From Hated To Hero
is a fanfiction of Worm by Distraktion. Also on AO3
Emma Barnes tries to get rid of Greg by setting him up to be attacked by Empire 88. This backfires when Greg Triggers after being backhanded by Hookwolf, and gains powers that require him to be near capes. After trying to go it alone and failing many times, he starts trying to become someone better.
In his quest to become a Cape, Greg learns how to be a decent person, gets therapy, makes friends, repairs his relationship with his family, and grows out of being a nerdy Pariah. He eventually realizes that people don't hate him as much as he thought, understands how to be a good friend, and makes his dream of being a hero come true.
The fic is complete.
This fanfic contains examples of the following:
- Adaptational Badass: The story begins with Greg having a Trigger Event. He can copy and combine the powers of nearby Capes.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- Terry Hess, Sophia's older brother, is a Merchant drug dealer who is a toxic influence on Shadow Stalker, and by extension Emma.
- Emma may have been an Alpha Bitch in canon, but she attempts to kill off Greg twice, once with the Empire and once with her Girl Posse. Furthermore, she pretends to be nice to Taylor again before attempting the locker incident.
- Sophia's mom is a neglectful and abusive parent who flat-out disowns her following the locker incident.
- The Veder family as a whole (Greg excluded) seems to be connected to Empire 88, attending an awards banquet for his brother George, who works for Medhall and is dating Cricket. But it's revealed in their interludes that George is undercover at Medhall for Watchdog, Cricket is pretending to date him in exchange for life in prison instead of the Birdcage, and his parents are helping after their background check on Cricket caught the PRT's eye.
- Ascended Extra: "Gun Guy" starts as a random ABB lieutenant, until he gets blown up, suffers amnesia, Triggers as a Tinker, and rescues Bakuda and Uber & Leet to do their own thing.
- The Atoner: Armsmaster and Shadow Stalker after incidents involving Greg.
- Badass in Distress: Greg is often this.
- Bedlam House: Sophia is committed to the Parahuman Asylum in lieu of the Birdcage, to receive psychiatric help, following her Heel–Face Turn.
- Cannot Spit It Out: After his first attempt to do so, Greg keeps having panic attacks when he tries to come out as Parahuman to his family.
- Cassandra Truth: Greg realizes that Emma is playing nice to Taylor again just so she can twist the knife during the Locker Incident. Danny Hebert (who Greg voices his concerns to) just sees Taylor and Emma reconnecting.
- The Cavalry: Greg attempts to be this during the Locker Incident, only to get beaten to the floor. Taylor and Sophia of all people become this for Greg.
- Character Development:
- Greg goes from a nerdy pariah who keeps digging himself deeper in social interactions, to a self-competent hero.
- "Gun Guy" goes from a random ABB Mook to an independent Tinker and a character in his own right.
- Sophia goes from a low-empathy Social Darwinist to pulling a Heel–Face Turn on Taylor's behalf.
- After nearly dying "just to get viewers," Uber and Leet realize they could be doing more with their lives.
- Deadly Prank: Emma attempting this on Greg causes him to Trigger.
- For Want Of A Nail: Emma siccing the Empire on Greg causes his Trigger Event, which sends out several ripples:
- Armsmaster has a Heel Realization about being an insecure Glory Hound after realizing he ignored a fresh Trigger.
- Sophia realizes her predator/prey philosophy is bunk and her brother is a toxic influence, before pulling a Heel–Face Turn during the locker incident.
- An ABB Warehouse burns down in a fight with Lung, which in turn convinces Bakuda to avoid Lung, and she instead teams up with Uber and Leet, all of them nearly dying in a fight and making an Assault-style deal to get a fresh start on life.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sophia during the locker incident.
- Heel Realization: Greg inspires both Sophia and Armsmaster to recognize their failings- being a social darwinist Jerk Jock and an insecure Glory Hound, respectively- and try to become better people.
- Identity Amnesia: "Gun Guy", a random ABB lieutenant working with Bakuda, suffers from this after getting blown up thanks to Greg.
- I Have No Son!: Sophia is disowned by her mom following the locker incident.
- The Nicknamer: Greg gives nicknames like "Knife Guy" (a random E88 goon), "Gun Guy" (ABB lieutenant) and "Bellows" (Power-tripping shouty Security Guard) to random Mooks. Played for drama later when "Gun Guy" suffers amnesia and only remembers the nickname Greg gave him.
- Oh, Crap!: This is what causes Greg's Trigger Event- Hookwolf knocks him aside while fleeing the Protectorate and Greg ends up in bags of leaky trash, he feels thrown-out pasta get dumped on him (which he mistook for his own intestines), realizes the Protectorate have left him to "die," and works himself up into a hysteria until he Triggers.
- Greg subsequently has panic attacks whenever he tries to come out as a Cape to his family. It takes the intervention of Panacea and two PRT agents to get him over it.
- Sophia when the Locker Incident began.
- Greg when "Gun Guy" sees through his Paper-Thin Disguise.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Greg hastily applies some red and green clothes to infiltrate an ABB warehouse. Lung and "Bellows" fall for it, but "Gun Guy" and two PRT agents don't.
- Power Copying: Greg can copy and combine the powers of any Capes he interacts with. When he sleeps (or gets knocked out), they vanish.
- Shout-Out: The PRT officials in charge of power testing are Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank.
- PRT Agents Kalpin and Hobson, an imaginative blond goofball and an orange-bearded man who's good with kids, are adult versions of Calvin and Hobbes, and are constantly running into Greg and giving him advice or helping out.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Barnes family eventually absconds from Brockton because they had nothing tying them to the city anymore.
