''ACX - WARPED!'' or ''Advanced Char eXperiment - WARPED!''
is a Fan Fic by DemonicAnomaly.
"Enter the life of nearly 17-year old Robert Fierro. He is your typical high-school sophomore loser, troubled with bullies and insincere girlfriends, as well as a dysfunctional family. He just wants a break from his life, and when a girl he thought liked him puts him aside for someone she thinks has a better sense of "adventure" he asks for that too. But soon things for him take a startling turn. He suddenly finds himself with everything he had asked for... And it turns out that it isn't exactly what he had in mind. He quickly finds himself in an unfamiliar world and an even more awkward situation. Soon, he's on the run from a terrorist organization that he's supposed to be fighting, and finding himself in near-death situations every time he turns around. Going back to his old life no longer appears to be an option and he's not quite himself anymore either..."
Well, at least that's how the Author describes it. Basically, it's an action-packed thriller with elements of speculative fiction, philosophy, and psychological horror. And Pokemon.
Tropes featured in ACX-WARPED include:
- Action Prologue: One centered on Phalanx. Who then dies just before the story begins for real.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Phoenix initially seems an example of this, but it's subverted as he was intentionally programmed to be ruthless and remorseless.
- Anti-Hero: Phoenix, Type 4, and Robert, Type 2 at first.
- Artificial Human: Phoenix, even though he's not a human.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Phalanx and Phoenix were originally designed to be this. Robert and Cassie play it straight later on.
- Bad Boss: Kamov is outwardly cruel and abusive toward his mooks.
- Callahan fits this when he lets Robert kill Kamov.
- Bio-Augmentation: Phalanx and Phoenix, as part of the ACX Project, and Cassie, as part of the CASX Project, the Eruassian Military's off-the-record safeguard attempt against the possibility of an ACX rogue.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Robert, after being fitted with a mind control device that directly accesses the Phoenix AI. Taken up to eleven as he proceeds to lay waste to both sides indiscriminately.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: On one side you have ENIGMA, which is willing to take over cities, destroy innocent people, and attempt to take over the world. On the other side you have the pragmatic Eruassian Military, the morally dubious Neutech, and a cruel anti-heroic super solider fused with a troubled teenager. No wonder Robert gets so depressed...
- Death by Origin Story: Phalanx's death in the prologue leads to the significance behind Phoenix, his replacement, later.
- Deconstruction Fic: Of self-insertion fics in general. Robert is far from prepared to take on ENIGMA, and ultimately goes through physical and emotional hell while still getting exactly what he wished for.
- Disney Death: Both Damian and Phalanx.
- Fun with Acronyms: The MAD system (or Maniac Attack Drive).
- Heroic BSoD: Robert when Callahan tells him the truth about Phoenix's origins.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Cassie, and later Robert; Damian and Raiden after the Vandenburg incident.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: Callahan's plan to use the Phoenix AI to pilot and control the legendary Zieragia.
- It Gets Easier: Robert, who also gradually begins to act more like Phoenix.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Downplayed. The Mooks aren't really terrible shots, our protagonists are really good at dodging. (Most of the bad guys are only carrying stun weapons, also).
- Laser Guided Tyke Bomb: Phoenix is a rare quasi-heroic example, raised primarily to destroy ENIGMA. Downplayed with Cassie, who has been trained to terminate Phoenix if he went rogue.
- Loophole Abuse: International law forbids human androids or clones. But they didn't say anything about Pokemon/"animal" androids...
- Made of Iron: Most of the main characters, but special mention has to go to Cassie, who survived being blown up along with the Vandenburg base. And then Phalanx survives ENIGMA dumping a reservoir's worth of water on him
- MacGuffin: The Illustrium Meteorite, which has some kind of reality warping power. (Space-Time dilation and kinetic energy conversion) Callahan fits Fenris with a special armor to harness that power.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted. Neutech quickly has a second watch made when Robert breaks the first one. Justified in the case of Phoenix, as the AI's original creator was killed by Kamov.
- Non-Action Guy: Damian. He's capable of fighting, but hasn't had special training or augmentations so he usually leaves the fighting to Robert or Raiden. And after his "death" he becomes mentally unhinged and confined.
- Older Is Better: Raiden, who is still fighting despite lacking genetic upgrades. And when Robert goes crazy, he's the one to snap him out of it.
- The Dragon: Kamov and later Fenris to the ENIGMA boss James Callahan.
- Shout-Out: Raiden and Naomi say hi. They both even have roles paralleling their namesakes- Temporarily replacing the hero and being the Mission Control respectively.
- Transformation Trinket: The watch. Its second version even has a piece of the meteorite built in.
- The Chessmaster: James Callahan, ENIGMA's leader, manages to pass Robert and Cassie off as terrorists, orders the destruction of the airport housing the NX-42 Proteus-Z, and anticipates Robert and Cassie's attempt to teleport into his base and disables Phoenix's AI program.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Robert, who can transform into Phoenix, thanks to their genetic fusion.
