Ouuch, Taylor's just having a no good very bad quite awful day isn't she? Old-Dad not getting any better (yet? >_>) , New-Dad getting upset at her, recent friend Dragon (who we've spent so much time on, to the expense of other tasks) getting mad at us for risks without even a thank you (yet?) for the Dragonslayers, a gang war breaking out... poor thing.
I am very much in favor of going after MS-13 alone and not the other gangs. You'd think that recent survivors of a Simurgh attack would have a little more predisposition to appreciate things like the unwritten rules and working together with villains against worse villains. He did point out after all that after the teamup against the Slaughterhouse, the Marche didn't really get to enjoy their power boost for too long before capes knocked them back down... and oh look, who's around that did that to the E88? >_> Think for both him and some voters to remember is that the gangs don't just neatly keep their fights to themselves, they do things like car bombs and drivebys and general "lots of innocents ruined" before we'd ever plan to step in. Maybe we need to take Kurt to visit somewhere Shatterbird sang fully in, to give him some fresh perspective on that past trouble?
As it is, it sounded like the Warlocks already got knocked for a nasty loop (all their capes dead o_o something to keep in mind vs MS-13) , the Privateers were doing pretty well against the Disney Princesses even without our help, and that leaves what Winter Hill post-war as the remaining gang? Sure they'll get some shiny publicity after all their help lately, but if we're still around that can be handled after we go back to "maaybe a kidnapping or two" instead of "thrice daily drive bys on crowded resturants". And someone asked what all criminal activity Winter Hill does.... I think they're the ones with a Drug Tinker? Not necessarily great, but if anyone can manage to minimize the long term attrition of reliable customers its a Tinker, and its miles above whatever Bunraku Parlours the ABB might've been running one hopes?
Could be something to have Perfect Storm look into (if we hadn't already gotten such intel over the past weeks) just to get a fuller picture... seems like a thing a character might do with a dilemma, though maybe not /this/ one. It just seems hard to make a case that we should be attacking Not-MS13 instead of attacking MS-13.
@Silently Watches , is it too much of a "have both" vote to invite the Adepts to come help with this gang war in exchange for us teaching them magic (as part of arming them for the conflict) ? It would cover at least one of the things we might do if we stayed out of it...
Edit: I am quite concerned about the reputation we may be building, especially if Dragon spreads that the slayer fight was the result of a controlled pre-meditated strike of ours and not just what it looks like when Calamity is desperate and cornered in her hometown... but how to deal with that and not sandbag too dangerously? Inviting and arming the Adepts has some of the same risk (hello Teacher), for all that its arguably less dubious than having Winter Hill help. We really do need buddy Legend or someone to hang out more and remind people that super-blasters aren't all bad.
Speaking of Rules of Engagement though, it sounds as if Militia is at
least saying that we're operating on police style "don't hold back if its risky, but do try and arrest them if you can" rather than the more strict hero's "don't use lethal force ever even when they're shooting at you". Thats a start at least >_> really really really seems to weaken the MAD principle of the Unwritten Rules that one presumes actually makes them function?
