Goddamn Teenagers (Worm, AU/time travel)

[dc2008]

Beginning to post this here, has already been running a while on SB and AO3.

---

A letter bomb, thought Taylor. All these years, Gold Morning, decades of dealing with Aisha, Lisa AND Victoria, and a letter bomb gets me. I'm getting sloppy in my old age.

Falling back on old habits, she kept her eyes closed as she mentally checked for injuries. Only after she was reasonably sure she was reasonably intact did she open her eyes.

"Fuck." She recognized that skyline.

Sitting up, she confirmed that she was in fact in an alley. Spotting the newspaper that is always conveniently there in these stories, she noted the date. February 2011. "Double fuck."

However, before Taylor could properly get on with her very well justified panic, a very familiar sort of portal opened up, and a recognizable (and quite dapper) young woman stepped out, regarded Taylor with determination, and said, "We desperately need a responsible adult to tell us what to do! Help us, you are our only hope!"

---

Notes: I make no promises as to adherence to cannon. I reserve the right to loot Ward for interesting ideas but am even less concerned with its cannon than I am with Worm's.

 

[dc2008]

"So the PRT wants to pay me," said Alec incredulously, as Lisa cackled in the background.

"Yes."

"To use my powers on people."

"Yes."

"Specifically, people with nerve damage."

"Yes."

"My power that fucks up nerves."

"Yes."

"And they want me to do this to Wards and troopers and heroes and shit."

"Yes, they are very interested in seeing what happens, particularly with repeated exposures."

"What kind of sickos does the PRT hire? Like seriously, what the fuck!"

"You have no idea."

 

[dc2008]

"It was an entirely appropriate and proportionate response," Lisa said with certainty.

Taylor resisted the urge to facepalm. She gestured for Lisa to continue.

"He insulted my intelligence!" Lisa continued, perhaps with a little too much forcefulness.

"They disagreed with your suggestion that Narwhal and Dragon are in a relationship," Taylor responded flatly. "In a forum post. On PHO."

"They are in a relationship," Lisa said with a knowing smirk. "They're co-workers."

"First, you made a deliberately ambiguous statement knowing that however they responded you could find offense."

"Well," The teen replied imperiously, "If he didn't want to be wrong he shouldn't be posting."

"And, for the record, your 'appropriate and proportionate' response was a detailed exploration of the many logical, grammatical, and factual errors in every post they made over the past week, posted via a purpose-made insultingly named sock puppet. Before going on to criticize their social skills, cleanliness, intelligence, appearance, and familial wealth."

Lisa nodded. "Yes! Entirely proportionate! I could have easily gone on twice as long! I didn't even have to use my power, just like you said I should avoid doing!"

"And what kind of person do you think this person is, by chance?"

"He is a try hard wannabe forum warrior who is actually a teenager at Winslow with one real life friend and an internet girl friend who he's half convinced is a dirty old man because she won't share pics with weird boys online. And now everyone else on PHO knows what a loser he is!"

"I wasn't aware you felt the need to bully lonely neuro-divergent children. You might even call him an at-risk teen."

Lisa's face fell. "Oh. Shit."

"On the bright side, you can use your powers to help you figure out how to fix it. Just run any ideas past me first."

 

[dc2008]

"What do we have today, Emily," asked Rennick.

"Thinktank report. More likely than not there are irregularities in the M/S reports for one of our high schools."

Rennick nodded.

"I think there's something to it. I pulled the M/S red flag reports for the past year and guess what, since the start of the school year Winslow High School has exactly zero."

Rennick cursed. "They're teens. Half barely know who they are. We should have a steady stream of false positives."

Emily nodded grimly. "Dig into it. Bypass Hess and Smith, when asked both couldn't think of anything noteworthy, and seemed to see the lack of reports as a good thing."

Some time later

Emily frowned at Rennick. "Why am I yanking Wards certification for Winslow?"

"Three strikes. One, they weren't reporting possible M/S flags. Yes most are bullshit but deciding that is our job, not theirs. Second, they suppressed multiple reports of misconduct by Hess, so what might have been dealt with as a case of minor bullying escalated into multiple incidents of assault and at least one hospitalization. Three, when we went in to pull records they got obstructive."

"Right. Our response needs to be massive and disproportionate to drive home that people cannot fuck us around. I'll call the Mayor. Any idea if there actually is a master or stranger?"

"If so they're likely gone now."

"Do a full audit anyway. It's a school, we need to be sure. The parents will expect nothing less when this hits the news and it's good training. Where's Hess."

"M/S confinement until we can be sure whether she's a victim or a perp. We're pulling phone records."

Even later

"Jesus Christ, Rennick, what was Hess thinking? She's gone. Higher can decide whether she's going to a cell or a punishment duty. Flag her as a possible master too. As much smoke as there is here we're doing this by the book, and it's not like her lawyer is in a position to complain."

 

[dc2008]

"There's a knack to getting bureaucracies to do what you want. Here, I made them want what I wanted and then graciously acquiesced when they asked me pretty please to help them with it."

Her younger counterpart looked unimpressed.

Taylor sighed. "Long-running bullying campaigns generate a lot of the same signals as active master/stranger situations. Winslow's certification to allow Wards to attend has basically nothing to do with academic rigor, but does have a lot of requirements about emergency preparedness and reporting certain 'signs of possible criminal parahuman activity'. The PRT wound up picking up Sophia, Madison and Emma to check for M/S influence. Madison panicked and produced a whole trove of pictures, texts and a journal to 'prove' she was a bully not a master. Which proved the bullying and also surfaced many other issues the school should have reported."

Her counterpart nodded slowly. "So what happens now?"

Taylor shrugged. "A Wards certification comes with funding, and the PRT is doing an audit, so the district is pissed. They want to make this go away. Blackwell is out, likely others as well, and so long as you don't go to the press they will give you pretty much whatever you want, especially if it doesn't cost much money. A transfer, clean slate on grades, extra tutoring, even repeat a year for a fresh start, it's all on the table."

---

Note: You tell a school they've got a bullying problem and they tell you to fuck off. You tell them it's either or both of bullying and an M/S problem, it is absolutely bullying, yessir no question, we would never miss M/S red flags.

 

[dc2008]

"Heads up, Emily, we've found solid evidence of a possible stranger at Winslow."

"How bad."

"Cameras and witness interviews reveal the school had one more janitor than was on payroll. Dressed the part, did janitor things, kept his head down. Literally, we don't have a good image of him from any of the few cameras that worked. He was living in a closet in the basement. Did a runner at some point after we started poking around."

"So is this a stranger? A homeless person trying to slip by? Someone working under the table?"

Rennick shrugged. "School says stranger, but we know what that's worth."

"Christ. Keep digging."

Elsewhere

"Huh," Taylor said, setting down the file. "I didn't expect to actually find one."

 

[dc2008]

Note: Because Lisa is exactly the sort who would take out her frustrations at her boss by giving him a silly name in her contact list.

---

Lisa looked down in confusion at the text from her boss. The words, they made sense individually, but together?

The King of Slytherin: Do whatever the nice lady from the PRT says. Keep the $$ as severance.

Power, as usual, offered commentary: He is terrified.

Interesting, but not particularly useful absent context that did not seem to be on offer.

The doorbell rang, much to Lisa's confusion. The doorbell rang? What the fuck? This is a doorman building, I'm not expecting anyone and if someone was here they should have called...

Cautiously, picked up her gun and went to the door. Looking through the peephole only deepened her confusion. Outside her door was a middle-aged woman in professional attire, holding up an open PRT badge. The woman rang the doorbell again.

Power, again, had his own contribution: Employed by Coil/is Coil's boss. Shot by Coil/shot Coil dead. Truly means to do well by you/could trivially cause your death and there is nothing you could do to stop it. Views you as her best friend/has never met you. Is the single most influential human being on Earth Bet and knows it. Is not a parahuman/had a trigger event/has a parahuman power.

Fuck, Lisa thought. It was going to be one of those meetings.

 

[dc2008]

"Who is this, and why is she here?" Asked Rebecca. She did not appreciate being pulled into an unscheduled meeting.

Contessa unhelpfully offered. "The paths have changed. She will guide us to victory."

Contessa nodded at the newcomer, a tall, middle-aged woman in casual clothes. She carried herself with a deliberate stillness that spoke of long experience dealing with social thinkers. The woman regarded Rebecca coldly for a moment longer and then started talking. And kept talking. Apparently, detailing all of Cauldron's mistakes had among a certain sort become something of a cocktail game in the future.

Later, after the newcomer had left, Contessa turned to Rebecca. "I feel much better now, don't you? To know that it wasn't all for nothing?"

Rebecca stared at her incredulously. "I have never felt so condescended to in my life, and I've testified before Congress."

"Would you prefer fury?" Asked the Protectorate's nominal leader. "What, exactly did she mean about remediating the Case 53s and the Nemesis program?"

"At least Citrine is nice," said Kurt.

---

Note: Not super happy with this one. For those who expected a long drawn out dressing down or fix-it monologue, well it's not that kind of fic.

 

[dc2008]

Taylor was not entirely sure what to make of the strange older woman who self-identified as Taylor's future counterpart. The attention was nice, and she was certainly more present than Taylor's father. But sometimes she wanted to talk and it got weird.

"Normally," the older woman continued, "with teen parahumans I am fairly relaxed, sure you would do best with the Wards or another established group, but if before then you get into some youthful hijinks at worst you'll get a probationary Wards deal.

"But you, if you are anything like me at all you have the potential to be a real overachiever. Of course, I don't even know if you have powers. And if you do whether or not you tell me is wholly your choice.

"So let's talk about me. I got powers, lost them a few years later, but when I first got them I definitely got up to teenage silliness. And I do some things that in hindsight were not the best idea, but it was for a good reason and I'm learning! And things continue on and suddenly there dead bodies everywhere and Legend and Alexandria are talking about maybe sort of sending you to the Birdcage. Oh and I almost died a lot and my relationship with Dad never really recovered."

Like that. That was weird.

 

[dc2008]

"Why are we meeting like this," Lisa said in a calm professional manner that was not a whine.

The older woman gave Lisa a look. "I am a firm advocate for the white hats' cadre of overworked, under-appreciated counselors. I trust them, I respect them, I value them, and I am not letting you anywhere near them in your current state."

Lisa sputtered.

The older woman sighed. "Everyone knows about how brutes have trouble controlling their powers. When a Ward does it, tragic accident. When an independent hero does it…"

"Like Glory Girl!" Lisa interjected.

The older woman paused, before continuing, "sure, like, ah, Glory Girl, it's played for laughs. When a 'villain' does it, it's nefarious recklessness. You understand?"

"Sure, putting the 'PR' in PRT!"

"Right. But what people forget is that the underlying problem is actually less severe for Brutes because for them it tends to be very obvious, to themselves and others, when they have a control issue. Other parahumans don't necessarily have that advantage. And while the collateral damage may be less immediately apparent, it's still there."

Lisa started to laugh at the idea that Brutes like Glory Girl had good control, and then the penny dropped. "Hey! What are you implying!?"

---

Note: I am very fond of Lisa. That is why I tease her so