IdeasGuy

See No Evil: Masks and Dances (ch. 36)

Batman started out as a legend about a decade ago. An urban myth and no one knew if he was real or not. The only evidence of his existence were rumors and the broken bodies of the criminals that he left behind to spread those rumors. Of course, when you get every bone in your body broken by a guy, your memory plays tricks on you, or you lie to make your ass getting beat black and blue sound reasonable to preserve your reputation.

Those rumors still persisted years later. Batman was a va...

Risk It All: Hidden Ace (ch. 6)

You know, I had a new appreciation for celebrities after the video that I posted went viral. Having a thick skin for the job was a necessity. People criticizing you, or simply hating you for the sake of hating you -- posting comments in videos, tweets, and so on… it was easy enough to say you weren't going to pay them any mind. That you would be able to just brush it off like it was nothing because you had a thick skin and you didn’t care for the opinions of others… but it was hardly so...

Going Native: Desire for Power (ch. 77)

What was it? What was that magical number that represented your strength or battle power or whatever the Trade Organization called it? What was it? How many zeroes did you have to have until you finally, finally… just… reached a point that you didn't have to watch anyone die? When you did have to worry about melodramatic dictators, ruthless psychopaths, ancient aliens that had killed more people than the bad guys in the name of the greater good…

When did he reach it? Hal wondered,...

Going Native: Desire for a Legacy (ch. 76)

"Everyone, gather on my position. We have an unexpected guest," I ordered Vegeta, Mom, Bardock, Fasha, and Komand'r.

Hal looked to me, then to the glowing orange light in the distance. "Don't you have some superweapon or something?" He questioned as I spread out my awareness further, trying to reach the light billions of miles away, but the distance was just too vast. However, I could track its spread of influence on the battlefield. Orange constructs laid waste to fleets as they approa...

Going Native: Desire for a Perfect World (ch. 75)

In a perfect world, I could just use machine soldiers entirely for this battle, but we didn't live in a perfect world. Doing so would gravely underestimate an enemy that believed that the fate of the galaxy rested on their shoulders. Using nothing but machines -- droids and drones -- it was simply asking that the enemy subvert their systems. No system was perfect. No trap either. The enemy had the ability and the motivation to win at any cost.

When the Guardians arrived, the battle woul...

Power Corrupts: Endings and Beginnings (ch. 72)

For half a year, I had prepared for this. This very moment. I traveled the land, gathering allies and equipment I needed to defeat a single foe. Alduin the World-Eater. A dragon, the most powerful of them all… one that would devour the entire world if left unchecked. The plan was to defeat him at his weakest, right when he emerged from the timestream, but as the skies above began to churn, heavy rain clouds forming, the wind howling as lightning brewed above… I could feel his power despit...

Power Corrupts: Best Laid Plans (ch. 71)

Time seemed to slow down as the days ticked closer and closer to Alduin's arrival date. The first few weeks passed by in a blur of activity -- the enchanters that the Emperor promised arrived and began their work. Last-minute construction was being done on Helgen as well. Hestia organized drills for the citizens to head into the bunkers beneath their homes while triple-checking to make sure they had enough food to sustain them for some time. Weeks, possibly.

Sheogorath and the Nerevarin...

Power Corrupts: Reinforcements (ch. 70)

"Mr. Jericho? How was the Moot?" Lili asked when I teleported back home with Hestia. This time I was able to walk through the front door instead of falling from the ceiling. Lili sat on the couch, a book in hand that she had been reading before the fireplace. Serana also looked up from her place in a chair tucked in a corner, a history book in hand as she caught up on what she missed.

"It was a disaster," I began. "I became High King of Skyrim."

Lili blinked, "My sincerest condole...

A Hard Knock Life: Iron On My Hip (ch. 12)

My set up was slowly taking over Jackie’s garage, I realized as I caught myself thinking I needed more room. The punching bag got moved to the opposite corner, so I had a little more room to work with. In the past few days, I had been making do for the most part. I had everything that I needed to scratch that tinkering itch. Coding my language satisfied it for the most part, as did working on the spellbook that I was developing.

However, my needs had outstripped my equipment. What I h...

A Hard Knock Life: Arch Duke Ferdinand (ch. 11)

I had underestimated the ABB. Without Oni Lee or Lung, I figured that they would just roll over and die. The Tyger Claws would move in and just take over all their old territory like it was nothing. Wasn't like the Tyger Claws hadn't been planning to do exactly that for years now. Either that or the ABB would just splinter into a million pieces without unifying leadership. Which would have pretty much the same effect.

But, two days later, the ABB was still going strong. Maybe two days w...

A Hard Knock Life: Who We Want To Be (ch. 10)

"You can use the private booths," Mama Welles spoke up as Tattletale practically radiated smugness out of every pore. It was nice to know that my initial impression of her had been dead on -- Tattletale struck me as an uppity bitch. The kind that had to be the prettiest, smartest, funniest person in the room at all times. Maybe not the center of attention, though given her entrance, I would make an argument for it, but she always had to be on top.

I spared a look at Jackie, who looked a...

See No Evil: Breaking Bread (ch. 37)

It wasn't paranoia if they really were out to get you and they sure as hell were out to get me. Worse, the they could apply to a variety of parties -- the police, the Batfamily, the mob, and now the Court of Owls. Each and every single one of them were circling, keeping tabs on my every action and every word I spoke. The only advantage I had was the fact that two of the most dangerous factions didn't know I was aware of them, and they were outright enemies in most cases. The downside was that...

See No Evil: Masks and Dances (ch. 36)

Batman started out as a legend about a decade ago. An urban myth and no one knew if he was real or not. The only evidence of his existence were rumors and the broken bodies of the criminals that he left behind to spread those rumors. Of course, when you get every bone in your body broken by a guy, your memory plays tricks on you, or you lie to make your ass getting beat black and blue sound reasonable to preserve your reputation.

Those rumors still persisted years later. Batman was a va...

See No Evil: City of Dreams (ch. 35)

Revy held up two bills, inspecting them both with a discerning eye that flickered back and forth between the hundred-dollar bills. She made a noise of acknowledgment, before flipping the bills over to inspect the back of them. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, bringing one closer to her face, then doing the same for the other. Upon lowering the bills, I saw she wore a sharp smirk, "This one is fake," she spoke with complete confidence.

That smirk promptly fell as I smirked right back,...

Risk It All: Hedging Bets (ch. 5)

There were two types of Prestige, I found. There was true Prestige, then there were Prestige Points. The latter was merely a token currency for me to earn and spend. It was something that I had noticed when I performed the rolls that I bought against the rolls that I earned. It more or less confirmed that the Prestige I received through quests and rewards were points that I was retroactively earning -- they were points that I would earn in the future laid out in a trail to lead me to that fut...

Going Native: Desire for A Legacy (ch. 76)

"Everyone, gather on my position. We have an unexpected guest," I ordered Vegeta, Mom, Bardock, Fasha, and Komand'r.

Hal looked to me, then to the glowing orange light in the distance. "Don't you have some superweapon or something?" He questioned as I spread out my awareness further, trying to reach the light billions of miles away, but the distance was just too vast. However, I could track its spread of influence on the battlefield. Orange constructs laid waste to fleets as they approa...

Going Native: Desire for a Perfect World (ch. 75)

In a perfect world, I could just use machine soldiers entirely for this battle, but we didn't live in a perfect world. Doing so would gravely underestimate an enemy that believed that the fate of the galaxy rested on their shoulders. Using nothing but machines -- droids and drones -- it was simply asking that the enemy subvert their systems. No system was perfect. No trap either. The enemy had the ability and the motivation to win at any cost.

When the Guardians arrived, the battle woul...

Going Native: Desire for Victory (ch. 74)

"They took the bait," Prince Tarble remarked, looking at a map of the galaxy as they stood in his throne room inside of the Warworld. Avery stood in line with a handful of others -- Generals and Admirals. Each hand-picked to take place in this bloodbath. And it spoke a great deal about Prince Tarble that Avery knew that everyone in the room was honored and proud that they had been picked, rather than terrified. Not that they weren't, but everyone felt more pride than fear.

This was the ...

Power Corrupts: The Best Laid Plans (ch. 71)

Time seemed to slow down as the days ticked closer and closer to Alduin's arrival date. The first few weeks passed by in a blur of activity -- the enchanters that the Emperor promised arrived and began their work. Last-minute construction was being done on Helgen as well. Hestia organized drills for the citizens to head into the bunkers beneath their homes while triple-checking to make sure they had enough food to sustain them for some time. Weeks, possibly.

Sheogorath and the Nerevarin...

Power Corrupts: Reinforcements (ch. 70)

"Mr. Jericho? How was the Moot?" Lili asked when I teleported back home with Hestia. This time I was able to walk through the front door instead of falling from the ceiling. Lili sat on the couch, a book in hand that she had been reading before the fireplace. Serana also looked up from her place in a chair tucked in a corner, a history book in hand as she caught up on what she missed.

"It was a disaster," I began. "I became High King of Skyrim."

Lili blinked, "My sincerest condole...

Power Corrupts: Cataclysm (ch. 69)

A woman walked towards me during the middle of the meeting as the gods bickered back and forth about something. It had been three days since the meeting began, but it felt like it had been closer to three decades. Mostly because pretty much nothing had been accomplished. outside of wasting time, and it was like they were determined to waste it too.

Which is why a woman with pale skin, black hair, and painted black lips slinking her way towards the Aedra table caught my attention. Especi...

A Hard Knock Life: Big Iron On My Hip (ch. 11)

I had underestimated the ABB. Without Oni Lee or Lung, I figured that they would just roll over and die. The Tyger Claws would move in and just take over all their old territory like it was nothing. Wasn't like the Tyger Claws hadn't been planning to do exactly that for years now. Either that or the ABB would just splinter into a million pieces without unifying leadership. Which would have pretty much the same effect.

But, two days later, the ABB was still going strong. Maybe two days w...

A Hard Knock Life: Who We Want To Be (ch. 10)

"You can use the private booths," Mama Welles spoke up as Tattletale practically radiated smugness out of every pore. It was nice to know that my initial impression of her had been dead on -- Tattletale struck me as an uppity bitch. The kind that had to be the prettiest, smartest, funniest person in the room at all times. Maybe not the center of attention, though given her entrance, I would make an argument for it, but she always had to be on top.

I spared a look at Jackie, who looked a...

A Hard Knock Life: Another Brick In The Wall (ch. 9)

Tinkering with objects was different than tinkering with code, I found. With code, I was in the driver's seat the entire time. I was aware of what I was doing, what I was creating. And I could look back at the code and make sense of it. With objects, it was different. My hands- well, hand, seemed to have a mind of its own as it worked on the prosthetic that was laid on the desk that once housed a built-in computer and a mountain of takeout boxes.

It was half taken apart -- the guts of t...

See No Evil: Masks and Dances (ch. 36)

Batman started out as a legend about a decade ago. An urban myth and no one knew if he was real or not. The only evidence of his existence were rumors and the broken bodies of the criminals that he left behind to spread those rumors. Of course, when you get every bone in your body broken by a guy, your memory plays tricks on you, or you lie to make your ass getting beat black and blue sound reasonable to preserve your reputation.

Those rumors still persisted years later. Batman was a va...

See No Evil: City of Dreams (ch. 35)

Revy held up two bills, inspecting them both with a discerning eye that flickered back and forth between the hundred-dollar bills. She made a noise of acknowledgment, before flipping the bills over to inspect the back of them. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, bringing one closer to her face, then doing the same for the other. Upon lowering the bills, I saw she wore a sharp smirk, "This one is fake," she spoke with complete confidence.

That smirk promptly fell as I smirked right back,...

See No Evil: Never Go To Plan (ch. 34)

"... Here's your cereal," I said, looking away as I held out the cereal to her. Cass accepted it, but out of the corner of my eye, I didn't see her move. Right. So, Cass slept in the nude. Fair enough, I did the same more often than not. What I didn't do was walk around the apartment in the nude. Especially when there was someone else in the apartment with me.

She didn't know better. I knew that much. How much of society's norms were lost on you when you couldn't understand people? How ...

Risk It All: Risky Bets (ch. 4)

With Gotham's crime rate being what it was, you'd think you wouldn't be able to walk down the street without being mugged a dozen times over. And that was just the stuff that got reported. The stuff that didn't?

Gotham always felt like a powderkeg that was just looking for an excuse to blow. It didn't need a spark. It barely needed a reason. It was just how the city was -- a barely functioning dumpster fire, that probably should have been sawed off the mainland and pushed into the ocean...

Going Native: Desire for Perfect World (ch. 74)

In a perfect world, I could just use machine soldiers entirely for this battle, but we didn't live in a perfect world. Doing so would gravely underestimate an enemy that believed that the fate of the galaxy rested on their shoulders. Using nothing but machines -- droids and drones -- it was simply asking that the enemy subvert their systems. No system was perfect. No trap either. The enemy had the ability and the motivation to win at any cost.

When the Guardians arrived, the battle woul...

Going Native: Desire for Victory (ch. 73)

"They took the bait," Prince Tarble remarked, looking at a map of the galaxy as they stood in his throne room inside of the Warworld. Avery stood in line with a handful of others -- Generals and Admirals. Each hand-picked to take place in this bloodbath. And it spoke a great deal about Prince Tarble that Avery knew that everyone in the room was honored and proud that they had been picked, rather than terrified. Not that they weren't, but everyone felt more pride than fear.

This was the ...