Just a Phase [Worm]

[Lement]

Entertaining thread.

The point that Taylor is not safe is aptly made - her options are either school (feels unsafe) or PRT (feels unsafe).

And she's not going to have Undersiders as desperately-grasped friends.

With teenagers as Not Ok and Adults as Not Ok, it only leaves childcare. Which, yeah, not a an option she can seek on her own. Maybe as a babysitter, but that requires level of trust between Taylor and adult.

Though her heart still beats with heroism, unlike Bitch's around S9 arc in canon, so she's not exactly recruitment material, as bittersweet as her telling Lily "You're a Ward, I expected you to kill me from the first day we met." is.

However, she already displayed willingness to risk with Snap, exemplified both by not calling the PRT first (excusable since other people already had phones out) and by snapping the arm. Sooner or later, she'll roll snake eyes.

Danny got written out pretty quick. Not that once per month counts for much either.

Where does the story go from here? I'd guess vigilantism engages her with villains in non-crime situations, possibly via school club or internet. The omakes offer few other possibilities. The whole "I'm not using my power" thing makes this story lean more on relationships, but you can only milk refusal to engage for so long. Already, there's shenanigans with "we order her to socialize". Taylor has very little agency - even considering that she can just phase out of the PRT building what would she do then as of now? Maybe just some more vigilantism.

Alternatively, Lily was wondering why she's still a hero for a reason. Taylor is portraying signs of being easy target for radicalization & cults - she's already isolated and hating the police. Have we seen Fallen! Taylor yet?

(Though, heh, I was really expecting another update after page 15. Luckily there's some nice omakes, didn't expect that idea to pan out.)


Power-related notes:
Anyway, since her powers are clearly patterned more like Sophia's shard and not QA's, who got that shard? Will we see rat-controller Danny?

Not many villains in Boston with power interactions, but Echidna or Blasto clones of Ghost could be fun.

It seems she can leave items phased together, much like Chevalier. This would allow her to produce ultra-thin armor with same weight & toughness as normal, as well as potential use as a discount RPG Backpack. Moderately useful since reaction speed is an issue. One of the ways boosting her base physical ability is multiplicative: Run, Taylor, Run!

Localized omniscience: Strong. This aspect is closest to QA-like, and that in a library might have been quite neat. Braille-reading might be useful just like canon. Not quite as useful for spying on its own though due the short range, but that is somewhat counteracted by being able to walk into walls.

Trump/precog: Probably extends to more than just Thinker powers and physical threats. Perhaps could be make selective or partial. Looks pretty unique (and thus interesting) to biotinkers. Annoys Masters like Cherish. Maybe Accord hates her. Might have backdoor access to shards by partial phasing of few kinds of mover powers. Precog might be linked to omniscience, wonder what Ingenue could do with that.

 

[DrWhoFan13]

Anyway, since her powers are clearly patterned more like Sophia's shard and not QA's, who got that shard?

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According to the AO3 tags, Taylor still has QA; it's the powers that changed.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Anyway, since her powers are clearly patterned more like Sophia's shard and not QA's, who got that shard? Will we see rat-controller Danny?

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It says in the Ao3 tags that Taylor has Breaker QA so no rat-controller Danny anytime soon. As for why her power took that shape well it might have pinged off of Sophia's Shard or sonce QA is the Zion equivalent of Eidolon's Shard perhaps it had the data in it for that.

It seems she can leave items phased together, much like Chevalier. This would allow her to produce ultra-thin armor with same weight & toughness as normal, as well as potential use as a discount RPG Backpack. Moderately useful since reaction speed is an issue. One of the ways boosting her base physical ability is multiplicative: Run, Taylor, Run!

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I like the idea about the RPG backpack, but the armor is somewhat redundant since her main power from what we can see is straight up ignoring physical damage. So heavy armor no matter how thin will just slow her down and not offer the same protection as her power while also reducing her mobility. Perhaps just some extra padding around her vital areas will do her some good but no wearing the equivalent to plate armor that is as thin as paper. Though if Taylor was more willing to work with the Wards she could do such a thing for her teammates who would benefit from it more than she would.

Trump/precog: Probably extends to more than just Thinker powers and physical threats. Perhaps could be make selective or partial. Looks pretty unique (and thus interesting) to biotinkers. Annoys Masters like Cherish. Maybe Accord hates her. Might have backdoor access to shards by partial phasing of few kinds of mover powers. Precog might be linked to omniscience, wonder what Ingenue could do with that.

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I do agree that Taylor's anti-Thinker ability most definitely covers more than just Thinker powers and probably extends to any ability that has a targeting aspect to it, so no aim assist for Lily or Quarrel. It is just that due to Taylor's refusal tp go through testing the PRT is only able to figure out the Thinker denial aspect of this. As for the other Trump aspects we haven't really seen her so much with her powers yet since she has only just started using them and has only had one cape fight so we will just have to wait and see.

Where does the story go from here? I'd guess vigilantism engages her with villains in non-crime situations, possibly via school club or internet. The omakes offer few other possibilities. The whole "I'm not using my power" thing makes this story lean more on relationships, but you can only milk refusal to engage for so long. Already, there's shenanigans with "we order her to socialize". Taylor has very little agency - even considering that she can just phase out of the PRT building what would she do then as of now? Maybe just some more vigilantism.

Alternatively, Lily was wondering why she's still a hero for a reason. Taylor is portraying signs of being easy target for radicalization & cults - she's already isolated and hating the police. Have we seen Fallen! Taylor yet?

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Personally I see something involving Lisa popping up soon since she is apparently operating in Boston for some unknown reason.

 

[ConsiderableHat]

Personally I see something involving Lisa popping up soon since she is apparently operating in Boston for some unknown reason.

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Don't recall if it's already formed part of the guesswork in the thread, but the timing is right for Coil to have sent her to scout the new parahuman. Boston's canonically about an hour's drive from Brockton Bay, after all.

 

[Lement]

According to the AO3 tags, Taylor still has QA; it's the powers that changed.

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Well, that justifies the multitasking but might be a missed opportunity. Could have given QA to Emma since I don't think her power has been specified.

I like the idea about the RPG backpack, but the armor is somewhat redundant since her main power from what we can see is straight up ignoring physical damage. So heavy armor no matter how thin will just slow her down and not offer the same protection as her power while also reducing her mobility. Perhaps just some extra padding around her vital areas will do her some good but no wearing the equivalent to plate armor that is as thin as paper. Though if Taylor was more willing to work with the Wards she could do such a thing for her teammates who would benefit from it more than she would.

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Matter of priorities. Hitting enemies vs protecting yourself, and you're down onto your last life wheras there's more petty criminals you can catch if you lived to 100. In 2.5 she took mere bruises from explosion* so armor would have protected her but also likely left her unable to land the hit in the first place.

*instead of being turned into salsa, hm Explosions really occur too fast to react in the middle of. Evidence for partial phasing?

Of course Taylor is a borderline suicidal teenager, assuming the canon reason for charging Lung still applies, so she may value her life differently.
(Also, she has nigh-zero budget for caping rn anyway so by the time she gets the choice the point may be moot.)

I do agree that Taylor's anti-Thinker ability most definitely covers more than just Thinker powers and probably extends to any ability that has a targeting aspect to it, so no aim assist for Lily or Quarrel. It is just that due to Taylor's refusal tp go through testing the PRT is only able to figure out the Thinker denial aspect of this. As for the other Trump aspects we haven't really seen her so much with her powers yet since she has only just started using them and has only had one cape fight so we will just have to wait and see.

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Huh, wonder if this means to Gallant Taylor appeared emotionless, further contributing to him not fully comprehending that triggers cause trauma?

Personally I see something involving Lisa popping up soon since she is apparently operating in Boston for some unknown reason.

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It's at moments like this one realizes how useful Taylor's self-appointed undercover mission was for getting her to talk to her age mates. Lisa is going to be sus as fuk, no matter how honest she is.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Well, that justifies the multitasking but might be a missed opportunity. Could have given QA to Emma since I don't think her power has been specified.

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Emma is some kind of electrical Blaster/Thinker she can see people's nervous systems to determine weak points and some other electrical things, hence her cape name Ampere.

Matter of priorities. Hitting enemies vs protecting yourself, and you're down onto your last life wheras there's more petty criminals you can catch if you lived to 100. In 2.5 she took mere bruises from explosion* so armor would have protected her but also likely left her unable to land the hit in the first place.

*instead of being turned into salsa, hm Explosions really occur too fast to react in the middle of. Evidence for partial phasing?

Of course Taylor is a borderline suicidal teenager, assuming the canon reason for charging Lung still applies, so she may value her life differently.
(Also, she has nigh-zero budget for caping rn anyway so by the time she gets the choice the point may be moot.)

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Not saying any armor would be bad just saying that making the armor to heavy would be detrimental Taylor isn't a Brute or Mover after all she has to carry all that herself.

As for the reaction tome that is what her precog is most likely for, but she runs into the same issue as Spider-man's spider sense that being she still needs to react to the danger.

For Taylor's budget she needs a source of income that isn't the PRT's allowance. Perhaps she can start robbing some of the thugs she catches, can't remember if the whole thing about vigilantes being allowed to do that was canon or fanon.

Huh, wonder if this means to Gallant Taylor appeared emotionless, further contributing to him not fully comprehending that triggers cause trauma?

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Gallant is bad with emotions in general *cough* Amy *cough* so that probably does play a role in it along side the fact that he didn't really have a trigger himself so doesn't really get it. But yes to Gallant Taylor looks like someone void of all emotions, and she is also immune to Emma's weak point sensing.

It's at moments like this one realizes how useful Taylor's self-appointed undercover mission was for getting her to talk to her age mates. Lisa is going to be sus as fuk, no matter how honest she is.

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Yeah Taylor is so distrusting of her own age group she can't be expected to just hang out with people without some kind of overarching goal in mind.

 

[Lement]

Emma is some kind of electrical Blaster/Thinker she can see people's nervous systems to determine weak points and some other electrical things, hence her cape name Ampere.

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I assume this was on Ao3

Thinker is bit different trigger than usual for her, but I guess it might be just secondary powers like with Taylor.

As for the reaction tome that is what her precog is most likely for, but she runs into the same issue as Spider-man's spider sense that being she still needs to react to the danger.

For Taylor's budget she needs a source of income that isn't the PRT's allowance. Perhaps she can start robbing some of the thugs she catches, can't remember if the whole thing about vigilantes being allowed to do that was canon or fanon.

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Yeah maybe she improves with that.

Thing with robbing is that she's going to want to prevent herself to be liable for anything to avoid leverage on her, so she'd only do that if she had a need for the money. Chicken-egg situation or an excuse for plot*? Who knows :>

* This dress (that shows my cleavage) costs how much?!

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Don't recall if it's already formed part of the guesswork in the thread, but the timing is right for Coil to have sent her to scout the new parahuman. Boston's canonically about an hour's drive from Brockton Bay, after all.

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There was mention of a non-canon cape, Verthandi (anglicized name of one of the Norns, the goddesses of destiny and fate in Norse mythology, specifically the goddess of the present), in one of the interludes. Given the female name, and being mentioned as a Villain Thinker? Speculation is Lisa decided a stoner Bio-Tinker, a gang of Mad Max cosplayers led by a boss with the infinite life cheat enabled, and a man with truly epic OCD were preferable to Nazis, druggie Mad Max Cosplayers, and a Rage Dragon.

 

[Clmineith]

Huh, wonder if this means to Gallant Taylor appeared emotionless, further contributing to him not fully comprehending that triggers cause trauma?

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Gallant is bad with emotions in general *cough* Amy *cough* so that probably does play a role in it along side the fact that he didn't really have a trigger himself so doesn't really get it. But yes to Gallant Taylor looks like someone void of all emotions, and she is also immune to Emma's weak point sensing.

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I would be logical, but I think Gallant has seen Taylor's emotions before. From Emma's interlude:

it wasn't until Miss Militia was chasing Taylor down the hall and Dean was yelling that Emma realized how badly she had hurt the other girl.

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I thought it was Galland being overwhelmed with Taylor's emotions, wasn't it?
But anyway, Taylor has the choice to counter Thinker powers or not, and she discovers it when meeting the BB Wards.

Not only had my disastrous first meet and greet with the Wards ENE saved me from years of torment, it had also revealed that I could phase through the effects of powers in addition to matter. I doubted very much that Emma or Gallant had 'helping Taylor' anywhere on their list of priorities, but their always-on powers had done the work for them.

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For me, it was that Gallant briefly saw Taylor's emotions before being cut.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

So besides ENE and Boston departments which other PRT/Protectorate divisions are upset with Taylor's non-compliance? I am pretty sure there was mention of the Vegas department being upset with Armstrong about not getting Taylor onboard, but just how vital is Taylor's Thinker blind spot that it brings so much pressure down on Boston to get her onboard?

 

[Evilreadermaximum]

So besides ENE and Boston departments which other PRT/Protectorate divisions are upset with Taylor's non-compliance? I am pretty sure there was mention of the Vegas department being upset with Armstrong about not getting Taylor onboard, but just how vital is Taylor's Thinker blind spot that it brings so much pressure down on Boston to get her onboard?

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Probably any department that is very deliberately not salivating at the thought of using her to take out mama mathers.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Probably any department that is very deliberately not salivating at the thought of using her to take out mama mathers.

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Then come the Youth Guard objections about plotting to use a Ward as an assassin.

 

[Evilreadermaximum]

Then come the Youth Guard objections about plotting to use a Ward as an assassin.

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lol, you say that like it would stop them from trying.

Unfortunately, for the PRT, and admittedly the victims of groups like the fallen, this ward isn't drinking the koolaid.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

lol, you say that like it would stop them from trying.

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Jim: So you are asking my client to willingly go into a hostile environment filled with deranged murderous cultists with a history of kidnapping and brainwashing Wards and become a murderer on your behalf, yeah no not happening.

PRT Negotiator: But think of all the good it will cause the Mathers Clan is an ongoing threat to public safety.

Jim: Let me stop you right there, even if we ignore the psychological implications of asking a minor to kill someone no matter how evil they may be there is still the issue that you are asking Phase to take up a task your organization wouldn't even send experienced heroes to perform immunity to thinker powers or not. Of course that doesn't even begin to cover the main issue here being that the PRT's sole interest in Phase is to turn her into their private assassin, in which case I will have no choice but to advocate her removal from the Wards program entirely.

PRT Negotiator: I'm... I'm a go.

 

[DrWhoFan13]

even if we ignore the psychological implications of asking a minor to kill someone no matter how evil they may be

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I think you mean "Philosophical" here. Psychological relates to the mind, philosophical relates to beliefs.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

I think you mean "Philosophical" here. Psychological relates to the mind, philosophical relates to beliefs.

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No I ment psychological, mostly because taking a life will be a traumatic event for most people especially if they are not conditioned to do it like how soldiers are. Unless of course you are Sophia who can apparently kill someone and go to school the next day like nothing happened.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

So besides ENE and Boston departments which other PRT/Protectorate divisions are upset with Taylor's non-compliance? I am pretty sure there was mention of the Vegas department being upset with Armstrong about not getting Taylor onboard, but just how vital is Taylor's Thinker blind spot that it brings so much pressure down on Boston to get her onboard?

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It isn't just how useful/valuable her power is, there is also the issue of how dangerous it could be if turned against them. Watchdog/Think Tank offer huge informational advantages to the PRT, which can be critical in cape fights, resource allocation, and a whole host of other areas. Phase casually no sells them, which combined with her refusal to go in for testing means they are on the wrong end of an informational imbalance, and hate it.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

It isn't just how useful/valuable her power is, there is also the issue of how dangerous it could be if turned against them. Watchdog/Think Tank offer huge informational advantages to the PRT, which can be critical in cape fights, resource allocation, and a whole host of other areas. Phase casually no sells them, which combined with her refusal to go in for testing means they are on the wrong end of an informational imbalance, and hate it.

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So typical know it all Thinker behavior then getting agitated that someone can no sell the abilities that make them feel smarter than everyone else. Ultimately it shouldn't be such a big deal since Taylor is just one girl and from a bystander's perspective shouldn't matter much but the egos of the people in charge can't handle that she has the audacity to say no to them.

 

[ConsiderableHat]

especially if they are not conditioned to do it like how soldiers are.

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Even the conditioning they give soldiers has a success rate a long way south of 100%. Humans mostly heartily dislike killing each other: natural born killers are remarkably rare. Outside that tiny handful the instinct not to kill stubbornly resists being trained out and overcoming it hurts.

 

[tarrangar]

Jim: So you are asking my client to willingly go into a hostile environment filled with deranged murderous cultists with a history of kidnapping and brainwashing Wards and become a murderer on your behalf, yeah no not happening.

PRT Negotiator: But think of all the good it will cause the Mathers Clan is an ongoing threat to public safety.

Jim: Let me stop you right there, even if we ignore the psychological implications of asking a minor to kill someone no matter how evil they may be there is still the issue that you are asking Phase to take up a task your organization wouldn't even send experienced heroes to perform immunity to thinker powers or not. Of course that doesn't even begin to cover the main issue here being that the PRT's sole interest in Phase is to turn her into their private assassin, in which case I will have no choice but to advocate her removal from the Wards program entirely.

PRT Negotiator: I'm... I'm a go.

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They would probably just wait until she's 18 with proposing such things, once she's an adult, the Youth Guard no longer have any authority in her case.

What they actually need to do now, is figure out a way to pressure her into not quitting the moment she turns 18.

 

[Prince Charon]

What they actually need to do now, is figure out a way to pressure her into not quitting the moment she turns 18.

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I suspect that most of the people aiming for that have no idea how difficult that goal has become.

 

[Blade4]

I suspect that most of the people aiming for that have no idea how difficult that goal has become.

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Or the facts of her case that mean if they dont fix things somehow they might not have a wards program period or perhaps a protectorate.

 

[Praetrunco]

They would probably just wait until she's 18 with proposing such things, once she's an adult, the Youth Guard no longer have any authority in her case.

What they actually need to do now, is figure out a way to pressure her into not quitting the moment she turns 18.

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The Youth Guard wouldn't have authority anymore, but she would. Meaning, their propositions would be even more pointless than they are now, because she can use them in forums beyond just the Youth Guard to damage them.

What they need to do is acknowledge she's not quitting because she's not an actual member.

I suspect that most of the people aiming for that have no idea how difficult that goal has become.

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Unless they plan on sending her to Gesellschaft, nothing about the difficulty of the goal has changed since Taylor met the Brockton Bay Wards.

All that has is the amount of fuel in the fire.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

They would probably just wait until she's 18 with proposing such things, once she's an adult, the Youth Guard no longer have any authority in her case.

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In which case the accusations from the Youth Guard turn from trying to turn a minor into a killer into grooming a minor into becoming a killer which can be argued to be even worse for the PRT/Protectorate since one of the main debates against the Wards is it being used groom children into soldiers.

What they need to do is acknowledge she's not quitting because she's not an actual member.

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It wouldn't surprise me if there was something in the standard Wards contract saying that the Ward automatically becomes a Protectorate member once they turn eighteen, you know just to make it a administrative nightmare to quit once a Ward turns eighteen.

nothing about the difficulty of the goal has changed since Taylor met the Brockton Bay Wards.

All that has is the amount of fuel in the fire.

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Honestly the only way the PRT/Protectorate could have gotten Taylor to join in the beginning was not introduce her to the Brockton Bay Wards team since you know the people in charge probably knew about her issues with Emma and Sophia, especially if they asked for Taylor's statement in the hospital about what happened, so should have known that meeting them right after her trigger would be a bad idea. Instead what they should have done is make up some excuse to get her transferred first thing, and it wouldn't have that hard either since you know he trigger was in a public place with a known gang presence they could have just made the justification that it was too dangerous for her to be an active Ward in Brockton due to identity concerns. That day they get her sent to Boston without ever figuring out that her main abusers are Wards and by the time she figures that out she is probably already in too deep to quit.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

It wouldn't surprise me if there was something in the standard Wards contract saying that the Ward automatically becomes a Protectorate member once they turn eighteen, you know just to make it a administrative nightmare to quit once a Ward turns eighteen.

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Probably not something the Youth Guard would let pass. Because it implies a contract signed as a minor enforcing addituonal actions when said minor turns 18. Or worse as in the case, a contract signed by the minor's parents enforcing membership on said minor as an adult regardless of the minor's wishes then or when she becomes an adult.

It is probably expected, so much so that rention officers don't often run into cases of not transitioning into full Protectorate hero. I'd pity the one that had to try to talk Phase into signing up as an adult, if I seriously thought this situation wouldn't blow up long before then.

What might be more interesting, if Taylor can last till she's 18 in this situation? She applies to colleges, and the PRT Retainment rep gets confused. Her college isn't convienent to any PRT office, nor is her course load conductive to patrols either. Instead Taylor is fully cashing out her Ward's (by technicality) educational fund to get a degree as a full time student.

See, how many Wards even bother with more than their, truncated due to Wards duties, High School education? Minimal electives, and definately don't have time for Honors or AP classes for college prep and potential college class credits. Personnally I had about half a year of college on AP credits, Calculus and a slew of General Ed courses I didn't have to sit through.

But for most Wards that go into straight into the Protectorate? Probably don't bother, or get some kind of Law Enforcement or otherwise work related Associate Degree as a working student.

So that fund isn't often drawn on, at least not seriously. And "extra" money in government accounting is abhored like nature does a vaccum. So it is 'borrowed' from. IOUs to cover other needs, and now Taylor drawing on it is calling some of those IOUs in. And the PRT better pay up, no matter the budget problems it causes them elsewhere.

Honestly the only way the PRT/Protectorate could have gotten Taylor to join in the beginning was not introduce her to the Brockton Bay Wards team since you know the people in charge probably knew about her issues with Emma and Sophia, especially if they asked for Taylor's statement in the hospital about what happened, so should have known that meeting them right after her trigger would be a bad idea. Instead what they should have done is make up some excuse to get her transferred first thing, and it wouldn't have that hard either since you know he trigger was in a public place with a known gang presence they could have just made the justification that it was too dangerous for her to be an active Ward in Brockton due to identity concerns. That day they get her sent to Boston without ever figuring out that her main abusers are Wards and by the time she figures that out she is probably already in too deep to quit.

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One, how much detail did Taylor give? Or since Emma was right there and called it in, how much did they take her word for it and in their displayed incompetence or lack of throughness and give-a-damnitius skipped over the background investigation and jumped right into the recruitment. After all they have an 'old friend' of Phase's already in the Wards...

Two, immediate transfer only delays the pain. Until Taylor asks about the investigations on who attacked her, or hears Ampere's voice. Or Emma messages her on her Ward's phone like she did in the story as written. Even worse, Emma wouldn't have had that shocking moment in her Wards Common Room and still thinks she can be friends with Taylor in the immediate transfer scenario.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Probably not something the Youth Guard would let pass. Because it implies a contract signed as a minor enforcing addituonal actions when said minor turns 18. Or worse as in the case, a contract signed by the minor's parents enforcing membership on said minor as an adult regardless of the minor's wishes then or when she becomes an adult.

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That's probably the case, but this is Earth Bet and First has stated that laws regarding parahuman minors are quite different then regular non-parahuman minors so who knows. But what is more likely is that the process to go from Wards to Protectorate is so streamlined that it probably just requires a single signature, where as leaving the Wards once eighteen requires a bit more paper work enough so that those in charge can put together and argument for why leaving is a bad idea.

So that fund isn't often drawn on, at least not seriously. And "extra" money in government accounting is abhored like nature does a vaccum. So it is 'borrowed' from. IOUs to cover other needs, and now Taylor drawing on it is calling some of those IOUs in. And the PRT better pay up, no matter the budget problems it causes them elsewhere.

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From what I recall Wards get around 50k per year towards an educational fund, plus whatever interest that makes, so at minimum Taylor is looking at 100k for college which isn't a small amount but compared to whatever budget the PRT has as a government organization it shouldn't be that bad. But the real problem occurs if they try and deny it to Taylor once she turns eighteen on account that she will probably never do anything as a Ward at this rate.

One, how much detail did Taylor give?

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It never really says in story other than the fact that Miss Militia went down to the hospital to give Taylor the recruitment pitch which is apparently what got her foot in the door to begin with. But considering she was obviously assaulted prior to triggering I asume they must have at least gotten a statement from her, but on the other hand Taylor didn't say anything about who shoved her in the locker in canon so it can go either way.

Or since Emma was right there and called it in, how much did they take her word for it and in their displayed incompetence or lack of throughness and give-a-damnitius skipped over the background investigation and jumped right into the recruitment.

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I would asume that if Taylor named Emma and Sophia as her attackers they would have taken her word for it since you know she was the one attacked no matter who was the one who called it in.

After all they have an 'old friend' of Phase's already in the Wards...

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This just makes me wonder just what Emma said to the other Wards and the Protectorate before Taylor walked through the doors, because if she said anything about being friends with the new recruit or knowing her I imagine the other Wards and Miss Militia were quite shocked by Taylor's visible reaction to Emma being there. Eh things to muse on or make omakes for later.

Two, immediate transfer only delays the pain. Until Taylor asks about the investigations on who attacked her, or hears Ampere's voice.

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Mostly it would be to get her out of the way and into power testing before she starts asking questions about it so the PRT has more time to make excuses that sound halfway believable.

Or Emma messages her on her Ward's phone like she did in the story as written. Even worse, Emma wouldn't have had that shocking moment in her Wards Common Room and still thinks she can be friends with Taylor in the immediate transfer scenario.

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Oh the halirious hijinks that would cause on Emma's end if that was the case.

 

[Santo]

That's probably the case, but this is Earth Bet and First has stated that laws regarding parahuman minors are quite different then regular non-parahuman minors so who knows. But what is more likely is that the process to go from Wards to Protectorate is so streamlined that it probably just requires a single signature, where as leaving the Wards once eighteen requires a bit more paper work enough so those in charge can put together and argument for why leaving is a bad idea.

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Also non-protectorate outed Parahumans not somehow affiliated to the Protectorate are treated worse than ex-convicts and given legitimately less privacy.

At that point the YG don't give a fuck anymore and any prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge is on the side of the PRT so good luck with any complaints you might make if your particular case doesn't spark the imagination enough to go viral and become enough of a PR nightmare to get the Protectorate to back off.

Everyone keeps talking like Taylor lives in a functional country. The US in Worm is low-key controlled by an idiot savant shadow organization, well on the way to failing as a government and breaking apart into warring city-states. With a good chunk of the ignorant masses convinced superpowers are a game of cops and robbers and an easy way to achieve fame and fortune, and everyone who ostensibly is in a position of authority deathly afraid of the unstable teenage warcrimes waiting to happen and fully willing to give them the choice between living on their knees and dying on their feet, comfortably backed up by having a greater concentration of superpowered warcrimes who somewhat answer to them who were convinced kneeling was the path to true freedom.

Worm is literally a dystopia. It just has a thick coat of whitewash that most of the in-setting masses don't look past.

Any complaint Taylor puts to a Judge will have a repeat of what happened in Winslow. Purely because the PRT and Protectorate are far more vital to keeping the status quo than justice for a single recalcitrant teenager.

...wow this ballooned far past what I thought it would.

...

*Le-lurks*

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Also non-protectorate outed Parahumans not somehow affiliated to the Protectorate are treated worse than ex-convicts and given legitimately less privacy.

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This statement does bring up the question on whether or not Taylor can actually go to college as things stand since wherever she applies to will probably be informed by the government that she is a parahuman along with the fact she was genuinely non-compliant with the PRT, not criminal but being said to be non-complaint doesn't make her look much better, so yeah that would probably negatively effect her chances of being accepted anywhere.

At that point the YG don't give a fuck anymore and any prosecutor, defense attorney, and judge is on the side of the PRT so good luck with any complaints you might make if your particular case doesn't spark the imagination enough to go viral and become enough of a PR nightmare to get the Protectorate to back off.

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Yeah while Jim might be doing a good job at protecting Taylor right now his ability to do so will be severely curbed once she turns eighteen. That is if he even stays at Boston that ling because I sincerely doubt that a Youth Guard rep that makes this much trouble at a department will be allowed to stay for very long, and will probably be replaced by some one less disruptive at the first opportunity.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

This statement does bring up the question on whether or not Taylor's can actually go to college as things stand since wherever she applies to will probably be informed by the government that she is a parahuman along with the fact she was genuinely non-compliant with the PRT, not criminal but being said to be non-complaint doesn't make her look much better, so yeah that would probably negatively effect her chances of being accepted anywhere.

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This seems to be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Yeah while Jim might be doing a good job at protecting Taylor right now his ability to do so will be severely curbed once she turns eighteen. That is if he even stays at Boston that ling because I sincerely doubt that a Youth Guard rep that makes this much trouble at a department will be allowed to stay for very long, and will probably be replaced by some one less disruptive at the first opportunity.

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No, it doesn't end when Taylor turns 18. "Informing" colleges that someone is a parahuman and former Ward once they left the program, just because they were a parahuman? It turns that educational promise for joining the Wards into a lie. Same reason when I speculated that the college fund might be full on paper, but is mostly IOUs from being used for other stuff. If a Ward who aged out tried to use it, those IOUs would have to be paid off to equal the amount they withdraw, otherwise part of the "Life beyond being a hero" is also a lie.

The Youth Guard would hit the roof if they found out that an aged out Ward couldn't walk away from the PRT. What is being proposed is another way to groom teenaged parahumans as soldiers, only waiting till they hit 18, then going "HA HA! We sabotaged you so you don't have any other choices but signing up with us!" Which is pretty much opposite of the Youth Guard mission.

And Jim not being told to STFU when advocating for Taylor and her insistence on not being active in the program shows they YG have enough pull they can't be run roughshod over.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

This seems to be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

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I feel like the excuse against a lawsuit would be that they aren't denying her because she is a parahuman that didn't conform but because of x reason, which is something that happens in real life. Plus if the government can get away with violating outed parahumans' rights to privacy I can imagine the courts siding with the colleges if it comes down to it, especially considering the courts in Worm allowed the travesty that is the Canary trial to happen.

No, it doesn't end when Taylor turns 18. "Informing" colleges that someone is a parahuman and former Ward once they left the program, just because they were a parahuman? It turns that educational promise for joining the Wards into a lie. Same reason when I speculated that the college fund might be full on paper, but is mostly IOUs from being used for other stuff. If a Ward who aged out tried to use it, those IOUs would have to be paid off to equal the amount they withdraw, otherwise part of the "Life beyond being a hero" is also a lie.

The Youth Guard would hit the roof if they found out that an aged out Ward couldn't walk away from the PRT. What is being proposed is another way to groom teenaged parahumans as soldiers, only waiting till they hit 18, then going "HA HA! We sabotaged you so you don't have any other choices but signing up with us!" Which is pretty much opposite of the Youth Guard mission.

Click to shrink...

It is mentioned that leaving the Wards/Protectorate is very difficult and carries various consequences, and while we don't really see an example of that in canon due to the only example of a Ward leaving I can think of being Lily that can be summed up due to the Protectorate/PRT's dirty laundry being aired at the time and Lily joining the Undersiders almost immediately after which probably stopped the organization from using their usual methods. So it can be reasonably inferred that the Protectorate does have methods to go around the Youth Guard regarding Wards who don't fully sign on once they turn eighteen.