Iron Wood
, is a Mass Effect/Worm crossover fanfic.
The titular character is an Endbringer Self-Insert who decides to work with humanity against the other Endbringers and Scion.
Iron Wood contains the following Tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Greg attends various Endbringer battles and even kills one without powers.
- Adaptational Heroism: Some characters end up being better people in the story than in canon.
- Emily Piggot doesn't develop a strong bitterness against parahumans here, as Iron Wood was able to defeat Nilbog and heal her.
- Tagg is not extremist, thanks to Woody being proven a trustworthy asset and not being exposed to Simurgh.
- Cauldron as a whole is more heroic.
- Affectionate Nickname: After accepting him, some people call Iron Wood by the nickname "Woody".
- After the End: Some chapters depict what life is like after Zion is finally defeated, long after Woody himself dies.
- Contessa is given an extended lifespan by Woody and continues to protect humanity from the shadows.
- Taylor goes on to marry Brian and starts a family in Brockton Bay.
- Panacea and Greg get together and start a family on Mars.
- Badass Normal: Greg has survived multiple fights with the Endbringers, and even kills one of them, before he gets his powers
- Colonized Solar System: Iron Wood help humanity in colonizing the other planets in their solar system. This helps create more living space and provides more raw materials for the war against the Endbringers.
- Combat Medic: Iron Wood is the only one who can go straight up against an Endbringer and is the greatest healer in the world.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Iron Wood's first battle with Behemoth goes this way, with Iron Wood on the receiving end. A PHO commenter seeing the battle compares it to a 10-year-old fighting a pro wrestler.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Played with. Ice's mother is the one who dislikes her daughter's relationship with Woody.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Several characters die either before it happens in canon or despite the fact they survive until the end in canon.
- Legend is the only member of the original Protectorate to die, while he is the Sole Survivor in canon.
- Death by a Thousand Cuts: Iron Wood's way of killing his Endbringer siblings involves growing specialised organisms in whatever cracks he can make in their bodies and drain their power bit by bit.
- Drugs Are Good: Woody creates drugs to stabilize the emotions of heroic parahumans.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The Undersiders all survive the end of the story, unlike in canon.
- End of an Age: The ultimate defeat of Zion and the Endbringers brought a new era of peace to humanity.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Panacea and Glory Girl think Skitter's Secret Identity is Emma Barnes and that Taylor is just one of the many people she's victimized with and without the mask.
- Freaky Is Cool: Ice is attracted to Iron Wood because she has an alien robot fetish.
- Healing Hands: Iron Wood is capable of healing hundreds of people at once, of both injuries and illnesses.
- Heel–Face Turn: Iron Wood is the only Endbringer to switch sides and is an invaluable ally.
- Heroic RRoD: Cauldron use drugs to temporarily amp Taylor's powers, giving her the ability to control all the prisoners in the prison on Pluto to fight Zion. She manages for a few days before collapsing.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Legend goes down distracting Zion and luring him away from Earth Bet.
- Woody sacrifices all but one year of his lifespan to power a shield that kept Scion away from Earth for a month so that their device can finish draining the Entity of its power.
- Hope Bringer: Iron Wood is able to bring hope to the bleak world of Earth Bet.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Ice is an already tall woman at around 7 feet, but as Woody is an Endbringer, she's still dwarfed by him in size.
- Humans Are Special: Iron Wood says this because of humanity's ability to get where they are without being uplifted like other species. He says that humanity's stronger ideals are what convinced him to defect, over the Endbringers' philosophy of Might Makes Right. Several others in the story, including Emily Piggot, think about how while the other Endbringers, while stronger, have to hide away in the ocean or beneath the earth, Iron Wood gets to live peacefully in civilisation with his wife and family.
- This later becomes more apparent in the epilogue stories, where every human has become a parahuman.
- Humanoid Abomination: Iron Wood resembles a massive humanoid metallic robot wearing a giant purple coat with a red lining, and who has a circular television set in place of a head.
- In Spite of a Nail: Some things still happen even with Iron Wood's presence.
- The Undersiders still end up existing.
- Jack Slash is still able to convince Scion to start killing everyone.
- Longevity Treatment: Iron Wood extends Contessa's lifespan for thousands of years as a thank you for killing Eden.
- The Medic: Iron Wood is the greatest healer in the world, capable of healing hundreds of people at the same time and curing any injury or illness, and when he was an Endbringer he was tasked with healing his siblings. It's telling that a common rallying statement for humanity is "We have their medic now and they don't!"
- Mook Maker: Iron Wood's incredible biokinesis is capable of creating creatures with various powers to fight for him. When he first arrives on Earth Bet in Seattle, he's described as being surrounded by a vast swarm of bizarre mutated animals that bow in respect to Mr. Rogers when he comes to speak with the newest Endbringer.
- Nice Guy: Fred Rogers, the nicest man in the world, is credited with convincing an Endbringer to switch sides.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: When Fred Rogers is requested for by name by the newest Endbringer, he walks into the meeting expecting to die. Instead, he has tea with the alien invader, and after a discussion about the nature of monsters, convinces the Endbringer to defect.
- The Paragon: Iron Wood. His example helps others develop more positive or outright heroic mindsets among the parahuman community.
- Point of Divergence: Iron Wood's presence has shaken up the canon.
- Hero is saved and Alexandria gets her eye back because they were taken to Woody as soon as possible.
- Sphere never goes mad and helps humanity in living on other planets.
- Panacea is not burdened with being the greatest healer in the world and has a healthier mindset.
- Sadist: Iron Wood explicitly notes to the parahumans fighting against the Endbringers that his brothers and sister are savaging humanity out of nothing other than cruel amusement.
- Shout-Out: Vista quotes Yuri Orlov when fighting clones made by Noelle.Vista: Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.
Panacea: How many times did you watch that movie?
Vista: 12 times... If I survive it's going to be 13. - Spared by the Adaptation: Several people get to live thanks to Iron Wood's presence.
- Hero is saved and Alexandria gets her eye regenerated.
- Eidolon survives the final battle.
- The Undersiders survive to the end of the story.
- Submissive Badass: Despite his incredible biokinesis, ability to create hordes of plant and animal minions, and inhuman strength as an Endbringer, Iron Wood willingly submits to the laws and orders of humanity and rarely if ever pushes back, all in order to fully gain their trust.
- Sympathy for the Devil: When Iron Wood finally manages to kill Behemoth, he drops to his knees and laments having to kill a brother, who even though he was the worst kind of brother and a murderer of millions, was still his brother.Iron Wood: I'm trying to think of one time, one moment where you were kind. One moment where you acted like the big brother that I deserved. I'm trying to think of one moment where you were not a colossal jerk, and I have nothing. It didn't have to be like this, if you had simply listened to me, if you had simply stopped your rampages I wouldn't have had to do this. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STOP!
- The War to End All Wars: The Endbringer War and the Seven Day War.
- A World Half Full: Unlike in canon Worm, there is actually hope in the world. On the other hand, the world has to fight 20 Endbringers.
- Wrong Assumption: When the Undersiders are captured, Lisa assumes that she is being given a deal because they think her power is too valuable. She realizes too late that it's actually Taylor's power that they need.
