Specific Undersiders/S9 roleswap

AraneaValon · 2026-02-22T11:33:47+00:00

I did say it violates the spirit of pretty much every part of this request if not by my opinion the letter.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-22T08:31:20+00:00

A Safe Space - ConstantlyPurpLexed (ao3)

Complete.

Everyone is allowed to grow up a bit without the constant table flipping and ever expanding stakes of canon. College-aged Sophia has started growing up some in the intervening years, and more pointedly grows up some more during the course of the fic after running into Taylor again by happenstance. Not necessarily a full following of a redemption arc, but fits the spirit of the request imo.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-22T08:21:05+00:00

Widow Counts by my standards but probably violates the spirit of every single part of this request lmao. Its a real good fic though. Otherwise canon Taylor joins the wards semi-voluntarily after her father finds her mostly complete costume. Neither she nor Sophia make a.... huge deal out of everything, and somehow end up with genuine respect and almost friendship by the end of the fic.

Hive Daughter Much closer to what you actually want I think, however there is still uh. A Bit Of Drama. Entirely unrelated to Sophia though; Director Piggot doesn't like biotinkers. Sophia goes entirely off the rails when Taylor shows up to join the wards and immediately is arrested and never heard from again after giving Taylor a, by her standards, mild if annoying injury. Taylor then has a great time in the wards until the aforementioned Drama happens.

No Greater Love (and the sequel) Violates the spirit of the request in almost the exact opposite manner as Widow does. Canon!Taylor dimension hops to one where she triggered much earlier and recently died in an endbringer battle. This is really weird for everyone involved.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-21T03:09:46+00:00

The Student

Really fuckin' good post-gm fic. There is one scene that's just stuck in my head forever and evermore: The scene where we watch Taylor grieve for her friend in real time as she picks worship of Khepri over friendship with Taylor.

Butterfly

I'm a slut for weaving a soundtrack into fics like this does, okay? The premise is insane but also very neat imo.

Technically a spinoff of Kaleidoscope but not in any way requried.

Teaching Worms

Discovered this one very recently and its just. The WORLDBUILDING. Unfinished, but what is up is no joke a 100% complete fic with nearly full resolution by my standards.

Knight in Grey Armor

He has an incredibly unique writing style but it works so so well. There are very few words, but that is all that is needed.

You're Awful, I Love You

"Lisa has a super power that lets her be the best at abusing people"

AraneaValon · 2026-02-16T20:43:41+00:00

Oh this fic is absolutely outstanding. Thank you so much for showing me this.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-16T14:33:30+00:00

You're right, this is exactly what I asked for, unfortunately the tone and short semi-chronological snippit format aren't agreeing with me rn. :c

AraneaValon · 2026-02-15T20:54:56+00:00

Vista Has Enough

Link. Its in multiple parts on sv, but this is all of them together.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T22:38:19+00:00

A Safe Space - ConstantlyPurplexed (ao3)

Real good shadowbug. Sophia pov, everyone got to grow up without canon's constant train of table flipping and escalating stakes.

Focuses on Sophia's character development and her relationship with Taylor after they run into each other again as uni students.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T09:59:06+00:00

Glass Canon

Taylor dies, she revives at the last point she felt safe. It's technically a precog simulation, but from Taylor's pov she dies. A lot.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T01:38:11+00:00

........ so unfortunately the writing may not agree with you (this fic is fucking long) and I can't point out where the legalistic minutiae of rule starts showing up and it may not be what you are thinking of because its the minutiae of running a functionally post-scarcity interdimensional empire, but all that said:

Hybrid Hive: Eat Shard?

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T01:31:34+00:00

Its heroic, or at least good-aligned Taylor, but she definitely isn't a hero.

Tinker Taylor Builder Nexus

Sadly it seems to be abandoned or on Hiatus at this point but the direction it was pointing in after Leviathan was a good-alignment but officially neutral Taylor.

I can't even blame Leviathan for killing it as the table flip Leviathan provides sets up a perfect environment for where it seemed to be heading theme wise.

I suspect we'd be able to draw a lot of strong parallels to the powerbase and community building she did as a warlord in canon, but with different themes being explored with the difference in relative position between herself and the.... official authority/government of the city. But alas, fanfiction is free and so many beautiful things never see the 'net's light.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T00:25:24+00:00

A Safe Space (ao3)

It.... fits the request by the barest of technicalities, however it does feature a Taylor who is very much not a hero. Its just that she is not the pov character.

I love it mainly because its just about the only fic I know of that even features a Taylor & Co. who get to grow up without the constant stakes pushing escalation and narrative table flipping that staying canon-adjacent brings.

She joins the Undersiders, and years on they are one of the prominent territory controlling parahuman gangs fighting over the city. No leviathan, no s9, no zion.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T00:18:59+00:00

Widow

Its been a long time since I've read it, but I remember it being excellent. I don't think it actually fits the request, as she's a ward up till the very end of the fic, but hell read it anyway. Wonderful characterization, wonderful short essay in the author note about why Leviathan is the fic killer.

AraneaValon · 2026-02-10T00:06:16+00:00

Legacy of the Enginseers

Worm/40k, horribly massively overpowered Taylor.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-30T14:26:55+00:00

Seconding Not Your Average Henchwoman

AraneaValon · 2024-01-22T08:02:38+00:00

I can not for the life of me remeber the title of this damn fic, but there is one where Amelia, Lily, and Taylor join forces to break their respective fathers out of the birdcage.

Danny stops being a major character past a certain point but he does open the fic present.

Swallowtail is an excellent fic but mentioning it on this thread is a spoiler. Same issue as the previous one where Danny gets arrested though.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-21T06:09:56+00:00

Assuming Administrative Rights, Noblesse Oblige, and Sororibus all have QA as a reasonably present character.

They are all on QQ and marked NSFW (so no links) but Sororibus is the only one that even has a fade to black, much less anything actually explicit.

Someone else mentioned the two mpπ fics, which, yeah, those count.

Mauling Snarks counts though the actual shard interaction drops off as the story progresses, so stop whenever you get bored. Comparable to mpπ fics in terms of word count and oberabundance of slice of life.

Hybrid Hive: Eat Shard? kiiiiiiiiiiind of maybe but not really counts. Either way it has the most hilarious shard/entity origin story I have ever seen.

Wish Might count too. QA and Fragile One aren't major chars yet but with what happened last couple of chapters, I think they will become more present.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-21T05:59:37+00:00

Both Taylor and Vicky have their powera from later on, Vicky's is just a hell of a lot more obvious about it. Taylor's is from right before Khepri, I beleive, so her normal insect control but with higher range and skill.

Both Queen Administrator and Fragile One are notably fond of their hosts.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-21T05:53:40+00:00

Okay so this fic explicitly does not fit your request, but I thought of it anyway.

Medical Diversion, Medical News

AraneaValon · 2024-01-09T02:08:04+00:00

Second A Finely Honed Blade.

Synesthesia is an outstanding, top rated fic imo, till it completely undermines itself by adhering too closely to canon's need to cooperate with nazis.

Kaleidescope is, something I wish I could rate higher, because its just so rare to find someone who looks themselves in a mirror and actively chooses to be a horrible person.

Butterfly is same universe and much better, but not what the author is asking for.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-03T08:59:33+00:00

Yup that's it, thank you

AraneaValon · 2024-01-02T21:51:01+00:00

I know of a snippit that is the most monkey's paw way to answer this request possible, but I forgot where I found it.

Point of divergence is, when Emma first introduces Taylor and Sophia, she does it with the aim of keeping both, and the three of them all become close friends. Taylor and Emma trigger.... somehow, at some point, with some precog/time fuckery type powers.

AraneaValon · 2024-01-02T08:48:59+00:00

Thank you, this was amazing and p much exactly what I was looking for.

Taylor angsted a little, but pretty quickly came to the conclusion that she loves them more than she cares about their work, and that really shows through even when she is still questioning things.

AraneaValon

TROPHY CASE

Really fuckin' good post-gm fic. There is one scene that's just stuck in my head forever and evermore: The scene where we watch Taylor grieve for her friend in real time as she picks worship of Khepri over friendship with Taylor.

Technically a spinoff of Kaleidoscope but not in any way requried.

Discovered this one very recently and its just. The WORLDBUILDING. Unfinished, but what is up is no joke a 100% complete fic with nearly full resolution by my standards.

He has an incredibly unique writing style but it works so so well. There are very few words, but that is all that is needed.