Title: Denial
Author: Nara'la
Rating: T
Genre: humor/crack
Status: WIP
Length: 41k
Summary:When a butterfly flaps its wings in China, it can cause a hurricane in Mexico. So, what happens if a Lung flaps its wings, trips and knocks itself out in Brockton Bay, right at the feet of an unpowered Taylor Hebert? Well, apparently, it leads to everyone across the US believing she’s a Parahuman, no matter how much she tries to convince them otherwise.

An Alt-Power (if one can call no power alt-power) Taylor comedy – crack fic.
Link: SB

Summary is pretty accurate. Taylor has no powers but finds herself in situations where everyone around her believes she has amazing powers because powerful villains are defeated while she is around and through bad luck makes it look like she did it. Don't go in expecting something great but for a story to just take your mind of things and entertain you for a while, it does a pretty good job.

The gag of Taylor insisting she has no powers and people not at all believing it is not comedy genius or anything but it hasn't lost its shine to me for now either and I have been entertained from beginning to end. If you are in the right mood for light, harmless fun, this is worth giving a try. For someone looking for something more serious or grounded, this is not it.

A very positive 3/5

 

Been following this from the beginning and it has been enjoyable so far. Watching Taylor try to tell everyone that she doesn't have any powers has been a treat. The tone of the story has been somewhat serious, or I perceive it to be kind of serious, despite the crackish premise. Or maybe it is meant to be comedic but with a tone that can be interpreted as serious. I just wonder how much longer this can go, Taylor being an unpowered normal and winning, without it losing its humor.

3/5 so far. And if they can consistently keep this somewhat believable and finish the story it may deserve an upgrade.

 

This seems like it would be a really tricky story to write without inadvertently giving Taylor powers she doesn't possess. The Lung fight was believable. The Hookwolf & Rune fight was also believable. The Rig fight was stretching believably to its very edge. In my opinion, spending so much time on a Lung POV explaining his actions is what's starting to make my enthusiasm for this ebb slightly.

It was okay, but one of the main reasons I liked the previous two fights is Taylor's total panic in the first one and utter ineptitude and flailing around that saved her in the second. The Rig fight was a tad too much plot armor for my liking. That's my taste though.

The PHO interlude was pointless. Didn't like that, but then again I dislike 99.5% of PHO interludes anyway.

It's still an enjoyable read.

3/5 for now.

 

There's a certain amount of schadenfreude to be had in reading Taylor going from flailing to frothing on PHO with the other posters just talking over/around her denials.

The story as a whole is amusing so far, but it's a fine line to walk with a premise like this. The stage has been set at this stage though, so it'll be interesting to see where things go from here. I give it a 4/5 so far.

 

The Lung POV was really, really stupid. I mean goodness gracious that's held back in elementary school levels of dumb.

 

Latest chapter made up for the last two. Very good.

What I think I like most about this story is that most of what the heroes say in regards to Taylor being powered is fairly plausible given their knowledge of powers, especially Militia's latest contribution. It makes the reader question both sides and keeps the 'might she/might she not' aspect fresh.

 

Just read this last night, and I think this aspect of the fic is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. The story walks this line very well, and you do find yourself genuinely questioning if she has a power or not.

That kind of tension can't go on forever, though. If you try to draw it out too long, it'll almost certainly start to feel artificial, or at the very least, it'll kind of self-resolve by being a defacto power and it doesn't matter if it's "real" or not. It'll basically become exactly what Militia described - "instinctive combat thinker" and "wins fights in kooky ways because that's the premise of the fic but doesn't actually have powers" are essentially the same thing, when it comes right down to it.

It works pretty well as a crackfic, and I enjoyed reading it, but I'm very curious what the author has planned for this. Taylor embracing it and trying to take advantage of her rep somehow? Just brainstorming ways of morphing the central question into something that doesn't have an extremely short shelf life.

I'd say a strong 3/5 or maybe a 4/5, just on the basis of it hooking me pretty early and getting me invested in its central premise, but there's a lot of collapse potential here.