"The Core Timeline is an amalgamation of chaos. The so-called real world has been overlapped with the realms of movies, comic books, anime, and more. Fanfictions have literally come to life.
In the aftermath of the world-wide strike of terror of the group called CHIMERA, the people of Hildebran must rebuild. For life must go on..."
It's All Over But The Building—A C-Line Story (Part One
, Part Two) is a Slice of Life Continuation Fic of Coreline Operation Endgame, showcasing a moment in time for a rebuilding town (Hildebran, North Carolina) in the aftermath of CHIMERA.
This story is part of the Coreline Shared Universe.
Currently under construction. Please add tropes as you see them!
This Coreline story contains examples of the following:
- Back from the Brink: The whole world, at the moment that the story happens.
- Determinator: The POV character, Hopkins, believes that rebuilding the world and living well in spite of the horrors CHIMERA (and people like them) have/will commit is a better revenge than giving in to the usual Roaring Rampage of Revenge. In essence, all of humanity demonstrating that they are this.
- Elsewhere Fic: Nothing big and world-changing... just some random bunch of fix-its and townspeople on the middle of nowhere working on getting their town back on its feet.
- Epigraph: Fittingly enough, the story starts with the lyrics for "The Show Must Go On", by Queen.
- Made of Explodium: The fact that many Fallout-verse gadgets are this (and nuclear as well) gets a Lampshade Hanging (and is the source of a minor Freak Out before Gearloose explains that he made some modifications to make the device more stable).
- Mobile-Suit Human: Little Helper gets a modified Protectron body to use as his personal Mini-Mecha. Overkilled with the revelation that the pilot of a Construction 'Mech that appears at one point is a teeny-tiny Doozer.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Gyro Gearloose shows again that he is one of these, having rigged (with some help) a solar power farm for Hildebrand, plus custom-modified a Protectron Mini-Mecha for Lil' Helper to use and makes a makeshift plow for his mobile lab.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Hopkins' musings at the end of the story, highlighting how people from Coreline are special because they are The Determinator (and they need to be).
- Shout-Out:
- Some pieces of Fallout gadgetry and other elements appear (including the aforementioned Protectron Mini-Mecha (an explicit wink to the "Automatron" DLC from the fourth game) and a trading caravan from Henry River using Brahmin appears).
- Hopkins doesn't recalls the Protectron is called that, but he is quick to identify that it looks like Robbie The Robot from Forbidden Planet.
- The aforementioned Queen song on the epigraph.
- The caravan comes from nearby Henry River, which was the filming site for District 12 on the first The Hunger Games film. Hopkins has long since stopped finding weird that the Real Life Ghost Town became an actual town again, and came Back from the Brink that Panem (and the Vanishing) had put it in.
- The title comes from "It's All Over But The Crying" (by the Ink Spots), which is part of the soundtrack of various Fallout games (and features prominently in the opening of the first and trailers for the fourth game).
- The Show Must Go On: The use of this Trope to the entire world is explored by the story.
