Chapter 16: No Longer Frank
Jack chuckled a bit as he followed after the secretary, closing the door behind him. As he caught up down the hallway, he couldn’t help himself because of the hysterical high he was on. “Well, now that it’s all behind us, maybe after things settle down for me, I can take you out to dinner.”
She stopped dead and wheeled around. The look of sheer incredulity on her face was priceless. “You cannot be serious. After all of that, y...
2025-03-31 01:41:32 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 15: What's in a Name, Anyway?
Jack stared up at the blonde woman in incredulity, as if at a madwoman. The cigarette fell from his mouth. “Bullshit. That’s ridiculous. Impossible! Sh-she’s not… not-”
“What?” Boss Lady raised an eyebrow, still holding her hand out. “Human? No. Of course not, Jack!” She said it with abundant cheer. “I’m not even here. This is more of a sophisticated projection, a semblance, a sleeve, a fa...
2025-03-31 01:27:21 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 14: Pick One of Three Jacks
Jack nodded slowly to Boss Lady’s spiel, then silently did as instructed.
As soon as he thought about it, he located a little ‘itch’ in his head, and it expanded quickly into three glowing boxes lodged in his field of view in a row, burning themselves into his mind as something far more than mere text in English.
Material Guardian (Steel Exoskeleton) — You can quickly form ...
2025-03-31 01:10:46 +0000 UTC
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Chapter 13: Are You Gonna Sign or Not?
Jack waited with a deliberately not held breath to see her reaction, whether it was to laugh, scoff, deny, or perhaps to set the contract on fire and leave. He waited and worried everything would tumble down into catastrophe like it always did in his life because apparent ‘luck’ always gave way to reveal a trap.
But it didn’t, and she had no real reaction. Eerily, she did what she usually did. She stared...
2025-03-31 00:46:53 +0000 UTC
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Alice looked as if she got blindsided by a car, mouth hung open for a split moment. Her hand suddenly went to his shoulder. “Mr. Laker — Jack — listen to me. No one negotiates! I’m helping you to implore you: just sign. You could be in hot water otherwise. I know you’ve been in rehabilitation before. I doubt you relish the idea of another… journey of that kind. Is that really what you want to leverage yourself into?”
As she spoke, Jack glanc...
2025-03-20 19:08:36 +0000 UTC
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Jack did an incredulous double-take at the question. “Are you serious? Coffee? Did you really say coffee?”
The secretary smiled widely. “How would you like it?”
“Black with two sugars.” It came out like a rote, and he smiled at how happy he was to say it again. How long had it been? Two years. The pocketbook had to accept reality. “Ma’am. Thank you.”
“No problem at all. Coming right up, Mr. Laker.” She exited, closing the door behind her.<...
2025-03-20 19:00:49 +0000 UTC
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Boyscout silently walked up to face Jack. He was tall and imposing in addition to having a masked, mirrored faceplate impossible to see through. Nonetheless, Jack glared.
Shaking his head, Boyscout spoke in exasperation. “How do you still not understand this situation, Citizen? We are conducting ourselves with the full authority of every high official of our culture, society, and species. Who the hell do you think you are to protest? You’re damned right I can put this ...
2025-03-20 18:55:44 +0000 UTC
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Jack’s uncle turned to the arriving Nons and grimaced. He gestured over to the hallway beyond fallen debris. “She’s in the guest room down the end of the hall. At least, I think it’s a she — feminine face, small frame, and I thought I noticed some boobies.”
One of the Nons replied in a modulated, feminine voice, “Boobies, yes. You mentioned that already. Thanks.” Her tone was sarcastic.
“Right. Go on! Get her the hell outta here. She’s been in enough trouble. O...
2025-03-20 18:51:47 +0000 UTC
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The kid had twisted on his back, caught between fear of getting shot again, freaking out about already being shot and blood coming away on his hand, and trying to scramble away.
“I gotcha, bud!” Jack called as he grabbed the young man under each underarm and began dragging him backward — internally, he knew it was with a significant edge in strength on top of the effects of adrenaline. It was as if his will formed blades to carve out his body’s path in advance, smoothing out the...
2025-03-20 18:48:41 +0000 UTC
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“Memoria?” Neex asked anxiously and hopefully at once. Her head tentacles whipped around. “Okay?”
Jack snorted. “Not hardly. Some lesser system processor. AI.”
As Neex just nodded slowly, he studied her. He was indeed aware of her in some way through the network — connected but external. It bridged ‘up’ and back in a kind of warped arc. Moreover, she was ‘pulling’ from him, bending what was his greater construct in her direction.
He glanced at the bathr...
2025-03-20 18:37:11 +0000 UTC
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Jack barreled through the door of the humid, darkly luminous, gently thrumming bathroom, blurting out, “I agree! I’m in, haha!”
Neex was sitting down in the center of the room cross-legged, with the Heart in her hands and lap. She beamed at Jack’s entrance and took a deep breath, her smile turning into something more serene as she nodded. But her head tentacles were in curls like a crown around her head. “Good, Jack.” She pointed to the spot in front of her insistently.
<...
2025-03-20 18:32:24 +0000 UTC
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So, it's highly customizable, depending on you. But the naming conventions for being mentioned in credits (on RR) will go like these examples:
Agent Nonpareil Green, for excellence in the field and their nutritious recipe for Mutant Organ Surprise Stew!
Agent Nonpareil Nate, AKA TermiNate, for excellence in the field and the slaying of the dreaded Giant Spitting Potato Bug!
Agent Paragon Hanna, AKA Battery, for sterling l...
2025-03-20 18:25:47 +0000 UTC
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“What?” Jack looked from the text to Neex to back again. “What?! Me?!” He struggled to process the meaning. “Neex, I-... Look, I think you’re great, but I’m not ready for something like this! Is this like marriage? I don’t even know how old you are!”
When Neex read the translation, her eyes bugged out, she turned white, and then covered her face in her hands in embarrassment. The head tentacles dropped down over it, too, though one gesticulated at him thr...
2025-03-20 17:50:14 +0000 UTC
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Stifling his panic, Jack checked Neex’s pulse, hoping her anatomy was close enough for it to make sense. It was — he felt a weak pulse. Upon inspection, she also seemed as if she was still breathing.
A coma. But she was fatalistic. She might not last long. What the hell do I do?! What good is a hospital when she needs her Archon or whatever to survive? Supernatural shit.
He could try taking her to the Mems. But she may have never been in Memorial-control...
2025-03-20 17:46:12 +0000 UTC
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Jack, perhaps a bit dulled from his ordeals, was in mystified wonderment at her saying his name. “H-how do you know my…?”
Her pupils turned into a wavy ‘W’ briefly before going back to a bar. “Jack name. Name…d.”
“What? I- oh! Oh, right. I told you.” He laughed briefly, a bit hysterically.
She nodded, and her skin rippled like a horizontal wave. “Yes.”
“What is your name?” He gestured between them both with his hand. “Jack, and…?”
<...
2025-03-20 17:42:07 +0000 UTC
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Anchored below the tree cover of the platform known as the Yairu Reservoir, under the jurisdiction of the independent Industrial Fellowship, Jack ran two hands over his face and cursed his luck. He’d really done it this time. He could smell foul consequences for his actions on the wind, and oh, how it stinked. It wasn’t the Reservoir, either — they’d fixed that.
He looked in the rearview mirror, already adjusted to observe the octogirl. It wasn’t exactly easy, as her body had ...
2025-03-20 17:23:30 +0000 UTC
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Jack rushed through his morning like a bat out of hell and was forced to skip breakfast. It was pure disaster, he knew — tragedy. He always had breakfast. Suddenly breaking a solemn routine? There would be consequences.
“It’s going to be a shit day.” So Jack, The Prophet of Jack’s Life, decreed to the apartment building’s empty elevator on the way down. No br...
2025-03-20 17:14:47 +0000 UTC
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This page is dedicated to the Shaper of Metal LitRPG series. You can check the summary and such HERE.
2025-03-20 16:57:46 +0000 UTC
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