Sometimes I Hate the Life I Made
is a fanfic written by Emilie Hardie. It's an Alternative Universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Skye is Tony Stark's daughter, and set during Age of Ultron. For all that, it very much revolves around Skye and Ultron, with Tony only making brief appearances so far (though Word of God says that he will be more involved).
The fic is the first in a planned series of six books (originially three) titled Give Me A New Religion. The fics are apparently:
- Sometimes I Hate The Life I Made - main story finished with only the epilogue still to go as of September 2015 and updated weekly
- Part Of Me I Can't Get Back
- Before We Say Our Goodbyes
- Stir Up The Beast Inside
- A Ghost With No Soul
- Peace In Our Time
So far, the author has been very active in the comments, so there is a considerable amount of Word of God clarifying various points. For that and the Epileptic Trees / Wild Mass Guessing on some points, the comments are worth a read too.
Sometimes I Hate the Life I Made provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Skye. She holds her own in Chapter 2, but really gets to show her stuff in chapters 9 and 10.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Skye deliberately uses this trope. Not only does she fall into it fair and square, so does Ultron, a fact she uses to bond with him.
- Badass Adorable: Hawkeye's narration points out that Skye is pretty sweet and adorable looking. She proceeds to wipe the floor with him.
- Berserk Button: Comparing Skye and Tony is a bad idea. Just ask Clint.
- Big Bad: Thanos appears as though he's being set up to be this for the series as a whole. Loki might also qualify, depending on his intentions.
- Big Little Sister: Skye is twenty-seven years older than Ultron and so much shorter than him. He even call her 'little sister'.
- Brother–Sister Team: Skye and Ultron are a force to keep in mind. Wanda and Pietro, like in canon, too.
- Callback: Once again, Skye is The Mole. She even seems to be sympathizing with Ultron, much as she began to do with Shield.
- Chekhov's Gun: Skye's ability to sense the Infinity Stones are probably gonna have a huge part in future fics.
-
Word of God says Ward is up with something. The reader have no way to find what, but there is something going on.
-
- Commonality Connection: Skye and Pietro are both sort of working with Ultron, both dislike Tony Stark and have a similar sense of humor. They have the potential to be very good friends or
something more since, as of chapter 10, they have a standing date for after Ultron has been defeated. - Chronic Hero Syndrome: Steve. Confirmed by Word of God, Steve suffers from the affliction of being Steve. Symptoms include: unquenchable belief in that basic goodness of most people and inability to walk away from a fight.
- Crazy-Prepared: Played with. While in Seoul, Skye and Pietro discuss the Maximoffs leaving Ultron. They don't end up needing it but Skye makes sure they have money and fake IDs so that they can not only run from Ultron but stay uncaught.
- The Dragon: Skye acts like this for Ultron.
- The Dreaded: Thanos at least once various characters start to find out about his plans to unite the Infinity Stones.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ultron very clearly loves Skye and Ward needs to learn to be more respectful in speaking to her.
- Evil Wears Black: Skye wears a black combat uniform during her time as 'Quake'. She even points out that she looks like a mob boss in a crime movie.
- Fake Defector: Skye pretends to have gone Dark Side so she can help to defeat Ultron.
- Foreshadowing: Skye appears to have a connection to the Infinity Gauntlet to the point where Loki calls her "the key to the Infinity Stones".
- Greater-Scope Villain: Thanos, as per Canon but pretty much spelled out at the end of chapter 13.
- Guile Hero: Skye, who is trying to stop Ultron not by constantly attacking him but learning what he's up to so his plan can be throughly dismantled.
- Hated by All: Nobody likes Hydra. No one. This also applies to Ward.
- Honorary Uncle: Rhodey to Skye.
- Hypocrite: Ward is utterly pissed after find out Skye's father's identity.
- Irony: Ultron thinks the twins were moles all along after they left. Skye is nervous.
- Steve thinks Ultron is manipulating Skye. Ultron is the only one of the three 'villains' to NOT have a secret agenda.
- The Mole: Skye again. Once again, she's starting to like the person she's betraying.
- Moral Myopia: Mind control gives Skye the creeps, but she has no problem hacking Jarvis. She doesn't even realise that Ultron compliments her for a good brainwashing in their first meeting.
- Mysterious Backer: A mysterious man has hired the Winter Soldier to protect Skye. Word of God has confirmed it's Loki. Chapter 8 suggests that Loki might have his own Mysterious Backer.
- Myth Arc: Thanos and the Infinity Stones, which look as though they're going to be dragging Skye in.
- As of the end of the first fic, Skye has officially been dragged into the hunt for the Infinity Stones.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: sounds like there's going to be a lot of repairs to do in Seoul after Clint pushed Skye's Berserk Button.
- Noodle Incident: Loki apparently owes Skye a favor. How this came about has yet to be explained, though its entirely possible that Loki was lying to the Winter Soldier when he said that.
- While still a Noodle Incident, the revelation that Loki time travelled indicates that Skye hasn't yet done what earns the favor owed.
- Non-Idle Rich: Skye. Given that she's a Stark its probably genetic.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Ward tries to invoke this trope with Skye, as they are on the 'Dark Side' now. She doesn't buy it.
- Number Two: Skye is this to Ultron in the villain group.
- One-Woman Army: Skye has taken down Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and Steve Rogers at various times, each of whom are, or come close to, this trope themselves.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Skye will not be invited back to Seoul. She's also the only person in the universe to have killed an Avenger, even if Vision was still new.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Coulson, as evidenced by the fact that the first thing Skye does when she decides to help stop Ultron is call him to get his input.
- Secret Identity: Played with for Skye. Some characters know she's Tony's daughter, some know that she is/was SHIELD, some think she's the villain and some know that she's The Mole. They all seem to be starting to come together, though.
- Secretly Wealthy: Skye is presumably loaded, given that she's a Stark. None of the SHIELD agents are aware of this.
- Title Drop: Avoided and Played with.Sometimes, Skye really didn’t like her life, even though a lot of the things that gave her grief were the products of her own choices.
- Unreliable Narrator: All the points of view to some extent but it can be seen in the Avengers judging Skye and the Winter Soldier not knowing that the person hiring him is Loki.
- Wham Line: In-Universe. Steve and Ward seriously didn't expect this:Skye: Yes, Tony Stark is my Dad. Get over it.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Tony was drunk when he named his daughter, and wanted to make her surname the least interesting part about her. The other Avengers consider naming her Skyenet Nemesis Stark to be grounds for murder in and of itself.
- Working with the Ex: Hello, Ward.
