#Taylor Hebter

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Agitation 3.6 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

“Think of it as a game,” Lisa said, “A high stakes variant of cops and robbers.”

Ooh this bit. I've seen it referenced a lot in the fandom discussions, but never seen the conversation reproduced or redone in fic (probably because if it happens in the AU, it happens so close to the canon version there's no need to rewrite it or anything)

“I think,” I ventured, “That it’s a little closer to real cops and robbers than the schoolyard game.” “No, no.  Hear me out.  Grown adults running around in costume?  Making up code names for themselves?  It’s ridiculous, and we know it’s ridiculous, even if we don’t admit it out loud.

ehhhhhhh, I mean... she's not wrong exactly, but it's also not ridiculous because real people are really dying. In RL, if someone went around in a costume with codenames trying to fight crime, then yeah, absolutely, that's ridiculous, even if they made actual progress somehow.

But if that same costumed weirdo could fly, or fart fire or w/e, then it's a lot harder to not take seriously.

Maybe we have some agenda or goals, but at the end of the day, we’re getting our thrills, blowing off steam and living a second life. 

yeah, Lisa, no. That's... no.

Then there’s the crazies.  The people who are fucked up in the head, maybe dangerous if there’s not something or someone to help keep them in line.  The people who take it all too seriously, or those guys you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, even if they didn’t have powers.  Lung, Oni Lee, Heartbreaker,” she paused.  “Bitch.”

Way to add this as an afterthought. Also, like most of the Empire 88 (if not all of it) falls into this category too. I get they've barely been mentioned yet, but Kaisar and Co are definitely crazy and taking it too seriously.

Lisa paused, “Right.  But you have to understand, ninety percent of what goes on when you’re in costume?  It’s the first group.  Adults in costumes playing full contact cops and robbers with fun-as-fuck superpowers and toys. 

And people dying, having their property destroyed (and ruining their livelihoods), being crippled or physiologically scarred for life...

Yeah. It's all fun silliness 90% of the time.

(I get that Lisa is selling this to Taylor to convince her that this is all cool, but still, does she actually believe this on some level? I get that her power probably makes her cynical but my god, Tattle-bitch, fuck off)

But what good is having a team if there’s no competition?” “Which is where we come in,” I figured out where she was going. “Exactly.  At the end of the day?  We’re not doing much harm.  Property damage, theft.  A few civilians get hurt if they don’t move out of the way fast enough.

Yeah, totally, that's the only way civilians get hurt.

I mean, if all the villains were as nice and soft as the Undersiders, or at least most of them, sure. I don't think Lisa's wrong to an extent, but the Undersiders are very much the minority, and you guys still have the ability to really fucking hurt people.

Are there readers that actually buy this? I buy Taylor buying this to an extent, given her mindset and so forth, rn, though I doubt she 100% buys it, but equally, it sometimes feels like some of the fans actually buy this mindset.

“Compared to the psychos and the monsters out there, it’s almost in the city’s interests to keep us in circulation.  Far as I see it, we’re not that much better or worse than the so called good guys.  We face more risk at the end of the day, with the possibility of jail time and physical danger, but we get a better payoff.  We just took the path that was higher risk, higher reward.”

You are better than most of the alternatives, sure, but while it's true that the heroes would have a lot lower profile without the villains (and if there were no villains the heroes might not stay heroes what with all that conflict urging or w/e of the Shards) but as far as Lisa knows, the heroes could just... you know, use their powers constructively if there weren't villains eating up their time.

So yeah, no.

“I’m not sure,” I said, carefully, “That I buy all that.”

Smart girl

“No? Then why don’t they send people like Über straight to the Birdcage after his trial, like they are with Lung?

That is a stupid question, Lisa. The Birdcage isn't just a catch all for every supervillain. It's a nightmare blackbox you shove the worst (or the alleged worst, anyway) into. It's a "Break Glass In Case of Scion" Box. It's certainly not a place you shove Uber and Leet into unless they cross lines. We don't put people into maximum security prisons just for assault and theft, usually (Which, AFAIK, is all Uber and Leet have done largely - AFAIK, they haven't killed anyone)

Sure, there’s the three strike rule, and he’ll get sent to the Birdcage eventually, but the people in charge have to maintain some plausible deniability.”

Because the US government totally wants villains running around this much for the... merchandising money? Like, there's not trusting the police, the government, etc, and there's... this.

Again, I suspect Lisa doesn't quite believe this, but still.

“But the real evidence to my ‘cops and robbers’ theory,” Lisa continued, “Is the reaction you see when someone crosses the line.  You’ve heard about it happening.  Someone finds out another cape’s secret identity, goes after the cape’s family.  Or a cape wins a fight and decides his downed opponent isn’t in a state to say no if he’s feeling lusty?  Word gets around, and the cape community goes after the fucker.  Protecting the status quo, keeping the game afloat.  Bitter enemies call a truce, everyone bands together, favors get called in and everyone does their damndest to put the asshole down.”

Or, you know, it could be that some people have standards? I mean, I get what you're saying, about protecting the game, the unwritten rules, etc, but equally, like... no? Yeah, when someone crosses a line everyone goes after them because that's like... the whole point of lines.

“Like we do with the Endbringers,” I said.  I sheathed my knife. “Holy fuck,” Lisa said, slapping the sides of the steering wheel with her hands.  I think if the van had been moving, she would have hit the brakes for emphasis.  Traffic was starting to move, though, so she started up the car and put it into gear, “Twice, you bring up the Endbringers in as many minutes.  You’re being morbid.  What’s going on?”

Because they're the giant fucking elephants in the room for the setting.

It was hard to talk to Lisa, as much as I liked her as a person. 

You barely know her, christ Taylor, I know you're affection starved and shit but man you dove headfirst into this.

  If I said something, would that give her the puzzle piece she needed to figure me out?

heheheheh, too late.

I was counting on this ruse continuing, whether it was because I enjoyed the temporary companionship of Brian, Lisa and Alec, or because I wanted to get Grue, Tattletale, Regent and Bitch carted off to jail and prove Armsmaster wrong.  I was aware how paradoxical those two interests were.

Sooner or later, something will have to give.

She went on, “See, I know you.  Believe it or not, I like you.  Did from the time I saw you on that roof, opposite Lung.  You know how we fear the unknown?  Well, I know stuff, that’s my whole thing, and that motherfucker is one of the very few people who can spook me.  You, Taylor, stood up to him.”

Taylor "Nah, I'd Win" Hebert

(Does she actually say that in the story, or is that just a fan thing?)

“So this guy or this girl that’s got you down in the dumps?  I say fuck them.  They don’t know you.  They don’t know what you’re capable of.”

This is true. How much does Lisa know about this? God, Lisa's power is gonna suck to work with come fic writing time, balancing what she knows and what she doesn't.

“Who uses words like doldrums, anymore?” 

Fair point :rofl:

“In twenty minutes or so, we’re going to be leaving there, tens of thousands of dollars richer, the adrenaline rush of victory pumping through our veins,” Lisa’s voice was barely above a whisper, “Now tell me.  Can you visualize that?”

"What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of revolution."

-Vyacheslav von Plehve, Russia’s Minister of the Interior, before starting the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905

(I'm not sure if this quote is apocryphal or not, I first stumbled upon it as an epigrah in a sci-fi novel, but it makes the point)

“Liar,” she said.  Then she winked at me, “It’s okay.  An hour from now, you’ll be rolling in money and laughing about how pessimistic you were.  Promise.”

Nice to know Tattletale can be so hilariously wrong.

As I opened the car door and hopped out into the pouring rain, I managed to say the words without choking on them, “Let’s go rob a bank.”

Crime Machine Go BRRR!