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Security! (a Worm SI story)

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Fredo said:
Big difference between visiting someone in prison and deliberately protecting someone from the consequences of their own crimes. I don't know if you can even compare the two.
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He may feel that taking care of her crimes in person, and doing what he can to prevent her from getting a record is the best thing he can do for her as a parent.

If he did pass out a punishment in privet it doesn't look like it was all that harsh, but he could have done something.
 
Academic Guardian said:
This is a thought actually, Union guys are particularly scary and Danny is a Union head. He knows the law, how to move about it, connections to make things happen (aka criminal Lawyers or Public Attorney's heck even the DA whose field is way more applicable vs Allan's divorce field,) all that stuff. I wonder why it was never explored and opened in canon. I understand that earlier its because Taylor kept it low but when that confrontation in Blackwell's office popped I am surprised a couple of big beefy guys had a drunken "accident" with a certain divorce lawyer.
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Because by the time Danny knew Emma was involved, the city was hit by a series of disasters, ending with his daughter outed as a villain. After one of which, the Barnes family got out of town for a while.
 
Gideon_NZ said:
I expect Shadow Stalker now has *plans* for tonight. After all she doesn't know that Mike knows her identity. :)
I hope Mike takes some precautions! Maybe a sealed letter to his lawyer titled "In case of my Death"?
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Yeah, what a coincidence, Sophia gets punished, then later that night, the person who caught her gets killed in a "home robbery".

Gee, I wonder how the PRT will handle it?
 
Oh, Mike will be taking precautions ...

You'll get to see what they are, next chapter :D
 
Couple of things you guys are overlooking regarding the voice recorders...

First, he is aware that the recording is happening, and he's in the conversation... In many municipalities, that makes it legal.

Secondly, there is a difference between a recording being admissible by the government in a criminal case (has to have been a warrant issued IF the police recorded it... being recorded by a participant knowingly? different situation...) and being used to refute charges being pressed.

Also, and possibly the most importantly, Court of Public Opinion...

Headline: Legal Bully! Daughter of Prominent Local Lawyer Uses Knowledge of the Law to Intimidate Her Victims and School Authorities! Now, a Channel 5 exclusive, we have obtained exclusive audio of the incidents in question, AND audio of her father threatening legal action to defend his daughter's bullying behavior!

Finally, if he checks the school\district\municipal policies carefully, it MAY have been legally obtained anyway.. Schools don't have privacy rules for the students in many cases.
 
The SI should feel lucky that went so well, because...

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/soci...-recorded-bullies-accused-felony-wiretapping/

...this might have happened.

Basically, the kid in the news story overheard some classmates discussing their plans for him and pushed record on the ipad he'd been issued as a special needs student. Then he went to his mom, who went to the faculty...who called the cops on *him* for illegal wiretapping. He was actually *convicted* of "disorderly conduct", while the bullies remained unpunished. Of course, a week after that article hit the internet, the DA's office dropped it all and wiped the record, probably due to internet rage...
 
Winchester said:
The SI should feel lucky that went so well, because...

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/soci...-recorded-bullies-accused-felony-wiretapping/

...this might have happened.

Basically, the kid in the news story overheard some classmates discussing their plans for him and pushed record on the ipad he'd been issued as a special needs student. Then he went to his mom, who went to the faculty...who called the cops on *him* for illegal wiretapping. He was actually *convicted* of "disorderly conduct", while the bullies remained unpunished. Of course, a week after that article hit the internet, the DA's office dropped it all and wiped the record, probably due to internet rage...
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That's why I said, take it to the court of public opinion...

However, as he is a school employee, there are different options (legal justifications) available to him... And, again, most schools, despite that article, have shifted things so the students do NOT have a right to, or expectation of, privacy on school grounds... This is how locker searches can be conducted without a warrant...

Additionally, I have to wonder who the parents of those bullies in the article you posted were... Because that response is not an appropriate on in almost ANY jurisdiction AND the teacher didn't do anything either, despite clearly hearing all of it AND the admission that they were 'just trying to scare her'
 
IceWing_mk1 said:
That's why I said, take it to the court of public opinion...

However, as he is a school employee, there are different options (legal justifications) available to him... And, again, most schools, despite that article, have shifted things so the students do NOT have a right to, or expectation of, privacy on school grounds... This is how locker searches can be conducted without a warrant...

Additionally, I have to wonder who the parents of those bullies in the article you posted were... Because that response is not an appropriate on in almost ANY jurisdiction AND the teacher didn't do anything either, despite clearly hearing all of it AND the admission that they were 'just trying to scare her'
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Note that the character did not record the supposed "planning" (of course, that was just his story to get Mrs Knott in on it), but went ahead to deal with the actual bullying. Also, the recording he did make was only brought out to deal with the very problematic charge of "he molested me!". Which any authority figure, anywhere, has to be very wary of, given the ease with which such accusations can be slung around, and the difficulty of refuting them (and even if found innocent, sometimes the very fact of being accused in the first place will stick to them).
 
Fredo said:
Yea - and that runs both ways. I always wondered why Danny didn't have a couple of his 'guys' find Alan in a dark alley one day and break his knee caps. It wouldn't even be crippling with Panacea running around, but it would be a really effective warning that he needs to rein in Emma et all or far far worse things could occur.
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I strongly suspect that Danny isn't that kind of union rep. Violence is specifically not one of the options he ever chooses in life.
 
Ack said:
Yeah, not gonna go with the urban vigilante role just yet.
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I'm not saying the SI would, Ack. Merely a fantasy. Besides, those kinds of rifles are classified as destructive devices and fall under the National Firearms Act. That means, in addition to the ~$10,000 USD price of the weapon itself, there would be registration of the weapon (involving months of interviews and/or paperwork and a special tax of another $200 USD).
 
And of course, any of the recordings he made after he explicitly told them he had a running recording device on his person...

But hey, Sophia et allia _can_ be sued for Slander if he wants some money. I believe that one has both criminal and civil penalties, and it's a pretty textbook case of why it is a crime.


(and the fed crime is for interception, specifically, there's a clause on 2511 that a party to conversation can consent to the recording, unless the recording was provably made for a criminal purpose)
 
Fredo said:
No. .50BMG bolt action or semi-auto isn't considered a destructive device and does not fall under the National Firearm Act of 1934.


.50 BMG sniper rifles range in cost from ~$3000 to $10,000+ Surplus ammo runs around ~$1-2 per shot while new manufactured ammo is ~$4-8 per shot.

I don't own one, but I know a couple people who do.
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Well, thanks for the clarification. I honestly thought they did.
 
Fredo said:
Tis cool - it is right on the borderline there, but falls on the inside.

Ironically enough, the diameter of an unfired .50BMG bullet is 0.510in, but the width of the barrel across the rifling is 0.500in.

Really, the only reason to have one is if you are shooting at targets more than 1000m away (or against vehicles/hardened targets if you are in the military).
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Well, to be honest, I am a reasonable shot with a rifle (the legacy of growing up on the land) and thus, so is my SI, but I'm not sure if I'll actually use that aspect of his skillset any time soon.
 
Rmnimoc said:
Not gonna lie, I find the thought of Jack's stupid head exploding to be highly appealing.

Unfortunately if Jack dies endbringers likely kill everyone before Scion's rampage.

Edit: Also, while you could probably drop Jack without too much trouble, Cherish will probably kill you. If you kill Cherish first, Jack will kill you. If you somehow are that badass you drop them both with one shot, Bonesaw is probably just going to kill everyone in the city.

Which will kill you.

So yeah, I vote you label that one "Plan Y".
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1 issue with that plan:

Bonesaw probably modified him. You'll need a BFG.

On the upside, Endbringers killing everyone is a slower and more manageable death then Scion.
 
firefossil said:
Sigh another non-disclosure SI. To be frank, I'd be tempted to just go to Cauldron, then instruct them on how to fix all the messes they've created, kill Scion, and install Pax Draconis, with most of the details being handled by as many thinkers or masters are needed to bootstrap one's way there. Yes, they may be directly or indirectly complicit of countless atrocities, but they still have the greatest tools to prevent upcoming atrocities. Which you become indirectly complicit in if you allow to happen when you had means to prevent it. If you really can't suck it up, then you can just recruit Tattletale to recruit Eidolon to recruit or neutralize Contessa, then work on defusing Cauldron first, or somesuch.

While normally I'd be disinclined to say you have responsibility to fix things you never broke, a scenario where you can solve cosmic level issues is one I'll make an exception for. Screwing around with street level stuff is only marginally better than relaxing on a couch eating cheese poofs. Every second, the clock ticks to the next S9 massacre, the next Endbringer attack, Golden Morning, as well as the ongoing deluge of pointless shard induced conflict. Tick. Tock.
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One step at a time. He's still feeling his way. And don't forget; he still considers this a dream. A really complex and realistic dream, but a dream all the same.

And how is Cauldron supposed to fix all the messes they've created, exactly?
 
How exactly do you give new orders to the Endbringers? Isn't the only thing that changes their habits the death of Eidolon? Parahumans have been throwing shard abilities at these things for literally years with increasing desperation and they never pulled it off.
And good luck convincing them to kill Eidolon, aka not only one of the world's greatest heroes and a member of their own but also the one guy who they can't confirm killing will complete the goal due to his nature. Especially since their plan to deal with Scion boiled down to "get Eidolon at full power or another person to trigger with similar powers to get even the slightest chances at winning."
 
Enohthree said:
How exactly do you give new orders to the Endbringers? Isn't the only thing that changes their habits the death of Eidolon? Parahumans have been throwing shard abilities at these things for literally years with increasing desperation and they never pulled it off.
And good luck convincing them to kill Eidolon, aka not only one of the world's greatest heroes and a member of their own but also the one guy who they can't confirm killing will complete the goal due to his nature. Especially since their plan to deal with Scion boiled down to "get Eidolon at full power or another person to trigger with similar powers to get even the slightest chances at winning."
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If you want to know how to give new orders to the Endbringers, you can start with the guy that apparently spawned them in the first place so he can try and figure out how himself. You shouldn't just handwave it and say it can't be done when Eidolon has never tried.

No need to kill Eidolon either.

As for the question of how Cauldron is supposed to fix the mess they've created: Contessa. She can do a better job of that than anyone can.

I realize as an SI, you probably don't want to start pushing a lot of those buttons right from the get-go, but I don't think you'll have a problem of getting Cauldron on your side if you wanted to do so. You have the answers they need. Contessa in particular holds a lot of guilt over failing to kill Scion before.
 
Gundor Gepein said:
A note: to build this Tinker gun, Khepri forced pretty much every Tinker in existence to work together 'optimally'.

The difficulty of reproducing this feat is a question of plot.
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There were only a few thousand parahumans left then. There were hundreds of thousands before Scion's rampage.
 
firefossil said:
Sigh another non-disclosure SI. To be frank, I'd be tempted to just go to Cauldron, then instruct them on how to fix all the messes they've created, kill Scion, and install Pax Draconis, with most of the details being handled by as many thinkers or masters are needed to bootstrap one's way there. Yes, they may be directly or indirectly complicit of countless atrocities, but they still have the greatest tools to prevent upcoming atrocities. Which you become indirectly complicit in if you allow to happen when you had means to prevent it. If you really can't suck it up, then you can just recruit Tattletale to recruit Eidolon to recruit or neutralize Contessa, then work on defusing Cauldron first, or somesuch.

While normally I'd be disinclined to say you have responsibility to fix things you never broke, a scenario where you can solve cosmic level issues is one I'll make an exception for. Screwing around with street level stuff is only marginally better than relaxing on a couch eating cheese poofs. Every second, the clock ticks to the next S9 massacre, the next Endbringer attack, Golden Morning, as well as the ongoing deluge of pointless shard induced conflict. Tick. Tock.
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Personally, I've considered that issue, few problems:

1. Proof. Yes, he knows a lot of things, but can he prove them? And no, knowing about them doesn't instantly mean that he's telling the truth.

2. Contacting them. Look, you can't just call up the PRT and say "I want to talk to Cauldron". OK, you probably can, it's just likely to end with Contessa paying you a visit to put you in the ground. Remember, this is a paranoid conspiracy that's been around for a couple decades or so. They aren't going to be listed in the Yellow Pages.

3. Competing with PTV. Let's face it, it's a power that is so hilariously broken it makes DeMs look like popguns by comparison.
 
Ah. I withdraw the question. I thought perhaps someone had an nsight that I didn't.

All will be made clear in good time.

Just remember two things:

1) the SI is reasonably competent at his job, in real-world terms, not in SB terms. He does not have PtV, nor Tt's intuition, nor Coil's power. He has knowledge of the setting, and he's doing bits here and there to see how it works, but he can't guarantee that knowing how someone acts within the story will let him know how they will react to a new circumstance. So ...

2) He is taking it slowly and carefully. Note that step 1 of gaining Taylor's trust is complete.

How do you save the world? One step at a time.

Better to take it slow than miss a step nd screw it up.
 
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