Joshua Cochran was not a cop. Not anymore. Now he was just a guy trying to get his family to safety.
When the citizens of Chicago had woken up six months ago, they’d woken up to a different world. Chicago had gone from a city smack dab in the middle of fertile farmland and perched on the edge of the greatest lake in the world…
To a living nightmare.
Huge metal robots appeared surrounding the city, standing there like statues on the farms, with nightmarish monsters weavin...
2023-05-11 16:24:46 +0000 UTC
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‘Mom’ was such a loaded word for Heather.
Heather’s mom either ran away from Dad when she was young…or Dad killed her. Neither would be surprising. He violently refused to talk about her, and so the concept of ‘mom’ had grown to become a nebulous void that was as terrifying as death itself.
Heather glanced away from Nat and Perry driving off in the beat-up sedan to go fight crime, idly holding her belly.
So why did she choose to keep the baby?
Aside from bl...
2023-05-09 14:56:10 +0000 UTC
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Soul Anchor (Difficulty: Expert)
Ingredients: Bone of Saint Morath, Death Crystal, Spirit Forge, Acid of Nathelon Fly. Scripture of a Mendevian Ascetic.
In the interest of not leaving everything to chance, Perry was researching ways to keep little Stacy Watt-Powers (A.K.A. Professor Replica) from simply bailing on her life and moving to new body.
Powder the bone of Saint Morath...
2023-05-05 16:41:46 +0000 UTC
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Stacy Watt-Powers held a sign over her head, that read ‘I’m Human Too’, shouting at the top of her lungs, her voice disappearing into the rest of the crowd gathered around Nexus, largely composed of Androids protesting their treatment by Franklin city. There were a few men and women who were married to one, hopefully that buffer of meat humans would be enough to stop the ‘superheroes’ at Nexus from disappearing them into a shallow ditch.
Was i...
2023-05-02 15:15:59 +0000 UTC
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After the end of ISM 2 you may have noticed the gap this last week. I've been brainstorming and writing down plot ideas and a rough outline of how book 3's gonna go.
Sat-Sunday is gonna be refining those ideas into a more cohesive roadmap and poking holes in it wherever I can, writing down fun plot points, figuring out what works, etc.
So by Monday, I'll have text document i can refer to that will give me a strong idea of how to start book 3, where it will go, and how it'll lead...
2023-04-29 15:41:28 +0000 UTC
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So I have a couple of rough ideas for the A and B plot of book 3, and I'm going to spend the next few days roughing out what I want to happen. Let's talk about them, and start the process of refining.
I'm going to forget a bunch of plot threads, please remind me of any major plots I forgot along the way, or just shout out suggestions for what you'd like to see. I'll lurk in the comments threads for a couple days while I formulate a game plan.
What to do...
2023-04-26 21:44:33 +0000 UTC
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The blood in his veins turned to sludge, and finally, Perry felt his heart stop. He could no longer afford to wait.
PPP.EXE
(0/6)
A shiny black nodule leapt out of Perry’s mummified finger and was intercepted by one of Professor replica’s robots, standing guard over its creator.
Paradox’s Pernicious Prison was Perry’s attempt at capitalizing on the strengths of a half dozen different spells, combining them in ...
2023-04-25 18:51:24 +0000 UTC
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I gotta say, for defenses made circa 1987, these are pretty good, Perry thought as the massive dome came alive.
The shiny steel ‘ribs’ that adorned the ceiling twitched to life and some of them began raining down replicators on his head, while others split apart into dozens of small blasters around a singular red eye Perry’s armor was peppered with thousands of bullets and lasers, barely registering to his damage sensors.
Where’s the stuff that made Solaris af...
2023-04-21 17:10:17 +0000 UTC
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***Perry***
Perry and Abun’zaul both put their foot on the coffee table and shoved, each causing the other to stumble backwards.
“You gotta stop doing copying me, dude,” Abun’zaul said, the light from the windows behind him casting his face in shadow, bringing out his vibrant green eyes. Perry’s eyes.
Perry had been about to say that, but he didn’t deign to complain about it.
“I mean, by definition, you’re the one copying me-ack!” Perry squawked as Ab...
2023-04-19 18:50:34 +0000 UTC
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So it occurred to me that the end of book 2 of ISM is rapidly approaching, and it's been long enough since I mentioned my plans that there's a lot of people that haven't got word.
So, at some point, I'm contractually obligated to write and release book 4 of Wake of the Ravager.
I'd like to get that done by the end of 2023, so I have a clear plate for other projects.
The issue that I'm still waffling on is whether to drop everything and smash out book 4 ASAP, or make it a s...
2023-04-18 14:23:25 +0000 UTC
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Perry took a deep breath. Chicago was preparation for this. He’d shored up his weaknesses and grown stronger. He should, in theory, be able to puncture a hole right through to wherever they were storing the other Digitizer and nab it.
Perry glanced down at his palm, covered in vantablack power-armor, looking like a man-shaped hole in reality. I’m not even trying to be edgy, it’s just how it turned out. I’m a happy-go-lucky boy with good grades, friends, a girlfriend and fami...
2023-04-17 21:06:37 +0000 UTC
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***Heather***
Under the dim glow of the LED lights in Natalie’s walls, Heather’s eyes twitched back and forth rapidly, her body still, breath deep and slow.
Inside her mind was a little different.
Heather sat at a crude wooden table that looked like it would give her splinters just from looking at it, nursing a bowl of soup made from a goose named Becky.
She hadn’t had a normal dream since the ritual, instead consulting with her wraith ‘vassals’ every night w...
2023-04-15 17:54:50 +0000 UTC
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Perry opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on the side of Natalie’s bedstand.
3:00 AM
Boosting his Body seemed to have cut back the amount of sleep he needed, which was a pity. Sleep was nice. Despite going to bed…rather sore only a few hours before, Perry felt like he’d been sleeping a full day, relaxed and refreshed…only a large part of him was still sore.
Besides, I’ve got things to do tonight, and there’s hardly a better time...
2023-04-12 15:39:57 +0000 UTC
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Natalie led him to her room in the motel. It had taken a distinctly…Nat air since she’d become a permanent resident. The so-so paneling had been replaced with something sleek and modern, while LED’s provided pulsing lighting across the walls.
The floor was soft carpet, and the bed was bigger than he remembered installing when he first designed it, covered in cute pink sheets.
Come to think of it, why is she still living in a one-room motel? Girl’s literally a millionai...
2023-04-10 15:15:09 +0000 UTC
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I'll consider doing it if it has a supermajority. It's totally up my alley, but concerns me that i might be irritating some of my constituents.
Whaddya think?
2023-04-07 17:35:24 +0000 UTC
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“Pass? PASS!?” Gramma’s voice rose as her face turned red. “By all the gods I wish I’d kept a tighter rein on you as a child. It was the weakness of love that stayed my hand and allowed your mother to raise you like a suburban drone! Woe to the house of Zauberer, you’ve all the ambition of one, as well!”
Throb, Throb. Perry was tired. And his head hurt.
“Gramma, it-“
“Do you think power is benevolently handed down to those most worthy of it? NO! ...
2023-04-07 17:16:55 +0000 UTC
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Scrape….scrape.
Perry lunged to his feet in the dim light of the Spirit Forge, his violent motion bringing Heather to wakefulness. The shapeshifter morphed to her feet like the T-1000, looking just as panicked as Perry.
Natalie was totally out of it.
‘what is it?’ Heather signed at him.
Perry pointed to his ear.
They paused.
Scrape…scrape…
Perry and Heather crouched low, and Perry signalled for the armor to guard Nat, quiet...
2023-04-04 15:48:37 +0000 UTC
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***Day 21 of The Steel Tide***
Perry’s Body gave him superhuman endurance, but that just meant he got assigned longer hours. He was just as dead-tired and prone to wandering thoughts as the beleaguered soldiers on the wall wearing their camouflage.
Why do soldiers on the wall wear camouflage anyway? It wasn’t like it blended in with the wall, make them easier to see with the human eye or distinguished them in any way. Non-powered soldiers didn’t spend much time out ...
2023-04-02 15:57:20 +0000 UTC
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“We’re pretty screwed,” Solaris said, scanning his assembled Anchors and the other influential supers of Franklin. Individually, each of the assembled supers had a chance at taking him down. Together, the chances were good. Oddly enough, Solaris felt most at ease around the people most likely to end his life. Made him feel like Tom again.
“Define ‘pretty screwed’.” Nocturne asked, tapping the table nervously. Underneath his sexy midnight black mask with gold highlights, th...
2023-03-30 18:26:08 +0000 UTC
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After reading for what felt like an unhealthy length of time, Perry listed out his favorite choices. Each of these specializations had multiple perks, but because of the way Cross-Class was worded, he could only choose one of them.
Industrial Tinker:
Mass Production: Speed and capacity of any ‘producing’ machine is greatly increased. Logistics receive a passive boost and waste materials are effectively recycled.
Store-bo...
2023-03-26 15:26:59 +0000 UTC
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***Boomer***
Switching to manual control.
Boomer didn’t mind manual control. It enjoyed the slight sloppiness of human steering. It was exciting never knowing when they would inevitably suffer a stroke and steer them into the side of a building, or erupt into a jealous rage and go hunting an ex-lover in the middle of the night.
You know; human things.
Boomer had learned a lot on this trip to Chicago, and was interested to see what could be p...
2023-03-21 15:52:47 +0000 UTC
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I got a bunch of adulting going on....pretty much the next ten days.
I'm buying a house!
It is culminating next week, and will likely take my full attention, between packing, cleaning, and signing my life away to a bank!
I should be able to return to full time by the 28th....if everything goes right.
Please, God, let everything go right.
2023-03-18 17:36:15 +0000 UTC
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…And that was when I saw a young man in the void staring up at it with ravenous hunger. Somehow his hunger shielded him from the transformative effects. And that’s when I realized that we had to change our way of thinking, embrace an insanity more potent than that of The Tide, in order to shield ourselves from its depravations. In order to preserve humanity, we must cast aside these weak meat-suits and preserve our minds in robots, because without such measures, we are doomed. Enlight...
2023-03-18 17:21:10 +0000 UTC
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“Maybe one of Chicago’s Tinkers put their lair here before it fell?” Perry thought out loud.
“That’s possible,” Nat said. “If they were one of the curators, maybe, but while people going in and out of the vault is uncommon, it’s not that uncommon. Somebody would’ve seen it.”
“Seen what?” The android cop asked, his curiosity getting the better of him despite everyone being distracted enough for him to have slipped away.
“That.” Perry said,...
2023-03-16 16:56:12 +0000 UTC
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Joshua Cochran was on edge as he steered the cruiser down the streets, shining the police car’s lamp down alley after alley, thankfully finding nothing but garbage and the evidence of crimes long past. Broken needles, soot-covered spoons laying discarded beneath dumpsters.
All stuff that he didn’t actually have to do anything about.
“Why are you so nervous?” His partner asked, glancing at him askance. Kyle was stuffing his face with a donut, a trail of powder dusting the f...
2023-03-14 17:47:16 +0000 UTC
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“Robots.” Perry said, tapping his fingertips on the wood table.
“Yeah, they’re probably robots.” Natalie said, keeping her head on a swivel. She didn’t have a lot of leeway, damage-wise, so she kept her helmet on in case this whole thing turned out to be a trap.
“Here’s your order, young…man?” The waitress said, giving him a weird look. Her gaze scanned the entire group, body-conforming hyperweave and all. She looked…confused.
“Thanks, miss” Perry s...
2023-03-12 17:15:48 +0000 UTC
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“And that was the second time I got crabs,” Mass Driver said as they trudged through the sun-dappled forest.
“Cool,” Plagius said.
BOOM!
Natalie ragdolled backwards as an armor-piercing round shattered against her helmet, transferring all its momentum into her head and neck.
“Oh my god!” Plagius flinched as Nat went flying fifteen feet into a nearby tree.
The tiny Tinker slumped to the ground before shakily climbing to her fe...
2023-03-10 15:44:34 +0000 UTC
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Everyone trickled in early. Even Plagius, who was later than everyone else, arrived ten minutes early.
Chemestro and Sin-Eater were wearing full-body power armor, along with full helmets with integrated gas-filter systems hanging behind them by the tubes attached to the back
Dude came to win, Perry thought, turning his attention to his cousins. Ellanore Frepon was wearing her Moonlight Flash outfit, a pale, skin-tight hyperweave with decorative dark blue bikini armor over...
2023-03-08 18:41:03 +0000 UTC
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***Chemestro***
“So, is he cool?” Sin-Eater asked, clinging to Chemestro’s left arm, deliberately squishing herself up against him. It didn’t make him want to recoil violently anymore, which was a testament to the girl’s persistence and the effectiveness of exposure therapy.
It did still bother him on a professional level, given that one of his arms was being detained.
“He’s a driven, talented force of will,” Chemestro said. “Second place in Neuron...
2023-03-07 15:16:35 +0000 UTC
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“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Natalie asked as the scents and sounds of Funkytown engulfed them. “Going here without Perry, I mean?”
A lumbering troll gave the two of them a wide, snaggletoothed grin as they passed, each tusk the size of Nat’s forearm.
“As a rule, no.” Heather said, plowing on through the milling crowd of pedestrian fantasy creatures without a second glance at any of the oddities passing them by. “But I did buy an insurance policy from Dave,...
2023-03-06 15:45:32 +0000 UTC
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