I try to think of "Search" moves like scenes in a movie -- what's not interesting is whether or not they find it, but what happens when they find it.  A good example in AW as it exists is the "Fucking Thieves" move from the Chopper, where a miss results in a plot thread to pull at.

When they ask to search, this seems like a fair opportunity for the MC to make a soft move:"You find it, BUT THERE'S A SLEEPING GUARD IN THE WAY," or something like that.  A dice roll is dramatic, but a skill check is less dramatic than some sort of situational pressure ("Will they find the key before the mutant lurker catches them?")

tl;dr: I'd think about what the dramatic outcomes of the failures of the perception/searching moves are.

EDIT: Or allow them to search but require them to make a dramatic move in order to search, like the "sleeping guard" example.

We've got a Faceless who's taken "NOT TO BE FUCKED WITH" as well as acquired a gang.  We also have a Chopper who has a small gang that he's upgraded to a medium gang.

Presumably, two small gangs attacking together would count as a medium gang, and two medium gangs would count as a large.  Do individuals who attack as gangs count as adding to the gang size increase?  Right now the math we're looking at is:

small gang (Faceless NTBFW) + small gang (Faceless' gang, the Harlots) + medium gang (Chopper's gang, the TenThousand Maniacs) = medium gang + medium gang = large gang

Is there any reason individuals who count as gangs shouldn't stack with the gang sizes they attack with?

So, from the 2e rules, p. 188:

Just to lay it right out: on a 7–9, the player’s choices are
(1) they do what you want, after a fight in which they beat the shit out of you but you make an example of one of them;
(2) they don’t do what you want, but you make an example of one of them and so they don’t beat the shit out of you;
(3) you don’t make an example of one of them, so they beat the shit out of you and don’t do what you want.

This helps clarify it a lot for me -- I think perhaps my group is still feeling the growing pains transitioning from DnD to AW, in which several narrative / story beats are laid out in one fell swoop.  I could imagine in a more traditional tabletop RPG, choosing number three would result in player protests of, "Wait, they just attack?  Don't I get to roll initiative to fight back?  I have this feat that protects me against..." and it's like, no, you chose number three, which entails getting your ass beat.

Sorry all, I'm still lost with the harder interpretations of MCs like Ebok and Daniel Wood --

If the Chopper chooses "You don't have to make an example out of one of them," they don't do what you want, and they fight back.  What is the incentive for picking this?  The whole reason the Chopper ended up in this situation is because he gave an order -- why wouldn't he want this followed? 

I'm still lost as to why you'd ever choose anything other than "They do what you want," on a 7-9.

We're a bit confused on how the 7-9 choices work with Pack Alpha.  Generally, when given a list of three from which you can pick one, I'm assuming that that means the other two options happen in the negative.  Here's how I'm reading the hypothetical scenarios:

• You choose, "They do what you want," and then your gang fights back and you must make an example of one of them.  This one seems pretty clear.
• You choose, "They don't fight back," but they don't do what you want?  Additionally, you must make an example of one of them?  Does this mean they shrug their shoulders and ignore you?  Subsequent action requires additional moves, like "Go Aggro?"
• You choose, "You don't have to make an example of one of them," but they fight back, and also don't do what you want?  What does this look like?

I'm confused about what the second two options look like in execution for both the MC and the Chopper.  Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

Our Brainer was just killed by our Battlebabe and is going to come back as a Faceless.  When the rules say that the player keeps, "her moves, her improvements," does that include the Brainer moves and her violation glove?  Or are In-Brain Puppet Strings and so on left behind as things "belonging to her old life"?