Taylor’s Weird Uncle 1 (Patreon)

Taylor’s Weird Uncle

Chapter 1

-VB-

In Brockton Bay, there was but one rule that stood above even the Unwritten Rules and the Constitution.

Don’t Touch the Dockworkers.

It was a simple enough understanding among not just Brockton Bay’s underworld but also its political and social circles. The mayor didn’t have to listen to what the Dockworkers asked from them but the mayor should also definitely not try to force any issues with the Dockworkers. Unlike the political and social circles which had enough peer pressure to nonviolently convince wayward members into compliance, the underworld was a lot more violent and brash as well as uneducated at times. 

“Shit,” Armsmaster muttered as he listened to the radio. 

“... Eighteen E88 members are converging on DW-3. I repeat, eighteen E88 members are converging on DW-3.”

DW-3, or the third major Dockworkers office. 

DW-1 was their headquarters in the Docks.

DW-2 was the docks themselves that the Dockworkers managed. 

And DW-3 was a collection of lands, warehouses, and other buildings that the Dockworkers Union owned but rented out to companies using the Docks for their logistics. 

Armsmaster glanced to his left, and his helmet’s HUD changed to show the map of Brockton Bay and the locations of each patrolling PRT squadron and Protectorate pairs. Miss Militia and Dauntless were in the Trainyards. Velocity and Triumph was in West Suburbia. Squad 1 was in Downtown. Squad 2 was in Downtown. Squad 3 was in the Beaches. Squad 4 was in Inland Commerical. Squad 5 was in the Docks. He was also in the Docks himself, though at the edge of it. 

“I’m heading to location. Request Squad 5 to support me, console.”

“Understood,” Battery replied from the console. “I can send Assault over if you need additional help.”

Assault was … in Downtown. He was the closest Protectorate hero other than him.

“Put him on standby.”

“Acknowledged.”

If it was just eighteen regular gangsters, then Colin wouldn’t need help. But he also knew that the situation can change at any given time, so having Assault on standby was prudent. 

Then he did something he would not have under normal or even special circumstances. If he did this anywhere else with anyone else, then he might have been fired the day after once the debriefing came to an end. After all, this looked like he was consorting with villains on the surface. 

But this was something that was a part of Brockton Bay life. 

He called Kaiser. 

The basic ringtone rang just twice before he picked up.

“Armsmaster. What is it?” the groggy leader of the Empire Eighty-Eight asked. Colin must have woken him up. Well, the man better suck it up.

“Eighteen E88 members are moving on Dockworkers.”

For a moment, there was silence. 

The groggy grumble disappeared. Colin wasn’t breathing either. 

“I will get my men ready. Anyone you catch is up to you to punish.” Left unsaid was that anyone that managed to return to the E88 would simply disappear for not following orders and risking everyone’s lives. 

Without any more words, Colin hung up on Kaiser and blasted forward on his motorcycle. 

Then he called the director. 

“What, Armsmaster?” Director Emily Piggot responded in a similarly groggy manner. 

“Rogue E88 members are moving on the Dockworkers.”

A similar silence took hold. 

“Shit,” the director hissed out. “Initiate Protocol DC3.”

“Understood.” Then he hung up. 

Protocol DC3, or Protocol Dockworker Containment 3, was the mid-level protocol where violence and Dockworkers got involved together with no way to stop the violence from reaching the Dockworkers. The main goal of the protocol was simple: safeguard the Dockworkers and prevent any casualties. 

And if casualties did occur among the Dockworkers, then they would move to Protocol DC2: suppress the news. No mention of the Dockworkers casualties must reach the general populace, because once it reached a certain threshold, Event Blind would occur. 

And should Even Blind occur, then Protocol DC1 would be called upon.

Call the Triumvirate and hope to God you aren’t eaten before they get here.

After the first Event Blind, WATCHDOG had been assigned to figure out the problem. 

“MY EYES!”

“I can’t see anything.”

“I’m drowning! Someone help! I can’t see! I can’t breathe!”

“Gliding from one emotion to another… seeing doesn’t always mean looking…”

“Stop him before she kills herself!” 

It would come to be known as Event Blind-2. 

Colin still couldn’t get the image of Holmes, one of the first Ward graduates, dying as his eyeballs melted out of their sockets. 

After the entirety of WATCHDOG nearly shattered as all Thinkers involved in the investigation were found in various levels of psychosis, mental shattering, coma, unexplained orofacial bleeding, and permanent amnesia in one particularly unfortunate case, PRT and the Protectorate was able to piece together what little they managed to learn from the “sacrifice” of the WATCHDOG Thinkers. 

The more people there were in the Dockworkers Union, the greater the chance of Event Blind firing. 

The less people there were in the Dockworkers Union, the greater the chance of Event Blind firing.

Removing the existence of the Dockworkers Union increased the chance of Event Blind firing. 

Helping the Dockworkers Union increased the chance of Event Blind firing. 

An economic downturn of Brockton Bay would increase the chance of Event Blind firing. 

An economic upturn would increase the chance of Event Blind firing. 

An increase in villainous activity would increase the chance of Event Blind firing. 

A decrease in villainous activity would increase the chance of Event Blind firing. 

So on.

So forth.

Ad infinitum. 

Faced with the chance of a repeatable event that already caused nearly a thousand deaths (and sure to cause more if left alone), PRT was ordered to put Brockton Bay under “status quo.” Villainous Thinkers from other cities and states - arrested, charged, and tried guilty - would be given harsher sentences and “expedited” to WATCHDOG holding facilities where they would be used as “sacrifices” to garner more information about Event Blind. This was called Project Blindfold.

Most of the world did not know about this streamlined infrastructure. Worse, Project Blindfold yielded little success.

So Brockton Bay served as a living containment zone. Unspoken, undeclared, and unwanted. 

It was a place that would never get better, and to be better was to condemn a hundred thousand souls to suffer hell.

Armsmaster hated being in Brockton Bay. 

-VB-

Taylor looked up.

Mr. Shade was gone. Again.

She turned to look out of her room’s window and saw the flashing red and blue of the police cars as they sped off toward somewhere. 

She just knew that her uncle had to be some kind of a hero. He always left just before the police sirens rang out. 

She sighed. 

If only her uncle could talk. Or that anyone else other than her could see him.