Very well put, the reason canon Taylor escalates was constantly after considering most other options and not liking them, not because she didn't think of them.
System Administrator (Worm) (AltPower!Taylor)
- Thread starter TemporaryMeasure
- Start date
I'm unsure how she has faith in authority figures at this point. She triggered from abuse of authority. She should be ultra-paranoid about anyone in a position of power. She shouldn't trust anyone without dipping into their background data with the access she has. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Especially when you're going to be cleaning house for the PRT.
Revenge is not heroic, but justice is. She doesn't have to get violent to escalate. Her dad has the right of it. Give them all the rope, while you record them hanging themselves.
Revenge is not heroic, but justice is. She doesn't have to get violent to escalate. Her dad has the right of it. Give them all the rope, while you record them hanging themselves.
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Impromptu behavioral analysis of Taylor continued
TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
She does not have any faith in authority figures at all at this point, you are absolutely correct. However:
- Her dad is part of planning this too, and has had her back much more than in canon. She trusts him, because love, because she has good reason, and because (not to be underestimated) she understands their relationship by power-fiat. His advice and ideas are part of the plan which will unfold before your eyes soon.
- She doesn't trust the PRT by authority-fiat OR power-fiat, but she can't go hacking it and investigating it. The reasons why are twofold: she's a powerful hacker, but not an invisible one – she'd be worried they'd catch her, and she'd probably be right, Dragon's no pushover. Also, she needs some kind of connection in order to have admin access.
- She's not blindly trusting the PRT: she's trusting only those she'd have no choice but to trust if she ever wants the PRT to be a safe-haven for her, which she desperately does. Not only won't she unmask to anyone in the PRT, she's trying hard not to let anyone other than Armsmaster and Director Piggot even know she exists.
- Yeah, the PRT could snag her and straight up abuse her civil rights blatantly. However, she's taken several steps to avoid this. See if you can guess what they might be.
Frankly, she's too level-headed for her condition then. Is she off-loading some of her emotions into QA like canon-Taylor did her swarm? Or is QA acting as an emotional buffer of some sort?
dracklor
Beyond the Frontier
- Location
- Texas
Huh, you know giving a random, mysterious new trigger access to the heads of both the local Protectorate and PRT sounds like a recipe for mastering.
I mean someone like Heartbreaker has to have pulled a scam similar to Taylor's real approach in this fic, right?
I mean someone like Heartbreaker has to have pulled a scam similar to Taylor's real approach in this fic, right?
That's a one-way ticket to Master Stranger Protocols.
Honestly, someone in her position should be going on a full-blown conspiracy prepper paranoia trip. If not now, right after she finds out about Sophia.
- Location
- Indiana, US
Good job, Sophia. Now the PRT is looking very deeply at the person you nearly killed, which means actually investigating things and not trusting teenage girl gossip.
Of course the real concern is not the PRT trusting the surface level rumors, but that Taylor will either panic on realizing the PRT is investigating her or that Coil will try to slip in a job offer first.
Of course the real concern is not the PRT trusting the surface level rumors, but that Taylor will either panic on realizing the PRT is investigating her or that Coil will try to slip in a job offer first.
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- Location
- Neptune
No, she isn't.
Just because you would rage and blindly lash out doesn't mean she will. Taylor isn't you. Not everyone acts and reacts the same as you.
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He
In a lot of systems admins are invisible to all other users. This is typically done for security purposes so that user activity can be monitored in real time. I'd imagine that QA is doing something similar here.
Ok, I'll say that in another way.
As soon as anyone mentions that fact of being superadmin in Dragon's hearing range, Taylor will become a high-priority target for Saint. Not immediately, but too soon for anyone's comfort.
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- Location
- Lake superior, Minoc
Well that's great and all. And good that you have a solid idea of how you want to take her. Just.. ehhhhhhh
That's not much of a hook to bring in or keep readers. Even with a neat power. No one wants to read Doormat Taylor number 28272322729
- Location
- Michigan
Honestly the safest place for Taylor to work isn't the PRT/Protectorate, it's getting employed as a private contractor for the I.R.S.
Even the S9 wouldn't be willing to risk fucking with her at that point.
Even the S9 wouldn't be willing to risk fucking with her at that point.
Jack Slash: "Sure, I'm a Murderhobo on a perpetual murder joyride with a collective kill order. I like killing people. But having IRS target me? No way, we may go to PRISON!"Honestly the safest place for Taylor to work isn't the PRT/Protectorate, it's getting employed as a private contractor for the I.R.S.
Even the S9 wouldn't be willing to risk fucking with her at that point.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
-As the name of an organization Wards and Ward should be capitalized.-
Finally, a fic where QA realizes how great Broadcast is and tries to imitate his wondrous abilities! Shame Taylor is going to jack Jack and his cult, though...Do Taylor Super-Admin powers work on shards? They are pretty much computers, right?
Antivirus 1.1
TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
When morning put sunlight through her window, Taylor was in no way ready to face the day. She was tired down to her bones, but that was usual these days – a cause for joy, even, since it meant exercise was building her muscles back. The sunlight on her face was unusual since her room did not have an east-facing window, but as she woke up she remembered that these days she fell asleep in the living room, rather than face the stairs. Even the crick in her back was easily explained as the product of low core strength and sleeping in her wheelchair so that she could be mobile upon waking. No, what worried her was the day's prospects, not its start.
Once she was done with the newly-convoluted mess of her morning routine (amazing how difficult brushing teeth becomes when you can't stand and even leaning forward is hard) she laboriously rolled her chair into the kitchen, where Dad had prepared breakfast, and opened PHO so they could check on the message to Armsmaster.
Tin_Can't ► Throwaway129831:
I admit to annoyance at your near-violation of the Rules, but I understand why you thought it necessary. However, your request to meet with me and the Director in secrecy cannot be accommodated at this time. You are an unknown parahuman, with unknown powers and proclivities, and we cannot trust you immediately. Moreover, there are procedures for situations like this.
Well, that wasn't encouraging. She scrolled down, and they read on.
For these procedures, I ask you to submit a video of yourself describing the nature of your power, and specifically stating that you have no ability or intention to subvert the leadership or integrity of the PRT or Protectorate. The video will be sent to WEDGDG, where they will ascertain your veracity. You need not be unmasked, but it needs to be a video. Any other statements whose veracity you wish to prove to us may also be given.
Further, I will dead-drop a new-built Dragontech phone with a dedicated secure channel through a speech-to-text-to-speech interface to my armor. It will be at the bus station at 23rd and Narrows at 11:35, taped to the underside of the bench. Do not be late.
It is my hope that we will work well together in the future, but for now, caution is to both our benefits.
Well. She certainly could work with that, although Dad would have to be the one to pick up the phone. He probably wouldn't like that. In the meantime, Taylor could certainly record the video. Although, how many other such videos were submitted to WEDGDG? Probably a lot, come to think of it, and in any case if the PRT was subverted nationally there was little she could do about it at this point. Armsmaster was terse but correct and helpful, and her instincts were not screaming Trap! yet, so this plan could pan out. Just to double-check, though, she logged back into her new anonymous email account and re-confirmed that her email exposing the PRT for her kidnapping was scheduled to send on the 30th. Always important to have a backup plan.
She took a bite of her eggs.
I sat in front of my computer, angled so that my background was the plain yellowed-white wall beside the stairs. I hovered my mouse over the record button, held a piece of printer paper in front of my face, clicked once and began to speak.
"Hello, I'm a new Wards-age parahuman in Brockton Bay. My powers involve intuitive understanding of the features and connections of any system. This understanding improves with proximity to the center of such a system, and indeed provides no information if I am not in any proximity to the system. For instance, if I were in a library I could tell where the staff of the library are, as well as the central administrative space of the library, but only by standing in that space could I tell details about the identities of the staff of the library, the other systems to which they belong, the flaws and issues facing the library, et cetera. I have no ability nor intention to harm or subvert the leaders of the PRT or Protectorate, and indeed am less able to do so than the average baseline human. I just want to help them, honestly. And I want to join the Wards, but I want to help them first because I think the Wards isn't safe for me until I've helped. I promise, I'm being a hero. I – I want to help this city. My city."
click and it's safe to remove the paper. Another few clicks and the video file is sent to Tin_Can't, and that's it for the morning.
I hadn't mentioned the admin permissions part of my power. Why hadn't I mentioned it? I guess... well, that's the scary part of my powers. And if the PRT knew, they might lock me up somewhere, in a tight little box where I can't get oout and nobody helpss mee holy shit.
I'm terrified of that. That was a little panic attack, that hurt a lot, it's hard to breath like that. I'm so scared. And with good reason, honestly, they have jails, and what if they decide not to help, just like the school? They could so easily.
No, I have to keep this secret. Be the helpful, harmless thinker that cleans their house and deworms their guts. If they need me they'll protect me, but if they're scared – well, I've been scared a lot, I know how that goes.
I'll have to get Dad not to give it away. And learn to protect myself.
I settled back in my wheelchair and opened an online law textbook. The legal system might be one of the biggest dangers to me, but it is still just a system. I can handle systems.
Okay, update. The legal system is really complicated. And law textbooks are not all in agreement, and it doesn't feel like I'm connected to the center of the legal system. If I was, I could understand all this a lot better, I'm sure of it. As it is, reading about the laws feels intuitive, but I can't easily tell how they all work together. I get when a law is making trouble, though. Like, this one law about digital copyright, it's meant to protect artists' revenues from their work, but instead it doesn't interface with society like that. It's become a tool for big producing companies to make unrelated artists pay through the nose for the chance to imitate the styles of others. It's even being used to take revenues from unrelated works which accidentally have a similar cluster of notes. So this law isn't doing what its supposed to, and is a detriment to the legal system. As a result, it smells of malfunctioning yellow.
I know, I know. Malfunctioning yellow isn't a kind of yellow, and even if it was it shouldn't be a smell. But it isn't, not really, it's a whole different sense, and it comes with so much more detail. It's hard to just describe in words, but it's like this. When you smell banana bread baking downstairs, you don't think "ah yes, that is the scent of vanillin, and ethyl acetate and ethanol and a hint of the Maillard reaction, that must be banana bread!" When you see a ball flying through the air towards you, you don't track its progress and calculate the path of its parabolic trajectory and predict its location and move your hand and catch it, you just – know where it's going. In one step. And then you move your hand and look you have the ball. Well, you do, I'm not up to catching balls just yet.
Anyway, that's what my extra sense is like. The law doesn't really smell like a metaphorical color, it is a whole new sense feeding me information on exactly what's wrong and pointing me towards other laws it interfaces with and touching on the societal ramifications and playing an off-key symphony on my tongue of unintended consequences and regulatory capture. And it smells like yellow. Yellow that doesn't work.
Yeah, I know.
I studied the law until Dad came home with the cell phone. That was exciting and scary, all at once – actual contact with Armsmaster, one of my favorites. Best get the Hero Worship over with quickly, I'd be working with him soon if everything went to plan. And in the meantime, maybe I can convince Dad to go on a field trip up to Hartford with me? I'd really like to sit in the House of Reps and read some of these books. But wait, no laptop. Hmm, maybe first the library, then the House? And I guess it can't be the federal law books. Tricky.
With Dad back, lunch eaten, and the afternoon promptly arriving, it became time to do the week's homework, assigned in advance because of the suspension. The goddamn unfair suspension that I don't deserve and how DARE she–
I did my homework through the afternoon. There was surprisingly little of it. Odd how when it's spread out day by day it feels like it fills all your time, but as a clump it's only maybe four hours across all the classes. This was kind of a light week, but still. I don't get how people don't turn in their homework and pull C's. I mean, I don't always turn in my homework, and I've got some C's, but that's not exactly my fault. I do all my homework, but then those evil bi – sorry. I can't afford to think that way anymore, if I snap it could be bad. I've got actual power now, I can't let myself be some kind of vigilante. Can't afford it.
But why not?
No.
Well, not for revenge. But what if I caught them at it? Just collected evidence, made sure it saw the light? That wouldn't be revenge, just showing the world what they do to me – that's justice, right? Surely. Not like I'd be digging into their bank accounts and destroying their finances for all time and bringing the IRS down on their heads like they deserve. No. Don't think like that, they don't deserve that.
But publicity? They deserve that.
Homework done, I began to plan before dinner. After dinner, I'd be practicing coding, maybe learning a new language. But for now? I could be a hero. I could find justice for me and everyone else ever bullied at Winslow by those too popular to be punishable.
Time to plan.
Once she was done with the newly-convoluted mess of her morning routine (amazing how difficult brushing teeth becomes when you can't stand and even leaning forward is hard) she laboriously rolled her chair into the kitchen, where Dad had prepared breakfast, and opened PHO so they could check on the message to Armsmaster.
Tin_Can't ► Throwaway129831:
I admit to annoyance at your near-violation of the Rules, but I understand why you thought it necessary. However, your request to meet with me and the Director in secrecy cannot be accommodated at this time. You are an unknown parahuman, with unknown powers and proclivities, and we cannot trust you immediately. Moreover, there are procedures for situations like this.
Well, that wasn't encouraging. She scrolled down, and they read on.
For these procedures, I ask you to submit a video of yourself describing the nature of your power, and specifically stating that you have no ability or intention to subvert the leadership or integrity of the PRT or Protectorate. The video will be sent to WEDGDG, where they will ascertain your veracity. You need not be unmasked, but it needs to be a video. Any other statements whose veracity you wish to prove to us may also be given.
Further, I will dead-drop a new-built Dragontech phone with a dedicated secure channel through a speech-to-text-to-speech interface to my armor. It will be at the bus station at 23rd and Narrows at 11:35, taped to the underside of the bench. Do not be late.
It is my hope that we will work well together in the future, but for now, caution is to both our benefits.
Well. She certainly could work with that, although Dad would have to be the one to pick up the phone. He probably wouldn't like that. In the meantime, Taylor could certainly record the video. Although, how many other such videos were submitted to WEDGDG? Probably a lot, come to think of it, and in any case if the PRT was subverted nationally there was little she could do about it at this point. Armsmaster was terse but correct and helpful, and her instincts were not screaming Trap! yet, so this plan could pan out. Just to double-check, though, she logged back into her new anonymous email account and re-confirmed that her email exposing the PRT for her kidnapping was scheduled to send on the 30th. Always important to have a backup plan.
She took a bite of her eggs.
I sat in front of my computer, angled so that my background was the plain yellowed-white wall beside the stairs. I hovered my mouse over the record button, held a piece of printer paper in front of my face, clicked once and began to speak.
"Hello, I'm a new Wards-age parahuman in Brockton Bay. My powers involve intuitive understanding of the features and connections of any system. This understanding improves with proximity to the center of such a system, and indeed provides no information if I am not in any proximity to the system. For instance, if I were in a library I could tell where the staff of the library are, as well as the central administrative space of the library, but only by standing in that space could I tell details about the identities of the staff of the library, the other systems to which they belong, the flaws and issues facing the library, et cetera. I have no ability nor intention to harm or subvert the leaders of the PRT or Protectorate, and indeed am less able to do so than the average baseline human. I just want to help them, honestly. And I want to join the Wards, but I want to help them first because I think the Wards isn't safe for me until I've helped. I promise, I'm being a hero. I – I want to help this city. My city."
click and it's safe to remove the paper. Another few clicks and the video file is sent to Tin_Can't, and that's it for the morning.
I hadn't mentioned the admin permissions part of my power. Why hadn't I mentioned it? I guess... well, that's the scary part of my powers. And if the PRT knew, they might lock me up somewhere, in a tight little box where I can't get oout and nobody helpss mee holy shit.
I'm terrified of that. That was a little panic attack, that hurt a lot, it's hard to breath like that. I'm so scared. And with good reason, honestly, they have jails, and what if they decide not to help, just like the school? They could so easily.
No, I have to keep this secret. Be the helpful, harmless thinker that cleans their house and deworms their guts. If they need me they'll protect me, but if they're scared – well, I've been scared a lot, I know how that goes.
I'll have to get Dad not to give it away. And learn to protect myself.
I settled back in my wheelchair and opened an online law textbook. The legal system might be one of the biggest dangers to me, but it is still just a system. I can handle systems.
Okay, update. The legal system is really complicated. And law textbooks are not all in agreement, and it doesn't feel like I'm connected to the center of the legal system. If I was, I could understand all this a lot better, I'm sure of it. As it is, reading about the laws feels intuitive, but I can't easily tell how they all work together. I get when a law is making trouble, though. Like, this one law about digital copyright, it's meant to protect artists' revenues from their work, but instead it doesn't interface with society like that. It's become a tool for big producing companies to make unrelated artists pay through the nose for the chance to imitate the styles of others. It's even being used to take revenues from unrelated works which accidentally have a similar cluster of notes. So this law isn't doing what its supposed to, and is a detriment to the legal system. As a result, it smells of malfunctioning yellow.
I know, I know. Malfunctioning yellow isn't a kind of yellow, and even if it was it shouldn't be a smell. But it isn't, not really, it's a whole different sense, and it comes with so much more detail. It's hard to just describe in words, but it's like this. When you smell banana bread baking downstairs, you don't think "ah yes, that is the scent of vanillin, and ethyl acetate and ethanol and a hint of the Maillard reaction, that must be banana bread!" When you see a ball flying through the air towards you, you don't track its progress and calculate the path of its parabolic trajectory and predict its location and move your hand and catch it, you just – know where it's going. In one step. And then you move your hand and look you have the ball. Well, you do, I'm not up to catching balls just yet.
Anyway, that's what my extra sense is like. The law doesn't really smell like a metaphorical color, it is a whole new sense feeding me information on exactly what's wrong and pointing me towards other laws it interfaces with and touching on the societal ramifications and playing an off-key symphony on my tongue of unintended consequences and regulatory capture. And it smells like yellow. Yellow that doesn't work.
Yeah, I know.
I studied the law until Dad came home with the cell phone. That was exciting and scary, all at once – actual contact with Armsmaster, one of my favorites. Best get the Hero Worship over with quickly, I'd be working with him soon if everything went to plan. And in the meantime, maybe I can convince Dad to go on a field trip up to Hartford with me? I'd really like to sit in the House of Reps and read some of these books. But wait, no laptop. Hmm, maybe first the library, then the House? And I guess it can't be the federal law books. Tricky.
With Dad back, lunch eaten, and the afternoon promptly arriving, it became time to do the week's homework, assigned in advance because of the suspension. The goddamn unfair suspension that I don't deserve and how DARE she–
I did my homework through the afternoon. There was surprisingly little of it. Odd how when it's spread out day by day it feels like it fills all your time, but as a clump it's only maybe four hours across all the classes. This was kind of a light week, but still. I don't get how people don't turn in their homework and pull C's. I mean, I don't always turn in my homework, and I've got some C's, but that's not exactly my fault. I do all my homework, but then those evil bi – sorry. I can't afford to think that way anymore, if I snap it could be bad. I've got actual power now, I can't let myself be some kind of vigilante. Can't afford it.
But why not?
No.
Well, not for revenge. But what if I caught them at it? Just collected evidence, made sure it saw the light? That wouldn't be revenge, just showing the world what they do to me – that's justice, right? Surely. Not like I'd be digging into their bank accounts and destroying their finances for all time and bringing the IRS down on their heads like they deserve. No. Don't think like that, they don't deserve that.
But publicity? They deserve that.
Homework done, I began to plan before dinner. After dinner, I'd be practicing coding, maybe learning a new language. But for now? I could be a hero. I could find justice for me and everyone else ever bullied at Winslow by those too popular to be punishable.
Time to plan.
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TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
Thank you, fixed.
TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
This will not be doormat Taylor, I promise you. But it can't start as Badass Taylor #23041 either, since it's not like she's suddenly capable of fighting back and has nothing to fear from abuse. No, Taylor's been messed up psychologically this past year and a half, and that can't disappear in an instant. But she's going to be important and powerful in the future. This is Bureaucracy & Character Growth Taylor #29.
TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
Because I am not very good at this yet, and working on getting better. Thanks for the input! I will decide whether to fix this or just put more focus on not doing it in future chapters.
Exactly how capable is Taylor right now? If teeth brushing is so difficult, how is she getting onto the toilet by herself?
Speaking from experience, simple things like putting on socks and pants, using the toilet, and showering will be impossible without aid for upwards of a month. There are tools for some tasks, like sock aids, shoehorns, reachers/grabbers/sponge sticks, shower/toilet chairs, safety hand bars, etc. She'll still need someone during the day to help her on/off the wheelchair for ~2 weeks.
Maybe you can bring some of the Dockworkers in to help watch her, and add handrails/wheelchair ramps to the house? According to the WoG Post there isn't a shower downstairs. She'll need carried upstairs or settle for sponge baths. There's also the issue of the front door stairs. They'll likely need a wheelchair ramp installed or an automatic garage door opener. That's assuming that her wheelchair can get in through the inner garage door.
Just some things to keep in mind.
Taylor is dealing with an effortful physical existence and Aikion is helping me know how that goes
TemporaryMeasure
Serial non-Serious Author
- Location
- your peripheral vision
Thank you very much for the information! Also, I am sorry you had that experience. It has actually been one and a half weeks since the healing, and Panacea did mess with her metabolism and musculature some to help her recover faster, but absolutely you are right and I appreciate the information. For now, you should assume that her dad helped her a bit, but for things in private her dad has asked Lacy and other female dockworkers to come help out. Yes, this is absolutely a retcon. But I don't want to make this too much about the difficulties of being highly immobile, beyond the emotional impact. Discussing exactly how she goes to the bathroom is just going to get tedious.
However, you will note that her Dad has not been going to work: he has taken a break to be on hand for Taylor and also construct various useful things around the house. The front step isn't getting fixed, but he did install a ramp over them.
Overall, I am planning that Taylor will stand in another week and walk in two. Past that, she'll be putting in a lot of work to regain full function, but Panacea's adjustments will wear off. (Panacea doesn't like to advertise that she's a biokinetic, so she never mentioned these adjustments, but she can make them easily and without being noticed, so she does.)
The point is, this fanfic is not mainly about Taylor dealing with physical disability. It's going to be, for at least some time, a Bureaucrat Wards Taylor doing spycraft in a less-than-friendly world.
Enjoy!
- Location
- Michigan
Honestly rather than outright joining the Wards it would probably be safer and more effective to have her be an anonymous private contractor type role, especially given that her powers heavily favor keeping her identity hidden from even most of the PRT/Protectorate to limit possible corrupt actors from tracking her down. Alternatively, if joining a government sponsored hero group, it would probably be best if she gets placed under the Guild to allow direct protection and security from Dragon given how important an asset she would be.
Also -barring AU changes- I don't think WEDGDG learning about her will endear her to them given she would likely spot their massive corruption in minutes if not seconds and if they figure that out they will probably try to sabotage her efforts to join the Wards/Protectorate before she can get their entire group tossed in the birdcage for all the crimes they have been commiting while idiots trusted the group of all the government hired Thinkers to self police and not have the corrupt individuals band together to insulate themselves from consequences and drive out possible whistle blowers.