In Nuclear Fire

[Koraan]

She had been a Ward longer than any of them!

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Afaik, that's a fanon.
Look. Wiki says "Missy triggered in 2009, joining the Wards a month shy of eleven". That mean, she have about two years of "work experience" right now. Aegis mentioned as "Carlos likely Triggered between two and three years ago at age fifteen,[18]​ and joined the Brockton Bay Wards team.".
That mean, Aegis have been in the Wards longer than she, even if only for a month(s).
Also, Glory Girl triggered in 2009, and Dean did have powers already when that happened. I don't know when exactly that happened, though, so possible that was later than Missy joined the Wards.

Btw, Vista must be a second generation parahuman. Maybe even a third. Since she triggered ten ("Almost eleven!" "Shush, Missy!") years old.

 

[ODST-AdvRecon]

i cant help but feel like "mister hebert is belisarius cawl" is gonna be a recurring meme

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If Danny joins in, all he has to do is speak and move in front of a motion capture camera while a hologram Belisarius Cawl does the rest. The man managed to keep the Docks Union together even long after it went to shit so that at least shows he has the charisma and leadership qualities to pull of a 'leader of the pact' vibe.

 

[Tarion]

Did I miss something? Is this an AU without the unwritten rules?

Even against villains, and especially villains that don't kill, the PRT would never do something like this. Even Vista telling the PRT about Peter in the first place is way out of line. The Protectorate has families too. No one wants their friends and families to get involved in cape business.

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How is this different to Dragon finding out about Taylor in canon? Dragon followed a police report that mentioned Shadow Stalker's civilian identity, then ended up scanning yearbook photos and school records for a girl named Taylor, and then once she had that photo did a full sweep of Brockton Bay's security footage and news articles looking for girls who fit her name and description. Compared to that, Vista's being downright polite.

I don't think it's ever implied that people don't find or discuss identities internally. The point of the Unwritten Rules isn't that you pretend there's no history to find. Instead, you don't target that identity. Knowing that Peter is Tech-Priest isn't the end of the world. Deliberately attacking Danny because of that, or targeting Peter when he's out of costume is what's breaking the rules.

EDIT:

Afaik, that's a fanon.
Look. Wiki says "Missy triggered in 2009, joining the Wards a month shy of eleven". That mean, she have about two years of "work experience" right now. Aegis mentioned as "Carlos likely Triggered between two and three years ago at age fifteen,[18]​ and joined the Brockton Bay Wards team.".
That mean, Aegis have been in the Wards longer than she, even if only for a month(s).
Also, Glory Girl triggered in 2009, and Dean did have powers already when that happened. I don't know when exactly that happened, though, so possible that was later than Missy joined the Wards.

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It's not fanon, exactly. Missy quite possibly was the most experienced member of the Brockton Bay Wards at one point. She joined the same year as both Weld and Clockblocker, and we know she has nearly a year of seniority over Kid Win.

But that's post-Leviathan, when Gallant and Aegis are dead. If they're still on the team, then she's definitely not the most senior. And you've got to do it in the time after Flechette leaves, because she triggered the year before, and so probably joined before Vista.

"Vista is the most experienced Ward during Worm" is technically possible. Just not in these circumstances.

Btw, Vista must be a second generation parahuman. Maybe even a third. Since she triggered ten ("Almost eleven!" "Shush, Missy!") years old.

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Plenty of first generation parahumans trigger young. It's just that it's more common to trigger younger for second generations. It's not the range that changes, it's where you're more likely to fall in that range that changes.

 

[Waynebat]

Did I miss something? Is this an AU without the unwritten rules?

Even against villains, and especially villains that don't kill, the PRT would never do something like this. Even Vista telling the PRT about Peter in the first place is way out of line. The Protectorate has families too. No one wants their friends and families to get involved in cape business.

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The PRT does do things like that.
They don't do it against people with resources, or who are to dangerous.
Heavy Gear are powerful and non allies due to to the PTR being jealous. So they'll pressgang em.
With the official story being something else.

They document identities they just don't reveal.


Plus it's not like an Independent has the same resource to find out. Their used to deal with Independents,gullible people, or someone they can bully.

 

[Eeda]

'Danny Hebert you are under arrest for being the leader of the terrorist group of parahumans'

Danny: Well damm i know our Parahumans& Warlords games were recorded but how the hell that is ilegal?

 

[Yzarc]

Hmm...currently they are still considered vigilantes. So the PRT cannot just attack them.

My guess is that they are going to try and use the Arson of the school to either make them join the wards or to convince them not to disclose Sophia being responsible Taylor's trigger event.

The Director seems to be a smart man so he may go that route.

 

[Raiseth]

Funny shit about unwritten rules: Tattletale is the one who actually told about them to Taylor in canon, when she was making her pitch about their villainy being almost a gentleperson's business. Nobody else references them directly or considers them ironclad. In fact, you can more easily count the number of people who follow these rules.
Yeah, PRT does have a lot of policies about unmasking capes and protecting secret identities... which are policies, not ironclad rules, they can be circumvented if the "situation" "calls" "for" "it". Or even when it doesn't. Remember the shitfest that was Taylor's unmasking?

Anyway, Vista has absolutely no reason to internalize those rules for herself. The closest she gets to understanding them is probably her dissociation between her cape identity and personal life, but that's because her family situation is shit and she draws her self-worth from being a child soldier. Like, all those times when she honestly doesn't understand why people don't want to see her fighting, even though she's the most experienced Ward? That's because she thinks she's a cape first and a twelve years old girl second.

Well, I have a lot of vitriol to spew about the Ward program in general and ( unrelatedly ) Miss Militia's role in this clusterfuck in the PRT ENE in particular, but that's a bit off topic.

 

[Poliamida]

Well. Good job proving you're not a child, Vista. I'm sure your totally-adult actions will have no repercussions, and everything will work out for the better.

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Vista is still only a 12 years old girl. Don't expect the best decision-making from her.

Did I miss something? Is this an AU without the unwritten rules?

Even against villains, and especially villains that don't kill, the PRT would never do something like this. Even Vista telling the PRT about Peter in the first place is way out of line. The Protectorate has families too. No one wants their friends and families to get involved in cape business.

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The Unwritten rules were never truly enforced in canon. The only ones they protect are the strongest groups that benefit from them existing. The Empire and the PRT are protected (to a degree) by them because they have the strength to enforce them, but everyone else is on their own. That's how these big groups force independents to join in.
Heck, the PRT broke them when they unmasked Taylor and attacked her as civilian. And no one cared when the Empire got their identities revealed. Quite the contrary, the PRT moved in to dismantle them.

Yeah but Armsmaster, Dragon and Renick don't say anything either... Missy making a mistake is not too weird. But the adults... that's OOC imo.

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They are a bit desperate. They need a win after what has been going on, and getting Heavy Gear to join them would be massive. They hope to accomplish this with a carrot: help Taylor go after those who bullied her; and a stick: press them with the charges of burning Winslow.

Man Missy just buttfucked the unwritten rules, she really needs someone to show her what might happen because of what she did.

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Well, if we follow the examples of canon then absolutely nothing will happen to her. None of those who broke the rules in canon were ever punished. At least not for breaking them.

(is Aisha even a parahuman at this point?)

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No, she isn't, so she'd be labeled as a gang member.

Also, a part of me is convinced that Taylor's records weren't findable because the administration was trying to cover up their corruption.

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No, that's just the mess that Winslow was. They never updated their datafiles, and when it burnt down a lot of information was lost.

Wow, the PRT is determined to go down in flames in Brockton Bay, aren't they? I bet they'll just uncritically accept the bullshit Sophia spins as 100% fact and let her go out right afterwards so she can go and silence the witnesses. And then when Shadow Stalker gets killed after trying to assassinate Taylor, the PRT will go full on hardass only to get torpedoed yet again by Heavy Gear revealing even more compromising shit, possibly to the point of outright inciting mass demonstrations by the citizens demanding that the PRT withdraw from the city or something.

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Oh, Jesus.
Good thing that Renick is smarter than that.

That doesn't sound like someone who is entirely stable.

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She's a parahuman. Not being 'entirely stable' is the most polite thing you can say about her mental state.

Afaik, that's a fanon.
Look. Wiki says "Missy triggered in 2009, joining the Wards a month shy of eleven". That mean, she have about two years of "work experience" right now. Aegis mentioned as "Carlos likely Triggered between two and three years ago at age fifteen,[18]​ and joined the Brockton Bay Wards team.".
That mean, Aegis have been in the Wards longer than she, even if only for a month(s).
Also, Glory Girl triggered in 2009, and Dean did have powers already when that happened. I don't know when exactly that happened, though, so possible that was later than Missy joined the Wards.

Btw, Vista must be a second generation parahuman. Maybe even a third. Since she triggered ten ("Almost eleven!" "Shush, Missy!") years old.

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Uh. I was convinced she had joined when she was 8. I must have gotten infected with a bit of fanon there.

or targeting Peter when he's out of costume is what's breaking the rules.

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Well, in canon the PRT attacked Taylor when out of costume so don't think that's below them.

 

[kaazmiz]

The last thing the PRT needs right now is another scandal. Their PR is at the absolute lowest right now with the Coil revelation and Bakuda's shenanigans.

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It's also possibly the ultimate best time to air all the dirty laundry now, rather than later. Since it can be still attributed to a new director figuring out all the things that went wrong, and how Coil dug in to the Brokton PRT to even contemplate a takeover.

If things like Sophia keep getting out at later dates, its just going to stick a permanent failure stigma to the Brokton PRT, who seemingly keeps causing constant PR disasters, and can't get on the straight.

 

[Syroc]

Vista is still only a 12 years old girl. Don't expect the best decision-making from her.

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Oh, I didn't mean for it to come across as criticism of your writing. I think you captured the "I'm old enough to be taken seriously"-vibe found him children everywhere perfectly.

 

[Tarion]

Funny shit about unwritten rules: Tattletale is the one who actually told about them to Taylor in canon, when she was making her pitch about their villainy being almost a gentleperson's business. Nobody else references them directly or considers them ironclad. In fact, you can more easily count the number of people who follow these rules.
Yeah, PRT does have a lot of policies about unmasking capes and protecting secret identities... which are policies, not ironclad rules, they can be circumvented if the "situation" "calls" "for" "it". Or even when it doesn't. Remember the shitfest that was Taylor's unmasking?

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I mean, Tattletale never pretends they're absolute. She's quite clear that not everyone follows the rules, but that people stop playing nicely if you make it clear that you won't follow them.

And plenty of other people reference them. Clockblocker talks about it in Queen, and Assault talks about them in Battery's Interlude .

Even Legend talks about the 'unspoken rules between capes' here. If the guy officially in charge of the Protectorate is treating them as a thing, it's safe to assume that they're a thing.

 

[globalwarmth]

well, nother acceptable target for their newly acquired tattletale I guess?

 

[Raiseth]

I mean, Tattletale never pretends they're absolute. She's quite clear that not everyone follows the rules, but that people stop playing nicely if you make it clear that you won't follow them.

And plenty of other people reference them. Clockblocker talks about it in Queen, and Assault talks about them in Battery's Interlude .

Even Legend talks about the 'unspoken rules between capes' here. If the guy officially in charge of the Protectorate is treating them as a thing, it's safe to assume that they're a thing.

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I mean, maybe it's just Brockton Bay that is a shithole like this. Out of seven criminal organizations and one paralegal one, the rules were followed by three. Two and a half, really, when you consider that one of the Neo-Nazis killed Fleur.
Edit; actually, lol, you can make a case that Tattletale herself wasn't following the rules during the bank robbery, so Undersiders are out, too.
So yeah? Looks like the only one who constantly followed them was goddamn Marquis.

 

[Azaira]

press them with the charges of burning Winslow.

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They would be required to release identities of minors in order to prosecute. Minors that are also currently labeled 'Hero' by the public. Minors that also currently own 'territory'. Based upon circumstantial evidence.

To prosecute, they would have to move all of them and their families into witness protection for a case they would likely lose.

All they would have is a crappy bluff... unless they want to ruin the reputation of the PRT permanently for ever more.

 

[pingas plight]

'Danny Hebert you are under arrest for being the leader of the terrorist group of parahumans'

Danny: Well damm i know our Parahumans& Warlords games were recorded but how the hell that is ilegal?

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pete, the "dungeon master": so, how do you take care of this gang?
danny: find one of the leader's loved ones. take them, and hold them hostage. demand all of their resources as a gang for a ransom. then, when we meet in person, shoot the leader in the head with a gun hidden in my pocket.

 

[Anodarai]

Uh. I was convinced she had joined when she was 8. I must have gotten infected with a bit of fanon there

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It's a very common bit of fanon because Vista actually says that in canon, but only after Leviathan killed both Aegis and Galant. Still, she's been a Ward longer than Clock, Kid Win, Stalker and Browbeat, so being the third most experienced Ward is nothing to scoff at

 

[deadlyham]

press them with the charges of burning Winslow.

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That was their first HEROIC act. They should be proud of it. It would be pretty hilarious if Heavy Gear just came out and said "Yeah we burned it down. It was crazy corrupt and every gang had their hands in it, including Coil." And it would be true because the shady computer deal between Winslow and Coil's company. They could even allude to the locker incident as a clear example of the schools corruption. Attempted murder committed in front of a crowd and covered up by the school because of the perpetrator's gang affiliation.

I don't think the PRT realize yet that Coil had his hands in Winslow.

 

[Edison_Trent]

And she barely knew the new guy.

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Who is this, I don't remember.

But yeah, Missy's "I'm totally gonna recruit Peter to the Wards, yeah!" in the beginning was hilarious.

 

[PrinceOfDoom]

Oh yeah... this is going to be a dumpster fire.

When the PRT gets the evidence of what Sophia did... all Heavy Gear would have to do is publish it and they could destroy the PRT in Brockton forever. The Nazis would leap at the chance to take it further.

At least Bakuda is gone. And Peter does know Missy's identity and things are going to get... interesting.

God I can't wait for more! As ever, its a joy in every update!

This is going to lead to some interesting directions. Especially when Heavy Gear expands. Because no way will Grue not join up to protect his sister, and Bitch will probably appreciate the care for her dogs. Anyone who loves dogs as much as Heavy Gear is good in her books. And Regent will Regent around.

Peter is obviously going to guess things and confer with Tattletale, who will probably be able to find out what Vista did pretty easily. I could see Peter confronting Missy about violating the unwritten rules and about what Sophia did. And basically threaten her. Because Missy just did a dumb. She had reasons to, but she did a dumb.

 

[dracklor]

Man Missy just buttfucked the unwritten rules, she really needs someone to show her what might happen because of what she did.

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You mean absolutely nothing? Like others have said the unwritten rules are little more than something Tattletale made up to make villain life more appealing to Taylor. The closest thing is the Endbringer Truce, outside of it everyone of the factions in Worm ignores these so called rules. Heck the big thing fanon points out, Fleur's murder, was an asshole teenager who went to jail for a couple of years then came back and joined the E88 with open arms.

 

[Tarion]

Well, if we follow the examples of canon then absolutely nothing will happen to her. None of those who broke the rules in canon were ever punished. At least not for breaking them.
...
Well, in canon the PRT attacked Taylor when out of costume so don't think that's below them.

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Sure, the PRT did it. And when Taylor murdered the guy who did it, they offered her a job. I'm downplaying it, slightly, but they wouldn't have been willing to work with Skitter if she'd killed any other Director, but because Alexandria and Tagg were playing fast and loose with the Rules, they didn't come down on her like the fist of God, even though she murdered government officials.

The Unwritten Rules aren't something that you go to prison for breaking (Unlike the Endbringer Truce, which is taken a lot more seriously). They're something that when you break them, people don't investigate your death too closely. Look at the people who break them in canon - It generally doesn't work out for them, and no-one's too sad when they die.

 

[zerak]

They are a bit desperate. They need a win after what has been going on, and getting Heavy Gear to join them would be massive. They hope to accomplish this with a carrot: help Taylor go after those who bullied her; and a stick: press them with the charges of burning Winslow.

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That is one of the fun advantages of meta knowledge. They can't 100% prove that Peter burned the school down, and if they did he could drag them through the mud due to shadow stalker. And that is if they don't back off when he reveals the dirt he has on them.

As shown before Peter doesn't give a shit about the people from Earth Bet apart from those fire he associates with.

Just revealing that Manton who was probably the most famous PRT researcher is part of the S9 due to how badly the PRT treated him (once it is conferred that it's indeed Manton, people will think the rest is also true), they will be outraged.

And the best thing is, unless they get all the Zergs they can't really silence him. And that's not even counting any other contingencies.

Well, if we follow the examples of canon then absolutely nothing will happen to her. None of those who broke the rules in canon were ever punished. At least not for breaking them.

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They are unwritten rules. It's like a gentleman's agreement not to hit under the belt. People still do it. But if you keep hitting people under the belt they will not extent the courtesy to you any more. But there are no laws to i force this

in this case it's a 1 time thing. You break them and people won't extend the courtesy to you. But some people just don't care, they will kick you in the nuts and be proud about it.

The reason the unwritten rules are followed is because otherwise things can get really ugly. But if one party is too weak there are unlikely to be repercussions. But in this case Heavy Gear are actually building to face the PRT on a national scale, and they have enough dirt to make it stick.

 

[BomeranG]

OR he can just publish the identities of PRT capes. Perfect revenge and most people can say anything to it.

 

[Eeda]

pete, the "dungeon master": so, how do you take care of this gang?
danny: find one of the leader's loved ones. take them, and hold them hostage. demand all of their resources as a gang for a ransom. then, when we meet in person, shoot the leader in the head with a gun hidden in my pocket.

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Aishia: Well damm Mr. Hebert, i know Taylor take it from you... Now i must know what she take from her mother?

Danny: Annete once was in a gang and she do use an old frypan a car and two pounds of habanero salsa to rescue Lustrum from a Master

Peter: So she trow the habanero on the eyes of the Master?

Danny: No, she used the escape of the car and the broken frypan to put the habanero up the rectum of the Master... In her defence the pain caused the Master to release Lustrum.

 

[Sulring]

You mean absolutely nothing? Like others have said the unwritten rules are little more than something Tattletale made up to make villain life more appealing to Taylor.

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Except that's not something she made up. They're unwritten for a reason. They aren't laws. They're common sense. That's something you can do if you can get away with it. But in most cases you won't, because it's too dangerous to break them.