History Fanfic / JustAPhase

* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: This Taylor is tentatively known as "Phase" (a permanent Cape Name is dependent on power testing, [[LoopholeAbuse which Taylor won't do]]); she can phase through solid objects (and isn't Manton-Limited, phasing through people multiple times), has clairvoyance within an 8-foot radius of herself, and [[spoiler: is a Thinker Blind Spot that also lets her know when someone tries to use Thinker powers on her]].

* AntiVillain: Gauss and Armstrong are decent [=PRT=] bosses who want to protect their community and help their Wards. However, their refusal to acknowledge Taylor's objections to being drafted against her will and nearly killed by two other Wards makes them part of Taylor's coercion and conscription and thus antagonistic to Taylor's desire to be free of the [=PRT=], especially with their repeated requests for power testing.

** Meanwhile, Emma sees her desire for Taylor to show she was strong and fight back as this: Taylor did indeed become stronger after she Triggered from everything Emma, Sophia, and Madison did to her - and fought back by telling everyone about the bullying and cutting off the one attempt Emma made of trying to mend bridges, because any trust she might have had has been pushing up daisies for months.

* BrokenPedestal: After enduring horrific bullying at the hands of two wards, getting no apology or restitution from it, and finding out her bullies are Wards, Taylor finds being stuck in the Wards to be a punishment than a reward. Her disillusionment with the Wards is what causes Emma to have a HeelRealization.

* FriendlessBackground: After a year and a half of intense bullying that led to her Trigger event, Taylor has been left with literally no people she considers herself close to. It takes a while for Gauss to realize this, even after Taylor explicitly points it out several times.

** Director Armstrong attempts to pull one (in a misguided attempt to help Taylor socialize) by revealing that Taylor can participate in public tours of the Wards' common areas, since they do not require power use. However, Taylor counters by realizing she can do her homework and ignore anyone that tries to speak to her. It doesn't work the way she wants, but she instead ends up telling a group of teens about how she GotVolunteered, starting a media shitstorm.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Emma doesn't realize that her behavior towards Taylor is horrifically abusive until she sees Taylor's [[OhCrap horrified recognition]].

** This is Emma's motivation for bullying Taylor: the less-than-ideal reality of the Wards and having to cater to the whims of bureaucrats drove Emma to torment her former friend out of boredom.

* ObviousRulePatch: Shortly after a recording of Phase telling a group of tourists about how she was enlisted in the Wards against her will got posted on PHO, the PRT prohibited taking pictures and recordings on tours, for "security reasons".

** Emma when she sees Taylor being horrified that Emma is a Ward.

*** When Taylor mentions she doesn't have a civilian phone, Gauss mentions she should get one, because it's bad form to talk with civilian friends with her Wards form - and Taylor fires back that she doesn't have ''any'' civilian friends thanks to Emma and Sophia.

* {{Understatement}}: When Nebula tries to make small-talk about Taylor having transferred from Brockton Bay, Taylor replies that "Two of the three girls who caused my trigger event when they tried to murder me are Wards there, so I didn't think it would work out." Nebula, naturally, reacts in a way that Taylor internally describes as "jaw flapping in the wind."

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/30186441/chapters/74376411?view_adult=true Just A Phase]]'' is a fanfiction of ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' by Creator/FirstSelector.

** James Reed, Taylor's representative in the Youth Guard, plays it straighter, being the only person who empathizes with Taylor's abuse and tries to make her situation easier without minimizing her feelings or pretending her situation is unfair.

* ForWantOfANail: For some unknown reason, [[spoiler:Lisa never went to Brockton Bay, staying instead in Boston]]. This causes [[spoiler:Coil to instead form the Undersiders with Chariot as a member]].

* IHaveNoSon: {{Inverted}}. After Danny signs Taylor up for the Wards (giving up a guardianship to the PRT at the same time) against her will, she disowns him, blocks all of his attempts to call her and refuses to meet him when he comes down to Boston.

** Taylor has no problem in dropping brutally honest comments on the Protectorate whenever she has an opening. After all, from her point of view, she was left to suffer for two years at the hands of two Wards and the adults didn't care until she Triggered. Why should she care about ''their'' opinion now?

The fic is ongoing and updates on Mondays.

* ImNotHereToMakeFriends: Taylor absolutely ''refuses'' to socialize, her only stated goal being to get out of the Wards as soon as possible.