A Brane of Extraordinary Women

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A Multiverse Fanfic setting initially created by Diane Castle, but since transformed into a Shared Universe in the wake of a groundswell of Recursive Fanfiction, first written for The Teraverse before spilling out into the other 'verses touched on by the setting.

The Brane, as it is called, first appeared in Castle's story The League of Extraordinary Women (published between November 2011 and April 2012). In it, Hermione Granger summons Samantha Carter, Selina Kyle, Jaime Sommers, Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenberg, and Alex Mack from their home universes to help face the invasion of her version of Earth by an army of demons led by a demon princess named D'Lazza.

The Brane's home page can be found on Twisting the Hellmouth.

Timelines for the various Brane stories are here.

A chart listing most of the known Alex Macks of the Brane Multiverse can be found here on DeviantArt.

Stories

As of Janurary 2022, stories set in the "Brane" include:

• The League of Extraordinary Women by DianeCastle
• The Secret Return of Alex Mack by DianeCastle
  • And a very large number of additional stories set specifically in the universe of The Secret Return of Alex Mack (commonly known as The Teraverse, which has its own page).
• Cross Purposes by DianeCastle
• Stunt Double by batzulger -- SG1Verse
• The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack by DianeCastle
• Places the Portal Didn't Send Alexa by Zeviz
• Crack'd Mirror by batzulger -- BionicVerse
• Glamour Girl by batzulger -- DresdenVerse
• Astria Porta: Chronicles of the AP Teams by Letomo -- BionicVerse
• Telephoto Snapshots by Letomo and others
• It's A Steal by batzulger -- DCVerse
• Striker by batzulger -- BionicVerse
• The Secret Sarcophagus of Alexandra Mack by Zeviz -- SG1Verse
• Striker-What Rinkin didn't know by fpb -- BionicVerse
• Striker-a Different POV by Rich -- BionicVerse
• The Secret Sarcophagus of Alexandra Mack by Zeviz -- SG1Verse
• The Fringe Files by JoshuAB
• Cross Purposes 2 by DianeCastle
• Extraction by batzulger -- SG1Verse
• STORMBURST #4: Surface Tension by CaptainBoulanger -- DCVerse
• Hit-Wizard by batzulger -- HPVerse
• The Wizarding World and Some Scoobies by Greywizard
• Infiltrators by batzulger -- SG1Verse
• The Librarians & the 13th Warehouse by JoshuAB
• Upgrade by batzulger -- BionicVerse
• Silver and Steel by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Stand and Wait by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• London Holiday by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• The Secret Survey of Alexandra Mack by Zeviz -- SG1Verse
• Operation Kinsey Kaput by Zeviz -- SG1Verse
• Spring Steel by batzulger -- SteelVerse
• Contracted by batzulger -- BuffyVerse
• Full Courts Press by batzulger -- BuffyVerse
• Entities Lament by JCarlHenderson
• Master Class by batzulger -- DCVerse
• Passing The Torch by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Alex Mack and Too Many Agents by Zeviz -- BionicVerse
• I Spy With My Little Bionic Eye by Manchester -- BionicVerse
• My Secret Destiny by JoshuAB
• Killer Party by batzulger -- WickVerse
• Day of the Dumpster Fire by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Family Gathering by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Die Hard, Extreme Sports Edition by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Buffy Koroshi-yo by batzulger -- WickVerse
• Job Insecurity by EllenBrand -- SteelVerse
• Someone To Watch Over Me by Manchester
• Ultra Branes: Ultra*Dial - U Dial A Hero by JoshuAB
• Ultra Branes: Today's Target, Tomorrow's Ally by JoshuAB
• Ultra Branes Side Story: Evil Gods, Oh My! by JoshuAB
• Ultra Branes Side Story: The Sorcerer of Avalon by JoshuAB
• Aly Mack And Too Many Kidnappers by Zeviz
• The Secret Similacrum of Alex Mack by Zeviz
• Cross Purposes 3 by DianeCastle
• Introspection by batzulger -- Bionicverse
• Ultra Branes: SG Teens by JoshuAB
• How do you Baptize an Extraterrestrial? by CaptainBoulanger
• Emerald by batzulger -- WickVerse

Tropes used in A Brane of Extraordinary Women include:

• Alternate Universe: A collection of them, in fact.
  • Something seems to be using portals to gather up the various versions of Alex Mack from the universes that contributed to The League of Extraordinary Women (and anyone near them) at the beginning of The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished/Bullet-Proof Fashion Plate: Originally demonstrated by Terawatt in The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack (and envied by some of the alternate Alexes). Eventually Stormburst (the Alexandra Mack of the DC universe) manages to master this to the point that the villains she fights notice.
• Conversational Troping: In The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack, Harry Dresden describes a tactic used by Terawatt and Stormburst as "Summon Bigger Fish", and actually makes a comment in his narration about explanations for the "trope-deficient".
• Create Your Own Villain: The Secret Collocation of Alex Mack ends with the unexpected and unsettling implication that the Danielle Atron of the Dresdenverse, against whom the original members of the League and their Alexes fought, became the demon princess D'Lazza, whom they were originally united to fight.
• Crossover: In addition to the entire setting itself, most if not all of the individual worlds include crossover elements. Outside of The Teraverse, which is a massive Mega Crossover, most worlds seem to have counterparts to the characters from original core worlds from League -- in any Brane 'verse you are likely to have (or have had) an Alex Mack, a Selina Kyle, a Hermione Granger, a Buffy (or Liz, or Elizabeth) Summers, a Willow Rosenberg and a Sam Carter, along with most of the people associated with them. (See In Spite of a Nail, below.) They're also likely to have some form of Harry Dresden, although Dresdens are far more mutable and there's no guarantee he (or she) will be immediately recognizable as such. In addition, the Brane!Buffyverse is also home to the godlike witches and warlocks of Bewitched.
• Die Hard on an X: The Steelverse story Die Hard, Extreme Sports Edition makes it clear from its very title that it's an instance of this trope.
• God Guise: Alexandra Mack of the Stargate SG-1 universe has to do this several times with the help of a friendly Tok'ra.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite widely varying histories (and even different physical laws), the universes in the Brane all have remarkable parallels -- starting with Alex Mack herself. (See Crossover, above.) This is true to such a degree that the members of the League seek out the local counterparts to their teammates when they get home, and in Collocation trade extensive lists of "people of interest":

Rashid grimly said, “Alessandro Armata.” “That greasy bald bastard?” Ebenezar cursed. Rashid nodded unhappily. “You thought he was up to no good. He probably is. We have knowledge that in other universes, there's an analogue who is a ruthless supervillain or ruthless industrialist villain.” Alexa cut in, “Lex Luthor! Alee said he's one of the biggest supervillains in her universe!” She glanced over at Rashid. “Did I get the name right?” Rashid nodded gravely. “And not just that universe. Every one of our interdimensional Alexas has an analogue with a name like 'Alexander' and a surname that means 'army' or 'army of the people'. Which seems... insane.”

• Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex: An expectation that this trope would apply to the trope namer is the reason a villain in the DC Universe dismisses the possibility that Superman and Lois Lane have a physical relationship.
• Maximum Fun Chamber: A Slayer training camp in the Brane!Buffyverse is known as "O'Neill Funtime Vacationland".
• The Multiverse
• Mundane Utility: In chapter 117 of Cross Purposes 2, the Young Justice team of the DC Universe gets roped into helping rebuild Jack O'Neill's cabin, and they use their powers to make the job faster and easier.
• Plot Armor: Averted in STORMBURST #4: Surface Tension, when Stormburst sustains a minor injury... and then meets her dimension's version of one of the Teraverse heroes while seeking treatment.
• Recursive Fanfiction: Not only did the Brane expand by inspiring other authors to write within its setting, it itself is recursive fic, as the version of Selina "Catwoman" Kyle it uses is not the canon version direct from the pages of Batman comics, but the version who appears in the Cat Tales fanfic series by Chris Dee.
• Roof Hopping: Aly Mack of the Bionicverse can do this if the local architecture cooperates, and uses it to get away from some unpleasantness in chapter 65 of Cross Purposes 2.
• Stop Worshipping Me!: Alexandra Mack of the SG-1 verse has inadvertantly acquired a following among the Jaffa as the goddess "Alexandra the Great of the Tau'ri". She finds she has to emphasize that she is not a goddess and should not be worshiped every time she meets new Jaffa who revere her.
• Transferable Memory: In the Steelverse the identity of James Bond (and presumably the other "00" agents) has been possessed by several generations of agents with the help of a device which imprints previous Bonds' memories upon a volunteer to be the next Bond.