophia would have done what she could to push Taylor away from Emma and destroy their relationship if the situations were reversed.

Which is an interesting idea to think about if Emma ever finds that out.

Omake: Cat's Out of the Bag

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Also @FirstSelector can I get a threadmark here.

 

[woodzrox]

I enjoyed the latest chapter KingCrimson1081 and I can't wait for the next! Kek, this is practically your story now, what with all your omakes.