I found this earlier today and did a complete read-through. Seems to be going in a new direction from most fanfics that I've read. I really liked Acceleration and feel that part of it is bleeding through here (mostly the "I'm untouchable" vibe that Accelerator had vs the always-on precog/danger sense here).
What did you do by writing a more personable Armsmaster? That's just not right No one is supposed to like the Halbeard.
I didn't see the Madison as Browbeat coming at all. Part of it makes me wonder if Browbeat and Shadow Stalker (as independents) did patrols together or knew of each others cape identities.
It seems likely that Catherine and Minako are independent capes. When they were first introduced, I was thinking they were an E88 cape and ABB cape, respectively. With them being friends, that is not likely at all.
There might be an element of that I'm untouchable vibe there, I will admit. It isn't anywhere near as solid as Acceleration!Taylor's no-selling everything field. And truthfully, she's used it carefully so far but it isn't always on. She can be blindsided. (Extensive use of it does give her headaches, so she tries for using it sparingly and even if she did have it always on... well, I'll reference a bit from Naruto. It doesn't do you any good to be able to see something coming if things are happening too fast for you. You just get to see your face getting beaten in(or people dying) and then get to actually experience it.
I primarily dislike what fanon has turned Armsy into, so I go in the other direction.
Mad-Beats & Shadow Stalker did not patrol together as indies.
As for Catherine & Minako, everyone thinks they are capes, but have we seen them use any powers?
And there you go! Your next Marvel crossover, no more of this penny-ante Phoenix crap. Write an Alt!Taylor inhabited by the powers of The Living Tribunal.
And there you go! Your next Marvel crossover, no more of this penny-ante Phoenix crap. Write an Alt!Taylor inhabited by the powers of The Living Tribunal.
You just highlight the text, then click the text color button? The big A with a line under it. If you want to know how to do it in BB code, it's way more annoying, but the codes are listed here. It's in the second box.
Technically speaking, he only did that AFTER they were separated. In the Trial of Adam Warlock, it was more or less stated that the only way the Tribunal would have been able to enforce his judgement was to enter into conflict with Adam, which would rend asunder the entire reality, but he didn't state that he could win that fight. Once they were separated, he could affect them, but prior to that, I'm less certain of his ability to do anything meaningful. It is, however, telling that he was the only being apparently unaffected when Adam lost his temper during that trial.
LT, however, might not be able to win a straight out fight, but he doesn't have to, as he knows what to say to get Adam to go along with his ruling. (Admittedly, he does claim to be a representative of of a being whose power dwarfs the combined power of the gems, which Adam disputes, but when they were flexing their cosmic e-peen, Adam & the Tribunal were the only beings not affected by the other one flexing their cosmic muscle. IG = Tribunal > everyone else is how I always saw it. Just the Gauntlet has the downside of splitting the gems apart, which opens them to being affected by the Tribunal's influence. After Adam's reign as the supreme being, I don't know that we ever see the gems working in unison again properly? (There's a lot of weirdness after Infinity War and even then, it wasn't all six gems being used together)
You just highlight the text, then click the text color button? The big A with a line under it. If you want to know how to do it in BB code, it's way more annoying, but the codes are listed here. It's in the second box.
I kind of suspected, which was why my first answer ended in a question mark, but I didn't want to openly mock you if you were just asking a legitimate question.
Alexandria had brought in two or three masked people who were incarcerated.
The PRT officers brought in a body bag which may well have not been connected to the case; at least, that's what their lawyers will claim.
Taylor certainly didn't get a look at the body beforehand, so she cannot say it was an Undersider.
From a legal standpoint, Taylor did not have a leg to stand on to claim defence of others, and she certainly did not have any standing to kill Tagg.
You might as well assert, from Sophia's perspective, that Skitter's knowledge of her secret ID was an unacceptable risk to her and her loved ones from HER perspective, so she had to kill her.
Calvert was Coil and had a history of Kidnapping, Extortion, and Murder to his name. There was also a high risk of him being able to get off from any charge thrown at him.
So?
Taylor does not get to decide who lives and dies.
Blowing the guys secret ID and the nature of his powers would have crippled him, the same way blowing E88's IDs crippled them; Calvert thrived on secrecy and the appearance of legitimacy.
And they already had his monies, as well as a lot of his documents, which would have provided actionable intel.
Instead, she executed the fucker in cold blood, when he posed no imminent threat; that's Murder One.
Or, again, are you suggesting that Sophia was justified in her attempt on Skitter's life for the same reason?
Or, to pick a more sympathetic name, Triumph should have tried to kill her when his ID was blown?
At this point in time, Skitter was guilty of Kidnapping, Assault, Unlawful detention, Extortion, Gross bodily harm, and possibly Attempted Murder.
Strikes me that Taylor killed four people in her four months as a supervillain.
That's quite a record for a 16 year old.
Tagg was a mad dog who broke protocol and through his policies, incited open rebellion against the lawful order. [Taylor@Arcadia W/ Dragon and Defiant.] He died because he tried to kill her, while she was in police custody.
No offense, but this is a pernicious bit of fanon that needs to DIE.
And in front of me, Tagg moved, drawing his gun. His voice was a roar, "She knows!"
A thread caught it before he could point it at me, and it fell to the ground.
With each entry that had been made into the interrogation room, barring the one where she'd used the drone in Imp's cell, I'd brought more bugs inside. Spiders, hornets, black widows, brown recluses and more.
I'd warned him. He jumped as he felt the bites. Shouted as hornets found the soft tissues of his eyes, his tongue and eardrums. Black widows and brown recluses found crevices.
Miss Militia moved too, but the silk I'd used only bound her hand, didn't serve to stop her.
"Taylor!" my dad's voice sounded so far away.
I'd promised myself I wouldn't let the bullies win again, I thought. That I'd stop the monsters.
But the thoughts sounded disconnected, false.
No, this was revenge. Something simpler than any of that.
Miss Militia raised a gun, pointing it at me, where I had my head bowed, hands still chained in front of me. My dad was shaking me, but I wasn't a hard target to hurt.
And my bugs weren't hurting her. Weren't touching my dad, or Mr. Calle, who was backed up into a corner, trying to make as much distance from me as he could.
She didn't shoot. Her gun clattered to the ground.
"Taylor!" she called out, as if she could reach me that way. "I'm not going to shoot, but you have to stop!"
"Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse," I said, sounding calm, probably inaudible in the midst of Tagg's screaming. "Inevitable. Wasn't that how she put it? I told them. Warned them."
Alexandria, in the basement, still choking, drowning on dry land with lungs full of dragonflies, spiders and cockroaches, soared. She flew through the closed barrier in the roof, and debris showered down on the Wards who'd approached her, wanting to help but finding themselves unable.
In moments, she was out of my range, too high in the air. I wasn't sure it mattered.
And Tagg- Tagg was staggering towards me, roaring something incoherent, chewing and spitting in a feeble attempt to remove bugs from his mouth. His tongue was likely swollen already. The black widow venom would take effect soon.
He tried to push my dad out of the way, and my dad blocked him, shielding me with his body.
Tagg kicked my father hard enough to drive him to the ground. The Director was still shouting, nearly blind. He gripped me by the hair and slammed my head down on the table, hard.
I saw stars, felt tears welling out freely, as if the dam had finally broken.
Blind, writhing in pain and a struggle to get the insects off him, Tagg still managed to hold me down as the PRT officers burst into the room. They had darts like the one that Shadow Stalker had kept in her crossbow, jammed one into my neck.
I had only the chance to think of how they'd just signed Tagg's death warrant, that my power would work while I was unconscious. I could have rescinded the order in the last moments. I didn't.
And then it was only darkness. Oblivion. A false kind of death.
TL;DR
Taylor made the first move. She brought in weapons(bugs) and set up traps to restrain the two armed LE officers in the room.
She then struck at Alexandria, then Tagg.
Tagg only tried to strangle her when he was literally being stung to death by insects, insects that weren't striking at Miss Militia who was also armed.
Reading that passage again, I'm struck by the sheer amount of restraint shown by both Ms Militia and the PRT agents; their boss was being murdered in front of them, the person responsible was before them, and they still stuck to non-lethal protocols.
Modern-day police would have turned her into a sieve.
Yes.
Taylor killed an LE officer in the performance of her duties.
It may come as a surprise to you, but police officers are empowered to lie to you and deceive you in the performance of their duties in the United States.
Certainly, attacking one in the performance of her duties is cause for response with force, lethal if necessary.
Taylor only got off because she had blackmail material that changed it from a criminal affair to one of national/international security.
Don't get me wrong; I like Taylor.
But if she wasn't the protagonist, not a single thing she did in that situation would have even the fig leaf of justifiability.
Or survivability for that matter.
Alexandria had brought in two or three masked people who were incarcerated.
The PRT officers brought in a body bag which may well have not been connected to the case; at least, that's what their lawyers will claim.
Taylor certainly didn't get a look at the body beforehand, so she cannot say it was an Undersider.
From a legal standpoint, Taylor did not have a leg to stand on to claim defence of others, and she certainly did not have any standing to kill Tagg.
You might as well assert, from Sophia's perspective, that Skitter's knowledge of her secret ID was an unacceptable risk to her and her loved ones from HER perspective, so she had to kill her.
Regarding that, he was referring to Taylor's perspective, which is that the entire scene was the authorities pulling all sorts of shady stuff to force her to comply. They had enough info at that stage to know she could perceive things through her bugs, so the people who were incarcerated were convincing enough for Taylor to believe it, to say nothing of the body bag and whoever was inside. Taylor's perspective was that Alexandria was taking advantage of the fact that she was 'unstoppable' to do whatever she wanted. Legal standpoint /= Taylor's perspective.
However, this is meaningless and just me extending the derail, so I too, shall cease.
Not playing by the rules in the wormverse is worse than an ordinary crime. We never really got a chance to see the aftereffects because so much other shit happened right after, but there'd have been a drop in the villain response to Class S threats, at the very least.
Regarding that, he was referring to Taylor's perspective, which is that the entire scene was the authorities pulling all sorts of shady stuff to force her to comply. They had enough info at that stage to know she could perceive things through her bugs, so the people who were incarcerated were convincing enough for Taylor to believe it, to say nothing of the body bag and whoever was inside. Taylor's perspective was that Alexandria was taking advantage of the fact that she was 'unstoppable' to do whatever she wanted. Legal standpoint /= Taylor's perspective.
Oh certainly.
I'm just pointing out that the viewpoint of a sixteen year old supervillain is no basis to judge morality or even what's reasonable.
And that if other people had operated by the same rules Taylor was using there, she wouldn't have made it out alive, and neither would the Undersiders.
As I understand it, shady shit is part of the process of forcing perps to agree to plea deals in the US.
I don't agree with it, but I don't find it remarkable.
I am not arguing legal justification at all. When it comes down to it both sides were breaking the law, and it does not matter who broke it first.
If you want to continue this, PM me.
He breached custom when he sent DnD after Taylor, an important, crucial custom, but it wasn't illegal.
The closest he came was when he suggested using the laws of the then emergency to suppress video of the school events, which would have been shady, but possibly within the powers of said emergency law.
The only person who absolutely certainly broke the law in that entire episode was Taylor.
But I'm content to drop this here; it's a Friday, after all.
It could be argued that he was trying to avoid a cape fight by it being a school. Taylor would have had no choice but to surrender if that rally the crowd bullshit never happened.
It could be argued that he was trying to avoid a cape fight by it being a school. Taylor would have had no choice but to surrender if that rally the crowd bullshit never happened.
I guess that is what Taylor gets for helping out during the aftermath of Leviathan huh? Public support, who knew giving people shelter and food and protection would earn her good will?
Honestly, them going after any other villain would have endangered everyone at that school. But since it was Taylor, it didn't.
This debate is kinda odd though, I don't really want to join it, so you can ignore me.
-edit-
Especially since both parties royally fucked up, which lead to the deaths of for the greater good!Alexandria and Total warfare!Tag.
No one is supposed to like the Halbeard.
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