Fanfic / A funny thing happened on the way to the bank

A funny thing happened on the way to the bank.

Wherein Taylor is somewhat more confident and perceptive, and Danny forced his family to watch old movies together.

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This fanwork offers examples of:

• Adaptational Wimp: The Endbringers are sufficiently weaker here, to the point that Behemoth was killed years ago.
  • That, or they're sandbagging even more than in canon.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • The Endbringers are called "Terrors" here.
  • Taylor decides to call herself "Cicada".
• Artistic License – Law: Tattletale's plan probably wouldn't work in real life.
• Atrocious Alias: Clockblocker calls Taylor "Lovebug" after she quotes a line from a story to distract Amy during the bank robbery.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Clockblocker should have thought twice about mocking the new villain.
    It occurred to Dennis, perhaps too late, that mocking someone you've never met who has a potentially *very* creepy power might not have been the brightest of ideas.
  • The only possible reason Bakuda would make a Marburg-Ebola bio-bomb. Suffice to say, everyone wants her head for this one. Everyone. And they mean that literally, as some of them say that the PRT is free to keep the rest of her.
• Due to the Dead: Armsmaster asks for, and Piggot seconds, a posthumous commendation for the PRT trooper who stopped Oni Lee from breaking Lung out.
• Epic Fail:
  • All of Coil's attempts at grabbing Dinah.
  • The ABB break out attempt. Oni Lee is killed, Bakuda is captured and Lung doesn't even get out of his cell.
• Face Doodling: How Taylor gets her preferred name "Cicada" across, as well as embarrassing Clockblocker as payback for the "Lovebug" name.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • The second attempt at kidnapping Dinah fails, because Coil didn't realise the entire family left for a formal dinner that evening.
  • Clockblocker apparently didn't notice or remember how many Undersiders there are.
  • It took Panacea some time to realise she was healing two Undersiders.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • That nail being Taylor being a bit better together mentally means she able to prevent Coil from using the bank job as a distraction to abduct Dinah.
    • Since Taylor catches Amy before she can text Victoria, the Undersiders never have to fight the Wards.
  • The Endbringers are also significantly less of a threat Behemoth having been dead for years.
• Genre Savvy: Taylor. As she points out, robbing a bank in broad daylight is an obvious distraction. But since the boss didn't specify that part...
• Gone Horribly Right: Taylor is able to disable the alarms ahead of time, preventing the heroes from noticing the bank robbery until it's done. Thus, it goes perfectly despite Amy's presence, ruining Coil's plan to use it to grab Dinah, and Coil now owes the Undersiders thousands, and he can't even complain because he never told them that it was a diversion.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The PRT trooper who tourned on the anti-teleport Tinkertech instead of taking cover. Thanks to him, the break out failed.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Alec's reaction to Taylor's description of what she wants to do to Clockblocker for the Atrocious Alias incident. Taylor gives him an "uncomfortably appreciative" look.
  Alec: That's vicious, cruel, and somewhat disturbing. I LIKE this version of you.
• In Medias Res: Chapter 6 opens with Piggot asking Armsmaster about events of previous night. Narration then jumps several times between the report and the actual events.
• Killed Off for Real: Oni Lee dies when a Tinkertech prevents him from teleporting out during his suicide bombing run.
• Large Ham: Downplayed when necessary but Cicada is a rather theatrical villain.
• Mistaken for Romance: Panacea mistakes Taylor's quoting a movie line praising the virtue of a girl who shares her name as a way of alerting her team that there's a Cape in the building as an attempt to hit on her.
• Mood Whiplash: Goes from the Undersiders pranking Clockblocker to getting ambushed by Bakuda and the ABB during her bombing run.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Discussed. Lisa tells Taylor that she can run with the Lovebug nickname as it will cause people to underestimate her.
• Refuge in Audacity: Tattletale's plan in chapter 7. When Armsmaster says they're under arrest, she agrees and proceeds to list, in detail, all their criminal activities starting with the bank robbery. And then she says that a) she already called her lawyer who's negotating with other government agencies on their behalf, and b) since Armsmaster is the person placing them under arrest (they were only transported for the quarantine) and he didn't read them their rights, nothing she said can be used in an investigation. They get away scot-free.
• Restrained Revenge: Taylor's payback to Clockblocker just amounts to spooking him, face-doodling and taking embarassing pictures to post on PHO, despite her initial desire to bloodily murder him for calling her "Lovebug".
• Secret-Keeper: Lisa knows that Taylor wants to become a hero, and she doesn't care.
• Shout-Out: The story's title is a play on A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Taylor quotes it semi-regularly.
• Slasher Smile: Taylor, when Brian tells her they can get her a fight with Clockblocker. He's rather disturbed by it.

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