Just a Phase [Worm]

[Evilreadermaximum]

and while he can't force her into combat he can force her to socialize with the rest of the people in the building.

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Well, that's one way to get Taylor to run earlier then you'd otherwise expect.

Armstrong would kill him.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Well, that's one way to get Taylor to run earlier then you'd otherwise expect.

Armstrong would kill him.

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Yeah Armstrong wss going for the soft approach while Nebula took a more hands on direct approach to the issue, and Armstrong is cetainly unhappy because while Nebula didn't go over his head he certainly went around it regarding the issue.

 

[Mr Zoat]

The agent sighed before saying, "it hasn't been any easier on my end either so far I have only met the girl once and have no further contact with her since, I tried to talk to Weld about getting her to socialize more with the other wards when he came by to see me about her but he was disappointed with my answers."

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I think this should be:

The agent sighed before saying, "It hasn't been any easier on my end either. So far I have only met the girl once, and I've had no further contact with her since. I tried to talk to Weld about getting her to socialize more with the other wards when he came by to see me about her but he was didn't think that would be possible."

The problem with the end of the original is that there's nothing before that to suggest that Weld asked any questions. Thus, it doesn't make sense to say that he didn't like her answers.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Nebulous Acts
It was early in the morning when Taylor heard the knocking on her door, getting up when it became clear that who ever was trying to get her attention wasn't going away Taylor open the door to be greeted by the smiling face of Nebula.

"Hello Phase starting today I am now your official mentor for the duration of your time in the wards," Nebula stated with a cheery tone.

Staring up at the man Taylor said the first thing that came to mind "WHAT!?"

---

Note: Just an omake for events based on the last chapter as for what Nebula did he used a lesser known wards program that only needed the approval of a legal guardian to be implemented rather than needing to go through power test like the other ward's activities/duties. As for what Taylor would be doing with Nebula it would mostly just be following him around while he is on base and listening to him talk, and while he can't force her into combat he can force her to socialize with the rest of the people in the building.

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Now I'm picturing what if Taylor says "no", and is of course ignored, so she decides to do what schools are always telling people to do and "just ignore him". Namely not show up for anything Nebula schedules, and completely ignore him like he isn't there when he comes to yell at her. Maybe file a complaint if he barges in her room to drag her out or just tries to drag her off.
Of course, in the latter case it will probably fall on deaf ears, she is after all a minor and he's got Authority over her, so "If you had just gone with him, grabbing you and dragging you off like that would not have been necessary" would be the response to any complaints whining..

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Now I'm picturing what if Taylor says "no", and is of course ignored, so she decides to do what schools are always telling people to do and "just ignore him". Namely not show up for anything Nebula schedules, and completely ignore him like he isn't there when he comes to yell at her. Maybe file a complaint if he barges in her room to drag her out or just tries to drag her off.
Of course, in the latter case it will probably fall on deaf ears, she is after all a minor and he's got Authority over her, so "If you had just gone with him, grabbing you and dragging you off like that would not have been necessary" would be the response to any complaints whining..

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At best Taylor phases every time he tries to grab her so he can't physically move her if he tries, at worst her not cooperating with the mentorship program means that the wards program can actually start handing out punishments or mandatory duties to her so he might still be able to force her to comply.

Honestly haven't thought about it to hard when writing it just thought it was a fun idea, essentially Nebula managed to get himself assigned as her pseudo parole officer despite her not being on parole so he does have the authority to assign her low risk social activities along with shadowing him at work so long as that work doesn't bring her into combat or other sensitive Protectorate business, at least until someone manages to get her into power testing.

Anyother thoughts or comments are appreciated.

 

[SlickRCBD]

At best Taylor phases every time he tries to grab her so he can't physically move her if he tries, at worst her not cooperating with the mentorship program means that the wards program can actually start handing out punishments or mandatory duties to her so he might still be able to force her to comply.

Honestly haven't thought about it to hard when writing it just thought it was a fun idea, essentially Nebula managed to get himself assigned as her pseudo parole officer despite her not being on parole so he does have the authority to assign her low risk social activities along with shadowing him at work so long as that work doesn't bring her into combat or other sensitive Protectorate business, at least until someone manages to get her into power testing.

Anyother thoughts or comments are appreciated.

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Well, what happens if Taylor refuses to do the duties? She just doesn't show up. If they try to confine her she phases out of holding and/or files a complaint with the police, Youth Guard, and DCFS for false imprisonment.
Has she actually signed any Wards paperwork? If not then she can say she never signed up for the Wards and so any breach of contract will fall upon her PRT guardians, not her.
It would be interesting if she was talking to a judge if they take her to court over non-compliance (maybe dereliction of duty) and she points out that she never signed any paperwork joining the Wards and had repeatedly refused to join, but was drafted anyways and forced from her home.

I'm just trying to get a feel for what consequences she faces for open defiance.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Well, what happens if Taylor refuses to do the duties? She just doesn't show up. If they try to confine her she phases out of holding and/or files a complaint with the police, Youth Guard, and DCFS for false imprisonment.
Has she actually signed any Wards paperwork? If not then she can say she never signed up for the Wards and so any breach of contract will fall upon her PRT guardians, not her.
It would be interesting if she was talking to a judge if they take her to court over non-compliance (maybe dereliction of duty) and she points out that she never signed any paperwork joining the Wards and had repeatedly refused to join, but was drafted anyways and forced from her home.

I'm just trying to get a feel for what consequences she faces for open defiance.

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The main problem with that is the fact that Taylor is a minor in the eyes of the law parahuman or not and her legal guardian at the time signed her up for the program so her choice doesn't factor into it.

I doubt Armstrong will consider taking Taylor for court for non-compliance or dereliction of duty and would prevent Nebula from doing the same because that will simply end with them having to deal with another villain on the streets of Boston who harbors a grudge against the PRT.

As for consequences for open defiance because as said before in this thread the Boston department is limited in what they can do to her without her pulling a runner and since she isn't doing anything officially as a ward they can't really get her for that either. Worst case scenario they find some rule that allows them to act against her vigilante identity and use it to force her into power testing but until then they can't do anything until she steps out of line.

Edit: For the omake I would say that Nebula would have some ability to punish her but only in minor ways such as assigning her mandatory paperwork, or having her attend so basic training seminars, his main goal wasn't to really find ways to punish her bit more along the lines of forcing her to interact with other people without her being able to refuse.

 

[SlickRCBD]

Edit: For the omake I would say that Nebula would have some ability to punish her but only in minor ways such as assigning her mandatory paperwork, or having her attend so basic training seminars, his main goal wasn't to really find ways to punish her bit more along the lines of forcing her to interact with other people without her being able to refuse.

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Which is why I said what does he do when she doesn't show up for the training seminars and tosses the paperwork in the nearest recycle bin.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Which is why I said what does he do when she doesn't show up for the training seminars and tosses the paperwork in the nearest recycle bin.

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Probably have her hobby time cut down on or losing access to some basic wards privileges.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

The main problem with that is the fact that Taylor is a minor in the eyes of the law parahuman or not and her legal guardian at the time signed her up for the program so her choice doesn't factor into it.

I doubt Armstrong will consider taking Taylor for court for non-compliance or dereliction of duty and would prevent Nebula from doing the same because that will simply end with them having to deal with another villain on the streets of Boston who harbors a grudge against the PRT.

As for consequences for open defiance because as said before in this thread the Boston department is limited in what they can do to her without her pulling a runner and since she isn't doing anything officially as a ward they can't really get her for that either. Worst case scenario they find some rule that allows them to act against her vigilante identity and use it to force her into power testing but until then they can't do anything until she steps out of line.

Edit: For the omake I would say that Nebula would have some ability to punish her but only in minor ways such as assigning her mandatory paperwork, or having her attend so basic training seminars, his main goal wasn't to really find ways to punish her bit more along the lines of forcing her to interact with other people without her being able to refuse.

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I can see a few problems. And had to stop lurking and make an account to comment.

One, Armstrong would be rather upset at this halping and order Nebula to drop this stupid idea. Or tell Gauss (who'd likely agree) to tell him to knock this shit off.

Two, Not only would Taylor refuse to comply? She'd go to her one ally. Jim the Youth Guard Rep. Who would call a meeting with Armstrong, Gauss, Nebula, and Watkins. You think he wouldn't see this as a blatant attempt to coerce Taylor into being an active Ward? Especially if she is punished for non-compliance?

"Tell me, Agent Watkins how many meetings did you have with Taylor before deciding to take this step? Just one, on her first day?" Yeah, that smells like a rubber stamp and could give Jim grounds to get Taylor a different guardian of record because of the clear conflict of interest.

Three, Recall not only is Jim and the YG fine with Taylor sitting on the bench and being a Ward in Name Only? (As far as they know) They also love her for prying open the Wards omerta and giving the YG more comprehensive oversight. Getting double Wards (Wards who are also wards of the state) guardians outside of the PRT/Protectorate, and indeed using Taylor as a case to make the PRT and Protectorate unacceptable as legal guardians for Wards of the State Wards as a conflict of interest? Yeah, the whole organization would jump behind that.

Four, the Runner issue if pressed too hard, as Armstrong is very aware of.

I see the Common Room tour appearance as a "Try it and you'll like it" attempt. That Taylor would like the public attention. And yeah that was badly misreading Taylor and her severely low levels of fucks left to give. As I posted in the AO3 comments? Taylor is hanging onto her last fuck and the Boston department is determined to yank it out of her hands.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Snip

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Yeah realistically speaking Nebula has about a day maybe two if he is lucky (he is not) of having Taylor follow him around after that Armstrong and the YG will come down on him hard. As for what Nebula was thinking with his plan he believed that Taylor need an attentive role model/someone to guide her along since leaving her be was clearly not working and causing her to act out through vigilantism, was he right to do so absolutely not but her also really miss read Taylor's character and thought she was just a teenager with issues who needed someone to set them straight.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

I wrote this up in reply to the AO3 comments, for chapter 10. When someone asked what they could punish Taylor for for her rather, frank, answers to the tour group.

"Embarrassing the PRT in the First Degree"

O'Hannon tried to hold onto his temper, coffee the only thing keeping awake while dealing with this clusterfuck. Finally Phase and James, the local Youth Guard rep came in and sat down at the table, across from him and Director Kamil who was sitting in to moderate.

O'Hannon didn't waste any time on pleasantries "We are docking your pay for this fiasco Phase."

The infuriating girl just looked back impassively. "On what grounds? They asked me some questions, I answered like you had me there to do."

O'Hannon snarled, "Violations of media relations and PR event guidelines." He tried to keep his blood pressure under control as the girl tried to look clueless. He lost it when she opened her mouth.

"What guidelines?"

O'Hannon finally blew up. "The ones they gave you when they issued your ID! You had to sign for them when you got it and that you read them when you submitted your preliminary costume ideas!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Director Kamil flinch, and reach forward.

Phase ignored his ranting, turning to James. "I'm certain I didn't get any such items, nor did I sign any such paperwork."

Taking the implied hand off James leaned forward, "These would be items issued with Miss Phase's permanent ID, and her costume went in for approval?"

O'Hannon nodded, "Yes! Her not reading the damn thing isn't an excuse."

James just leaned in more, "An ID and costume issued after her power testing is complete? Power testing that has yet to begin for my client?"

O'Hannon gaped and James plowed on. "It is hardly fair to blame Miss Phase for not following regulations she was neither given nor informed existed. As I see it you and the Director caused this situation by pushing my client out there without them." He turned to Director Kamil, "Your organization's impatience and lack of internal communication is hardly Miss Phase's fault. I do hope that the paperwork on those fines haven't gone through yet. Otherwise I will be filing to challenge them, and seek both lost interest and penalties to be paid to my client on top of her illegally deducted wages."

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Honestly Taylor is lucky that they decided to do the wards meet and greet before power testing cause Taylor would be screwed if they did it the other way around.

 

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Honestly Taylor is lucky that they decided to do the wards meet and greet before power testing cause Taylor would be screwed if they did it the other way around.

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I'd say the PRT is lucky. Because if Taylor didn't have that wonderfully subversive "I'm uncomfortable with this test" block on any Power Testing? She'd have already run.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

I'd say the PRT is luck. Because if Taylor didn't have that wonderfully subversive "I'm uncomfortable with this test" block on Power Testing? She'd have already run.

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True, but at the same time she really doesn't want to be a villain and pulling a runaway would eventually lead her to villainy, and she also doesn't want to lose the wards college fund.

 

[tarrangar]

At best Taylor phases every time he tries to grab her so he can't physically move her if he tries, at worst her not cooperating with the mentorship program means that the wards program can actually start handing out punishments or mandatory duties to her so he might still be able to force her to comply.

Honestly haven't thought about it to hard when writing it just thought it was a fun idea, essentially Nebula managed to get himself assigned as her pseudo parole officer despite her not being on parole so he does have the authority to assign her low risk social activities along with shadowing him at work so long as that work doesn't bring her into combat or other sensitive Protectorate business, at least until someone manages to get her into power testing.

Anyother thoughts or comments are appreciated.

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Problem is that they can't actually put her on punishment duty, because she's not a criminal, refusing to follow orders is not a crime, they can dock her pay down to nothing, but this is the equivalent of a teen having an afterschool job, they can prevent her from quitting, but the only punishment they can inflict on her is not paying her for the time she's not working, they can assign her shit duties, but she can just refuse to do those too, and all they can do is keep assigning her things she wont do.

The problem is that a teen not doing their job isn't illegal, there's no point where her not following orders become illegal, and so they can keep piling on disciplinary notes and punishment duty, but if she just keep ignoring them, they can go no further, because nothing she's doing is criminal, and so they can't apply punishment beyond shit duties and pay cuts to her.

Being her guardians, they do have the option of grounding her, but that's basically the limit of what they can do, and even there they aren't very effective, because Taylor can just refuse to comply with the grounding, but still not run away, becoming a run-away is illegal, refusing to stay in your room when your guardian tell you to is at far as I know not.

Honestly Taylor is lucky that they decided to do the wards meet and greet before power testing cause Taylor would be screwed if they did it the other way around.

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Even if she had signed the paperwork, all they could do was dock her pay, not even her trust fund just her pay, so while it would cost her some money, she wouldn't be screwed, she would just be out some pocket money.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Problem is that they can't actually put her on punishment duty, because she's not a criminal, refusing to follow orders is not a crime, they can dock her pay down to nothing, but this is the equivalent of a teen having an afterschool job, they can prevent her from quitting, but the only punishment they can inflict on her is not paying her for the time she's not working, they can assign her shit duties, but she can just refuse to do those too, and all they can do is keep assigning her things she wont do.

The problem is that a teen not doing their job isn't illegal, there's no point where her not following orders become illegal, and so they can keep piling on disciplinary notes and punishment duty, but if she just keep ignoring them, they can go no further, because nothing she's doing is criminal, and so they can't apply punishment beyond shit duties and pay cuts to her.

Being her guardians, they do have the option of grounding her, but that's basically the limit of what they can do, and even there they aren't very effective, because Taylor can just refuse to comply with the grounding, but still not run away, becoming a run-away is illegal, refusing to stay in your room when your guardian tell you to is at far as I know not.

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Yeah the problem that Nebula will end up facing is that he took the short term approach to the Taylor situation rather than the long term one Armstrong was going for and will suffer the consequences as such. Because while Armstrong's plan may not have been showing results at the time it was the plan with the highest chance of success because eventually Taylor would crack from the self imposed isolation and open up as seen with her brief interaction Connie, its just that she has Jim who is slowing down the process and I am pretty sure if Jim wasn't there Taylor would have already cracked.

Even if she had signed the paperwork, all they could do was dock her pay, not even her trust fund just her pay, so while it would cost her some money, she wouldn't be screwed, she would just be out some pocket money.

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Edit: My point in that scenario is that if she had gone through power testing first then she would lose her main protection from wards duties and would have to go through things such costumes and making an official debut.

 

[BF110C4]

Taylor saving grace and problem is that in this case is that she is trying to act within the margins of all laws and regulations since she believes is the only way she won't be screwed any worse by the powers that be. Is a plus to her since she is actually very good at finding loopholes and legal impediments to the Ward's regulations even on limited available literature (she made her initial plan based on little more than a pamphlet and an abridged rulebook literally for children and teens) and it has managed to hold against scrutiny from the PRT legal team. Its a long term problem because she is not a lawyer nor she got practical experience in burocracy, so far the PRT/Protectorate has been careful not to push their own loopholes too far to avoid alienating her even more but the fact is that if legal put some serious effort towards finding workarounds they can easily write pausible exceptions to many of the regulations that would hold up in court and frankly that would be also considered as common sense instead of something more sinister.

For an innocuous example take the mandatory Pizza Party Taylor managed to avoid by claiming that since it was a powers allowed activity it was too dangerous according to regs. Now if the director, or even the Ward's leader wants to really push the envelope they can start an activity known as No Powers Week, in which the parahuman Wards and Protectorate heroes would stop casual use of powers in their HQ as a show of solidarity with normal people, something that not even Youth Guard can complain about since it does help the peaceful integration of parahuman into society. Suddenly the expectation of the Pizza Party is that powers are not allowed so Taylor's complain is adressed as effectively as the HQ tour, but without being explicity targeted against her so no last minute YG save there.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Snip

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The main reason why Taylor's plan has worked so well to this point is because Armstrong is not willing to poke her too much in regards to getting her integrated with the program, if she was with a different director such as Piggot or whoever she ended up with in canon you can bet they would have had legal on the issue from day one to find a loophole to force her to comply with the program, which would have ended in a runaway ward and ends up with either Taylor becoming a villain thus tarnishing the PRT and the Wards reputation, or Taylor being captured and put on probation thus losing what protections she does have.

 

[BF110C4]

The main reason why Taylor's plan has worked so well to this point is because Armstrong is not willing to poke her too much in regards to getting her integrated with the program, if she was with a different director such as Piggot or whoever she ended up with in canon you can bet they would have had legal on the issue from day one to find a loophole to force her to comply with the program, which would have ended in a runaway ward and ends up with either Taylor becoming a villain thus tarnishing the PRT and the Wards reputation, or Taylor being captured and put on probation thus losing what protections she does have.

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Indeed, even a benevolent boss would have a lot of tools to rush things but thankfuly Amstrong has so far resisted the external and internal pressure to do something drastic with the exception of the Tour of Hell which can be certainly defined as a costly lesson of the ways Taylor can oppose such a move and the fact that is only by the barest of treads that she is not actively working to be a PR Nightmare.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Indeed, even a benevolent boss would have a lot of tools to rush things but thankfuly Amstrong has so far resisted the external and internal pressure to do something drastic with the exception of the Tour of Hell which can be certainly defined as a costly lesson of the ways Taylor can oppose such a move and the fact that is only by the barest of treads that she is not actively working to be a PR Nightmare.

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I believe that Armstrong's actions comes from his background of being more interested in researching parahuman abilities rather than having them as soldiers because if he is interested in parahuman abilities then it is safe to argue that he has studied up on parahuman psychology and knows that hitting a parahuman over the head with something related to their trigger event is not a good idea and will cause them to lash out so he is more inclined to not push the issue and let Taylor open up on her own while giving little nudges here and there to show that he and the rest of the staff cares.

 

[tarrangar]

Edit: My point in that scenario is that if she had gone through power testing first then she would lose her main protection from wards duties and would have to go through things such costumes and making an official debut.

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No she would not, even then she could just stonewall, they would just have slightly more ability to punish her for it, but it's still not illegal for a minor to refuse to work, no matter if they have signed a contract, by US law, the ability to punish a minor for not living up to an employment contract, is limited to not paying them, so all they would be able to do, would be to dock her pay down to nothing.

Taylor saving grace and problem is that in this case is that she is trying to act within the margins of all laws and regulations since she believes is the only way she won't be screwed any worse by the powers that be. Is a plus to her since she is actually very good at finding loopholes and legal impediments to the Ward's regulations even on limited available literature (she made her initial plan based on little more than a pamphlet and an abridged rulebook literally for children and teens) and it has managed to hold against scrutiny from the PRT legal team. Its a long term problem because she is not a lawyer nor she got practical experience in burocracy, so far the PRT/Protectorate has been careful not to push their own loopholes too far to avoid alienating her even more but the fact is that if legal put some serious effort towards finding workarounds they can easily write pausible exceptions to many of the regulations that would hold up in court and frankly that would be also considered as common sense instead of something more sinister.

For an innocuous example take the mandatory Pizza Party Taylor managed to avoid by claiming that since it was a powers allowed activity it was too dangerous according to regs. Now if the director, or even the Ward's leader wants to really push the envelope they can start an activity known as No Powers Week, in which the parahuman Wards and Protectorate heroes would stop casual use of powers in their HQ as a show of solidarity with normal people, something that not even Youth Guard can complain about since it does help the peaceful integration of parahuman into society. Suddenly the expectation of the Pizza Party is that powers are not allowed so Taylor's complain is adressed as effectively as the HQ tour, but without being explicity targeted against her so no last minute YG save there.

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The problem is, that they are not actually legally able to compel her to do anything, US law don't allow you to punish minors for not living up to employment contracts, and legal guardians are also limited in what punishment they can inflict on their wards, they can certainly make life less comfortable for her, but they can't throw her in Juvie or anything like that, the worst they can do is try to ground her.

The main reason why Taylor's plan has worked so well to this point is because Armstrong is not willing to poke her too much in regards to getting her integrated with the program, if she was with a different director such as Piggot or whoever she ended up with in canon you can bet they would have had legal on the issue from day one to find a loophole to force her to comply with the program, which would have ended in a runaway ward and ends up with either Taylor becoming a villain thus tarnishing the PRT and the Wards reputation, or Taylor being captured and put on probation thus losing what protections she does have.

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Running away from home is not a crime in a majority of US states, so even if they captured her, unless her state is one of the minority where it is, running away wouldn't allow them to put her on probation.

Even in those states where it's technically illegal, the punishment only tend to amount to things like fines.

Of course there's always associated offenses, if Taylor is running away, then she's going to run into Truancy laws, and might run into Curfew laws if she's not careful, but neither of those carry serious punishment either, so they still wont allow them to put her on probation, because at most, even if they put pressure on the judge to apply maximal punishment, breaking those laws would get Taylor a few weeks in Juvie, and I think Taylor would take that over agreeing to probation.

And unless she's in one of the minority of states, that have running away from home itself being illegal, she can also just choose to continue going to school, and just use her power to get out of whatever grounding the PRT try to impose on her.

 

[BF110C4]

Running away from home is not a crime in a majority of US states, so even if they captured her, unless her state is one of the minority where it is, running away wouldn't allow them to put her on probation.

Even in those states where it's technically illegal, the punishment only tend to amount to things like fines.

Of course there's always associated offenses, if Taylor is running away, then she's going to run into Truancy laws, and might run into Curfew laws if she's not careful, but neither of those carry serious punishment either, so they still wont allow them to put her on probation, because at most, even if they put pressure on the judge to apply maximal punishment, breaking those laws would get Taylor a few weeks in Juvie, and I think Taylor would take that over agreeing to probation.

And unless she's in one of the minority of states, that have running away from home itself being illegal, she can also just choose to continue going to school, and just use her power to get out of whatever grounding the PRT try to impose on her.

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A more serious problem are all the laws related to the confidential information she helds, beyond the events of the bullying and her trigger event and even of the identities of Emma and Sophia, Taylor got knowledge of the identities of many Boston Wards, their security procedures and other miscelaneous trivia that she might be forbidden by law to reveal. Depending on how Material Witness laws and regulations have evolved due to parahuman influence I believe that if Taylor flees they might try to use the Material Witness statue or similar ones for potential flight risks with classified information or even the infamous Master/Stranger protocols to keep her datained against her will.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

Snip

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The main problem that Taylor faces by running away is that she has no support network and no where to go because she can't go to her father because he would try and send her right back and she also doesn't have any close friends she could hide out with, so she would essentially be living on the streets which would lead to her steal to survive and while running away mught not be illegal stealing certainly is.

Snip

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That too while Taylor may not have fully joined the program like the other wards she has been given confidential info and she does have some pretty bad dirt on the PRT so there is no way they will let her runaway without trying to take her back before someone else gets her and extracts the info.

 

[tarrangar]

The main problem that Taylor faces by running away is that she has no support network and no where to go because she can't go to her father because he would try and send her right back and she also doesn't have any close friends she could hide out with, so she would essentially be living on the streets which would lead to her steal to survive and while running away mught not be illegal stealing certainly is.

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She has some money since she is getting paid as a Ward, and as a Parahuman she can probably find some kind of work, though since she would be a run-away, said work would probably be under the table work, meaning she could be accused of tax evasion, but a minor accused of minor tax evasion is again not enough to put her on probation if she's caught, putting her on probation, require a crime that come with long enough stints in Juvie that she would rather go on probation than do the time in Juvie, so anything that only carry a sentence of some weeks in Juvie, is not enough to put her on probation, certainly not for a relevant amount of time, getting her on a two week probation isn't very useful.

That too while Taylor may not have fully joined the program like the other wards she has been given confidential info and she does have some pretty bad dirt on the PRT so there is no way they will let her runaway without trying to take her back before someone else gets her and extracts the info.

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Sure they will try to take her back, my point is more, that running away, unless they get her for a bunch of crimes she committed while running away, is not enough to put her on probation, they can drag her back, but they can't use it to force her into being a good productive Ward.

 

[SlickRCBD]

She has some money since she is getting paid as a Ward, and as a Parahuman she can probably find some kind of work, though since she would be a run-away, said work would probably be under the table work, meaning she could be accused of tax evasion, but a minor accused of minor tax evasion is again not enough to put her on probation if she's caught, putting her on probation, require a crime that come with long enough stints in Juvie that she would rather go on probation than do the time in Juvie, so anything that only carry a sentence of some weeks in Juvie, is not enough to put her on probation, certainly not for a relevant amount of time, getting her on a two week probation isn't very useful.

Sure they will try to take her back, my point is more, that running away, unless they get her for a bunch of crimes she committed while running away, is not enough to put her on probation, they can drag her back, but they can't use it to force her into being a good productive Ward.

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Technically most minors require parental consent to get a job. Now there are some jobs like babysitting and mowing lawns that they can do, but technically they are breaking the law if they do not report the income to the IRS.
Any job where the employer has to pay withholding taxes (income tax) and/or social security taxes is one that requires a parent or guardian to cosign the application and/or tax forms.
A minor working around their parents in this day and age is made difficult because of all the paperwork now required. The days when a minor can run off and join the circus are over. You can blame the IRS for that. The IRS wants its cut of your wages and the need to sign proper employment contracts to set up those wages. Also the paperwork is in part to make illegal immigrants unemployable by making employers responsible for collecting proof that they are legally allowed to work in the U.S.

 

[tarrangar]

Technically most minors require parental consent to get a job. Now there are some jobs like babysitting and mowing lawns that they can do, but technically they are breaking the law by not reporting to the IRS.
Any job where the employer has to pay withholding taxes (income tax) and/or social security taxes is one that requires a parent or guardian to cosign the application or tax forms.
A minor working around their parents in this day and age is made difficult because of all the paperwork now required. The days when a minor can run off and join the circus are over. You can blame the IRS for that, that wants its cut of your wages and the need to sign proper employment contracts to set up those wages.

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Yeah, but it's not whether it's a crime, it's whether it's a crime that carry a punishment serious enough, to sentence Taylor to a long enough stint in Juvie, to get her to accept probation instead, Jaywalking is a crime too, but you aren't getting Taylor on probation from Jaywalking, if they want her turned into a probationary Ward, they need her not just caught in a crime, they need her caught in a crime serious enough to warrant probation, minor tax evasion in the form of a minor doing under the table work while on the run, is not going to send anyone to prison for years, and so it's not going to allow them to put Taylor on probation.

There's all sorts of minor crimes they can catch her for, but they wont get her on probation, because for things like a run away doing under the table work, the judge will probably only hand out a fine or community service, at most if they decide to try a scaring straight tactic, they might send her for a week or 2 in Juvie, none of those punishments are severe enough, to get Taylor to sign a probationary Ward contract to get out of them.

Being caught committing petty theft is probably not enough either, petty theft only carry a sentence of up to 1 year in prison, and that's for adults, children get more lenient punishments, so while she might get a short stint in Juvie, if she's only pickpocketing and shoplifting to survive, then it's still not enough to force her on a long term probation, it's only enough to make her choose between a few months in Juvie, or a short term probation(meaning they only have increased control of her for a few months.)

 

[KingCrimson1081]

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Also remember that the people up on Washington aka Armstrong's superiors are pushing real hard to get Taylor to conform with the program so if she does runaway it doesn't matter if she only commits minor crimes they will still get her under probabtion for them like how Canary's trial was railroaded to send her to the Bird Cage.

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The other problem for Taylor trying to get an under the table job is that most people would be hesitant to hire a runaway ward who is currently being looked for by the PRT, which would make her options the people who don't care if the PRT comes knocking on their operations and those aren't the kinds of people Taylor would want to associated with.

 

[tarrangar]

Also remember that the people up on Washington aka Armstrong's superiors are pushing real hard to get Taylor to conform with the program so if she does runaway it doesn't matter if she only commits minor crimes they will still get her under probabtion for them like how Canary's trial was railroaded to send her to the Bird Cage.

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The law is still the law, and I don't think the PRT has quite the same pull in Juvenile court, as they do in other courts, then there's the fact that Canarys trial wasn't railroaded by the PRT, the fact that Canarys railroading specifically relied on there being no ability to appeal a Birdcage sentence, and the fact that Taylor might just decide to go to Juvie out of spite instead of accepting probation, if they turn a petty theft charge into a multiple year probation.

 

[KingCrimson1081]

The law is still the law, and I don't think the PRT has quite the same pull in Juvenile court, as they do in other courts, then there's the fact that Canarys trial wasn't railroaded by the PRT, the fact that Canarys railroading specifically relied on there being no ability to appeal a Birdcage sentence, and the fact that Taylor might just decide to go to Juvie out of spite instead of accepting probation, if they turn a petty theft charge into a multiple year probation.

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She might not be able to make that choice because the PRT might use her running away and stealing as an example of her not being able to make good decisions for herself to get the judge to give them more authority over her. Also even if she does except juvie she would simply be put back into the wards program once its done just this time there will be more people keeping an eye on her.