History Fanfic / HereComesTheNewBoss

* DramaticIrony: A variant can be seen between the main story and sidestory. Butcher XV's war against the gangs are more brutal than in canon, but the level of violence is largely consistent. As a result, the PRT and Protectorate decide to treat her as a particularly powerful vigilante and decide to leave her be for the most part. In the main story, Elpis's efforts to be heroic and build a reputation [[spoiler:backfire as the one moment of extreme violence against Noelle's clones spooks the heroes into treating her as a ticking time bomb]].

** Taylor is hopeful that if she can build up enough reputation and public goodwill, then when her secret eventually comes out, the PRT might hesitate to come down hard on her. [[spoiler:It works, to an extent; the Chief Director is impressed by her contributions to stopping Noelle, and orders everyone involved to keep everything secret, including the Butcher powers.]]

Each inheritor of the Butcher mantle, in addition to the powers of their predecessors, also gets to have all the previous Butchers' consciousnesses living in their head. If the inheritor is a duly promoted member of the Teeth, the voices will work together. If not, as was the case with Butcher III, the voices will reject their host and drive them mad until the Teeth can reclaim their property. Or, at least, that's how it has always worked before.

After accidentally killing the Butcher during her [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening trigger event]], Taylor Hebert becomes the Butcher XV. But rather than go insane like all the Butchers before her, thanks to her minion master power, Taylor can control the voices. And no one knows she is the Butcher...

There is also a spinoff story called ''[[WhatIf Hostile Takeover]]'' where Taylor teleports out of the locker and is immediately outed.

Published on Website/SpaceBattlesDotCom ([[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/here-comes-the-new-boss-nothing-like-the-old-boss-worm-au.853195/ here]]) and Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn ([[https://archiveofourown.org/series/2688862 here]]).

* PressGanged: The reason that [[spoiler:Accord broke Coil out]]? They [[YouOweMe owe him money]], and he is expecting a solid return on his investment, one way or another.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Bearskin complains that he'd rather watch paint dry than spectate on Taylor's breakfast small talk with her dad. Firecracker warns him that if Taylor can spend all night practising silat, then chances are that she ''would'' actually watch paint dry if she found a good reason, so he shouldn't mention it.
--> "''If someone told her watching paint would make her 'a better hero',''" I could feel the quote marks in there, "''I bet she'd be there staring at it.''"\\

* TastesBetterThanItLooks: Taylor's enhanced senses alert her to an awful smell before she sees the culprit -- durian fruits for sale. Needler insists on having one; apparently it's been quite a long time, because Nemean has no idea what it is and objects. Once Taylor tries it, however, she's still licking her lips an hour later and considers buying another one.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: [[spoiler:L33t rigs up a device that's meant to cure Noelle. Instead, it sends her on a rampage, starting by absorbing Trickster, Ballistic, and Faultline, then adding Leet and Glory Girl and nearly Panacea, by which time the PRT have become aware of her...in the end, Noelle is actually cured, but only after creating dozens of clones that the heroes have to fight their way through, and Taylor herself is nearly lost.]]