Just a Phase [Worm]

[RogueInquisitor]

Considering that Gallant was one of the few people who had a noticeable reaction to Taylor freaking out during the original Wards introduction I assume he saw something going on with Taylor's emotional state. Plus it was mentioned in one of the chapters (can't remember which one) that Taylor learned about her effect on Thinkers due to the original introduction.

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He was probably reacting to her taking one look at Emma and running through the door. Also, Taylor credited both Gallant and Emma for letting her know she can detect and block Thinker powers. We don't know if Emma was able to use her power on Taylor either.

As for what they can do with that information well besides realizing that they fucked up more then they originally thought, but it could spur the idea of trying to scan Taylor while her guard is down, like say when she is sleeping.

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That's actually a good idea, to figure out if a) she can respond in her sleep, b) if it will wake her up, and c) does her anti-Thinker power default to on or off?

 

[KingCrimson1081]

He was probably reacting to her taking one look at Emma and running through the door.

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Would've assumed that Aegis the team leader would have had the more noticeable reaction to the new member freaking out since it is kinda his job, but yeah your reasoning does make sense.

Also, Taylor credited both Gallant and Emma for letting her know she can detect and block Thinker powers. We don't know if Emma was able to use her power on Taylor either.

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On the other hand that implies that Taylor didn't know what her power was really warning her about until they tried to use their powers on her so it could still go either way with that.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

On the other hand that implies that Taylor didn't know what her power was really warning her about until they tried to use their powers on her so it could still go either way with that.

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Also from the outside someone speculating on this situation if Gallant could read her with her powers at that introduction, and now she is apparently immune to them.

"Has anyone considered the possiblitiy that at some point, after fleeing the ENE Wards and before arriving here, Phase Second Triggered?" With the obvious implication that finding her tormentors were Wards, and that she couldn't 'escape' being put on a Wards team was so horrific to her that Phase Triggered, again, over it.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Also from the outside someone speculating on this situation if Gallant could read her with her powers at that introduction, and now she is apparently immune to them.

"Has anyone considered the possiblitiy that at some point, after fleeing the ENE Wards and before arriving here, Phase Second Triggered?" With the obvious implication that finding her tormentors were Wards, and that she couldn't 'escape' being put on a Wards team was so horrific to her that Phase Triggered, again, over it.

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Seems like a very large leap for them to take considering the rarity of second triggers even compared to regular triggers, with Narwhal being the only one that we are told about in canon. Plus if it did happen I don't think Taylor would have been in any state to be transferred any where besides a mental health clinic since the only thing really known about second triggers, at least by the PRT, is that they are even worse than the first trigger, and that kinda trauma happening to someone who hadn't even recovered from the first incident would be an unmitigated disaster and would have been very noticeable with either Taylor lashing out violently or going catatonic at somepoint.

Edit: That isn't to say someone with only a vague understanding of the topic couldn't make the suggestion.

 

[BF110C4]

As for what they can do with that information well besides realizing that they fucked up more then they originally thought, but it could spur the idea of trying to scan Taylor while her guard is down, like say when she is sleeping

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Which ironically would give false information on how her powers work, because while Taylor's anti-thinker powers aren't automatic and she needs to choose to phase through a directed thinker probe she got a very fine tuned danger sense that would wake her up and get her angry at the intrusion. So depending on how intrusive is the surveillance in the Wards bedrooms (a motion sensor wouldn't breach privacy too hard) might tell the PRT that she wakes up whenever they use thinker powers on her but it wouldn't give a clue on either her danger sense or the fact that theoretically she can allow thinker powers to work on her if she so desires.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Which ironically would give false information on how her powers work, because while Taylor's anti-thinker powers aren't automatic and she needs to choose to phase through a directed thinker probe she got a very fine tuned danger sense that would wake her up and get her angry at the intrusion. So depending on how intrusive is the surveillance in the Wards bedrooms (a motion sensor wouldn't breach privacy too hard) might tell the PRT that she wakes up whenever they use thinker powers on her but it wouldn't give a clue on either her danger sense or the fact that theoretically she can allow thinker powers to work on her if she so desires.

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This gave me the image of Taylor waking up in the middle of the night due to her danger sense and immediately phasing on instinct, and promptly falling through the floor and breaking her ankle on the landing. Cue angry Youth Guard raining hell on Boston.

 

[FirstSelector]

He caught only a glimpse of Taylor and put together enough from Emma and Sophia's reactions.

 

[Tzardok]

Would've assumed that Aegis the team leader would have had the more noticeable reaction to the new member freaking out since it is kinda his job, but yeah your reasoning does make sense.

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Shouldn't Triumph still be team leader at that point if time?

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Shouldn't Triumph still be team leader at that point if time?

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Still has the same issue of the Wards team leader not doing anything about the bew recruit freaking the fuck out.

He caught only a glimpse of Taylor and put together enough from Emma and Sophia's reactions.

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Still that is more than the Thinkers at Boston and Watchdog have managed to get out of her so far, and probably something that should be noted.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Still that is more than the Thinkers at Boston and Watchdog have managed to get out of her so far, and probably something that should be noted.

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With Piggot in full ass covering mode on the investigation? Even if Gallant mentioned he saw it with his powers specifically? It would have went to his superiors, who seem desperate to keep the scandal investigation in house so they can deep-six it. So it might be Boston and Watchdog never got a 'regretfully misfiled report' from Brockton...

 

[KingCrimson1081]

With Piggot in full ass covering mode on the investigation? Even if Gallant mentioned he saw it with his powers specifically? It would have went to his superiors, who seem desperate to keep the scandal investigation in house so they can deep-six it. So it might be Boston and Watchdog never got a 'regretfully misfiled report' from Brockton...

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That could easily fall apart if Gallant gets into another conversation with Weld and mentions what he saw, at which point it becomes a much larger deal especially if the report got 'misfiled' considering Watchdog has been banging their heads on the wall about the Phase issue.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

That could easily fall apart if Gallant gets into another conversation with Weld and mentions what he saw, at which point it becomes a much larger deal especially if the report got 'misfiled' considering Watchdog has been banging their heads on the wall about the Phase issue.

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Maybe, but if Weld was aware communication was blocked from Ampere to Phase, which seems likely since it went through Gallant? He'd want to be careful with contact with Brockton Bay's Wards, if he had any hope of turning Phase's opinion of his own team around. If Armstrong was on the ball he'd be advising Weld to keep those talks to official channels and refer any inquires about Phase from Brockton up to his office.

Gallant might not even mention his powers specifically, "how upset she looked" could be taken as just reading Taylor's expressions and body language.

Finally, why was it Gallant talking to Weld? If it was Ward Team Leader to Team Leader? Wouldn't that be Aegis? Heck Clockblocker is next up after Aegis, then you get to Gallant. Did command get down to Gallant that fast because of the investigation? Or just Dean being the only one willing to stick his neck out still for Emma?

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Finally, why was it Gallant talking to Weld? If it was Ward Team Leader to Team Leader? Wouldn't that be Aegis? Heck Clockblocker is next up after Aegis, then you get to Gallant. Did command get down to Gallant that fast because of the investigation? Or just Dean being the only one willing to stick his neck out still for Emma?

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Could be that due to being first and second in command of the Wards team Aegis and Clockblocker are dealing with more stuff from the Youth Guard than the other members. Questions like why didn't you report Shadow Stalker's behavior issues to a higher up and so on. Or they could be benched due to Aegis's tendencies to get super injured and Clockblocker's own personality.

Of course that ignores another obvious answer of Clockblocker and Aegis closing their eyes and covering their ears about the issue thus leaving Gallant the only one willing to actually talk tp Weld about it.

As for them being completely removed it is unlikely due to the fact that Emma and Sophia have also yet to be removed from the team despite being much worse in the eyes of the investigation, but it is an interesting thought.

Maybe, but if Weld was aware communication was blocked from Ampere to Phase, which seems likely since it went through Gallant? He'd want to be careful with contact with Brockton Bay's Wards, if he had any hope of turning Phase's opinion of his own team around. If Armstrong was on the ball he'd be advising Weld to keep those talks to official channels and refer any inquires about Phase from Brockton up to his office.

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True and besides what could Gallant really tell them about Phase she wasn't even in the ENE Wards Department for a full hour before she bolted, at this point Weld has a better idea about her personality then they do.

Gallant might not even mention his powers specifically, "how upset she looked" could be taken as just reading Taylor's expressions and body language.

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I would assume that any information about someone's feelings coming from a known empath would be taken through the lense of they can see your emotions.

Of course Gallant is the guy who doesn't talk about other people's emotions out of respect for their privacy so he might not even mention that he saw anything from Phase. Hell Brockton might not even know about her immunity to Thinker powers considering they didn't do any test with her powers there, and the lack of Thinkers they have stationed in Brockton. Or at least the Wards don't know about her immunity to Thinker powers.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

I would assume that any information about someone's feelings coming from a known empath would be taken through the lense of they can see your emotions.

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Does Weld know about Gallant's empathic powers? He's cosplaying as a Tinker to hide his Master powers after all. What his actual powers are might not be that wildly known outside of the need-to-know in the ENE division.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

I suspect there are a couple reasons. First, Gallant is probably the only one of the BB Wards willing to give Emma the time of day at this point, much less try and circumvent the access control restrictions. Second, if confronted, he's got a much better excuse. His powers let him know that Emma is genuine in her desire to make up with Taylor. Anyone else would start looking more like an accomplice to further harassment. Third, i doubt the access control restrictions actually block anyone other than Emma and Sophia. The other Wards haven't been implicated, yet.

 

[N_V1S1BLE]

I think a good reason for her to go back to brockton is to visit her mother's grave. Think about it. She is lost and doesnt know what to do. She does not trust anyone at this point in the story and depending on where you want to go in the story it could set up a lot of things. She goes to her mothers grave to think and plan what to do next.

If you want her to confront the predoctorate or wards and have a fight you can say she was seen by a traffic camera or someone reported her for being suspicious bacuase she is sitting in front of a grave for so long or maybe she slept there. Then they can either talk her down or it ends in a fight. From there it can maybe happen that her mother's grave is destroyed and she procedes to destroy the entire predoctorate and wards in a big fight scene. I have some ideas for combat applications for her power that will make it easy.

Another option is if you want to go the redemption route where she slowly rebuilds her trust of people. A good way to do this is if Emma finds her at the grave and procedes to apologize and tell taylor how big she fucked up. Not a half harted apology that is basically im sorry. She begs taylor to listen until she is done and then taylor waits. She tells her how sorry she is and what her thought process was. She tells taylor she doesn't expect her to forgive her but she should know. From there you can either have taylor give her a 2nd chance along with the prt or have taylor tell emma to go to hell and leave.

I would personally like to see all 4 paths just to see how it would turn out. Too bad i cant write .

Combat applications for her power is basically phasing her enemies. We allready know she takes her clothes and held objects with her when she phases. She could unphase her hand to touch someone and then push them into the ground and let go so they fuse into the ground to immobilize them. She could also have a part of her power basically eject her from solid objects if she unphases while in them. She can then extend this ability to the people she phased into the ground if she wants to undo it. She can also phase herself into the ground and ejects herself from the ground to get speed and basically give battle mobility.

 

[Highlord]

Man having cps on the protectorates ass would be funny as hell

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Wouldn't do shit. CPS exists at the mercy (and funding) of the state, and the state works for itself. If CPS tried getting involved, the PRT pulls is asinine remit again and shuts them out. It probably wouldn't even get that far, since there's always some worthless dipshit polititrash "thinking of the children."

As said before, the only way Taylor goes free and gets actual justice is to stop with malicious compliance and start with active malevolence.

 

[SkinnyP]

Its wild that an update hasn't been posted to this thread in a year and it's still constantly active.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Third, i doubt the access control restrictions actually block anyone other than Emma and Sophia. The other Wards haven't been implicated, yet.

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Just imagine if one of the Brockton Wards like Vista or Aegis contact Taylor to ask 'what the hell bro why are you messing with our department' or something like that. Which only makes the situation worse since it makes them look like they are siding with Emma and Sophia against Taylor.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Just imagine if one of the Brockton Wards like Vista or Aegis contact Taylor to ask 'what the hell bro why are you messing with our department' or something like that. Which only makes the situation worse since it makes them look like they are siding with Emma and Sophia against Taylor.

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Fortunately for all involved, they probably can't. Because Phase hasn't officially become a Ward, she isn't indexed in the system. Her account exists, and can be found, but Emma had to get help from Armsmaster to find Taylor in the system. After the sensitivity training, Armsmaster isn't likely to teach anyone else who asks, and I doubt the others would a) expect Emma, the newest Ward in BB, to know, and b) want to talk to her at all if they can avoid it.

Now that I think about it, Emma may be building a harassment case against herself. Between getting blocked, and an afternoon of mandatory sensitivity training as a result of trying to contact Taylor, she knows or ought to know further contact with Taylor is unwelcome. Despite this, when we see her, she's tried again. While the message may not have been delivered, the attempt to send it was probably logged, and if she keeps trying, that's a pattern of behaviour.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

a) expect Emma, the newest Ward in BB, to know

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Emma is not the newest Ward since she got powers after the alleyway and joined pretty quickly after so she has been a Ward for at least a year now, and the title of newest Brockton Ward goes to Sophia who got nabbed only a few months ago in story.

And now the more that I think about it how did Emma being a Ward effect Sophia's probation agreement since in canon it was Emma and her father who got her out of going to juvie. I imagine that having a Ward vouch for her got Sophia off even easier in this timeline, but at the same time it will come back to bite them both since she and Emma were abusing a civilian the entire time and Emma played a role in covering up that issue during the recruitment.

Other than that I imagine that as Wards leader Aegis might have some more resources when it comes to contacting Taylor than Emma did. Plus while Armsmaster may have sped up finding Taylor's account he might not be vital to finding it which doesn't rule out the possibility of it happening. Or of course the third option of asking a Protectorate member who isn't Armsmaster for help, say one that isn't really paying attention to what is happening like Assault or Triumph.

Now that I think about it, Emma may be building a harassment case against herself. Between getting blocked, and an afternoon of mandatory sensitivity training as a result of trying to contact Taylor, she knows or ought to know further contact with Taylor is unwelcome. Despite this, when we see her, she's tried again. While the message may not have been delivered, the attempt to send it was probably logged, and if she keeps trying, that's a pattern of behaviour.

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Considering they know about the bullying I don't imagine any reported harassment will change anything. Plus the Youth Guard is already investigating it but despite Emma's own confession and what is probably an abundance of evidence all they have been able to do so far is bench the team and send in therapists and sensitivity train. So if anything will change it would have to come from Piggot or Armsmaster both of who are content to try and sweep everything under the rug.

 

[RogueInquisitor]

Other than that I imagine that as Wards leader Aegis might have some more resources when it comes to contacting Taylor than Emma did.

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You may be right, but given that "Wards leader" is just the oldest Ward, I suspect they don't actually get much if anything in terms of extra resources.

Or of course the third option of asking a Protectorate member who isn't Armsmaster for help, say one that isn't really paying attention to what is happening like Assault or Triumph.

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At this point, I highly doubt anyone in the BB PRT/Protectorate is ignorant of this. The YG investigation keeps growing, as they find more violations of the regulations governing Wards deployments, failures in oversight, and general malfeasance. If any of the Wards want to find Taylor's account for a DM, they're on their own, and quite possibly risking becoming subject to investigation themselves.

Considering they know about the bullying I don't imagine any reported harassment will change anything. Plus the Youth Guard is already investigating it but despite Emma's own confession and what is probably an abundance of evidence all they have been able to do so far is bench the team and send in therapists and sensitivity train. So if anything will change it would have to come from Piggot or Armsmaster both of who are content to try and sweep everything under the rug.

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The fact the Wards aren't being punished beyond being benched is because being benched isn't a punishment. This is "you're on suspension until the investigation is concluded." Punishment only comes once they know what to punish the Wards/Protectorate/PRT for, and how much. I agree that Piggot and Armsmaster will want to sweep everything under the rug, but they may not be the ones making that call.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

You may be right, but given that "Wards leader" is just the oldest Ward, I suspect they don't actually get much if anything in terms of extra resources.

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I sometimes describe a Ward's team leader as "responsibility without authority". Basically their only tools they have for a Ward that doesn't obey them is A) persuasion. The rest of the team gets on the resisting Ward's case. And B) Going to the adult supervisor.

The first only works if the the team likes the leader more than the dissenter. And neither works well if the Ward doesn't care what their teammates or adults in charge of the Wards think. And if the Ward Team Leader wants to take the social hit of "tattling to the adults" about their bad team mate.

At this point, I highly doubt anyone in the BB PRT/Protectorate is ignorant of this. The YG investigation keeps growing, as they find more violations of the regulations governing Wards deployments, failures in oversight, and general malfeasance. If any of the Wards want to find Taylor's account for a DM, they're on their own, and quite possibly risking becoming subject to investigation themselves.

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This presumes the block the YG got put in place was just between Emma and Taylor. And not the ENE Wards and Phase. I'd say the later, because Taylor is laying golden eggs for the YG by not buying into the Ward's Omerta in talking to them. They want her to trust them, which means going the extra mile to make sure. Probably under the premise, "She social engineered the contact info out of Armsmaster, the head of the ENE Protectorate. We just want to make sure Ampere doesn't lean on her teammates to send messages for her. After all the whole point of restricting a provisional Ward's contact info is to preserve his or her privacy until they publicly take up a heroic identity. And to prevent undo pressure to do so before they are ready, if they ever are."

The fact the Wards aren't being punished beyond being benched is because being benched isn't a punishment. This is "you're on suspension until the investigation is concluded." Punishment only comes once they know what to punish the Wards/Protectorate/PRT for, and how much. I agree that Piggot and Armsmaster will want to sweep everything under the rug, but they may not be the ones making that call.

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There is a well know phrase, "The process is the punishment." They joined the Wards to do things, patrol, Tinker, and 'catch bad guys'. Things denied them by the review.

And there isn't a violin small enough for the tune Taylor would play for their misfortune.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

This presumes the block the YG got put in place was just between Emma and Taylor. And not the ENE Wards and Phase. I'd say the later, because Taylor is laying golden eggs for the YG by not buying into the Ward's Omerta in talking to them. They want her to trust them, which means going the extra mile to make sure. Probably under the premise, "She social engineered the contact info out of Armsmaster, the head of the ENE Protectorate. We just want to make sure Ampere doesn't lean on her teammates to send messages for her. After all the whole point of restricting a provisional Ward's contact info is to preserve his or her privacy until they publicly take up a heroic identity. And to prevent undo pressure to do so before they are ready, if they ever are."

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According to the chapter where Taylor got the block in place it only applied to Emma and Sophia.

James Reed: Good news! Ampere and Shadow Stalker have been officially banned from interacting with you. Armsmaster and Ampere have been dragged into sensitivity training, and this will be included on the official ENE report.

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So yeah the other Wards in Brockton are free to contact Taylor if they really want to, but considering the difficulty in doing so and what happened to the last person who tried I guess they are in no rush to do so. Of course I don't think Taylor will have the same time block them as she did Emma since they don't have a history of harassing Taylor like Emma did.

That being said I assume that the Youth Guard only blocked Emma's Ward's phone from contacting Taylor so she might be able to contact Taylor through civilian things if she finds out Taylor's phone number.

There is a well know phrase, "The process is the punishment." They joined the Wards to do things, patrol, Tinker, and 'catch bad guys'. Things denied them by the review.

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Well that is until the investigation ends and they get to the actual punishments. So yeah Piggot kinda put her own department into a no win situation here, because she can keep the investigation running forever which saves Emma and Sophia but makes her entire Wards team useless, or lets the investigation end and loses her entire Wards team. Her only hope was to get Taylor to drop the issue and move on but that clearly didn't happen, and even if Taylor suddenly moved on it wouldn't matter since the investigation has already started and the Youth Guard is unlikely to stop now that they have something tangible.

You may be right, but given that "Wards leader" is just the oldest Ward, I suspect they don't actually get much if anything in terms of extra resources.

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He at least has a bit of an in with Weld to find things out about Taylor, or some administrative access since the Wards leader is supposed to be preparing to enter the Protectorate.

 

[SlickRCBD]

You may be right, but given that "Wards leader" is just the oldest Ward, I suspect they don't actually get much if anything in terms of extra resources.

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He probably gets on a mailing list of daily briefs of what the expected patrol routes are going to be for the PRT and Protectorate so he can set up his own patrol routes for the Wards.
Plus any other logistical things of that nature. The other Wards probably have access to that information in case they need to look up who can provide support and what they can expect response times for backup, but they have to go digging for it.
The only other thing is he might get advanced notice of new Wards along with a briefing or dossier in order to figure out how to best present them to the rest of the team so they can avoid setting off any recent trauma from their trigger event.
I can't really think of anything else the Wards' leader might get access to that the rest of the Wards would not save possibly access to their civilian phone numbers in the event that they fail to show up when they are scheduled to show up so that the leader can check up on them if they aren't answering their Wards phone.

He at least has a bit of an in with Weld to find things out about Taylor, or some administrative access since the Wards leader is supposed to be preparing to enter the Protectorate.

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That doesn't mean he has more access, especially to digital records. At least not until the joins the Protectorate and gets added to their access group.
Furthermore, Armsmaster is the Protectorate leader, he might have more access to sensitive records than the rank and file as it's not uncommon in corporate situations to require manager approval to access certain records that are protected by law.
While Aegis is Ward's Leader, I can't see them granting a minor extra access to stuff as if he were a manger. Just extra work.

 

[FirstSelector]

(Wednesday, February 9 2011)

Had one of her clients found their way into Verthandi's self-styled 'Thinker workshop,' they would probably stop and gape long enough for Lisa herself to taser them. Or maybe she could deploy some of her shiny new containment foam grenades that a shipping company had inexplicably misplaced.

Lack of expertise would likely result in you being trapped as well.

Lisa shook her head, forcing the useless thought out of her brain. Her glorified office-slash-library took up what would have been the master bedroom in her relatively nice downtown Boston apartment, occupying the largest contiguous space that she could separate via a closed door.

The most noticeable attraction was the wall-to-wall corkboard covering the outside windows, holding up numerous photos, newspaper clippings, and printouts all connected by various colored strings. Cliché, perhaps, but in Lisa's experience there were often connections between her investigations and knowing those connections had kept her ahead of the game in Boston for the better part of two years.

A two-by-four bank of monitors perched like some eldritch monster on her expansive desk, as though it was ready to devour Lisa if she leaned forwards too far from her ergonomic chair. Her flailing in such a situation would disturb the several piles of books, newspapers, photos, and other miscellany that covered the desk unclaimed by the computer. Much of that could be returned to its proper places on the bookshelves standing along the remaining free wall space, but not today.

In fact, Lisa was avoiding her office in its entirety today, choosing to relax by eating ice cream and half-watching some Aleph import romcom while lounging on her couch. She had a moderate headache, which was not unusual except that she had gotten very little of her contracted work done last night. Instead, she had been completely focused on her new personal pet project, and boy was it a doozy.

Attempted murder, negligent school officials, failures of parenting… and an extremely dangerous Trump.

Oh, it was certainly true that Phase's power was worrisome, and Lisa was quite sure that WEDGDG and the other Protectorate Thinkers had lost their minds when their power didn't work on their Ward-in-name-only. Lisa had even half-expected them to hire her to surreptitiously observe Phase to see if her own power worked, but they hadn't and that was their loss.

Lisa had still become involved, of course. She was not one to leave a mystery unresolved, and seeing a girl out clothes shopping who provoked only blanks from Lisa's power was far too curious to pass up. Obviously the girl had been a parahuman; with her age and general location, the best bet had been an unannounced Ward.

When said Ward remained unannounced, Lisa had started digging. Phase's power was actually quite limited in its scope, as Lisa was perfectly able to search through the girl's past via mundane means and put together a reasonably complete picture about the situation. Taylor Hebert had been dealt a pretty terrible hand, and now she was refusing to play at all.

Going on a tour of the Wards area had been rather illuminating. While Lisa's power just drew a blank when she used it directly on Phase, it had been more than happy to reveal all sorts of details based on the way her nominal teammates interacted with her. They were not pleased with her refusal to play the game, generally, but they were not really angry at Phase personally. They knew something was up, but few details; it was immediately clear that Phase had told the other Wards practically nothing, and that she was distancing herself as much as possible from the program.

All of this was music to Lisa's ears, because the girl sure as hell wasn't fooling anyone with her little 'Ghost' routine. And Lisa hardly needed her power to notice that Phase had been lonely and depressed, nevermind her best attempts to fade into the couch she had been sitting on.

Model of Phase suggests that —

Lisa clamped back down on her power and stuck a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Phase, in true independent fashion, was bumbling around with no real plan or scheme. Ordinarily Lisa would just wait for such a cape to either get recruited or dealt with, but even had she wanted to get rid of Phase, the girl's power would make it difficult. Even Accord might struggle to concoct such a plan, which made Lisa feel all tingly inside.

Instead, Lisa was going to do what evidence suggested relatively few people did for Phase — ask the girl what she wanted. Since the answer was, apparently, 'be a hero,' Lisa was more than capable of making the girl's dreams come true. Phase had power in spades but had no backup; Lisa knew everything but often found herself limited in action. Together they could actually make substantial changes in Boston, and enough of those were 'heroic' enough that Phase wouldn't complain.

There were undoubtedly plenty of changes that needed to be made.

First and foremost was the mess of the Teeth's relatively recent return to South Boston. People often fixated on the Butcher as the primary threat, but the other capes and unpowered members created enough problems without their insane leader's help. Prior to the return of the Teeth, that area had been a patchwork of small-time villain teams, none of which had warranted the effort by the PRT to remove them. The Teeth, on the other hand, regularly raided, pillaged, and burned the neighborhood, and Lisa was not alone in searching for ways to curtail their violence.

On the other side of the river, Cambridge had recently gone from being the Travelers' stomping ground to otherwise neutral. In reality, the mercenary team had been dancing to Accord's tune, giving the OCD maniac a buffer between himself and Blasto (a discovery that Lisa credited to her conspiracy corkboard). The nomadic group had recently moved north to Brockton Bay, possibly hired by that friend of Accord's, and the power vacuum was a prime opportunity for the villains displaced by the Teeth — those that had survived, that is.

Lisa was sure that she would get a strongly worded letter from Accord about his plans soon enough, but even the small-time independents were already getting involved in the power grab. Case in point, Phase herself seemed to at least be doing her research, given her involvement several nights ago. The 'Ward' would almost certainly not object to being fed information about locations and habits of the local villains.

And if it meant that Accord's plans encountered some difficulties, then all the better.

Lisa's mind flicked back to the Escher-like mess Phase had made of the Wards regulation and she couldn't help but smile. She had high hopes for this partnership.

---

"This is so fucking stupid," Missy swore as the Wards filed out of the conference room.

It was a sign of the increasingly tense times that Dean wasn't flexing his newly minted leadership role and chastising Missy for her language. The Youth Guard had gone completely off the deep end, sticking their annoying soccer mom faces into every corner and crevice of the Brockton Bay Protectorate looking for 'concerns,' and being benched was starting to drive the Wards a little bit insane.

Or, as Missy considered the other two girls on the team, more insane.

"We wouldn't be out there fighting, anyways," Carlos said, as though by rote, and Sophia snorted in derision.

"Right, because we need the professionals to go after the fucking Undersiders," she spat.

"And you're going to stop them from teleporting away… how?" Emma retorted.

"I have an idea for an EMP gun," Chris said. "Could try to knock out their Tinkertech."

"If you can finish building it," Sophia said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Besides, Emma can just zap Chariot's shit."

Emma shook her head. "Not through Grue's darkness." The reminder of the power interaction made Sophia practically snarl, to which Emma responded with an exaggerated roll of her eyes.

Missy cut off the brewing argument. "It's not like it matters. They're not worth the trouble of tracking them down before they vanish back into thin air. And they've mostly been hitting the Empire, anyway."

"That's precisely the problem," Emma pointed out. And it was — the Undersiders were a case study in how a Tinker could be a force multiplier, making them the most effective hit-and-run group in the city. Their precision strikes in Empire and ABB territory were sometimes not discovered until far later, and usually not by the PRT. And now, emboldened by their successes, they were turning into a real problem for the Empire.

Kaiser couldn't let that stand, of course, but sending his capes to chase ghosts left his borders relatively unprotected. And Lung was never one to let opportunity escape his grasp, meaning that the places where Empire and ABB territory abutted had become just short of war zones.

"Well, Piggot and Miss Militia aren't any happier with our situation than us, but they think that we might be allowed back on patrol soon," Dean said diplomatically. It amused Missy that Dean tried so hard to maintain his 'leader' image even when talking about the rules preventing him from being a leader in the first place.

Missy tuned out the other Wards' annoyed grousing (or in Sophia's case, bitchy sniping) while they took the elevator back towards the common room. The Youth Guard was here, they were sticking their noses into everything, and as far as Missy could see, the only way out was to simply give them what they wanted and wait.

Well, mostly. There was no way in hell she was telling them about her scars.

The only one who shared in Missy's silence, of course, was Emma. Missy had never been truly friendly with the redhead — she saw how Dean's eyes followed the older Ward — but it was hard to imagine her doing all of the things she had admitted to doing while tormenting Phase. Sophia doing those things was more believable, given her violent history as a vigilante and general attitude, but even there Missy couldn't really understand.

Admittedly, she hadn't tried very hard. No sooner had the truth come out about Phase than the Youth Guard kicked down the doors and demanded answers, so it wasn't difficult to connect the Wards' sudden bureaucratic shitstorm with the girl who had run away when she recognized Emma. Their list of complaints was too perfect, their questions too by-the-book to be anything other than the retribution of someone with an axe to grind.

Missy thought Phase's overreaction was a load of shit, and as much as the others tried to hide it behind sympathetic words, they agreed. With the Undersiders stepping up their game and the deteriorating situation in the city, it burned to be stuck on base and telling some stupid glorified babysitter about 'scheduling irregularities' or 'lack of positive role models.' Brockton Bay simply didn't have time for Assault and Battery to be doing PR patrols or for Armsmaster to ride his bike slowly through mostly safe areas.

Sophia started swearing loudly when they got back to the common room, cutting off whatever Chris was complaining about and making Emma fidget. The investigation into their harrasment campaign had wrapped up, and to nobody's surprise, not all that much had happened. Piggot had, apparently, done some creative reading of the rules and assigned both troublemakers to a long list of so-called 'kitchen patrols,' which didn't violate the temporary Youth Guard restrictions.

It amused Missy to no end to watch Sophia and Emma cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, guarding supply closets, gophering for PRT staff, or doing other pointless activities that Piggot could technically assign, but had never used up until this point. Sophia hated those activities with the force of a thousand suns, while Emma just accepted the punishment with a far away look on her face.

'Kitchen patrol' had also started giving Missy other ideas. She had shared some of them with Dean, and he agreed that the Wards could not, in good conscience, sit around while the Bay went to hell outside headquarters.

As usual, the first thing Chris and Dennis did upon returning was fire up the game consoles while Emma flopped down onto the couch and brooded on her smartphone. Missy was about to head into her own room when Emma let out a surprised squawk. "Hey, um, guys," she said, waving her phone in the air.

It was… a PHO thread? And a video (magnified by Missy's power) of an obviously newbie hero duking it out with two villains. The video ended with a sizable explosion and the arrival of the PRT, prompting some confusion from the assembled teenagers.

"I don't get it," Dennis said. "So there's a new independent hero in Boston?"

A worrying smile rolled onto Emma's face. "That's Phase."

Dennis gave her a flat look. "I still don't get it."

Missy, however, had fewer cobwebs in her brain. "Wait, she's technically a Ward, right?" Emma nodded vigorously. "I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to do solo stuff like that. In fact, I'm completely sure. She's going to get in so much trouble."

"I don't think so," Emma said, oddly confident. "Her dad came over to talk to my parents last week, and I heard him discussing how Phase won't go in for power testing. Well, after they were done shouting at each other, that is. The Boston director asked her dad to go down to help, only for Phase to call the guards on him."

Missy was equal parts horrified and interested, because while she couldn't imagine why Phase's dad would do such a thing, she was also very curious about whatever Phase had done to scare away her parents.

"Anywho, I did some digging and found out, yeah, unless you go in for power testing, you're basically useless as a Ward," Emma continued. "But look here." Emma took the phone back and flicked through a few threads, eventually settling on one for the Boston Wards. Missy barely had time to read 'New Unannounced Ward?' before Emma pulled up a wall of text. "According to this post, tour groups met the newest Boston Ward, Phase, as recently as yesterday."

"This is very, ah, enlightening," Dean said diplomatically. "But why do we care?"

"Because, if Phase found a loophole that lets her get out from under the Youth Guard's thumb, we can too!"

Emma suddenly had the other Wards' complete attention. Even the sounds of scrubbing from the kitchen stopped, which served as a reminder that even Piggot was looking for ways around the Youth Guard. The Wards traded disbelieving glances before Dennis leaned in and said, "Go on."

---

Derek Atkinson, better known to the world as Nebula, was not a man who cursed in costume. It had been a habit he formed during his two years as a Ward, and he certainly wasn't going to change now that he was a full member of the Protectorate. That way lay sloppy mistakes and bad PR, two things Department 24 could ill-afford right now.

Thus, he pulled off his domino mask and dropped it on the desk in front of him before hissing, "Fuck."

Across the desk sat the office's owner in her bizarre ergonomic chair. Laura Smith — Gauss — was tall enough that she had needed to special order the thing to avoid back trouble. Her own visor sat on the far end of the table, and she rubbed her face in response. "Look, Derek, I know it seems strange, but Kamil is right. The hobby time rules were never meant to be used like this, but between that, the fact that the 'no unauthorized patrols' is apparently enforced through Image rules, and Massachusetts' own lax vigilante laws, Phase is in the clear."

"We have a Ward going out at night and getting electronic stores blown up!" Derek curled a hand into a fist but resisted the urge to pound on Laura's desk. "It's our job to help her grow into a proud heroine that people can look up to, and I don't see how we're doing that by letting her run around with no supervision! Can't we do something to convince her?"

Derek didn't even want to mention the absolute mockery of the Wards tour that Phase had ruined yesterday. The PR department had been scrambling like a kicked anthill to clean up that mess, and Derek found it ridiculous that neither Laura nor Kamil felt punishment was 'necessary yet.' Just because the girl had stuck to factual statements should not mean that it was acceptable for her to reveal them to the public!

Laura leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the desk, and to Derek she suddenly seemed to age a decade. All of the enthusiasm, drive, and infectious cheer drained out of her face, leaving behind a bone-deep weary exhaustion. "Kamil and I see two options. In the first, we find some way to twist her arm — arrest her on a technicality, threaten to transfer her, whatever. She runs away and becomes a villain."

"Fine, then we can get her back under a probationary membership and —"

"Don't be ridiculous," Laura snapped, the uncharacteristic vitriol shutting Derek up immediately. "At that point she loses nothing by going to juvie and then just escaping with her power. And I will raze this city to the ground before I let someone send an innocent fifteen year old girl to High Sec or worse over something as inconsequential as insubordination."

Derek sat back and crossed his arms. "What's your second option, then?"

"We do nothing. If she's going to be a vigilante, then it's better to have her living here where we can keep our eyes on her instead of consigning her to a life of crime. Phase is, by necessity, playing by the vigilante rules. Boston isn't particularly dangerous to small-timers and Accord isn't stupid enough to kill someone who is obviously a Ward." Laura sighed, reclining in her chair while it twisted 'comfortably' beneath her. "I believe that asking for tips from the other Wards will bring her closer to actually joining up. Who else is she going to talk to about cape business?"

"This makes us look like idiots," he hissed, ignoring that she made a good point.

"No shit," Laura said darkly. "And after doing a bit of digging on Phase's history, I'm not inclined to disagree with the label."

"That's Brockton, not us," Derek tried.

"Irrelevant, at least to Phase."

A fist slammed onto Laura's desk, and Derek was surprised to see that it was his. "This is insane! The Protectorate should not bend over backwards for a disrespectful, insubordinate teenager! We —"

Laura fixed him with a glare that cut off his tirade instantly. "We caused her trigger event, Derek! It's a miracle that she still wants to be a hero! Kamil and I are doing our best to find ways to ensure that Phase eventually joins the Wards properly, and we're under enough pressure from the PRT and New York that I don't need your complaints, too!"

The two heroes stared at each other for a long moment after Laura's forceful rebuke, only for Derek to break his gaze away and focus his attention back onto his hands. The silence persisted for another minute before Laura spoke. "Look, we're going to let Phase have her fun. She can only cause so much damage as an independent vigilante while following the laws, and Kamil believes that Phase will eventually want a team of her own. When she does, we'll be waiting."

Derek scowled, forcing himself to unclench his hands. "And we can arrest her if she does something actually illegal. It's not like Phase can claim not to have known the rules ahead of time. Then we can force her onto the correct path with a plea deal and put this whole mess behind us."

Laura scowled right back at him, but didn't contradict his statement.

 

[fluxoid]

Have to remind myself what's going on, but very glad to see this back.

 

[Breakdown_Brkdwn]

Niiice, new chapter.

10/10

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Derek, Derek, Derek. You are still assuming Taylor doesn't hate and distrust the Protectorate and Wards enough, to choose going to juvie over taking a plea deal. And can the PRT force power testing on a teenage parahuman who chooses jail time over a diversion into the Wards program?

And this assumes you can even hold her at all...

 

[Aravis]

Thanks for the new chappy!!!