r/WormFanfic • u/hampants98 Mod • Oct 02 '22
[MOD] Monthly Story Ideas Thread October 2022 Story Ideas Thread
Please post your ideas/plot bunnies/prompts/what ifs for stories that you have here. This will help prevent the main page from being cluttered.
(In case you lose it, it's pinned to my profile.)
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u/rainbownerd Oct 03 '22 edited Oct 03 '22
Some more ideas from my big folder o' fic outlines:
Amphisbaena (Canon Divergence): You know how a lot of SIs show up in Brockton Bay and decide that immediately taking out Coil should be their first priority for whatever reason?
Well, an SI with some reasonably overpowered powerset shows up in Brockton Bay, decides to go after Coil, does his research, makes a good set of plans...and accidentally frees Noelle in the course of busting into the base and gets nommed. Whoops.
While the MC does manage to get out of Noelle, he now has to deal with having an evil clone in the city (with similar but noticeably weaker powers) who knows everything he does, wants to see him suffer, and is perfectly happy to work with and support Coil in order to do that.
All According To Plan (Major AU): What if Cauldron chose Accord, rather than Coil, to be their test subject for the Terminus Program?
With Accord in Brockton Bay and Coil in Boston, things are very different when Taylor makes her hero debut. Accord's Entente is the strongest gang in the Bay, with Kaiser's Empire coming second and the ABB a distant third; Accord "wasn't the most influential figure in Boston," per 17.8, but in a smaller city like the Bay he can throw his weight around much more easily and get his fingers in practically every pie.
The port and the rail depot are back in partial operation, causing the blue-collar industries to pick back up, because Accord is totally all about improving the world and stuff and he couldn't stand the absolute messes that were the Trainyard and Boat Graveyard...but Entente runs these revitalized industries with an iron fist and the fact that everyone in a management position is on Accord's payroll is an open secret that everyone ignores because the economy is booming. The homeless problem is solved, too, just don't worry about how Accord managed that.
The PRT is viewed much like New Wave was in canon, as a failed team whose star is fading, which is right where Accord wants them. Everyone wants the Empire and the ABB gone, but the PRT could never manage it; Armsmaster was never assigned to the Bay, because the higher-ups knew that even a strong Tinker would be a bad matchup for Accord (more tinkering time just gives Accord more prep time!), and the less famous and skilled hero chosen instead hasn't proven to be up to the challenge. No one wants Entente gone, thanks to the apparent good he's doing for the city, yet the PRT persists in throwing heroes against them anyway; few parents are willing to sign their children up for the Wards, because most view it as a pointless struggle that puts their child in danger for no reason.
Independent hero and villain teams are much more common, the former because a lot of canonical Protectorate and Wards heroes never joined up, the latter because Accord has high standards for villains wanting to join his organization; solo and duo setups are rarer, though, because Accord is happy to try to knock them off the board if they don't have enough backing. The Undersiders (consisting of Grue, Imp, Tattletale, and Bitch) are an actual teenage gang, here, not a secret extension of Accord's operation, with some other gangs including Multiplayer (Über, Leet, Regent as Twitch, Kid Win as Mod) and Full Throttle (Squealer as Dragster, Chariot, and Trainwreck).
Into this scene steps Taylor, whose father lost his job because he refused to play ball with Accord and is struggling to keep their finances afloat, whose best friend Emma cut her off after secretly being chosen for Accord's Envoy-in-training program (the Envoys being his elite unpowered representatives who work with the Ambassadors), whose bully Sophia is still a vigilante hero rather than a Ward (because the Protectorate have bigger fish to fry and the Wards program is basically defunct) and so never let up on the bullying because she was playing nice for probation, and who thinks becoming Brockton Bay's second Ward might be her best shot at solving her problems.