History Fanfic / LegacyOfTheEnginseers

-->'''Miss Militia:''' She's still being difficult.
-->'''Armsmaster:''' Indeed. Any mention of Miss Herbert is enough to increase her stress and anger levels to an extent that may be untenable for long term function. Even more unfortunate, given our current situation, that avoiding the subject may not be possible.

* SimpleSolutionWontWork: After Taylor tests her Plasma Annihilator (showing at the same time she can fire it through her portals) someone at PHO asks if the PRT couldn't send something through the portal to neutralize the weapon. Someone else points out that (a) tracking the portals isn't easy and (b) even if they could, trying to send something to the other side runs a very high chance of meeting the full force of the Plasma Annihilator head-on.

* SimpleSolutionWontWork: After Taylor tests her Plasma Annihilator (showing at the same time she can fire it through her portals) someone at PHO asks if the PRT couldn't send something through the portal to neutralize the weapon. Someone else points out that (a)

*** Their plans for Taylor once captured (being forced into the Wards, with any rights she might have being massively curtailed, and her technology handed over to Armsmaster) do not help.

It can also be read [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/legacy-of-the-enginseers-worm-40k-crossover.1066532/threadmarks here]] on Website/SpaceBattlesDotCom.

* HurlIntoTheSun: Taylor's go-to method to destroy anything that ''really'' needs to be destroyed is to do this.

* KarmaHoudini: Downplayed with Piggot. While she managed to avoid being fired over her approach to Taylor, there's a new oversight committee that can review her actions, and even ''Armsmaster'' can tell that she's burned a lot of bridges over the debacle, and with numerous PRT employees working against her she's likely to lose her command before too long.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: Taylor tests her first Titan weapon against the tanker blocking the access to Brockton Bay's port and Ellisburg. The latter is razed down to the bedrock.

* ParentalNeglect: When Danny is told about Taylor's supposed crimes, he signs over his guardianship of her without much discussion, and chooses to reject a chance to recover it when the deal is broken.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Piggot makes it obvious to Sophia how much her screw up has cost the Protectorate and PRT, and promises to bring down the hammer on her.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Sophia, who never would have gotten away with what she was doing for as long as she was if Blackwell, her handler, and Coil weren't covering for her. When Piggot calls her out for not considering that someone might look more closely into what happened with Taylor and find out that Taylor was the ''victim'' and not the aggressor like the psychotic Ward claimed, even if the girl was caught or killed, due to Sophia's false testimony triggering one of the biggest and most damaging man-hunts the PRT is capable of, Sophia genuinely doesn't seem to think that she was in the wrong to bully Taylor like that, and tries to claim that she's the Bay's most effective Ward, Piggot countering by pointing out that her unprofessional conduct means that most of her collars get off, and even disregarding that Vista catches more than she does. The former Ward is then informed that she's going to have the book thrown at her for triggering countermeasures [[MakeAnExampleOfThem designed to make sure that no one short of the Nine will do what she claimed Taylor did]], and that she's going to be hung out to dry to make sure that no one else tries to manipulate them like she did.

** She kidnaps Bonesaw and all her spiderbots in the dead of the night, and kills her along with all her dead-man-trigger diseases she had prepared, with none of the Nine being the wiser.
** She sets up an incendiary bomb to destroy Murder Rat, exploding when the Nine are settling up the next night.
** Right after that, she kills Burnscar in front of the entire group with a Warp Spider drone.
** The next morning, she sends the Warp Spider again to distract Crawler so she can set him up for a Necron Lokhust Heavy Destroyer to kill.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: At the beginning of Chapter 8, Taylor complains about being in the middle of a tragedy... because she's run out of [[ASpotOfTea decent tea]].
* FrameUp: Sophia accuses Taylor of attacking her unprovoked, something that her classmates and the school officers corroborate triggering a manhunt. Then Taylor publishes the videos of what actually happened, the case collapses over itself, and the PRT now looks incredibly incompetent over the entire issue.

* NoKillLikeOverkill: Taylor tests her first Titan weapon against the tanker blocking the access to Brockton Bay's port and Ellisburg. The latter is destroyed down to the bedrock.
* NoSell: While it is not shown, Taylor states that the EMP bomb Velocity planned to put on her back wouldn't have even tickled her technology.

** Armsmaster realizes there's a mole when he realizes that the system he set up to detect Taylor's technology keeps sending messages to a third party.

** The scarab drones she sends against the remains of the ABB make very short work of them.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Coil was planning to do his usual shtick of sending mercenaries to capture Taylor and give her [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse an "offer" to work for him]]. He didn't expect Taylor to learn about his plan as soon as she did, much less that she would immediately go for a lethal option - ''before'' he could set up his SaveScumming power, meaning that his mercs experience their first apparent major loss, shaking their faith in him.

* FrameUp: Sophia accuses Taylor of attacking her unprovoked, something that her classmates and the school officers corroborate. Then Taylor publishes the videos of what actually happened, and the case collapses over itself.

* InspectorJavert: Piggot fully devolves into one by Chapter 7, obsessing over capturing Taylor to the point where even ''mentioning Taylor's name'' is enough to raise her stress levels. When Armsmaster delivers the news that he was able to arrest Lung with Taylor's help, Piggot cares more about the fact that Taylor got away again and barely seems to acknowledge that one of Brockton Bay's major gang leaders is now behind bars.

* MakeAnExampleOfThem: The reason the PRT was so heavy-handed in going after Taylor, to the point of having ''her father out her on TV'' and Piggot trying to force a draconian contract on her, is because the testimony of Sophia and her cronies made her out to be a villain deliberately targeting Sophia for being a Ward while she was in her secret identity (not helped by Sophia's bullying campaign and Winslow's covering for her giving them a completely inaccurate picture of Taylor's personality), and the measures were supposed to make sure that ''no one'' save the Nine would try something else like that again. When Taylor publishes the evidence showing that it was ''Sophia'' who attacked ''her'', and as a civilian, the PRT loses a lot of face as a result. Piggot then informs Sophia that she'll be hung out to dry, itself an example of this to make sure that no one ''else'' tries to manipulate the PRT's measures to their benefit like she did.
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Taylor kills Bakuda swiftly and painlessly with a combination of drugs, since she knows that there's no way that Bakuda will stay with the PRT if they capture her. Given that the alternative was to kill her by shooting her, it was a better option.]]

** Plus, her skills and development run counter to the usual Tinker behavior, which makes it harder for the Protectorate to understand how she works.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Averted with Piggot. Her only issue with Taylor's case is that the PRT was left with egg on the face when Taylor published evidence of her innocence, but Piggot's still intent on forcing her into the Wards, no matter what she has to say about it.

** Armsmaster realizes there's a mole when he realizes that the system he set up to detect Taylor's technology keeps sending message to a third party.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Despite her heavy dislike of the Protectorate, Taylor sends Armsmaster and Dragon plans for a better Endbringer notification system and armbands [[spoiler:and later on, she sends Armsmaster all the info she's hacked out of Coil's servers]].
* VillainousBreakdown: After Taylor cuts off Bakuda's connection to her shard, Bakuda throws a huge tantrum
* WhatTheHellHero: Taylor calls out the Protectorate heroes that try to arrest her for not even bothering to listen to her side of the story before labeling her a villain and destroying any chance she might have had of a normal life.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: When Taylor learns that Lung is going to target the Undersiders, nobody else knows that she does. She could have perfectly stayed in Mars, and no one would have known. Hell, she also heavily dislikes Tattletale because she helped Coil in his attempts to capture her. And yet, she sends her drones to stop Lung, because she doesn't want people to die if she had a chance to stop it.

** When Taylor realizes a PeepingTom reported where she was, she warns the guy's target and erases every video he still has of the woman.

** Taylor loses two of her temporary refuges because of minor things. The first because she used the house's [=WiFi=] to post a message in PHO and gets tracked by Dragon, and the second because a PeepingTom accidentally saw one of her drones and reported it to Oni Lee.

* InspectorJavert: Piggot fully devolves into one by Chapter 7, obsessing over capturing Taylor to the point where even ''mentioning Taylor's name'' is enough to raise her stress levels. When Armsmaster delivers the news that he was able to capture Lung with Taylor's help, Piggot cares more about the fact that Taylor got away again and barely seems to acknowledge that one of Brockton Bay's major gang leaders is now behind bars.

* InspectorJavert: By Chapter 7, Piggot has fully devolved into one, fixating on capturing Taylor to the point where even ''mentioning Taylor's name'' is enough to raise her stress levels. It's gotten so bad that even Armsmaster thinks that Piggot has become obsessed.

* InspectorJavert: By Chapter 7, Piggot has fully devolved into one, fixating on capturing Taylor to the point where even ''mentioning Taylor's name'' is enough to raise her stress levels. Even Armsmaster thinks that Piggot is obsessed to her own detriment.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Coil was planning to do his usual shtick of sending mercenaries to capture Taylor and give her [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse an "offer" to work for him]]. He didn't expect Taylor to learn about his plan as soon as she did, much less that she would immediately go for a lethal option - ''before'' he could set up his SaveScumming power.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Taylor kills Bakuda swiftly and painlessly with a combination of drugs. Given that the alternative was to kill her by shooting her, it was a better option.]]

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Taylor kills Bakuda swiftly and painlessly with a combination of drugs.]]

* AbusiveParents: Of the neglectful kind. When Danny is told about Taylor's supposed crimes, he signs over his guardianship of her without much discussion, and chooses to reject a chance to recover it when the deal is broken.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Taylor notes this of Tattletale, who keeps complaining about being forced to work for Coil, yet has no problem in helping Coil force Taylor to work for him.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Despite her heavy dislike of the Protectorate, Taylor sends Armsmaster and Dragon plans for a better Endbringer notification system and armbands [[spoiler:and later on she sends Armsmaster all the info she's hacked out of Coil's servers]].

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Oni Lee dies fighting Taylor, rather than [[spoiler:being captured by the Slaughterhouse Nine and used in Bonesaw's experiments]].

* OutsideContextProblem: Taylor's technology makes her a powerhouse even when she only has the basics to defend herself, due to how incredibly advanced they are in comparison to current technology.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Taylor loses a safe house twice because of minor things. The first because she used the house's [=WiFi=] to post a message in PHO, which Dragon tracks, and the second because a PeepingTom accidentally saw one of her drones and reported it to Oni Lee.

* WhatAnIdiot: InUniverse, Taylor's opinion of the Undersiders' robbery of the Ruby Dreams Casino. Checking on Tattletale's plans, she realizes the girl didn't even discover that the ABB was controlling it.

** She uses a drone to destroy Victor's assault rifle, knocking him out of his invincibility status and allowing Velocity to arrest him.

* OutOfContextProblem: As Armsmaster notes, Taylor's technology is way too complete to be the work of someone who has been a Tinker only for a few weeks.