History Fanfic / EarningHerStripes

* MoralMyopia: Sophia angrily accuses Alan Barnes of not teaching Emma that one shouldn't betray friends -- exactly the same thing she caused by essentially brainwashing Emma into betraying Taylor.

* LeaderWannabe: Sophia claims to be The Real Thing's leader due to her experience as a vigilante, but quickly proves unsuited to the task and Emma and Madison vote Emma in as the new leader, [[spoiler:and later ask Taylor to take the position). Emma even gets reminded of the [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire story she read]] that said "Any man who says I am the king is no king" when Sophia gets pissed at Madison saying that she thought that Emma was the leader already.

** When Flechette and two of her colleagues transfer in from Boston, Armsmaster has them test their powers against a good steel sample. Since good steel specifically resists dimensional shenanigans, it thwarts them all; even Flechette's power (which is used by the ''Entities'' to fight each other) can neither cut it nor empower it.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: To demonstrate that she's stronger than she looks, Taylor tests her power against Madison's "good steel". All previous testing has indicated that "good steel" is indestructible; Armsmaster's nanothorns break when trying to cut it, and even Sophia's intangible state can't get through it. However, Taylor's power basically tells physics to go and sit in the corner. It's difficult for her to bend good steel, taking orders of magnitude more force than [[spoiler:ripping her entire school off its foundations and lifting it into the air]], but she can do it, and it can't penetrate her force field. (She does speculate, however, that if she extended her field over "good steel", it would become unbreakable even to her.)
--> '''Emma:''' I wouldn't have thought that was possible.\\

Can also be found on Website/SpaceBattlesDotCom ([[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/earning-her-stripes-worm-au-fanfic.815267 here]]), Sandbox/SufficientVelocityDotCom ([[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/earning-her-stripes-worm-au-fanfic.60317/ here]]), and Questionable Questing ([[https://forum.questionablequesting.com/threads/earning-her-stripes-worm-au-fanfic.11145/ here]]).

** Kaiser [[spoiler:had Victor go out as him several times in a public place with people like the Mayor, at the same time as Kaiser publicly committing crimes, in order to provide an alibi to "prove" that Max Anders isn't Kaiser.]]

* ShoutOut: Powers in a test tube, uses a "frisbee shield", is physically perfect. Emma has become ComicBook/CaptainAmerica

* TemptingFate: While watching over the Empire's op to capture Blockade, Rune thinks that the Empire will demonstrate that "Those who played stupid games win [[TitleDrop stupid prizes]]." [[spoiler: She doesn't realize that it's the Empire that "played stupid games" by trying to track Blockade, and they are about to learn what their "stupid prizes" are.]]

* AccidentalTruth: Coil, as Thomas Calvert, tries to get the PRT to investigate The Real Thing by claiming they are responsible for the destruction of Winslow, unaware that its pretty close to the truth.

* ImplausibleDeniability: [[spoiler:Max Anders tries to claim he's not Kaiser, even though he was caught wearing his armor and Piggot has enough proof to nail him with a warrant for an MRI, which will ''definitely'' prove he's a Parahuman.]]

* MasqueradingAsTheUnseen: The Empire doesn't know who Blockade is, but they've narrowed down the area where Blockade's PoweredArmor seems to be stored, so they stake it out and watch for anyone who might be going to activate it. A man in a hoodie, carrying a toolbox, definitely fits the bill. [[spoiler:It's actually Taylor, using her force field to increase her apparent bulk, and of course when Alabaster tries to ambush her, his gun does absolutely nothing as she chases after him.]]
** [[spoiler:In order to provide an alibi for himself, Kaiser had Victor go out as him several times while he was in a public place with people like the Mayor.]]

** Coil has used a throwaway timeline to get Sophia to tell him who The Real Thing members are, and is already planning to use that knowledge to blackmail The Real Thing, [[spoiler:when Rune accidentally kills him in the "safe" timeline during her fight with Blockade, forcing him in the throwaway timeline, where he's promptly foamed and arrested]].

** The Real Thing vs Empire 88, Part 2. [[spoiler:Firebird destroys Victor in combat, Blockade captures Rune when she tries to run away, and Monochrome lets Alabaster take her to the Empire's headquarters, allowing The Real Thing to capture the Empire's remaining Capes in one go.]]

* CreateYourOwnVillain: The Trio's plan consists of them literally turning Taylor into a supervillain so they can "defeat" her, get the credit for it, and have her put away.

* ForWantOfANail: The point of divergence [[spoiler:happened years before the start of the story, when William Manton's daughter did not have a bad reaction to the vial he stole for her]]. As a result, [[spoiler:he never had the motivation to become the Siberian]], resulting in a number of differences from the canon timeline:
** Hero is still alive. [[spoiler:As a result, Cauldron is more benevolent in their work, and haven't been doing things like the Parahuman Feudalism experiment they run on Brockton Bay.]]
*** After Ellisburg went totally pear-shaped, Hero helped turn the city into slag.
** Legend broke off from the Protectorate for reasons unknown to the general public.
** [[spoiler:Without the Siberian's protection,]] Jack Slash died in 2005 to [[spoiler:Riley's father]] with a shotgun, and the Slaughterhouse Nine has been going downhill ever since, nowhere near as feared as the canon version.
** The PRT ENE office has more resources in men, support and material. Among other things, Purity, Night, and Fog were arrested a couple of years before, greatly reducing the gang's ability to project force.

* ManOfKryptonite: Victory's power allows him to take non-Parahuman skills from someone and add them to his own skills. [[spoiler:Firebird's fighting skills come directly from her power, meaning Victor can't steal them, and her InstantExpert power allows her to identify the weaknesses of Victor's fighting skills, letting her [[CurbStompBattle destroy him in half a minute]].]]

* PedestrianCrushesCar: Taylor inadvertently does this multiple times, starting with Uber and Leet fleeing the police straight through the park she's in, which is how she realises that she has powers. The second time, she manages to shield her dad and have him break the car.

* ScrewThisIAmOuttaHere:

** Similarly, [[spoiler:Rune flies as fast as she can when Blockade flies to meet her.]]