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They'd have to unmask her to do what you said,
Would unmasking Ghost as the Ward Phase technically be allowed, they aren't revealing her civilian identity so they could use that as a justification. Of course doing this would be the equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot since it would show they can't control their own Ward but at least they could deny giving her the money.
 
Would unmasking Ghost as the Ward Phase technically be allowed, they aren't revealing her civilian identity so they could use that as a justification. Of course doing this would be the equivalent of shooting themselves in the foot since it would show they can't control their own Ward but at least they could deny giving her the money.
This would be a pr disaster on a scale not seen in human history it would be better to just let "ghost have it
 
Vis a vis 2: No, but having that bounty money negates any and all criminal motivations while being a runaway,
Which would matter if Taylor didn't have powers. As you note vigilantism is much more acceptable in Worm (it's legal in RL, just not very acceptable so the restrictions are fully enforced) and Taylor's powers give her plenty of legitimate ways of earning money even without beating up villains.

If Taylor was going to runaway she wouldn't need the money and the money doesn't provide any significant aid in her running away.

That only works if she fought the Nine and claims the bounty as Phase. If Ghost shows up in costume to collect? They'd have to unmask her to do what you said, otherwise it is a money transfer (thanks Lisa!) to a private account.
Quite true, the omake being discussed had her claiming the bounty as Taylor Hebert, not Ghost or Phase.
 
Which would matter if Taylor didn't have powers. As you note vigilantism is much more acceptable in Worm (it's legal in RL, just not very acceptable so the restrictions are fully enforced) and Taylor's powers give her plenty of legitimate ways of earning money even without beating up villains.

If Taylor was going to runaway she wouldn't need the money and the money doesn't provide any significant aid in her running away.
Two of the problems with using her powers to earn money legally is that first the employer probably needs to inform her legal guardians in order to hire her, which for a runaway is obviously complicated.

The other problem is that powers are somewhat regulated in Worm for the purpose of participating in economic activities, even without falling into the NEPEA trap. She more likely than not needs at least some kind of licensing by the PRT to show that when phasing through things she doesn't leave harmful radiation, steals life or any other esoteric effects that are not obvious at first glance.

And even if she finds people willing to pay under the table using her powers will bring the most obvious and dangerous complication, sooner or later the local crime element will hear of her power and will try to make her to use it to steal or worse, and since she is immune to applied violence they will lean on whatever people she befriends. It's very poor form to have a neighbor paying under the table for an easy fix on a damaged ship in a bottle (first innocuous use of her power I thought) to have his nails removed one by one.

So yeah, if she runs away and needs to keep a low profile she will need an independent source of money that doesn't depends on her powers or a higher education.
 
Two of the problems with using her powers to earn money legally is that first the employer probably needs to inform her legal guardians in order to hire her, which for a runaway is obviously complicated.
The same argument would be made for her using her money to get a safe place to stay. Also, as has been noted her powers allow her to earn money without any sort of employee/employer contract.

The other problem is that powers are somewhat regulated in Worm for the purpose of participating in economic activities, even without falling into the NEPEA trap.
To an extent, but there are many things she can do which could not require any sort of licensing.

So yeah, if she runs away and needs to keep a low profile she will need an independent source of money that doesn't depends on her powers or a higher education.
Those are big ifs, and I don't agree with your conclusion even granting those conditions.
 
Denying her the money would be the dumbest thing they could do since it would get out and guess what I'm 100% sure if any criminal hears that the prt will try to use the money as leverage against one of theirs they'll simply stop hunting those bounties down which would be way worse than giving Taylor the money it would call the truce into question too
 
Denying her the money would be the dumbest thing they could do since it would get out and guess what I'm 100% sure if any criminal hears that the prt will try to use the money as leverage against one of theirs they'll simply stop hunting those bounties down which would be way worse than giving Taylor the money it would call the truce into question too
They wouldn't be denying her the money, they'd be fulfilling their obligations as guardians to manage her money for her until she's old enough to do so herself.
You may be right about the consequences if it gets out, but it's not as if they have any choice about it. For that matter if the news got out, the fact they allowed a Ward to fight the S9 would be worse than any rumor about denying the bounty to someone.
 
This fic makes me wonder why the Youth Guard isn't Coil's best friend.
Probably because Coil knows any outside attention on the ENE department would be very bad for him and his operation. Coil thrives on the corruption and issues in Brockton and having an organization like the Youth Guard poking around in his neighborhood poses a genuine risk of exposing his infiltration. Just look at what happened in Implacable, which this fic is based on, when the Youth Guard got involved all of Coil's moles and Coil himself got exposed during the audit turned full investigation of the ENE.
 
It's criminally underused in universe and out?
Yep, I don't even remember it from the original Worm. They had no presence in Brockton Bay when logically they should have gotten involved for Vista, Shadow Stalker, and the entire incident with the bank robbery and the aftermath.
The group was a retcon for the PRT quest to screw and railroad the players.
 
Yep, I don't even remember it from the original Worm. They had no presence in Brockton Bay when logically they should have gotten involved for Vista, Shadow Stalker, and the entire incident with the bank robbery and the aftermath.
The group was a retcon for the PRT quest to screw and railroad the players.
Personally I just head canon that as Piggot hating outside influence in her department, since you know someone from outside would probably call her out on her bullshit. The only reason the Youth Guard wasn't able to get involved in Brockton is probably because Piggot sweeps all her issues under the rug and handles things in house, like she tried to do with Taylor and her situation but Taylor simply wasn't having it, that and all the local Wards were only told the bad stuff about the Youth Guard so weren't keen on getting their help against Piggot's abusive working conditions.

Edit: It was also mentioned in this story that the Youth Guard exists to protect the Wards, so it can be inferred that so long as the Wards aren't complaining or being visibly abused the Youth Guard is very limited in what they can do. Which is very revelent when considering that the ENE Ward's unofficial stance on complaining being suck it up and stop overreacting as seen with Vista.
 
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They wouldn't be denying her the money, they'd be fulfilling their obligations as guardians to manage her money for her until she's old enough to do so herself.
You may be right about the consequences if it gets out, but it's not as if they have any choice about it. For that matter if the news got out, the fact they allowed a Ward to fight the S9 would be worse than any rumor about denying the bounty to someone.
It's a lesser fire in my opinion " a ward member went rough and killed the S9 and we are denying her the bounty for ending that plague on humanity" is sort of a hard thing to spin
 
Yep, I don't even remember it from the original Worm. They had no presence in Brockton Bay when logically they should have gotten involved for Vista, Shadow Stalker, and the entire incident with the bank robbery and the aftermath.
The group was a retcon for the PRT quest to screw and railroad the players.
It's not just them not interfering with events in BB, that could be excused as BB being unique, they also don't have any presence in Chicago or Boston or New York - all of which we get enough about that if the Youth Guard existed we'd have heard about them in canon.

Adding them in is a significant AU element, and given the way Wildbow depicts them makes no sense requires a fair amount of world building to get them to fit.

Personally I just head canon that as Piggot hating outside influence in her department,
Even ignoring how the Youth Guard don't do anything in Chcago, Boston or NY, the whole point of them is that a local director can't simply keep them out because they want to.

It's a lesser fire in my opinion " a ward member went rough and killed the S9 and we are denying her the bounty for ending that plague on humanity" is sort of a hard thing to spin
Oh, that sort of thing would be an absolute disaster and heads would roll over it, possibly even literally but definitely politically. However the issue pretty much everyone would be focusing on is "" a ward member went rough and killed the S9", the rest would be mostly ignored.
Additionally, any course of action other than putting the money in a trust fund for Taylor would just make things worse for the PRT.
 
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Oh, that sort of thing would be an absolute disaster and heads would roll over it, possibly even literally but definitely politically. However the issue pretty much everyone would be focusing on is "" a ward member went rough and killed the S9", the rest would be mostly ignored.
Additionally, any course of action other than putting the money in a trust fund for Taylor would just make things worse for the PRT.
which is why it's better to give it to "ghost" pissing off someone who just killed the S9 is a really bad idea especially when the Cost in pr is a nightmare
 
which is why it's better to give it to "ghost" pissing off someone who just killed the S9 is a really bad idea especially when the Cost in pr is a nightmare
No, the cost in PR is worse if they give the money to her.
The issue is, if they give her the money they are abandoning their responsibilities, which added to them failing in them by allowing a Ward to face the S9 will make things a lot worse.

Wasn't the youth guard from a quest Wildbow did after worm was already over?
Yup, and they were invented specifically to stop the players from doing anything to get rid of obstacles Wildbow placed in their way, with them having ridiculous amounts of power that they never used (even in the quest) to help anyone.
 
Personally I just head canon that as Piggot hating outside influence in her department, since you know someone from outside would probably call her out on her bullshit. The only reason the Youth Guard wasn't able to get involved in Brockton is probably because Piggot sweeps all her issues under the rug and handles things in house, like she tried to do with Taylor and her situation but Taylor simply wasn't having it, that and all the local Wards were only told the bad stuff about the Youth Guard so weren't keen on getting their help against Piggot's abusive working conditions.

Edit: It was also mentioned in this story that the Youth Guard exists to protect the Wards, so it can be inferred that so long as the Wards aren't complaining or being visibly abused the Youth Guard is very limited in what they can do. Which is very revelent when considering that the ENE Ward's unofficial stance on complaining being suck it up and stop overreacting as seen with Vista.

I think I mentioned it elsewhere, but the Ward's view seems to be the Youth Guard are kill joys. And so have an Omerta where they are concerned that makes the Mafia look like gossiping grannies.

So that makes Taylor very valuable to the Youth Guard, as a rare Ward that doesn't drink the "don't talk to the Youth Guard" Kool-aid.

Also notice Taylor had to hunt for where her Youth Guard rep's contact number was in her phone. That could be being unfamiliar with cell phones in general, much less a high end one they'd likely give Wards. Or it could be shades of "In the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'".

There are reasons those posters about your rights as an employee have rules saying not only do they have to be displayed, but how and where.
 
No, the cost in PR is worse if they give the money to her.
The issue is, if they give her the money they are abandoning their responsibilities, which added to them failing in them by allowing a Ward to face the S9 will make things a lot worse.
They can give her say 15% and put the rest in a trust fund.
Also notice Taylor had to hunt for where her Youth Guard rep's contact number was in her phone. That could be being unfamiliar with cell phones in general, much less a high end one they'd likely give Wards. Or it could be shades of "In the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'".
It could also be an accidental case.
I lost some of the data from my contacts when I reset my phone to factory defaults to try to fix a problem and restored everything from the built-in backup system.
As such I had trouble identifying a specialist I'd seen years ago when I had need of their services again because the field that identified them by the office practice did not get restored, only the name, address, and phone number.

My point is that the new model of phone might not transfer all the data from a preloaded contact and nobody realized it at first.
 
Even ignoring how the Youth Guard don't do anything in Chcago, Boston or NY, the whole point of them is that a local director can't simply keep them out because they want to.
That was in canon and considering the fact that Boston does have a Youth Guard rep on sight with his own office and everything we can reasonably assume some AU elements. Most likely the situation with the Youth Guard is much like the cops dealing with someone with an abusive partner, as in they can't do anything unless the Wards themselves reach out about an issue unless the issues are really obvious or blatant.

There is also the fact that the Brockton Youth Guard rep has not been mentioned in the story so far, which might just say more about the local Wards attitude to the Youth Guard then the Youth Guard themselves. That is if Brockton Bay even has their own Youth Guard rep and it wasn't something lost when command of the Wards was transferred from the Protectorate to the PRT.
I think I mentioned it elsewhere, but the Ward's view seems to be the Youth Guard are kill joys. And so have an Omerta where they are concerned that makes the Mafia look like gossiping grannies.
I have to wonder where such a reputation started, was it during the Youth Guard's founding when they were still getting their feet under them as an organization and they overreacted to an issue and it just got further distorted from there. Or was it intentionally made that way by Costa-Brown since its inception to prevent outside influence from other organizations on the PRT and Protectorate, after all Costa-Brown is skilled enough manipulator to ruin the reputation of an organization if it benefits her goals in someway. Either way by the time Taylor joins the Wards the negative perception of the Youth Guard has already been embedded in the culture of the Wards which leaves us with what is usually seen in the fanon (not canon cus the YG only appears in that one quest).
So that makes Taylor very valuable to the Youth Guard, as a rare Ward that doesn't drink the "don't talk to the Youth Guard" Kool-aid.
Taylor is in odd position with how most Wards don't have a bias or issues with the Youth Guard when they first join, and by the time they do have issues with the program they have already been brought into the Ward's culture regarding the Youth Guard so don't go to them. Whereas Taylor has issue with the whole program from the moment she joined so had no opportunity to absorb the company culture regarding the Youth Guard.
 
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It could also be an accidental case.
I lost some of the data from my contacts when I reset my phone to factory defaults to try to fix a problem and restored everything from the built-in backup system.
As such I had trouble identifying a specialist I'd seen years ago when I had need of their services again because the field that identified them by the office practice did not get restored, only the name, address, and phone number.

My point is that the new model of phone might not transfer all the data from a preloaded contact and nobody realized it at first.

This is a brand new phone, with the default set up being handed to Taylor. Remember what she said to Gauss, she didn't own a civilian phone, much to Gauss's shock. There were no contacts to transfer, just a default set up.

So Jim's location in her contact directory is the phone's default setting when issued to a Ward. Given in interludes we see the attitude "What's good for the PRT branch is good for the Ward"? I'm not so trusting to simple incompetence in this. By making it easier to contact internal superiors over external help? Well most people are lazy, that makes a new Ward more likely to default to letting any complaints be handled, not necessarily solved, internally. Without Youth Guard notification or interference.

Unless say a new Ward has reasons to distrust the program and bull her way through a new and unfamiliar technology to find the Youth Guard's contact info. The PRT has to inculde it, they don't have to make it easy to find.

There is also the fact that the Brockton Youth Guard rep has not been mentioned in the story so far, which might just say more about the local Wards attitude to the Youth Guard then the Youth Guard themselves. That is if Brockton Bay even has their own Youth Guard rep and it wasn't something lost when command of the Wards was transferred from the Protectorate to the PRT.

I do recall a mention of Youth Guard investigations, plural, running from Taylor's complaints against the PRT ENE.

I have to wonder where such a reputation started, was it during the Youth Guard's founding when they were still getting their feet under them as an organization and they overreacted to an issue and it just got further distorted from there. Or was it intentionally made that way by Costa-Brown since its inception to prevent outside influence from other organizations on the PRT and Protectorate, after all Costa-Brown is skilled enough manipulator to ruin the reputation of an organization if it benefits her goals in someway. Either way by the time Taylor joins the Wards the negative perception of the Youth Guard has already been embedded in the culture of the Wards which leaves us with what is usually seen in the fanon (not canon cus the YG only appears in that one quest).

Taylor is in odd position with how most Wards don't have a bias or issues with the Youth Guard when they first join, and by the time they do have issues with the program they have already been brought into the Ward's culture regarding the Youth Guard so don't go to them. Whereas Taylor has issue with the whole program from the moment she joined so had no opportunity to absorb the company culture regarding the Youth Guard.

For the former? It could have been as simple as limits that saw Wards benched for too much time on the clock when shit went down. Or just being benched at all for spending too much time being heroes. Thus gaining the reputation "these people are looking for excuses to prevent you from being a hero".

As for Taylor? She stands antagonistically to Ward's culture, seeing Emma and Sophia as its true face. So zero trust at a minimum, and the reason she hunted down a Youth Guard rep when Emma messaged her. In Taylor's experience going within channels was worse than useless, so she reached to someone outside channels with the authority to Do Something.

And based on her tears? That one act cemented Taylor's trust of the Youth Guard over anything the PRT can do now.
 
I do recall a mention of Youth Guard investigations, plural, running from Taylor's complaints against the PRT ENE.
That doesn't mean that there was a rep in Brockton it just means that there were multiple things wrong with the department that needed their own investigations with Youth Guard agents being brought in from out of town. If there was a Youth Guard rep in Brockton I imagine they have landed themself in some pretty hot water due to missing the many things wrong with the local department not even including the issues with Emma and Sophia.

Also on an unrelated note I found a song that pretty much sums up what Taylor wants to say to the Wards program.
 
They can give her say 15% and put the rest in a trust fund.
No, they can't. They might be able to let Taylor have enough money to buy a car, but getting an expensive car would probably run into problems and they certainly wouldn't let Taylor have any significant amount as cash.

The whole point here is that they are required to prevent the kids under their charge from wasting their money, which means they can't give Taylor access to any significant portion of the bounty, at least not unless it's just a small bounty.
 
This is a brand new phone, with the default set up being handed to Taylor. Remember what she said to Gauss, she didn't own a civilian phone, much to Gauss's shock. There were no contacts to transfer, just a default set up.

So Jim's location in her contact directory is the phone's default setting when issued to a Ward. Given in interludes we see the attitude "What's good for the PRT branch is good for the Ward"? I'm not so trusting to simple incompetence in this. By making it easier to contact internal superiors over external help? Well most people are lazy, that makes a new Ward more likely to default to letting any complaints be handled, not necessarily solved, internally. Without Youth Guard notification or interference.

Unless say a new Ward has reasons to distrust the program and bull her way through a new and unfamiliar technology to find the Youth Guard's contact info. The PRT has to inculde it, they don't have to make it easy to find.
You misunderstood what I meant.
They set up the standard contact directory to automatically be uploaded onto new phones. Then they change model phones to the new updated phone this year (or every couple of years) and while all the contacts technically load, some fields are truncated, others are omitted.
Hence you might not know who Jim is because the field that contains "youth guard representative" did not get uploaded, it just has his name and number.
Or it might be something like "youth gu".
Nothing malicious, just that type of thing happens when switching phone models. Especially back in 2011.
Heck, I had an issue with truncation going from an HTC One X+ to a Samsung Galaxy S9
I had several Jimmy John's in my phone with names like
"Jimmy John's Deerfield"
"Jimmy John's Arlington Heights"
"Jimmy John's Busse Road"
"Jimmy John's Chicago Monroe & Wells"
Yet when I transferred the contacts it was truncated to
"Jimmy John"
"Jimmy John"
"Jimmy John"
so I didn't know which one was which and had to fix it. It made it hard to call the nearby Jimmy John's as opposed to the one by home or work. Also a lot of the fields with titles were dropped.
 
No, they can't. They might be able to let Taylor have enough money to buy a car, but getting an expensive car would probably run into problems and they certainly wouldn't let Taylor have any significant amount as cash.

The whole point here is that they are required to prevent the kids under their charge from wasting their money, which means they can't give Taylor access to any significant portion of the bounty, at least not unless it's just a small bounty.
Just gonna say, the PRT would have a responsibility to ensure Taylor doesn't waste her pay.

Money she earns from outside action? Not in their purview. They didn't give it to her, it's independent of her actual paycheck. if it doesn't get taxed, then the government (that is, THEM) shouldn't be allowed to lay their grubby fingers on it in any way, shape or form.
 
Just gonna say, the PRT would have a responsibility to ensure Taylor doesn't waste her pay.

Money she earns from outside action? Not in their purview. They didn't give it to her, it's independent of her actual paycheck. if it doesn't get taxed, then the government (that is, THEM) shouldn't be allowed to lay their grubby fingers on it in any way, shape or form.
The PRT cannot make that decision per sae.
Taylor's guardian, who she has barely spoken to on the other hand can be consulted and can decide to put the money away in a trust fund.
That her guardian happens to be part of the PRT, and has an interest in making sure Taylor doesn't have enough money to be able to hire a lawyer is beside the point, as long as they don't embezzle the money they are fully in their rights to place it in a trust fund until Taylor turns 18, or even 21. I've heard of such funds lasting until age 25.

That said, it also wouldn't surprise me if the money for the clothes Taylor purchased along with the spending money she has comes out of her paychecks, along with any money she spends in the cafeteria.
 
That said, it also wouldn't surprise me if the money for the clothes Taylor purchased along with the spending money she has comes out of her paychecks, along with any money she spends in the cafeteria.
That isn't the case in this story since it was stated somewhere in the first few chapters that the PRT does provide funds for Wards they are the guardians of. Since you know they are their legal guardians and are thus required to pay for things like food, clothes, and other essentials so them taking those funds from Taylor's paychecks would be very immoral and probably illegal since they would be doing it without informing Taylor. Plus there is the fact that Taylor isn't making the same amount as the other Wards since the only thing she could be paid for are the tours which at most is only an hour or two at the time.

Edit: Also do we have any idea about Taylor's pay situation is like at the moment? Is it all immediately put into a bank account, if it is I feel like Taylor getting something other than the company credit card should be mentioned at somepoint.
 

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