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.
