Broker

Chapter 66

Throughout the broad majority of the press conference, Sonya was on autopilot. She’d practiced the speech a number of times, ready to make adjustments on the fly if necessary as the mood in the room shifted. It was important to keep the audience engaged regardless of how ‘official’ the proceedings were and to make it abundantly clear that ASTA was at the helm of what was going on. She’d had her reasons, she wanted to watch the audience. She had no idea whether or not Otis had spies st...

Tier Update

Making a few changes and updates since it occurs to me that I haven't friggin touched my tiers in, uh, forever.

The Schemer tier will be reduced to $3 and will still allow access to Imperious. It'll basically be a tier allowing people to read it before it drops on the free sites.

The Villain tier will remain the same, with you guys continuously getting the latest chapters following my current schedule. As of today at noon we will be 17 chapters ahead of the free sites.

A ne...

Imperious, Chapter 005 - Character Creation

The rain fell, thunder rumbled, and Anna stood in her front yard looking up at the sky. Water streamed down her face, her eyes closed as she savored the feelings inside of her. The sated bloodlust made her feel satisfied in a way that she couldn’t fully quantify. Her injuries seemed to hurt less, her heart felt full, she felt energized, euphoric. The act of violence didn’t bother her at all, a sane person would have found how she had behaved to be monstrous, barbaric. Destroying the unthi...

Imperious, Chapter 004 - Skeleton Champion

Anna slowly came to, an all encompassing ache permeating her body as her eyelids fluttered open. Her head swam and she had to struggle to remember what had happened to her. Everything felt fuzzy and she wondered for a moment if she’d had too much to drink. She shuddered, squinting at the far wall. Why was she sitting in front of her bedroom door? She tried to crane her neck to look over her shoulder and saw her wardrobe laying on its side. Huh? She thought groggily before look...

Imperious, Chapter 003 - Home Security

Anna’s chest rose and fell as she looked down at the shattered skull of the skeleton. Her fingers trembled around the handle of the bat. She licked her lips, tasting the sweat that was already beading on them. She hadn’t been this active in a long time. It’s dead… right? She paused and frowned, How can a skeleton be killed? She thought, a little bit of confusion settling in. She looked down at the thing and kicked its ribcage, trying to urge it back into motion. Noth...

Chapter 65

There was a moments pause as she reflected on the thing in front of her. Her instinctive sense of uncanny began throwing up red flags. She considered drawing out Firestorm and just incinerating it. Kill it with fire. Yeah, that was a good idea. She straightened a little and her fingers twitched, the power slipping out of her warehouse. She was feeling better enough that she could torch this thing with impunity.

It-he seemed to notice the shift in atmosphere. The man’s arms flopped a b...

Chapter 64

Sonya dug the fingers of her free hand into the ceiling, holding herself in place as she examined the boss. The core creature of the dungeon lounged in its corpulent glory, its sizeable gut so unwieldy that she wondered if it was even capable of standing on its own. She dismissed that notion, underestimating a dungeon boss was a good way to end up dead. She understood the strategy of most heroes from the past timeline; test the waters, experiment, feel the enemy out for weaknesses, assess its...

Weekly Side-Story, Marta 2

It had been a while since she’d taken a day off just for herself. The convention had been weeks ago and to be honest she really hadn’t felt up to getting out there and getting some fresh air. Helping Sonya always took priority, so she’d thrown herself into her work both as a caretaker and as a bodyguard. Marta had even offered to take on a more direct role, as an enforcer if necessary. Instead of accepting her offer, Sonya had insisted that she take some time off and separate herself a ...

Imperious, Chapter 002 - Survival Advisory

The text floated in front of Anna, her chest rising and falling with each panicked breath. She just stared at it as the minutes ticked down from forty five minutes to forty four. She tried to rationalize what she was looking at. It was fully legible and free-floating. If she turned her head the words followed her vision, remaining centered but somehow not fully obscuring what was behind it. Transparent. It reminded her vaguely of old rpg notification windows, blue boxes with a faint white out...

Chapter 63

Sonya sat in her office, staring at the small cluster of screens. The brief call with Bernetta had come and gone, Veloce would be in the country the next day. Sonya scrolled through the list of registered heroes. There were a few names she recognized, most of them on the right side of the war. The War. She closed her eyes and caught her breath again, her hand going to her throat. She rubbed her neck and let out a sigh, trying to put the images out of her head. She could s...

Chapter 62

Sonya held a two liter bottle of soda aloft, standing dramatically next to the television. She was feeling more than a little smug. Her performance had gone well, and it seemed only right to celebrate a little. She cradled the bottle and looked down at it before looking up at Amos, Colin, and Marta who had all gathered for what was probably the first time they were all in the same room. Marta was covering her face in second-hand embarrassment, Amos was guffawing as Colin leaned forward with a...

Imperious, Chapter 001 - Left Behind

This is a Pilot I wrote on a whim, it has no relation to Broker in any way and I just thought I'd share it since it was fun to write and I kinda decided to based on a conversation in the discord server. The genre is System Apocalypse Litrpg. No idea if I'm going to go further with it but if the reaction is good I'll probably write more. My focus is always Broker, though. We'll see what happens!

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Another restless night of dreamless sleep. Another morning opening her eyes to star...

Chapter 61

Rage.

Even as he sat down, he wasn’t in control of his own body. Moments of clarity came through now and then, but every day it felt like he lost a little more of himself. His words weren’t his own even as his thoughts remained firmly in his grasp. The leash was loose, though, the collar around his metaphorical throat only tightening when the intent to act bubbled to the surface. He couldn’t even glance hatefully in Hyunh’s direction. She was meticulous in how she managed him, r...

Chapter 60

Sonya stood just outside the limousine, her big sunglasses reflecting the sunlight that sparkled against her glittering skin. She hadn’t been out in the sun for a while and had almost forgotten about the cosmetic property to her reinforced dermis. She ignored it, though, as she’d already taken advantage of more than a few tabloid journalists to spread the rumor that she was something of a narcissist that had taken to wearing glitter-dust on her skin as a fashion statement. She’d of cour...

Weekly Side-Story, Ozzie 4

Ozzie crept up to the rail as the shouting continued outside. He glanced over at the hound on his left which was shuffling forward like some kind of military dog. On his left, the thief was creeping along as well, emulating his own ‘stealthy’ approach in its own rather loosey-goosey way. He was glad that at the very least it didn’t fall all over itself. He grumbled inwardly, rethinking his idea for the upteenth time and peered over the rail. Down below, a half dozen men were talking lou...

Chapter 59

Ishtar stood in front of the screen, her mask strangely not reflecting the glowing surface, even in the dark. The call she was making was a long time coming, she hadn’t had enough time to check in and it was better late than never. The room, a small office adjacent to her bedroom in the apartment, was kept intentionally sparse in order to make it difficult to tell where she was. Maybe it was her lifestyle in her past life, constantly going from one place from another and living a near-milit...

Chapter 58

The flickering of the portal intensified, the pylons glowing brighter and brighter. Every time she saw a tiny wisp of light drift away from the portal she felt her heart tighten just a little bit, only to be relieved when she recognized it as nothing more than runoff. Next to her, standing as stalwart as ever, Marta watched the portal with a bit of trepidation. She felt her friend’s eyes on her and graced her with a small smile. “They’re fighting very hard,” She said quietly. If her e...

Bonus Week!

Go go go! Let's keep it going!

NSFW Side-Story, Sonya 1, Part 3

Note: This side story will contain some BDSM themes and degredation. Also, it is a Sonya x Carla pairing. It doesn't need to be read to enjoy the main story in any way but the nature of the relationship may reflect partially in future interactions between the characters, predominantly in the form of subtext. That said, enjoy.

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Sonya stared down at the trembling form beneath her. Her eyes raking over the soft pale skin of the raven haired woman who had been bent over her bed an...

NSFW Side-Story, Sonya 1, Part 2

Note: This side story will contain some BDSM themes and degredation. Also, it is a Sonya x Carla pairing. It doesn't need to be read to enjoy the main story in any way but the nature of the relationship may reflect partially in future interactions between the characters, predominantly in the form of subtext. That said, enjoy.

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The ride from the club to Sonya’s apartment was brief, only a few minutes, and Sonya let Carla stew the entire way. She remained utterly silent...

Table of Contents

VOLUME 1 - DEUS EX MACHINA Amazon Link - STUBBED VOLUME 2 - FOG OF WAR Prologue 1 - Prologue 2 - Prologue 3 - Prologue 4 Chapter 88 - Chapte

VOLUME 1 - DEUS EX MACHINA

Amazon Link - STUBBED

VOLUME 2 - FOG OF WAR

Coming Soon on Amazon - STUBBED

VOLUME 3 - STANDARD OF GLORY

2024-05-24 19:46:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 57

Magic was hard. Sure, the spellforms came to her with the instincts built into her ability. It was like being given a manual or in this case, a spell book. She had a mountain of spells she’d never even tried before. Hundreds of different ways to use the blue energy that permeated her body and gave her the strength to do the things she did. But that didn’t mean the spells weren’t difficult to actually perform. It was easier said than done. She could rattle off exactly how to create a dom...

Chapter 56

Sonya was like a statue. If Marta hadn’t known better, if she’d only known the persona she cultivated as a businesswoman and socialite, she would have been baffled. To be honest she was still a little troubled by the behavior. The woman she’d chosen to stay beside, the woman she’d endured agony for, had not so much as blinked-not that she needed to-as she stared at the portal and more specifically the strange columns (or were they some kind of pylons) that appeared to hold it up. ...

Cast

MAIN CAST

Sonya Chernovna (Ishtar)

The Main Character. In her past life she was a hero field scout working for the American Heroes Guild. After the Hero War and subsequent Apocalypse she opened Pandora’s Box and was sent back in time with the goal of preventing the war by any means necessary. She has since donned the role of Supervillain under the monicker Ishtar in an effort to give the heroes a more pressing common enemy rather than o...

Glossary

Pandora’s Box
A mythological artifact from Greek mythology, it contained the light of the flash. When the box was opened, it released a light that covered the world, granting abilities to humanity and releasing monsters upon the world.

The Flash
The Historic event that took place on March 3rd. A cascade of white light that enveloped the planet and triggered the Age of Heroes.

Ability
A supernatural power a...

Weekly Side-Story, Ozzie 3

Apparently, word of Ozzie’s untimely demise hadn’t quite reached all ears just yet. While the cops certainly knew about it, his landlord, thankfully, did not. Not that it didn’t make knocking on the man’s door in the middle of the night any less awkward. Wearing a hodgepodge of clothes and looking more than a little disheveled. Even so, after simply explaining that he’d lost his keys during a monster attack he’d been able to get one of the spares the man kept on hand. I...

NSFW Side-Story, Sonya 1, Part 1

Note: This side story will contain some BDSM themes and degredation. Also, it is a Sonya x Carla pairing. It doesn't need to be read to enjoy the main story in any way but the nature of the relationship may reflect partially in future interactions between the characters, predominantly in the form of subtext. That said, enjoy.

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Sonya loved night clubs, she hadn’t been much for them in her past life, admittedly. There hadn’t been much time for such frivolity. Every day had b...

Chapter 55

It had been almost eight hours since the team of four had entered the dungeon. If Sonya was being honest with herself she was feeling more anticipation than worry at this point. She glanced at the pillars holding up the portal, there’d been no reaction, no indication that the team had failed. That didn’t mean she wasn’t still worried, of course. There was little to no information about the Times Square dungeon besides the kind of monsters that had poured out of it and when it had occurr...

Chapter 54

Sonya didn’t move an inch from her seat, her eyes fixed on the dungeon gate. Amos had already set up around it and was taking readings with his instruments and had even offered to send in more drones with flight plans. Sonya had turned the idea down, giving the explanation that she didn’t want to risk it. Honestly, it really didn’t matter and she could have even brought in a crew to mine the enormous wealth inside, but that would be basically broadcasting that the crystals inside were v...

Bonus Week!

Back at it working on that buffer, here's two chapters for you guys! Enjoy!