I'm surprised the Undersiders haven't imploded yet. They are still together mainly due to The Debt and hopefully being able to pay it off one day.
Not sure why people expect them to implode.
Bakuda was less than two weeks ago, and burned into their skulls the importance of backup.
Of all five Undersiders, the only two with any experience of independent ops are Grue and Bitch, and only Grue managed it successfully as a lowlevel parahuman muscle for hire. Bitch was on the run from law enforcement, Alec is still running and hiding from his father, and Tattletale literally got kidnapped off a major street. And Taylor is lonely.
Dont expect the Undersiders to fall apart anytime soon.
They need themselves too much. Even if it doesnt look it sometimes.
Honestly not at all sympathetic to TT or Brian. Brian could have had custody a long time ago if he'd walked the straight and narrow, and his problems are all of his own making. TT is possibly even worse, as when she's handed an out from her troubles she still makes excuses because it's not her own plan. Her problems come completely from arrogance and her need to be the "smartest in the room." Funnily enough it's Alec and Rachel who are the most sympathetic, despite one being a recovered sociopath and the other possibly mentally challenged.
Brian is an eighteen year old black man who is the son of a black junkie in the neoNazi capital of the Eastern Seaboard.
Imagine what his life experience with law enforcement was like before he got powers.
People asking why he didnt go to the PRT havent been paying attention to relations btw the black community and law enforcement.
Tattletale has known Apeiron for around two weeks or so.
Asking her to put her complete faith in him is asking a bit much
She doesnt get the POV that readers do.
He's defined by the need to protect his sister, to make sure that she has a better life than him. That's basically his trigger event, it's why he's part of the Undersiders and not just a generic cape tough, and it's why he's okay with things escalating the way they do - It's all worth it, if it protects Aisha. And he's going to find out that it's all for nothing.
Thats not entirely true.
Noone's a martyr. Dude does enjoy the power if I remember his Interlude. Do remember that he triggered around 14-15, and is still 18 now. He's a street kid who didnt finish high school IIRC; I think he got a GED. It's entirely plausible that his models for what a secure, better life for his junior sister are not the same as his standards for himself.
Its not precisely unknown behavior among criminals.
Brian is written like a stereotypical gang thug obsessed with reputation, street cred, and prestige. Which is annoying on Wildbow's part. Its like Aisha's fate wasn't really the reason he did it. He just wanted to be a badass gansta'.(And I'm talking Canon Brian, not what Lord is writing him as. Which is basically canon Brian. IE, a fucking idiot who should have joined the Wards rather than go thug life.)
Because on the street where he grew up, and in cape life where he operates, reputation and street cred can be a matter of literal life and death. They keep randos from fucking with you and yours. Ask Barrow why he's spending so much effort and resources on ensuring there's Consequences for Uber and Leet, and that its known those consequences were from him.
Just look at Taylor's personal history; would she have ended up in a locker if her father had rep?
The black community has had a historically fraught relationship with law enforcement.
Its very plausible for the teenage son of a junkie mom to do his best to avoid law enforcement after triggering with a power while assaulting a man in the neoNazi capital of the eastern US.
EDIT
I mean, take a look at the black capes we see in Brockton Bay in canon: Grue, Chariot, Imp, Shadow Stalker, Skidmark.
Its notable that none of them ever go to the PRT willingly.
Or that, despite a sizable Asian population, we see no Asian capes on the BB PRT roster before Flechette shows up from New York.
There's subtle indications of BB law enforcement having a reputation problem among minorities.
Which makes sense, given that just based on the strength of the E88 in BB for two decades, local law enforcement will have a significant number of E88 sympathizers. Which is a rep that spills over on the PRT.
The Wards don't actually help him. If he joined the Wards two years ago, he'd still be living with his borderline abusive dad, he'd be attending school full time and he'd be earning approximately fuck all, if that - If you do the maths on the pay docking that happens to the Wards in canon, any of the first year Wards lose months and months of their salary.
Thats not really true.
For one thing, the PRT will make arrangements for teens in situations. See Theo/Golem's entire situation post-trigger. Or Flechette being shuffled through foster homes. Not perfect, and the PRT tends to prioritize its own needs; see what happened to Kenzie/Lookout.
For another, minimum wage for new Wards is just that: minimum pay. Besides the trust fund, the lore and textev makes it clear there have always been adjustments made for various capes depending on location, ability or need; Weld, for example, got a food allowance, despite not actually needing to eat, and noone said anything when he spent it on music instead.
The problem is, like many capes, Grue doesnt trust authority over him.
Both his parental authority figures are differing flavors of dysfunctional, and he grew up in a city where the city agencies were dysfunctional when not actively malevolent.
And he's a young black man from poverty. The US has never treated that category of human well.
You make a deal when joining the Wards for your sister custody (and your own place to live for both of you), not for money. Why pay a lawyer when you can throw the political power of the Protectorate at the problem ? Then if they don't honour the deal (or refuse to accept the deal in the first place), you flee the wards, kidnap your sister, and live the thug life. But at least try the straight path first.
Because you are then beholden to the Protectorate, who know your identity and those of your family.
And because you have the IDs of serving Wards and Protectorate capes, they are now obliged to take steps if you run off to join a cape group they do not approve of.
When that Ward in New York quit and joined the Adepts in the immediate aftermath of Alexandria's death, the PRT still made time to send Wards to smack them down.
And yet we see Piggot dock the Wards literally tens of thousands of dollars. At the most conservative, that's $20,000 between 7 people, or nearly $3,000 each. Browbeat, at least, is still on minimum wage. That's at least 394 hours of work to pay that off.
Early instalment weirdness at worst. Or Piggott was just talking shit to ignorant teens.
You cannot withold a person's pay for disciplinary purposes based on your own verbal say-so in a government agency; you have to actually justify it. Even the military have actual formal disciplinary procedures before they can dock service members their pay.
I mean, imagine going to tell Gallant's rich parents that he's paying a fine for collateral damage during a PRT-sanctioned mission.
Imagine the private lawyers, even before the Youth Guard get involved.
But Lisa should know better. She should know that it is inevitable that either the city falls apart or Apeiron takes down Coil, those are literally the only possibilities here and if Coil is taken down, there is no way that the Undersiders will stay together. Why then, is she putting importance on long-term reputation, when everything in Bay right now is unbelievably short-term?
For one thing, Lisa is a sixteen year old teenage runaway.
Thinker or not, teens are not all-knowing nor do they exercise the best judgement even when they have correct information.
And as someone who was exploited by her parents before running away, then got kidnapped off the Boardwalk in full view of the public and forcibly recruited, she has issues of her own with trusting people with power.
For another, what if everything implodes tomorrow? March almost killed Apeiron on TV three days ago.
What if Joe gets killed by an Endbringer or even just washes his hands off them and the Undersiders have to make their way alone?
I mean, this is not a new concept for cape careers to flame out; Bakuda's entire career has spanned less than three or four months.
Look at the timeline; she's known of Joe maybe two weeks, and in all that time, I doubt they've spent a total of twelve hours in each other's company. She's not been buddied up with him like with Taylor, she cant read him accurately, and everytime she meets him he pulls out a new trick or revelation that puts her entire evaluation of him in doubt.
She has reason not to count on Apeiron's longevity.
And if everything goes to shit, longterm reputation serves the Undersiders as a backup much better than anything else in the aftermath if they survive it.