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Mauling Snarks (Worm) (Complete)

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Selonianth said:
*laughs so hard he coughs* Accounting has their own access system? lel.

... Seriously though, that's a really weird system that Accounting and the two Think Tank divisions have their own access systems that having 'yes' clearance generally doesn't get you into anyway. (Black Ops, containment zones would be NtK reasonably anyway soooo, plus the Costa-Brown/Legend thing)
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Actually, accounting being sealed makes sense, as they have address and personal data on everyone in the prt and protectorate.
 
Ravenwood240 said:
Actually, accounting being sealed makes sense, as they have address and personal data on everyone in the pet and protectorate.
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that's in personal files, which are under general access, otherwise I doubt... whatever Bakuda's name is here would have the access required to look at any of the Wards files. Or Vice Versa for Taylor and the Protectorate files.
 
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Godogma said:
Lung is beatable by police with a sniper rifle before he amps up; all you have to be is willing to kill him.
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Lung's a regenerator, which is in large part why he's considered so dangerous. As the battle progresses he becomes stronger and more durable, but he also heals any damage taken. THIS is why Taylor in canon had such trouble with him originally. His regeneration was fighting off the (lethal) toxins she'd flooded him with, while his ramping up strength and durability made his skin too tough for her bugs to pierce. Then the fact he set himself on fire, killing any bugs on him. Repeatedly.

Ravenwood240 said:
It has to refer to something besides toughness, since brute 4 is supposedly bulletproof to anything but heavy weapons.

But, the thing is, without the link from the body to the shard, no true parahuman should be able to do anything, much like Taylor at the end of Canon. Canon states a parahuman has to have the first structure to become a para, and the second after you trigger, which implies that without that second one, your powers can't work. Since no one in Canon ever tried to kill Lung in such a way, we can't be sure that it would not work. It would be an interesting experiment, but I believe Wildbow either didn't think of it, or avoided it, because it gives a quick kill effect to almost every parahuman in Canon.
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Lung isn't bulletproof initially. And a rating of Brute 4 wouldn't mean he's bulletproof. Check this document if you want more information. It doesn't mean "Bulletproof", but
"One full squad of trained operatives should be able to deal with this situation alone, but exceptional circumstance, context and environment may bias things one way or the other."
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Reading the PRT Master Reference Guide, you find

Brute
Has enhanced strength or durability, most dangerous in a melee, typically very difficult to put down. While the execution may remain fairly stable, the source of this power can vary.
General response depends on degree of brute classification, but should involve focusing fire, limiting movements, and maintaining a safe distance.

Threat level 2+: Communicate brute nature. Assume divided fire will not have any serious effect, and devote focused fire to the target. Treat as low priority unless movements cannot be restricted, in which case the brute can be escalated to moderate priority.

Threat level 5+: Assume standard munitions are not going to hamper the brute. Lethal munitions are authorized, truck emplacements are authorized. Property damage should be expected and accounted for. Where possible, move fight to an open area.

Threat level 9+: Inter-city missile emplacements and other large scale munitions are authorized. Assume standard parahuman abilities are not going to hamper the target.
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Thus indicating that it's Threat Level 5 that it starts being assumed the brute is effectively bulletproof.
 
Note that the list is incomplete. And accounting has all kinds of juicy information on things like where all the money is, who's spending how much on what, etc. Every large company I've worked with has had accounting locked down independently. HR has usually been less locked down just because more people have justifiable reason to have access to the info.
 
Selonianth said:
that's in personal files, which are under general access, otherwise I doubt... whatever Bakuda's name is here would have the access required to look at any of the Wards files. Or Vice Versa for Taylor and the Protectorate files.
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Except Taylor had to specifically have her file classified (temporarily) and give a justification for that lockdown. Otherwise Bakuda/Countdown would have been able to read her file with the initial clearance she got as a Protectorate member. Thus indicating that yes, she does have clearance to read the files of a Ward. Taylor's file on the other hand has stuff that very few people in the Protectorate and PRT have clearance to know. Such as what her uncle Jacob actually does.
 
CmptrWz said:
Note that the list is incomplete. And accounting has all kinds of juicy information on things like where all the money is, who's spending how much on what, etc. Every large company I've worked with has had accounting locked down independently. HR has usually been less locked down just because more people have justifiable reason to have access to the info.
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Meh, rest of it is still valid.
FaerieKnight79 said:
Except Taylor had to specifically have her file classified (temporarily) and give a justification for that lockdown. Otherwise Bakuda/Countdown would have been able to read her file with the initial clearance she got as a Protectorate member. Thus indicating that yes, she does have clearance to read the files of a Ward. Taylor's file on the other hand has stuff that very few people in the Protectorate and PRT have clearance to know. Such as what her uncle Jacob actually does.
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You... missed the entire point of what I said. Like... literally the entire point.

Yes, Countdown has access to view Ward files, and yes, Taylor had to manually lockdown her file to deny Countdown that information. But none of that is relevant to the proof that the information he suggested made Accounting locked down is... not locked under Accounting.
 
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CmptrWz said:
A quick check showed that water was running, but was brown.
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Ewww...

CmptrWz said:
Imagine my surprise when I ended up in a secure room with Dragon of all people. Who extolled your virtues and all that because you were continuing to let her decide things for herself, including asking for her opinion on if and how to reveal her secrets. It took nearly an hour for her to describe what she actually was and that you were now her 'mother'.
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*rofl* I KNEW Danny would learn about it before Taylor got to tell him! Just didn't expect Dragon to spill the beans in person.

CmptrWz said:
Danny blinked a couple of times, then started snickering. That grew into full-out laughter.
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I can see where Taylor got her sense of humor from.

CmptrWz said:
Things had started going wrong before anyone realized it was an attack, apparently it was believed to be a sudden storm at first. The driving rain and increased waves from said 'storm' helped disguise Leviathan's approach, a seeming terror tactic that would work just as well if not better if you did recognize the signs. The battle as they tried to keep Leviathan from taking out the evacuating population had been brutal, wearing away the entire surface of the island bit by bit, until all of a sudden it had started cracking. It was only then that the capes had begun to realize the true scope of the attack. Even then, they fought until Leviathan retreated, not knowing if it would continue to the next island to continue the battle there.

In the aftermath the island of Shikoku, while not gone, was significantly smaller, mostly just the mountainous areas remained above water, and had lost pretty much all of its population centers in the process. On Honshu pretty much everything coastal through to the Kyoto region had been wiped out as well, either from waves or partially sinking along with Kyushu. In addition to that, the Tokyo area had been hit hard by the resulting earthquakes and tidal waves that hammered the entire country, not just Kyushu itself. The combined effects had killed or rendered homeless a very large percentage of the population. And all of that was before you took into account pretty much every active volcano in the island chain erupting due to the seismic upsets, causing even more damage.

The Korean peninsula had also been hit hard, the southern portions also sinking quite a bit due to the geographical upset of Kyushu's sinking. The resulting earthquakes had also done significant damage there, but the tidal waves had been more of a fringe effect until Kyushu actually sank. Unlike Japan, however, the major population centers were not hit hard, being far enough north to only get fringe effects.

Then the side effects of all that destruction kicked in. Fishing was obliterated as an industry in the area due to pollutants in the water making what fish did survive at first hazardous to eat. Then algal blooms killed off a lot of what was left. The volcanic eruptions had layered ash over a lot of the area as well, ensuring that recovery efforts were significantly more difficult even in those areas not hit as hard. And the ocean currents had shifted unexpectedly, all but isolating the area as the pollutants, ash, and other issues just congregated. Supplies frequently had to be airlifted in because the water was too hard to navigate.
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Considering Leviathan was HOLDING BACK, this is bloody terrifying.

CmptrWz said:
Most of the Nine's previous patterns had been broken now that Alan and Ned had died. Instead they thought that they were spending time setting up a secure base of operations for some reason, though where was another question.
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Ohhh... right. Forgot they lost two-thirds of their heavy hitters.

CmptrWz said:
"They already pegged us," Appraiser said, handing over a five dollar bill.

"Our internal assessment had a poor interpretation of the potential consequences of Maul's powers," Eleventh Hour added, handing his own five dollar bill over.

"Several of us had wondered if you had some way of fooling Maul," Colin said as he accepted the two bills and put them away. "Especially since we haven't come up with a good one ourselves."
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*blinks* Colin made a bet? I mean, the odds were pretty good that he'd win, but I'm surprised he did that in the first place.
 
FaerieKnight79 said:
Except Taylor had to specifically have her file classified (temporarily) and give a justification for that lockdown. Otherwise Bakuda/Countdown would have been able to read her file with the initial clearance she got as a Protectorate member. Thus indicating that yes, she does have clearance to read the files of a Ward. Taylor's file on the other hand has stuff that very few people in the Protectorate and PRT have clearance to know. Such as what her uncle Jacob actually does.
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Taylor's file has "Any protectorate member can know" information (Civilian name, contact info for Danny and Jacob as emergency contacts, overly general power descriptions and ratings, notes on her having been augmented by a tinker fugue). It also has various levels of "more restricted" (Power relation to Jacob/Jack, detailed information about her Trump abilities, list of NDAs she's known to have signed). She had to request the lock so that Countdown couldn't get access to any information, but that doesn't mean Countdown had access to all the information.
 
CmptrWz said:
Taylor's file has "Any protectorate member can know" information (Civilian name, contact info for Danny and Jacob as emergency contacts, overly general power descriptions and ratings, notes on her having been augmented by a tinker fugue). It also has various levels of "more restricted" (Power relation to Jacob/Jack, detailed information about her Trump abilities, list of NDAs she's known to have signed). She had to request the lock so that Countdown couldn't get access to any information, but that doesn't mean Countdown had access to all the information.
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Isn't that basically what I just said?

The fact Countdown could access information on a ward normally was the main thing I was responding to. I then mentioned that Taylor's file would have parts that are classified so highly that most people in the PRT and Protectorate couldn't read it. A fact which has been causing Director Piggot headaches.
 
During my brother's military service, he had three separate personal jackets.
Basic info, which almost anyone could access.
A Top secret clearance jacket, requiring a ts clearance to see.
The third covered actions taken in support of missions rated top secret; need to know, which required clearances and a demonstared need to know about those specific actions.
As the PRT is a quasi military organization, I would assume they have something simular.
 
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AquilaIgnis said:
*blinks* Colin made a bet? I mean, the odds were pretty good that he'd win, but I'm surprised he did that in the first place.
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Efficiency's mania has been fixed, but there's also the fact that it's a good use of his knowledge. He's getting paid ten dollars for, at most, twenty seconds worth of work. That comes out to fifty cents a second. Or $1800 an hour. With no risk to him. Clearly, making bets on sure things is the most efficient use of his time!
 
Ravenwood240 said:
During my brother's military service, he had three separate personnel jackets.
Basic info, which almost anyone could access.
A Top secret clearance jacket, requiring a ts clearance to see.
The third covered actions taken in support of missions rated top secret; need to know, which required clearances and a demonstared need to know about those specific actions.
As the PRT is a quasi military organization, I would assume they have something similar.
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Well sure, but that's still not spectacularly relevant, since it'd still be under 'general' clearance for the PRT, all being personnel stuff. And it was confirmed that, at least those first two are in a regular personel file for the PRT/Protectorate, though you still need higher clearance to get the more clearance-heavy info.
 
It's also likely that most PRT troopers don't have clearance to know who a ward is. Higher ups in the chain of command, sure. But the rank and file probably don't have that sort of clearance.

Here's an amusing thought. It's been mentioned that when someone graduates from the Wards program they have clearance level of 3 (up to 4 I think if they knew to submit the right forms and were members for a while). This is assuming they were team leader before graduating into the Protectorate of course. However, what clearance level does someone get if they go strait into the Protectorate without being a ward first? It'd be amusing if Vista had higher security clearance then Countdown.
 
I believe I mentioned that Wards start at SL2 and can get up to SL4, with SL3 usually happening for the team leader. Protectorate starts at SL3 and can get up to SL7 I think it was normally. Wards time does not count towards Protectorate upgrade time, but if you got to SL4 as a Ward you can keep it going into the Protectorate.

So Vista has had higher clearance than Triumph *and* Countdown, at least on the general level of things.
 
FaerieKnight79 said:
Lung's a regenerator, which is in large part why he's considered so dangerous. As the battle progresses he becomes stronger and more durable, but he also heals any damage taken. THIS is why Taylor in canon had such trouble with him originally. His regeneration was fighting off the (lethal) toxins she'd flooded him with, while his ramping up strength and durability made his skin too tough for her bugs to pierce. Then the fact he set himself on fire, killing any bugs on him. Repeatedly.
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I'm quoting a WoG post that @Ack (IIRC) had archived/linked to once upon a time on QQ - I no longer know the location to cite it after their forum restructuring rendered my bookmarks invalid and I haven't seen the information since.

In any case blowing his brain apart and destroying the two bits of it that allow him to access his shard/his shard to access him before he ramped up would quite handily stop his regeneration IMO (YMMV fanwank responsibly). He takes time to ramp up to the point where he's going to be able to shrug off shots to the brain box.

EDIT: He was obviously never shot in the head by someone using enough gun in the original so we don't exactly have all that much to go on.
 
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FaerieKnight79 said:
It's also likely that most PRT troopers don't have clearance to know who a ward is. Higher ups in the chain of command, sure. But the rank and file probably don't have that sort of clearance.

Here's an amusing thought. It's been mentioned that when someone graduates from the Wards program they have clearance level of 3 (up to 4 I think if they knew to submit the right forms and were members for a while). This is assuming they were team leader before graduating into the Protectorate of course. However, what clearance level does someone get if they go strait into the Protectorate without being a ward first? It'd be amusing if Vista had higher security clearance then Countdown.
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Well, Triumph is only Clearance 3, Vista is 4. We dunno bout Countdown.
 
Godogma said:
I'm quoting a WoG post that @Ack (IIRC) had archived/linked to once upon a time on QQ - I no longer know the location to cite it after their forum restructuring rendered my bookmarks invalid and I haven't seen the information since.

In any case blowing his brain apart and destroying the two bits of it that allow him to access his shard/his shard to access him before he ramped up would quite handily stop his regeneration IMO (YMMV fanwank responsibly). He takes time to ramp up to the point where he's going to be able to shrug off shots to the brain box.

EDIT: He was obviously never shot in the head by someone using enough gun in the original so we don't exactly have all that much to go on.
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It would also take a lot of accuracy and a fairly large bullet to do that. Not to mention knowing exactly where to shoot. Or getting FAR too close to him in order to use that shotgun. Without either of those two situations, just shooting him in the head might not be fatal. And if it's not, you'd be in serious trouble.
 
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