There is only one Dewdrop-enhanced soldier still alive: Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, code name Echo Three. The deadliest combatant on the planet.
The Second American Civil War is a Dark Fic Alternate Universe Fic Phineas and Ferb fanfic trilogy by Foobar137.
The Second American Civil War is coming to an end - the Central faction has conquered its east-coast rivals, Dixie and Columbia, and has the last major faction, Southwest, on the ropes. All factions except Southwest had reinstated slavery as a punishment for treason, with the primary source of slaves being captured enemy soldiers.
Southwest Sergeant Isabella Garcia-Shapiro (code name Echo Three) is the last survivor of Project Dewdrop, a top-secret project to create biomechanically-enhanced Supersoldiers that were used in targeted assassinations. After purging all records of Project Dewdrop from Southwest's computer records, she is captured by Central forces and sold as a slave.
Phineas Flynn and his brother Ferb Fletcher are military researchers for the Central government; their most-effective weapon so far has been the tumbler bomb, a bomb that can 'tumble' through dimensions to bypass armor. Sent near the front to see if he could retrieve any information from the computer Isabella had wiped and that had then been hit with a tumbler bomb, Phineas sees the effects of the tumbler bomb for the first time. After getting drunk trying to forget, he stumbles into a slave auction, where he thinks he recognizes Isabella. He purchases her to assuage his guilty conscience - at least he can protect this one from the horrors of slavery.
Returning to Danville, they find that their lives have been even more intertwined than they'd thought, as Phineas is assigned to find the last survivor of Project Dewdrop, the assassin who'd killed his father, unaware that she's sleeping in his bed.
The second and third stories continue the fight from Canada, and then travel back into America as Phineas and Isabella, along with their friends, attempt to bring the truth about the civil war to light, bring down the corrupt Central regime, and free the slaves.
The stories are available at FFN and AO3:
Tropes found in Second American Civil War include:
- Accidental Public Confession: Holly records Archer and Abercrombie talking about their roles in the Shatter Day bombings, and leaks the recording to La Résistance.
- Agony Beam: Dewdrop implants contain a system to cause agony in their users, referred to as 'The Agonizer'. Phineas removes it in the upgrade to Project Obelisk.
- Alternate Universe Fic: Very much so. The differences from our timeline begin with Shatter Day, the beginning of the Civil War, in 2005.
- Anachronistic Orphanage: Isabella ends up in one after her mother is killed in a bombing. Justified in that the normal foster care system broke down due to nationwide bombings and the start of the civil war.
- Artificial Limb: Adyson lost a leg to an IED, and has a basic prosthetic replacement.
- Assassin Outclassin':
- Sierra Six (Sophie) is led into a trap with intent to capture her. Isabella has to activate the Liquidator to kill her.
- Major Martin tries to assassinate Colonel Gilbert, only to fail because the base's chief of security is (unbeknownst to her) standing behind her. He attempts to wrestle the gun away from her, unsuccessfully, giving Gilbert time to retrieve his own weapon and shoot her dead.
- Best Served Cold: Ferb's plans for Echo Three when "he" is caught start to fall into this category.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Combined with Mercy Kill in backstory. Echo One (Tyfani) committed suicide rather than let the Self-Destruct Mechanism in her implants be used on her, giving her a quick death rather than suffocating from the destruction of her lungs.
- Big Bad: General Archer for the first two stories; President Sherman for the third.
- Big Eater: Dewdrop implants cause increased energy usage, so supersoldiers need to eat a lot to make up for it.
- Break the Cutie: Ginger suffers from severe PTSD after being Made a Slave.
- Call-Back: When Ferb betrays Archer, Archer tells him he'll regret it. When Ferb is recaptured, the first thing Archer says is, "I told you you'd regret leaving."
- Chandler's Law:
- Ferb and General Archer both burst into Phineas's apartment with guns after Ferb figures out Isabella's identity.
- Soldiers attack the hospital Isabella was taken to in an attempt to abduct her, Phineas, and Ferb.
- Soldiers burst into the safehouse where Colin, Isabella, and Irving are hiding.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The tools Isabella grabs while planning for her escape attempt, including the tumbler core.
- Phineas disabling the self-destruct in Isabella's implants as part of upgrading them.
- The Chew Toy: Mayor Abercrombie. He gets attacked by the ASF twice to liberate his slaves, a recording of him confessing to the Danville bombing is leaked, he gets Reassigned to Antarctica, his attempt to attack Isabella ends with his knee being shattered, and then when he spots Isabella again she knocks him down again. (And then, presumably, he is one of those who gets arrested for murder after the fall of the Council regime.)
- Child Soldiers: Dewdrop soldiers were drafted at the age of fifteen or sixteen.
- Code Name: Many.
- The biomechanical supersoldier implants were originally designed under Project Dewdrop. Central's attempt to recreate them is Project Sledgehammer, and Canada's recreation of them is Project Obelisk.
- Members of Project Dewdrop were referred to by codename, by group (India for infiltrators, Echo for hackers, and Sierra for snipers) and then number to identify them. Isabella was Echo Three.
- Members of the Council of Sanford refer to each other by codename over their secure phones. General Archer is Acid Test, Mayor Abercrombie is Jumping Jack, and General Sumner is Alpha Wolf.
- On Isabella and Colin's mission in Home of the Brave, Isabella is Oscar One and Colin is Oscar Two. Ferb and Phineas are Charlie One and Two, respectively.
- Colonel Badass: Colonel Gilbert, in Home of the Brave. Takes down a would-be assassin, then leads a military coup against the Council-led government.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A Dewdrop/Obelisk soldier against normal soldiers is pretty much always one of those. Isabella against Mayor Abercrombie is one despite her hands being cuffed behind her back.
- Dark Fic: Very much so, with large amounts of character death in backstory and slavery both in backstory and in the present.
- Death by Origin Story: Isabella's mother, Phineas and Ferb's father, and Vanessa's father were all killed in the backstory in ways that made Isabella who she was.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Twice in Nothing Civil About War - Phineas in the beginning, after seeing what the tumbler bomb did, and Ferb on the anniversary of Gretchen's death.
- Dye or Die: In Home of the Brave, Isabella bleaches and dyes her black hair to honey blonde, cuts it shorter, adds fake glasses, and uses makeup to lighten her skin while on the run from American forces.
- Dystopia Justifies the Means: The Council of Sanford feels that creating a world where they can own slaves freely is worth terrorist bombings that kill millions and a civil war that kills millions more.
- Extradimensional Shortcut: How the tumbler bomb works. On hitting something, it starts tumbling through alternate universes until it finds an opening on the far side of the barrier.
- False Flag Operation: The bombings were claimed by "Nathan Hale's Liberators", a terrorist group that the Council of Sanford used as a patsy. Military members of the Council who committed the bombings then showed up to help rescue survivors from the rubble.
- Fun with Acronyms: Ferb names his new stun gun the DIMMER: Dual Incapacitation Mode Manual Emission Railgun.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Many of the slaves at the Slave Owners' Dinner and Dance.
- Guilt-Induced Nightmare: Both Phineas and Isabella have these about things they did during the war, both prominently featuring the accusation, "You killed me!":
- Phineas dreams of zombies of those killed by the tumbler bomb.
- Isabella dreams of her lover, whose implants she had been forced to trigger the self-destruct on.
- Hollywood Hacking: Averted in Nothing Civil About War, but played straight in Glorious and Free and Home of the Brave. Isabella's hacking skills go from realistically looking for a weak nearby wifi password to being able to take over a secure military system.
- I Warned You: General Archer reminds General Sumner that he'd recommended executing Bailey instead of imprisoning him.
- Instant Sedation: The DIMMER gun, invented by Ferb. It combines a Tranquilizer Dart and electric shock in one combined shot that can knock out even a Dewdrop-enhanced soldier.
- Knee-capping: Isabella takes down Mayor Abercrombie by kicking him in the knee with her biomechanically-enhanced legs. Discussion later is that he's likely to never walk right again.
- La Résistance: The Anti-Slavery Front is actively working against the government, including supporting the Underground Railroad.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Isabella comments that "someone up there" must like seeing her in slave collars, as she goes to put one on as a disguise.
- Made a Slave: Isabella, along with Ginger in backstory.
- Meaningful Name: The Council of Sanford, named after the plaintiff in the Dred Scott decision.
- Mexico Called; They Want Texas Back: Downplayed; Mexico has retaken Los Angeles but gone no further than that.
- Mugging the Monster: Mayor Abercrombie plans to abuse Isabella, only to realize that the Restraining Bolt he thinks will contain her supersoldier implants has been neutralized. A Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
- The Napoleon: DRDC Director Blanchard in Glorious and Free is a short man who uses Punctuality Is for Peasants and has the visitor chairs in his office set to be too low to be really comfortable for taller people.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Ferb informs General Archer of Echo Three's identity before he goes over to confront Phineas and Isabella.
- When the ASF attacks her and Holly, Isabella could have gone along with them and been freed...but her immediate reflex was to defend herself and her friend. Lampshaded: her immediate response after she realizes is to complain that she's an idiot.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Mayor Abercrombie, not realizing how much of the Restraining Bolt in Isabella's collar is based on being able to broadcast a warning that she's using her implants, takes her into a Faraday cage where her palmtop computer is being stored. Then he tries to deliberately activate the Agony Beam in her implants, only to find that Phineas removed it, letting her know that she can take him out without chance of discovery.
- No-Sell: Isabella, when Abercrombie tries to activate the Agonizer.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Council of Sanford, a secret organization that plotted the civil war and triggered it with terrorist bombings, including nuking Washington DC.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: How Captain McNamara realized something was up with Major Martin; she was proud of her fancy new phone, but suddenly answered a cheap-looking, bulky flip phone and then ran out of the room. This gives him time to warn Colonel Gilbert, and lets him foil Martin's attempt to assassinate Gilbert.
- President Evil: Phil Sherman. He leads the winning slave-holding faction, and it later comes out that he was involved in the terrorist bombing of Cleveland that was part of what triggered the civil war.
- Punctuality Is for Peasants: DRDC Director Blanchard, in Glorious and Free, likes to make people wait to show that he can.
- Redemption Quest: Erik Bailey. Previously affiliated with the Council of Sanford, he had a Heel–Face Turn and decided to work against them.
- Roundhouse Kick: Isabella gives two in rapid succession to Mayor Abercrombie, one making him drop the whip and the second breaking his knee.
- Second American Civil War: Primary element of the backstory, but just finishing up as the story starts.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Dewdrop implants have a destruct mechanism that can be triggered remotely; as the implants are heavily involved in enhancing oxygen intake through the lungs, their destruction is inevitably fatal. It also triggers upon the death of the user to prevent enemies from studying it.
- Sex Slave: Ginger, in backstory, leaving her with severe PTSD. Many others in-setting have this happen to them as well.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: Isabella puts on Phineas's shirt to seduce him.
- Show Within a Show: Never seen, but AEGIS Undercover as described is a pastiche of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Ferb's DIMMER is a knockoff of the Goodnight Gun from the show, which is based on the Night-Night Gun in AOS.
- Shirtless Captives: Male slaves being auctioned just wear a pair of shorts.
- Slave Collar: Combined with Shock Collar and Tracking Device as instruments of legal slavery.
- Slave Liberation: One of the goals of the Anti-Slavery Front. Two of Mayor Abercrombie's slaves get liberated and smuggled across the border; the ASF tries to do the same with Isabella, but she quickly defends herself. (And then cursed herself as an idiot, because it would have solved her biggest problem.)
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Council of Sanford started the civil war so they could own slaves, and are (in the end) more vilified for the slaves than for starting the war.
- Spotting the Thread: Phineas figures out that Isabella is Echo Three by finding the records of one Dewdrop soldier and then finding others that match the template.
- Suddenly Significant City: Chicago is the Central capital, and becomes the US capital after the end of the war.
- Supersoldier: Isabella (and, later, Colin) get biomechanical implants that give them enhanced strength, enhanced speed, pain resistance, accelerated healing, and enhanced hearing, among other things.
- Sympathetic Slave Owner: Phineas. He didn't intend to buy a slave, and once he did, he wanted to keep her safe. He refuses to force her to have sex with him, and until she makes it extremely clear that she voluntarily consents, he considers any sexual contact with her to be forced.
- Taser Tag Weakness: The DIMMER is specifically designed to incapacitate Dewdrop-enhanced soldiers (and anyone else) by combining a taser-like shock (to neutralize the implants) and a knockout drug.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A villainous example. The Council of Sanford has two major factions, the Royals and the Patriots. The Royals provided the funding because they felt they were naturally superior to everyone else; the Patriots did the dirty work because they felt the country was being led astray. After seeing the excess of the Royals, many Patriots wonder if they really did the right thing.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Baljeet insists on being called Doctor Tjinder, although he accepts an abbreviation to "Doc", and later allows Holly to call him Baljeet.
- They Would Cut You Up: Isabella's fear if Central figures out who she is in Nothing Civil About War. She's not wrong; that's what Ferb is preparing for when Echo Three is captured.
- Titled After the Song:
- Glorious and Free comes from "O Canada", the Canadian national anthem.
- Home of the Brave comes from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the American national anthem.
- Trojan Ambulance: Attempted by Phineas and Isabella when fleeing in Nothing Civil About War, but the theft is reported while they're being stopped at a checkpoint.
- Underground Railroad: One exists to spirit slaves to Canada or Mexico, neither of which allows slavery. Phineas and Isabella stumble across a waystation for it in their escape.
- Underside Ride: Colin uses this in Home of the Brave, assisted by his Super-Soldier abilities. The stress of doing it causes problems with the enhancement of his arms.
- Undressing the Unconscious: After Holly, Isabella, Ferb, and Baljeet are (separately) captured by the Council, they all wake up wearing the knit outfit that is the standard wear for Council slaves.
- Villain Ball: The Central government has this at times. In particular, the Supreme Court ruling that re-collars Central soldiers who had been enslaved by Columbian and Dixie courts, devastating the morale of their military just as they're ramping up for another war.
- Wedding Finale: The end of Home of the Brave is the wedding of Isabella and Phineas.
- Wham Line: Phineas's discovery of Echo Three's true identity.His thoughts trailed off as the records came up, and he stared for a long moment at the screen, his brain refusing to accept what it said.
4 RECORDS FOUND
CARTER, SOPHIA EVANGELINE
DAVIS, ANTHONY WILSON
GARCIA-SHAPIRO, ISABELLA MIRIAM
HAMILTON, TIMOTHY ELIAS
No. - What Did I Do Last Night?: Phineas gets drunk to forget what he's seen the tumbler bomb do to people and ends up drunkenly buying a slave.
- With My Hands Tied: Isabella disables Mayor Abercrombie with her hands cuffed behind her back, and he never even lands a blow on her.
- You Killed My Father:
- Ferb and Candace both have problems with Isabella until her situation is explained to them. Vanessa is less than 100% thrilled until what happened to Tyfani, her father's assassin, is explained.
- Erik Bailey was both the person who had set off the bomb that killed Isabella's mother, and the person who had started the research project that she had been drafted into. By the time she gets a chance to kill him, she's somewhat forgiven him.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Phineas is not happy to be invited to the Slave-Owners' Dinner and Dance, and the Mayor's interest in Isabella makes it worse.
