I'd point out that until this chapter, and thus this day, Taylor assumed her powers were the shield and pre-cog. Nothing more, and even then she's still been sketching her costume ideas, but she really didn't see how her powers could make a big difference.
Unless I'm misremembering, she didn't have a whole lot of non-lethal (or at least severely potentially disfiguring) option with the bugs, other than threatening people with bites and hoping they were terrified enough to listen (barring using the silk to tie them up)
Granted, too much force vs too little is a different sort of problem to solve, but if they can send Gallant out into the field, the Wards could get her equipped with some gear and have her serve as a scout/defense-oriented cape, such as it were. (Just an example, as I assume Taylor still has problems with the Wards in needing to prove herself, though her altered mentality with Jean here may change that a bit, though it might not, depending on how much the phoenix absorbed while actively being housed, where Jean was fraying).
There is also the fact that Lisa was a criminal and super villain, and Taylor was going along with some half assed and half brained undercover plan, while these are two girls at school.
Lisa's getting in had less to do with being a supervillain and more to do with her having Taylor's mental state and past as an open book, and wanting to fix Taylor. Catherine and Minako are performing a similar role, but it seems a bit too easy (at times) for them to work their way in, though I've had no issue with them so far. The empathy issue addresses that, but as a subconscious thing that isn't directly addressed, it doesn't have as much drive towards reaching that conclusion.
With a bit of wariness that is still there, I don't see why she wouldn't be warming up to them even were this cannon Taylor.
Eh, Canon Taylor had a hard time trusting anyone related to Winslow by nature of how badly she'd been burned, combined with her trigger further instilling a need to be in control of the situation.
Also, given the new independents on the scene, it appears to be a non-zero possibility that Catherine and Minako are not entirely altruistic in their picking Taylor as a new friend during their transfer.
TK isn't really an issue, as no one worries when Rune or Krieg were running around, well beyond the fact that they were Nazi criminals. It's the combination of her powers that make her similar to the Simurgh, but no one is going to start being weird about her throwing around rocks or cars with her mind while able to throw up a shield.
Fair point, I got a bit ahead of myself, moreso thinking that the sheer strength of her TK is going to raise eyebrows, given that Jean doesn't have any sort of limit the way Rune does. I may have been crossing fanon a bit into the 'fear' regarding fear of powers given Canary's treatment, even though that was much moreso the mind control aspect.
