Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

50 Pages V « < 3 4 5 6 7 > »   
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> The Stormcrow, A Superhero's Tale
Acadian
post Sep 1 2019, 07:29 PM
Post #81


Paladin
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas



Another wonderful episode!

I liked how her broken comm made her uncomfortable – really shows that Stormcrow is a duo and that she relies on Gadget.

Speaking of Gadget, he is wise indeed and it was perfect how January struggled to recall that diesel is less flammable than gasoline and therefore much safer to work around and with. I also liked that she didn’t automatically know how to use a fire extinguisher – a great touch to highlight her youth and level of experience in some areas.

Similarly, you tantalize us with more hints that her unusual relationship with stormclouds may at some point transition to some level of control. It would certainly be handy if she could indeed make it rain sometimes. . . or cause a lightning bolt to hit a foe.

The cop’s tactful invitation for Stormcrow to leave was perfect – and wise. Fortunately, she is astute enough to know and understand that he was simply trying to regain control of his crime scene from the Stormcrow groupies.

Her closing dual but incongruous concerns about the pop bottle were absolutely perfect – not to leave any DNA and recover her darn ten cent deposit! tongue.gif


--------------------
Screenshot: Buffy in Artaeum
Stop by our sub forum!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Darkness Eternal
post Sep 2 2019, 03:06 AM
Post #82


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 10-June 11
From: Coldharbour



Chapter 1.4: There was plenty in this chapter that I enjoyed! What an exciting adventure so far! Gadget's/Avery's gizmo cavern seems like a futuristic bat-cave! He makes a great companion to Jan! Her recollection of battle and his data-gathering ways was both fun and informative.

'"Funny how a company doesn't get investigated when it has billion dollar contracts with the government.'
Gadget made a fine point here. Seems very convenient, doesn't it?

January, though young, is wise enough to understand that old popular saying: with great power comes great responsibility. Having powers is great, but the true test of a person is what they use those powers for, and how they use them. I can imagine one may be tempted in using their power in scenarios where, perhaps, it would have been better to exercise restraint. Its good that she's focused on the positive aspects of meditation and purging all the negativity, which no doubt can cause turmoil to spill out. Especially with a weather-wielding hero like her. Yoga was very beneficial.

Avery is, too, and he's the friend she really needs right now, especially after the battle she just had. Not only was he there to help analyze the situation but he also gave her some inspiration words of support.

Jan does seem to struggle with some thoughts many heroes do, too. I really am liking this story! Can't wait to find more about Lighthammer, as well. Great chapter!


Chapter 1.5: Wow. So Lighthammer's reason to steal the diamonds was not for something as simple as money. Its used to empower him! Somehow that makes him even more deadlier!

'January could feel the color rising in her cheeks. Fighting was not just throwing punches. It was moves and countermoves. It was playing to your strengths, concealing your weaknesses, exposing your enemy's, and exploiting them. It was like chess, just with sweat and bruises. That had been check and mate. He had completely outplayed her.' Very good observation here! I suspect the next time they meet again(assuming they do) she'll remember this well, and might turn the tables on him. Using strength and speed can only take one so far, sometimes you have to use your noggin, too.

We learn that the diamonds, despite being beautiful, are often the cause of so much misfortune and evil! Seems even the baser baddies have need of them. Seems that our Indian friend wasn't entirely a victim; he had his hands involved one way or another.

Things are picking up for sure! The story unfolds!

Chapter 1.6:

I just had to laugh. This entire chapter was very fun throughout.

"I bet Blood Raven doesn't have to make excuses to her mom when she goes out fighting evil."
laugh.gif laugh.gif Or when she's playing Call of Cthulhu

I have to echo Acadian. If the last few chapters wasn't enough, this one truly showed us that these two are nigh inseparable and fit nicely like peas in a pod. He's really helping her out, and she's making progress and getting things done!

The two employees talking about the fight was absolutely hilarious. I would have reacted just the same as she did if I heard something like that. Men will be men, right?

'Her heart was racing, her palms were sweating, and her mouth was suddenly as dry as Tatooine.'
LOVED this bit here!

Though the portly cop may have given her a brief delay, it hasn't stopped her from going forth with her plan to gain access to that room.


--------------------
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
SubRosa
post Sep 7 2019, 04:15 PM
Post #83


Ancient
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds



Renee: Gasoline is much quicker to burn and explode than diesel, or jet fuel for that matter. In WWII our Sherman tanks had gasoline engines, not diesel. One hit from a shell and the entire tank would go up in a ball of fire. They called them Zippos. In contrast every other tank made by every other country had a diesel engine.

Michigan is still ten cents. I amazes me that so few states have returnable laws. What do you people do with your empty bottles? Just throw them out? ohmy.gif
People even try to smuggle their empty bottles into Michigan to get the returns. The State govt. made some pretty stiff laws against that, because it costs businesses the return money.

Everybody records everything on their phones these days. It is like life did not exist before video to prove it happened.

The acknowledgement of her DNA being on her saliva on that bottle is a nod to the utter stupidity of so many TV and movie writers, whose characters do things like walk into homes and rob them. Not wearing gloves, or a mask. Their fingerprints would be on everything, and their faces on the homeowner's Nest cameras. You could not make it easier for police. The fact is there are cameras everywhere today, and the police can get your DNA off just a single hair that fell from your lion-like mane. If the police actually make an effort to find you, they will, unless you take extreme measures to protect your identity. That is a reality supers like January have to deal with (and we will see some ways they circumvent detection in the future).


Acadian: January is definitely not a lone wolf hero. We will often see her reaching out to others, and creating alliances, if not friendships. Lighthammer was just the beginning there. I even have some vague, really long term ideas of her creating a team from the diverse supers she unites.

We have fire extinguishers at work. They are so heavy I can barely lift one. I use them for door stops. The fire marshals love that, btw. wink.gif

January definitely has a powerful influence on the elements. Keep watching the skies!

January is still learning this super business. Her interactions with the Sterling Heights pd there was one example of that. She is getting better though, and making an effort to create those alliances.

10 cents is 10 cents! That is such a Michigan thing...


Darkness Eternal: Crow and Gadget are most definitely a partnership. They each complement the other. The Gadget Cave was fun to write about. It is a tech geek's paradise!

That will not be the last time that January will be outplayed by an opponent. It happens again in Chapter 4. She is still learning after all, and has a long way to go. I know you were concerned that Raven might seem really overpowered and Mary Sueish. By definition, superheros are overpowered! So this is one way I am trying to mitigate that, and show that January is still fallible. The same as everyone.

I loved the idea of a superhero having to deal with their mother! It is another one of those things that brings them right back down to earth, and gives us a way to relate with them.

One thing I really love about writing January is that with her stories set in the modern (albeit super) world, I can finally draw on all those nerdy pop culture references my real life is filled with.




January's theme song - Illusion - is very appropriate for this episode

Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

January's Parents House

January's Parents House Aerial View

MSU is Michigan State University

U of M is University of Michigan

The Lower Peninsula of Michigan



Book 2.8 - Stormcrow Recycled

It was late when January turned onto her street. So late she could not stop from yawning. But she had things to do before she could go to bed. She rode past her house, and saw that the lights were still on. That meant her parents were up, which was not a good sign. Were they waiting up for her? It was not like she was fifteen any more. Not that she had ever sneaked out and went to parties or anything else teenager-like. Being trans had a wonderful way of insuring that no one ever invited you to those kinds of things. Unless you counted gaming night with Avery and the Dungeons and Dragons guys.

She glanced up at her darkened bedroom window. Somewhere in there was a soft bed with an even softer pillow. But that would have to wait. She had promises to keep, and while not miles, still a few more feet to go before she could sleep. With all deference to Robert Frost of course.

So she rode down two more houses to Avery's home. All the lights were off except those from the basement. She saw his mother's car in the driveway. So she was finally home from the hospital. She worked so many double-shifts as a nurse that January was not used to seeing it there.

"You're ok!" Avery exclaimed when January walked down into the Gadget Cave, carrying her motorcycle under one arm.

"Of course I am," January said. She opened up the storage space under the fake gas tank, and pulled out her armor. "But I think I lost the comm in the suit. The night vision too. I got hit by some serious electricity."

"That flying drone? It was the last thing I saw before the link went dead." Gadget took the cowl and began studying it. He walked back to one of his workbenches, and put it under an illuminated magnifying glass. "It took a few minutes for me to get into some security cameras to see the rest of it."

January explained what he had missed, and Gadget used a set of tweezers to pull out the burned circuitry in her cowl. She tried to stifle a yawn, but failed. Gadget told her to go home, and she took his advice. She left the motorcycle and armor with him. She walked home, and leaped up onto the roof. She did not feel like dealing with her parents right now.

She was about to pry out the screen of her window when a light washed across the street behind her. She glanced to the side, and saw that a car was coming. The last thing she needed was someone calling the police on her for breaking and entering. So she was obliged to scramble over the roof and duck behind its peak until the car passed. Having a front-facing window was definitely not ideal for superheroing.

Once it was safe, she returned to her window and jimmied it open. She tossed her pack in her closet, and laid back on her bed without even taking off her clothes. A glance at the glowing numbers on her clock revealed that it was barely past one o'clock. That was not so terribly late. But it had been a big day, and she was exhausted.

She closed her eyes and just relaxed. But strident voices immediately set her heart racing. She could not place them at first, so she rose and walked to her door. Then she realized that it was her parents arguing, though she could still not make out the words. She opened the door, and cautiously stepped into the hallway. Now their voices became clear as crystal, rising up from the ground floor.

"I can't believe you hid this from me!" her mother's voice rang out. "Really, how do you go from history professor to slinging porn online?"

"Do you know how many people bought my book about Greco-Roman Architecture? Or the Crisis of the Third Century? Or the Greek Tyrants?" Her father cried. "I made more money on my last erotica e-book than I did on all my history books combined."

"And that's how you've paid for Julian's way through Michigan? There were no student loans." Her mother's voice dripped with incredulity. "At the same time you and I have been telling January that we can't afford to send her to anything other than community college. She could be going to MSU right now, or U of M herself!"

"You know what student loans are like," her father contended. "Julian would be paying off the interest alone for years. It would take him at least a decade to get out from under it. So I wrote some smut to pay his way. It's not my real name on it. And it's not like you've never read anything like that before."

"That's not the point!'" her mother cried. "You have been lying to our daughter for years. You have been holding her back this entire time. And worse of all, you made me a party to it by lying to me!"

"Because I knew you'd react like this!" her father argued. "Julian deserves it. He's going to make something of his life. It isn't fair to him how August is holding him back."

"What on earth are you talking about?" her mother's voice rose with incredulity. "January isn't going to make something of her life? She is holding Julian back? How can you even talk like that about your children?"

"Because it's true." January barely heard her father's voice over the pounding of blood in her ears. "You know it is. August has always been a troubled boy. This pretending to be a girl is just a sad cry for attention. Just like that suicide attempt. He has to make everything about him. He's been an albatross around our necks since he was born. It's pathetic really. It's why I never made full professor. It's why I have to write all these insipid books in first place."

"An albatross? Oh, you are not going there!" her mother's voice was so loud the windows practically rattled. "Do not put your own career failings on her. On her damn it! You know full well that almost no one teaching college ever goes beyond being an adjunct. Your job is your own damn responsibility. And Julian? Most kids wish they had it as good as him. I never had the opportunities he does, neither did you, nor either of our parents!"

"Julian's last three girlfriends left him because of August." There it was again, that male name that cut so deeply to January's core. Her father just could not bear calling her by her real name, as if that would give her some sort of power over him. Simply acknowledging her gender seemed to frighten him more than facing a supervillain with an antimatter cannon. "His grade point average slipped the last two years because of him too."

"Are you crazy, is that your problem?" her mother's voice became lower, but with a sharper, harder edge. "What next, she is responsible for global warming? The fall of Rome? How about we blame Jesus dying on the cross on her too? Hell, let's just go back further and rename it January's Box instead of Pandora's, since apparently our daughter loosed every misfortune that exists in the world."

"Man up and grow a pair of damn balls," her mother growled. "Stop trying to blame someone else for your failures, or for Julian's. It's cowardly, and beneath you."

"No, everything in the world is all my fault, isn't it!" her father's voice became more strident. "I am sick and damned tired of having to bear every burden in this family. My life was pretty good until I met you. I didn't have to marry you. It's not my fault you wouldn't get the damn abortion. I could have been someone! But instead I-"

The piercing crack of skin against skin rang out.

January did not hear anything more. The pounding of her heart blotted everything else out. She ran back into her room, and slammed the door behind her. She could not think. She only knew that she had to escape. She went straight for the window, and leapt into the deluge that now poured from the sky by the bucketful.

* * *

"Where were you?" Avery's eyes nearly popped out of his head. The next thing January knew, the taller man had her wrapped up in his arms. "We were so worried about you?"

"We?" January blinked. She stared around the empty Gadget Cave. The early morning sun slanted in through the windows placed along the driveway above. The rest of the house was silent and still. Even his mother's car was gone, as usual. It was just the two of them, like always.

"Your mother was calling and texting me all night, looking for you." Avery finally let go of her. "Did you really jump out your bedroom window?"

January nodded sheepishly, and stared down at her shoes. Like the rest of her clothing, they were completely soaked. She absentmindedly noted that it would make most people miserable. But being the Weather Witch of Warren, she was used to being rained on. It was just a normal part of life.

She allowed Avery to guide her to the couch, where she plopped down in a very unladylike pose.

"What happened?" he asked as he sat down beside her. "Have you been out all night in the rain?"

"I don't want to talk about it," January murmured. "Not now."

"Okay," Avery's voice had the caution of a person navigating through a minefield. "That bad eh?"

"I have to get out of that house," January blurted out. "I'm going to get an apartment, or rent a house. Will you come with me? Split the bills?"

"Whoa, that's sudden," Avery stared with shock. "What happened to saving money for surgery?"

"I just can't live there anymore," January reiterated.

"I... I wish I could," Avery frowned. "I'd love to have my own place. Our own place. But I can't leave my Nana. My mom's gone almost all the time at work. I have to be around to take care of her."

January nodded, but could not restrain a frown of her own. "I knew you would say that."

"Hey, why don't you dry off and change, and I'll make some breakfast," Avery offered. "Things might look a little different once you're dry and have something in your stomach. Oh, excuse me, you girls have 'tummies' don't you?"

Avery's smile was as forced as it was beautiful. January put her arms around him once more. Then she remembered that she was soaked, and was now getting him wet as well. She pulled away, and a growl squirmed from her stomach.

She went to the basement bathroom to dry off and change into some of the spare clothes she kept in the Gadget Cave for emergencies. Then she went upstairs to binge on waffles and sausage links with Avery. The news droned out of the small TV he kept on the kitchen counter. The weather came on, and the meteorologist informed everyone that while the rest of the Lower Peninsula would be enjoying a sunny spring day, the people of Warren would have to endure steady rain. At least until the Weather Witch decided to give them a break.

January had started to feel better. Now she was the reason why no cat could lay in the sun today.

"You texted my mother when I was changing didn't you," she finally said.

"Of course I did." Avery rubbed the back of his neck. "She needs to know you're ok."

January sighed. She did not want to deal with that right now. She did not want to think about last night. She needed to focus on the future. The words of her old therapist rose up in her mind.

"What are you going to do about it?"

She nearly ran into her mother when she walked out the back door. She had her motorcycle tucked under one arm, as easily as one might carry a pillow. The sight of that seemed to take all the words from her mother's mouth.

"Mom, I'm sorry," January choked out. She dropped the bike to the driveway with a weighty thump. It splashed rainwater over her feet, while her new clothes began to slowly soak through under the steady drizzle from overhead. "But I can't do this right now."

"How much did you hear?" her voice was low with equal measures of dread and sorrow.

"Enough." January pulled the ancient Bell motorcycle helmet over her head and fastened it tight. The next thing she knew her mother was holding her tight.

"Mom, I'm trying to storm off all cool and melodramatic like," January heard herself say. "It doesn't work with you hugging me."

"Ok honey," she stepped back, forcing a smile. "When you're done storming, just remember that I'll always love you, no matter what."

"I know," January said.


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Acadian
post Sep 7 2019, 07:17 PM
Post #84


Paladin
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas



Gosh, I'm learning a lot about Michigan and Detroit from this story! tongue.gif

Predictable that Jan would, after her mission, head straight for the Gadget Cave to update Avery.
"It took a few minutes for me to get into some security cameras to see the rest of it."
- - Here you ‘show’ us how brilliantly creative Gadget is. Quick thinking on his part, upon losing comm, to tap into the building security cameras.

Well, that was an argument at home she didn’t need to hear. . . . sad.gif Some powerfully effective writing there, my friend. Her father’s a real butthead. If there is a silver lining though, her mother quite shined here in Jan’s defense.

Magnificent how Jan literally ‘stormed’ off into that downpour of her own creating.


--------------------
Screenshot: Buffy in Artaeum
Stop by our sub forum!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Renee
post Sep 9 2019, 12:16 AM
Post #85


Councilor
Group Icon
Joined: 19-March 13
From: Ellicott City, Maryland



We recycle. At least I do. Where I live it seems like every one does, it seems like all the houses in my neighborhood have their blue bins out on recycle day. Ha, so that is real, when people try to bring bottles into Michigan!

Thanks for explaining about diesel and gasoline. I used to work at a gas station and it's funny how little I knew about it... I was merely a cashier / office lady. I remember we did not sell diesel. mad.gif At least once a week I'd have explain this to some grouchy customer, and tell him or her to drive halfway across town to one of our competitors at the time. rolleyes.gif

----------------

Uh oh. They're fighting!

"Jan isn't going to make something of her life?" Oh yes she is. biggrin.gif

I got really uncomfortable reading their argument, but that's what happens to me in real-life too, when I hear people argue. So in other words, good job portraying their fight.

Phew. Poor January.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 11 2019, 07:03 PM


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
treydog
post Sep 9 2019, 01:13 AM
Post #86


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 13-February 05
From: The Smoky Mountains



QUOTE
But it had given her so much more confidence, knowing he was out there watching, thinking, turning things over in his head. She had not been alone, like she was now.


A lesson my A and A team are learning (slowly). Counting on someone else is not dependency or weakness; it is a way for both to be stronger.

QUOTE
She had never thought that fame, whatever tiny amount of it she now possessed, could make things more difficult for her as a superhero. She had just hoped that it might make people more willing to cooperate with her. But it seemed the whole super world was more complicated than she had thought.


The downside to fame that many famous people have learned to their cost- a small, but dangerous segment of their “fandom” thinks they “own” the celebrity they venerate, and worse yet, that the famous person reciprocates their feelings.

QUOTE
There was no sense leaving any DNA evidence laying around. She was not going to end up like Hailstorm…

Besides, there was a ten cent deposit on that bottle.


A perfect wry ending to a great after-action moment.

The fight was... terrible- and as Renee said, perfectly written. Begin to see where Julian gets his attitudes and irresponsibility....

QUOTE
January had started to feel better. Now she was the reason why no cat could lay in the sun today.


You manage once more to relieve the tension from before with a perfectly placed dry observation.

QUOTE
"Mom, I'm trying to storm off all cool and melodramatic like," January heard herself say. "It doesn't work with you hugging me."


Moms- they always know how to ruin a perfect dramatic exit...

Most excellent once again. Mrs. Treydog the Painter and I often say that good art makes you "feel." It may not always make you feel "good," but it doesn't just leave you without any particular impression, either. Your writing is most definitely good art.


--------------------
The dreams down here aren't broken, nah, they're walkin' with a limp...

The best-dressed newt in Mournhold.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Darkness Eternal
post Sep 14 2019, 01:55 AM
Post #87


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 10-June 11
From: Coldharbour




Chapter 1.7: Heh. Good question honestly. What is it? Uniform? Outfit?

"Note to self, Fire is cool," she murmured.

Fire is definetely cool! And so are her powers.

Again I have to say just how great it is to have Gadget on her side. He's a handy man for sure! It was neat having him check the database to find out if Sub was arrested. Gave her more than enough time to find that elusive little black book.

"No wait. If he comes back and it's gone, he'll get suspicious."

This was perfect. Though its common sense, this was a good way to avoid her getting into trouble and both of them potentially being discovered later on.

Hehe, a selfie with a Trekkie is far better than an unpleasant outcome! I was happy this happened. Sure brought a smile to my face.

Great chapter!


Chapter 1.8: How great it was to see January at her house. I always find it interesting to see a character's lifestyle back home when they aren't on dangerous missions and adventures. You gave us such a great description of her house(well, her parent's house), that it was as if we were actually there with her.

That was a total Peter Parker-esque moment, sneaking in through the window to get into her room!

'In the past she had always put that down to her being more focused. She didn't waste time going to parties, or binge-watching TV, or surfing YouTube, or spending hours talking and texting friends, or shopping for clothes, and all the other things that seemed to preoccupy teenagers so much.'

Which makes her stand out. This worked well in her favor.

'January had to admit, she did not look her fifty years of age. Or was it fifty thousand? It was so hard to tell the difference with parents.'

tongue.gif laugh.gif
How tough it must be for January to be called something she isn't. That, and coupled with the fact of her being the 'oddball' of the family certainly can create tense situations. We get a true in-depth view on the day-to-day habits of Jan as she settles in her room and searches herself online.

"Stormcrow does not simply walk into Mordor. She leaps!"

This. Is. Pure. Gold! biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Seems to me that Julian does gravitate toward his father Romulus a bit, doesn't he? You captured this quite well with him echoing the other. January had some very good points regarding the difference between heroes and law enforcement and their efficiency.

"She might not even be from here. She could have been any one of those people staying in that hotel. For all we know she might be in San Francisco right now, or New York."

Or, you know, right in front of you. I love moments like these!

"I may as well work at Burger Baron, for all the money I would make doing that. I am sure that's where you will end up, but not me."

What a douche!


Chapter 1.9:
Her brother's less-than-inspirational words hung like a storm in our hero's mind. How terrible it must be to have a brother who doesn't have your back, and worst, discourages her with words.

'She knew from bitter experience that the last thing normal people wanted to was to be reminded that someone like her existed. But even given that, January knew that she would never compromise her ideals. She would rather be homeless.'

This was some great insight! Despite the weight of the world's views upon one's shoulders, they should never shed away their resolve, and remain strong despite the negative and judgmental views of others.

Jan has some major problems! Dealing with parents who have yet to see you for who you are, financial challenges, as well as personal doubts creeping in to potential sibling favoritism, all seems to be against her. The best thing she could do, though it may be hard, is remember:

'Never ever give up, no matter what.'

Oh! Something is about to go down! When Gadget calls, its urgent!

I will be back for the rest! Great story!


--------------------
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
SubRosa
post Sep 14 2019, 05:30 PM
Post #88


Ancient
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds



Acadian: I know you were joking, but the reason I set this in Detroit is that I know this city and state so well. Right down to the Bernsteins and bottle deposits. I can bring that out in the stories in a way I could never do with a fictional setting.

Tapping into nearby security cameras is going to become a staple of Gagetology. I get a lot of that from Shadowrun, where cameras are an even larger part of life than today. The Decker (hacker) character would commonly hijack the local security cameras to wipe their shadowrunner team from them, and use them to tell the runners where the bad guys were.

The last episode was one of those really blatant displays of how January's emotions shape the local elements. As difficult it was to write the argument, being able to show Jan's feelings through the pouring rain was wonderful.

I decided to go this route with Jan's family because so many Queer people face these very same (and often much worse) issues with their own families. It is just one of those Truth in Television moments that I felt I could not ignore and still be true to reality. From a purely nuts and bolts storytelling point of view it also introduces an extra sort of conflict. Conflict is what drives all stories. Without it, things are just boring.


Renee: Wow, except in a few neighborhoods we don't have recycle bins for every house in Michigan. Just garbage cans. You have to put your paper and other recyclables aside yourself and take them to the city recycle center.

I was uncomfortable writing the argument as well. I had to break it down into individual story beats, and cover them one at a time in an analytical fashion in order to get through it.


treydog: So you would say Blood on the Moon is a story about the A-Team then? wink.gif

The darkside of modern media culture is one of the things I specifically wanted to put on display in that scene with the crowd wanting to get every closer and closer to the new media sensation.

Like I said in the past, it's ok to dislike Julian. His attitudes definitely run from his father, and are in fact amplified by the preferential treatment he has received from Romulus.

I just cannot resist those little wry observations like the ten cent deposit or cats laying in the sun. That is one of those examples of the author being reflected in what they write.

A few months ago I read the Screwfly Solution, and I commented about it on the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast's Patreon comments section. I said pretty much what you and Mrs. Dog did. Good fiction makes you feel, even if you don't particularly want to. That story was very much in mind when I wrote that fight between Jan's parents. I am sure it was not easy for Alice Sheldon to write it, because it is so emotionally brutal. She slogged through it to create an outstanding story. So I did too.


Darkness Eternal: I think selfies are now the new autograph. I don't think any fan wants anything signed anymore, do they? We all have cameras on us all the time, so we all want pics. Otherwise it did not happen after all.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man is an inspiration for these stories. Back in the 60s when the character first came out he was a big hit, precisely because he was not rich, or famous, or desired, or even cool. He was an ordinary schlub, facing ordinary problems. Someone everyone can relate to. January is a bit exotic in that she is trans and lesbian. But what I am hoping to really emphasize is just how ordinary she really is, but showcasing these ordinary issues and situations she faces in her everyday life.

Given today's Meme-centric internet culture, a Stormcrow Meme had to be in the offing. Who can resist the Sean Bean classic of walking into Mordor? I cannot watch the scene in Fellowship of the Ring without thinking of the memes.

I am digging way back to my own youth with Jan's feelings about older people. 30? Wow, what an ancient! 50! They must have rode dinosaurs to school!

Julian does indeed take a lot of his personality from his father, and from the preferential treatment he receives. Something we will see a lot more of in the future. He is indeed, a douche. Well, he's a lawyer after all. Or will be.

I used to keep a printed out copy of the Viking Code on my door when I was younger. I would always look at that whenever I left my home, especially the final part. "Never give up, no matter what."



Wilhelm Wundt

Macomb Community College (the Max Thompson Learning Media Center is the library)

The high school January lands on

The giant factory beyond 696 she lands on

Broadsword Calling Danny Boy

Counting Crows - Four Days

Global Titanium from the air

A closer view of the battleground

Global Titanium from the ground

Global Titanium from the ground again




Book 2.9 - Stormcrow Recycled

January sat in class, trying to remember who Wilhelm Wundt was, and why he was important to the history of psychology. Try as she might, all she could think about was Willy Wonka. But she had a sneaking suspicion that Oompa Loompas and chocolate were not going to be on the final exam.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She prayed to Freyja, the Morrigan, and any other deity who would listen that it wasn't her mother, again. She sneaked a peek at it when the professor was not looking. It turned out to be a text from Avery.

Another Robbery.

Global Titanium Inc. North of Seven Mile, between Van Dyke and Mound.

Right Now!


January bit her lip. What was she supposed to do? Blow off her Intro To Psychology class? But how could she sit there when another robot-army was on the loose? How did Blood Raven handle this kind of thing?

There never really was any question after all. She slid her phone into her pocket, and her book and notes into her backpack. She stood and walked briskly for the door. The professor turned his balding head toward her and gave her a quizzical look.

"Sorry, family emergency," she said. Then she was out the door, and looking for a secluded place to change into her armor. It turned out to be no farther away than the croaking of a crow. The black bird was perched in a cluster of trees beside the nearby library, and stared at her intently as it called out.

Thankfully the rain had stopped, but the grass was still wet when January raced across it to get under the cover of the trees. It turned out to be an ideal spot. January's elemental mantra was second nature to her now. She simply thought about it, and willed the change to happen. An instant later she was in her armor, and the tee, jeans, and fitted jacket she had been wearing were tucked safely away in her backpack.

The trees also gave her convenient cover for a leap to the roof with no one noticing. She tucked her pack away behind a row of upraised bricks in one corner. Given that it was the tallest building on the campus, no one would ever notice it. Or at least she hoped so.

She did not bother with the motorcycle. It had been too much trouble the last time. Besides, there would be traffic at this time of day. Instead she leapt high into the sky, and snapped out her wings. She remembered everything that Lighthammer had told her about the principles of flight.

"I keep forgetting that so much of this is not like flying a jet," the armored vigilante had told her. "Even a glider doesn't compare. You fly like a bird. Well, like a crow. But they flap their wings to generate thrust. I don't know how you do it. It's not even gliding. Not really. Your glide ratio is way better than any glider or wingsuit. You've got some mojo for this. You need to keep working on developing that."

She flew south across the campus, willing herself to remain in the air. She concentrated on reshaping reality, on creating a world where she could soar like any bird. Her focus, her energy, went into that. Muscle memory gained under Lighthammer's tutelage also taught her to angle her wings. She would create the most negative pressure on the upper surface, and the most positive on the lower. That would generate lift the old-fashioned way. The same as a bird did.

Be like Air. Be light, and quick, and fly.

She soared all the way across the campus before she began to lose appreciable altitude. Finally she was obliged to come down on the roof of the high school nearby. She disengaged her wings and hit it running. At the edge of the roof she leapt back up into the sky, and redeployed her wings. Then she was sailing through the sky again.

"Broadsword calling Danny Boy," she said into the brand new comm Avery had installed in her helmet the previous night.

"Got you Broadsword," Gadget's voice came back loud and clear in her ear, sounding decidedly amused. "Are Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood driving you? I see traffic backed up on Groesbeck."

"Take a look," January carefully reached up to her head, and clicked on the video unit. A moment later she crossed over I-696 and came down on the roof of a massive factory. It was so large that she could do more than run across it. She was able to take numerous horizontal leaps, covering over thirty feet in each bound. She built up speed all the while, so that when she finally launched skyward she gained more altitude than she ever had before. She cracked out her wings, and rejoiced in the view.

"Hot damn girl," Gadget's voice was soft amazement. "That is lit!"

"Okay, that's Groesbeck down to your left," he declared confidently. "Keep following it to Outer Drive, then go right. It's just before Seven Mile."

January continued her routine of leaping and gliding, and ate the miles up in the bright blue sky. She noticed a single crow ahead of her, seeming to fly in the same direction that she was. She followed it out of reflex. Soon there was another crow, and another, and she found herself part of a large murder of the birds.

January laughed out loud. The clouds were gone, both in the sky overhead, and within her heart. In spite of all the disturbing revelations of the previous night, in spite of whatever was waiting for her at the next titanium shop, this was a perfect moment. She knew that, and did her best to live in it forever. Or at least whatever passed for forever these days.

She even imagined that she heard "Four Days" by the Counting Crows playing in her ear. Then she realized it was not in her mind. She really was hearing it.

"A little something by Counting Crows to go with your crow pals," Gadget's voice came in over the alternative rock.

The crows led her right to Global Titanium Incorporated. It was a compound of large buildings on the far side of a set of railroad tracks that ran from north to south. The complex was laid out in a rectangle, the perimeter being marked out by large, windowless buildings. A pair of structures bisected the layout about one third of the way from the south. That made it more of a figure eight, with a larger open square on the north side, and a smaller one to the south. Most of the buildings seemed to be two story sheds or warehouses, massive in size. Large doorways - big enough for multiple trucks to drive through at the same time - yawned open in them.

The center of the big open square to the north was taken up by a collection of large, open-aired storage bays. They were constructed from massive concrete blocks that looked for all the world like giant Legos. Each bay was blocked off on three sides by high walls of the white blocks, leaving one end open. Four of these bays were lined up with their open ends facing south. Another four butted up opposite them, sharing a single, center wall. Their openings faced north. That created eight enclosures in all. All were filled with metals in numerous forms. There were loose chips piled up in mounds, heaps of what looked like powder, and neatly stacked crates of packaged materials. Even more of these storage bays were spread around the edges of the courtyard, and against the sides of the massive sheds and warehouses. Everywhere January looked, there was metal. It was a Mountain Dwarf's paradise.

It was here that January saw another Frankensteinian garbage truck. Like the one from the previous night, it was made up of parts thrown together from several other trucks. The varying colors made that plain. Half the cab was green, the other half yellow, and the storage bay behind was brown and blue.

January could see several more of the humanoid robots walking from one of the large metal storage bays to the truck. They carried ingots of shining metal in their iron hands, which they loaded into the open back of the garbage truck. Smoke rose from the wreck of a semi-truck nearby, but there were no signs of any people. Whoever had been working down there must have either ran off, or be hiding.

"Whoa, what happened?" Gadget's concerned voice came over the comm. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," January puzzled out. "No one's even shot at me yet."

"I just lost the video," Gadget explained. "I've got nothing but haze coming through."

"Everything looks fine," January assured him. "Maybe it's just still on the fritz from the other night. I'm going on according to plan."

"That can't be," Gadget insisted. "I completely replaced all the wiring with shielded circuitry. It's immune to electrical damage, or even an EMP."

January looked for the Face-Bot, but did not see it as she approached. She took advantage of its apparent absence, and plunged down toward the garbage truck. It grew larger and larger by the second, and she had to give it her fullest concentration. Moments from hitting it, she triggered off her wings. She went into a forward roll as she fell, and hit the blacktop still moving.

She rolled under the truck. As the chassis passed by overhead, she clipped one of Gadget's contraptions to its underside. Without slowing an instant, she rolled out the other side of the truck, and sprang to her feet.

"GPS attached," she said quietly.

"Got it pinging," he said. "Just make it look good now."

One of the metal men stepped out from around the back of the garbage truck. Its hands were empty, so January imagined that it had just dropped off its load of titanium. It raised one hand toward her. Remembering how one had cut open a metal door during the previous attack, January ducked. Crimson laser light splashed through the air above her, and lanced through a storage bay across the court.

Apparently they were no longer just worker drones. Now they could fight. Someone had been doing upgrades overnight.

January dove into a forward roll, and bounced to her feet in front of the android. Her Krav Maga training came to her naturally, and she sprang up directly into the metal man's face. Her armored helmet smashed into its head, sending photoreceptors and other bits and bobs of electronics out in a shower of metal. She followed with a knee to its groin. While it lacked the usual soft spots there, the blow did send it off balance. She grabbed its shoulders with both hands and pulled them down toward her, even while she lifted her knee up into its head. That cleanly decapitated it.

January lifted the still moving body of the robot in her arms and whipped it around. She flung it at a second android that had lumbered around the back of the truck. The headless bot took it clean in the chest, and both were sent tumbling to the blacktop.

January was about to leap onto a third when the raucous cry of a crow snapped her head around. Rising over the outer wall of the compound was the Face-Bot, its twin eyes glowing with malevolence. January leaped after all, but not to attack a robot. Instead she bounded over the large collection of storage bays, and put her back to the concrete blocks that made up their walls. Twin lasers scored the air behind her. Then a moment later they gouged into the blocks that she hid behind.

"I found the Boss," January said into her comm. "He's got me pinned down."

"Good, just keep your head down," Gadget replied. "I'm trying to find a security camera to see with, but I'm having the same problem as with your suit cam. I think something's jamming all the cameras in the area."

"How can that be?" January wondered aloud.

The Face-Bot came sliding around the side of her hiding place. Thinking quickly, January leaned over into the storage bay and picked up an ingot of steel. She flung it at the Face-Bot, and hit it dead between the eyes with a loud clank! She could swear that she heard it squeal in pain, and it danced away. Before it shot out of sight, January noted with satisfaction that her missile had left a large dent in its casing.

She peeked around the corner, and ducked back as a bright red laser scored a line across the concrete wall. That had come from one of the man-bots. Their creator had definitely improved their AI. They had not been nearly so combative the other night.

"I don't know how they are doing the jamming, but they are," Gadget said. "It apparently only effects the visible light spectrum. Though it might go up into infrared and ultraviolet as well. We are talking, so it doesn't affect radio waves. This is something I'm going to have to work on. We could use this in your suit."

"Well, I don't think the man-bots are doing it," January noted. "Maybe it's in the truck, or that Face-Bot."

She picked up another steel bar, and darted around the other side of the storage bay. The coast was clear over here, so she leaped down to the end of the row of enclosures, and came around the truck from the other side. The Face-Bot was waiting for her however. She flung her steel, and it fired its lasers at the same time. The metal erupted in mid-air with a shower of molten steel. But not all of it was liquefied. Some of the solid bits continued on, and pelted the flying robot.

Once again, it squealed, and dodged back and to one side. It fired at January again, forcing her back behind the cover of the storage bays. She heard the garbage truck's engine roar to life. A moment later she heard its tires grinding over the blacktop. She peeked around the corner, and saw that the truck was rolling out the main entrance of the compound, and onto the street outside. The Face-Bot sent one last blast at her, then darted off after the vehicle.

January ran out from cover, searching for more of the metal men. Aside from the one she had decapitated, and the other one she had struck with its body, there were no sign of them. Those two were still twitching, but a vigorous application of her boot soles fixed that. She imagined that the rest had loaded themselves on board the truck along with the metal they had stolen and escaped.

"Is anyone hurt?" January called out. She turned in a circle, searching for people. "I chased them off. It's safe to come out now."

Heads began to poke out from behind open doorways and around corners. January made a quick circuit, looking into storage bays and into the warehouses. But of all the people she saw, no one had suffered more than a few scrapes and bruises. She imagined those were more from flight than actual attack. She had seen what the robots could do. Their weapons could melt steel. Humans would have been vaporized under their lasers. Thankfully, she did not see any piles of goo on the ground to suggest that had occurred.


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Acadian
post Sep 14 2019, 08:31 PM
Post #89


Paladin
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas



With a name like Wilhelm Wundt, it is indeed hard to not conjure images of Willy Wonka and the shrink factory. tongue.gif

Wonderful how you brought up the dilemma of stay in class or cut class for a superhero mission. On the other hand, she’s getting more and more of this superheroine stuff down as she wills her armor onto herself and continues to improve her thrust generation mojo. ‘Willing’ the air to decrease pressure on the upper surface of her wings is a perfect way for Stormcrow to use her elemental superpowers to influence aerodynamics. Nicely done!

Cool! Stormcrow and Gadget now have official callsigns! And flipping her camera on earns access to her very own talking gps/nav system - with crow redundancy from her winged pals. And music even!

‘The clouds were gone, both in the sky overhead, and within her heart.’
’…this was a perfect moment. She knew that, and did her best to live in it forever.’
- - There are indeed – when things are going well - moments of pure joy when flying high performance aircraft. Helps make up for the hours of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror.

Quite a landing as she hits the ground, rolls under the Frankentruck and slaps a gps tracker to its chassis. Then into quite the fight as both sides have upgraded since the last encounter. The Metaldudes with lasers and Stormcrow with her high tech steel ingots for throwing. laugh.gif

Turns out that getting a tracking device onto Frankentruck is likely to prove very helpful. And no collateral piles of goo on the ground is always a good thing.


--------------------
Screenshot: Buffy in Artaeum
Stop by our sub forum!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
treydog
post Sep 15 2019, 09:15 PM
Post #90


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 13-February 05
From: The Smoky Mountains



Way back when we were reading Gawain and the Green Knight (in Middle English- which was still almost in use when I went to school), the word “wlonk” was used. Which one of my fellow grad students immediately decided was a version of “Willie Wlonka.”

Excellent insight by Light-Guy about Jan's flight dynamics.

QUOTE
in spite of whatever was waiting for her at the next titanium shop, this was a perfect moment. She knew that, and did her best to live in it forever. Or at least whatever passed for forever these days.


Words to keep close by- and hard to remember sometimes.

I like the fact that the "intelligence" behind the thefts demonstrates actual "intelligence"- evolving its minions and their tactics based on the previous encounter.


--------------------
The dreams down here aren't broken, nah, they're walkin' with a limp...

The best-dressed newt in Mournhold.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
SubRosa
post Sep 21 2019, 03:33 PM
Post #91


Ancient
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds



Acadian: I still remember my Into to Psychology class, and Wilhelm Wundt was one of the people we covered. My instructor himself raised the similarity to Willy Wonka! El Gordo was a cool teacher.

Thankfully it was only her attending class. If it was her teaching a class at the dojo it would be even more difficult to just duck out of it. That is the problem of having a day job and trying to be a superhero. Eventually they will be at odds with one another.

Those aren't really official callsigns. I just read a short story named "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" that was loosely inspired by Where Eagles Dare, so that, and the movie, were forefront in my mind. Plus it is a pop culture reference that I cannot use in most of my writing.

January is slowly but surely improving her flight. I am sure it will come as no surprise when she no longer simply glides, but flies outright. That is one of many improvements I want to show her working toward.

I did say that January and Avery were going to upgrade her long range arsenal!


treydog: Where would our culture be without Willie Wonka and his amazing rhyming name?

I have often told myself to hold on to those rare, wonderful moments for as long as I can. January is now learning that life is just a string of moments all lined up in row. Many forgettable. Some to be cherished.

The intelligence behind this all is indeed, pretty intelligent. We will be meeting him in a few episodes.


January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 01

January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 02

January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 03

January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 04 (Her Bus Stop before the Packard Plant)

January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 05

January's Route To The Junkman's Lair 06



Book 2.10 - Stormcrow Recycled

"I've got them on the tracker heading south on Mount Elliott," Gadget said over the comm. "Just for shits and giggles I'm trying traffic cams. But they all go dark before the truck comes along. This is some really good electronic camouflage."

"But at least the GPS is still working," January said.

She leapt up to the roof of the tallest building in Global Titanium's complex. Then from there a second leap took her into the sky. She snapped out her wings, and began to glide along a pair of train tracks. They went in the same direction that Gadget had indicated, parallel to the street the garbage truck had turned on after it left the metal shop. This time she did not try to go too fast. She did not want to catch them after all, just follow their trail, hopefully out of sight.

"GPS uses microwaves," Gadget explained. "Some would say they are a subset of radio waves. Others put them in their own category. In any case, a different wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum."

"You just love to nerd out like that," January laughed. She was flying again. No one had been hurt, and their plan was going, well, according to plan. Things were good.

"You know it babe!" Gadget exclaimed.

"Careful, I might start quoting Carl Sagan on you," January said.

"Don't make promises you can't keep baby," Gadget deepened his voice into his sexy-man tone.

"We are star-stuff, which has taken its destiny into its own hands," January declared in her sultriest tone.

"You are such a tease," Gadget laughed. "If any aliens are listening to this, they are mighty confused."

After that January went silent, putting her full attention back to her routine of leaping and flying. Thankfully the railroad tracks were lined by factories and warehouses. They provided her with plenty of rooftop space to land on, build up some steam by running, and then leap back into the sky again.

Her eyes scanned for signs of the truck and flying robot. But she was too far away from the road, and there were too many buildings blocking it from her view. That was just as well, because if she could see them, they could see her. Instead she relied on Gadget to give her updates on the GPS signal's progress.

"Ok, its veering south-west now," Gadget said.

Soon January soared over what looked like a junkyard for broken semi-trucks. Beside it the railroad tracks fanned out into half a dozen different lines, many filled with rusted train cars. The tracks veered south-west, and forced the parallel street to do the same. January followed, eyes open for danger.

"I've got the video back," Gadget said. "You must be out of range of the jamming. Turning mostly west now. It looks like they're cutting through a neighborhood."

January kept on her south-west course, and followed the wide swath of train tracks. She hoped the robo-thieves were still planning on going back south eventually. She could cut across their path, and gain ground. Well, gain sky at least. Soon the landscape became very familiar. She was back in Hamtramck again. The massive complex of the Cadillac plant rose up to her left, and beyond it the towering smokestack of the Detroit City Incinerator.

"Turning south again, on Conant," Gadget said. "I just lost video again, so you must be close."

January dropped down onto the roof of an abandoned factory to her left, just beyond the railroad tracks. She stepped behind a large water tower, and stared out toward the west. Not too far away the street crossed under a railway bridge, and continued south toward Downtown Detroit.

"I see it!" January exclaimed as the garbage truck briefly came into view, only to vanish beneath the bridge again. The rest of her view was blocked by a warehouse, so she could not see it emerge. She gambled that it would not stop and turn back around to shake any pursuit, and launched herself into the air southward once more.

She found herself out of industrial parks, and over a residential area. The meant smaller rooftops and power lines. It slowed her progress, as she had to always watch for trouble. It also brought fingers pointed toward the sky, and cars that stopped to watch her pass. That made her wish for the run down factories and warehouse again. The last thing she needed was to be blamed for someone rear-ending someone else.

She found a three-story school with a wide roof to land on. She got a good long run out of it, and was back into the sky once more. The giant Hamtramck Plant lay just past a few more blocks to the west, and she was obliged to bank more to the left, to leave room between her and Conant: the main street headed south.

"It's passing over 94, still heading south," Gadget kept the steady updates coming.

She recognized her bus stop from her training sessions with Lighthammer right up ahead. Beyond it was I-94, and the sprawling decay of the Packard Plant. She headed toward the latter, knowing that it was filled with both rooftops and convenient places to stay out of sight. She had just passed over the highway when Gadget came back on the comm.

"It just turned west again on Medbury," he said.

January had to turn once more, and followed Gadget's report back over another large residential area south of the freeway. The homes here were not all crowded together like in a normal subdivision however. Most of the lots were empty. Some entire blocks only had four or five homes in all. January imagined that all the other houses had either burned down, or been abandoned and torn down. She had to admit that the added greenery from the grass-covered lots and extra trees did look nice. Even though the maples and oaks made gliding more tricky.

"Back in Poletown again," January noted. "It looks like we're headed for the incinerator."

"Those trucks were thrown together from scrap," Gadget thought out loud. "Maybe the Robo-Boss has his lair in the city dump? Oh, turning south again on St. Aubin."

January alit on top of a tall church, with ornate minarets that capped two of its corners, and a third spire in the center of its roof. All were made of bronze turned green with verdigris. She landed atop one, and eased down into a crouch. For a moment it struck her that it looked just like a classic comic book pose, of the Dark Avenger protagonist perched upon an appropriately Gothic steeple. All she needed were some crows to swirl around her for dramatic effect.

She almost jumped out of her skin and fell off the building when one of said crows croaked loudly in her ear. She was thankful that she was already hanging on to one of the minarets for support. Turning her head, she saw the bird leap into the sky, and followed its black figure across the cityscape.

That brought her eyes directly upon the garbage truck again. She swung back around behind the minaret to stay out of sight. The truck was headed down the street just a block ahead of her. Beyond was a sprawling lot belonging to another metal company. But where the previous businesses had been nice, relatively neat places to stockpile new metals, this was where the scrap went to die. It was a junkyard of rusted iron and twisted steel piled high into heaps. Farther still lay the city dump, whose single, tall smokestack rose high into the sky.

She kept her eyes glued to the truck and waited. She was too near to go back into the sky now. It drove down to the next intersection and turned toward the incinerator. But before it could reach the city dump, it turned into the driveway of a building set adjacent to the scrapyard instead.


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Renee
post Sep 21 2019, 04:34 PM
Post #92


Councilor
Group Icon
Joined: 19-March 13
From: Ellicott City, Maryland



Yeah, I don't think she'd be able to concentrate in Psych 101 after that sort of text!

Crap. Thar Face Bot thingie is back. I was gonna say. indifferent.gif

I love reading about her smashing up those worker bots. laugh.gif

Have you ever had dreams in which you can fly? I am lucky enough that I've had at least two in which I was also lucid. Therefore I could will myself to fly. And the sensation was scary to me since I am afraid of heights irl. But I remember thinking I had to do this! Because it was only a dream (and I knew this) so it couldn't possibly hurt the physical me.

I really get this 'edgy' feeling as Avery communicates over the comm. Every time they speak back and forth I tense up. indifferent.gif Crap. I wonder if they're allowing her to follow the truck. Some sort of trap.

Okay, phew. Cliffhanger.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 21 2019, 04:47 PM


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Acadian
post Sep 22 2019, 12:09 AM
Post #93


Paladin
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas



Another fun episode as you ever so smoothly show us the gradual but continuing evolution of Stormcrow’s flying ability.

I can imagine the reassurance and comfort she gets from having Gadget in her ear as a potent force multiplier.

Thinking about a crow and one shows up. . . coincidence? I think not and now believe she is somehow connected to the birds, just as she is somehow connected to the weather in some fascinatingly mysterious way.

This piece of the mission – to track RoboTruck to its lair – seems a success.


--------------------
Screenshot: Buffy in Artaeum
Stop by our sub forum!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Darkness Eternal
post Sep 24 2019, 02:51 AM
Post #94


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 10-June 11
From: Coldharbour




Chapter 1.10: Great thing you provided us with the Google Maps!

'Someone was out mowing their grass, kids rode past on bikes, and ordinary life went on as if a supervillain emergency was not about to unfold. It felt somewhat surreal to January, knowing that something was going to happen, and that she was going to be part of it. Yet the rest of the world was utterly oblivious.'

I often wonder how things go on behind the scenes. Jan is very well a part of this other side of things that ordinary people usually aren't a part of. Its both fascinating and frightening the prospect of being "blissfully" ignorant in a world where superheroes exist.

So our Indian buddy is trying to catch a flight out, eh?

"A vagina cipher?"
laugh.gif laugh.gif

'Rising into the sky, she put her arms out and hit the twin triggers in her gauntlets. Her cape snapped out into a pair of wings a moment later, catching the wind underneath them.'
This was a superb part! Badass visual!

Chapter 1.11: Wow. Pure chaos! Unsurprisingly Lighthammer was the cause of all the ruckus. I was wondering when he'd return. Those mercs put up quite a fight, but in the end they were matched by LH's weaponry. There was plenty of things happening, and one of the things I noticed was the very real dangers of bullets ricocheting back. In a crowded area, these are extremely lethal to anyone within range. Jan was wise enough to get them out of there.

'But this wasn't dinner. It was a person, all hot, wet, and torn apart.'
I'm sure every time she's participating in a Thanksgiving event she'll see a bullet for every Turkey leg wacko.gif

The revelation that the victim was an officer was great! I, too, was wondering what was she doing packing heat in the airport.

Krav Maga is one of my favorite martial arts out there, and how great that she put it to good use against Sub's Thugs. She's resilient, that's a given! Took her some time but she finally got to him, and gave him a lasting impression tongue.gif

Great chapter!

Chapter 1.12: There is power in teamwork; strength in numbers. Seeing Lighthammer struggle against the Mercs in their tactical combat was telling, and Jan able to save him just in time was very refreshing to see, as well as watching Sub getting his due.

That was an intense fight! Wow.

The dialogue between Jan and Lighthammer was great! Light is more or less an antihero, I suppose, seeing as he only harms criminals and the scum of the world and is out for himself.

"Okay Qui-Gon, we'll play it your way this time."
And she did a great 'mind-trick' on him by having him hand the diamonds. 'Credits will do fine!' laugh.gif

Crowgirl and Lightguy! Yes, these are a team now!(I hope)


Chapter 1.13: Jan must have been proud of her accomplishments as they retell the details of the battle. Until of course Blackwater/Merryweather Whitewater Security bought their way out of any involvement or incrimination. Bastards. Great exchange between her and Emilia.

"It's funny, I never got a scratch in Iraq. But I go to the airport, the safest place you think you could be, and I get shot. By another vet of all people."
The world is full of these funny little ironies.

Emilia and Jan had some good chemistry before, and I'm sure that they'll have even more now with Emilia revealing about her sexuality and upbringing. Glad to see that she's making friends, even when she has such a weight on her shoulders that she must burden, including members of her own family.


--------------------
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
SubRosa
post Sep 28 2019, 04:58 PM
Post #95


Ancient
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds



Renee: You are right, even if she tried to ignore Avery's call to arms, how could you go back to Wilhelm Wundt?

We will be seeing much more of the Face-Bot in the future, and even learning its name.

Many, many moons ago I used to sometimes have dreams of riding my bicycle. Then I realized I was not riding in my dreams, but flying along the ground. I am afraid of heights too. Scratch that. I am fine with heights. I am afraid of falling to my death from heights... But I still loved those dreams. I have not had one in a very long time though.

Admiral Renee


Acadian: One of these days, January might even be able to fly outright...

An interesting thing is that if you look at old superhero tv shows, films, and even comics, the lone hero was always truly on their own, with no lifeline out there to know where they were, what they were doing, and able to call in backup or even just offer advice. But these days that is completely different. Now what appears to be the lone hero commonly has a least one person like a hacker or scientist backing them up across the internet, through a suit camera, etc... The Arrow-verse tv shows are big on this. Sometimes for every single person out in a suit, there are half-a-dozen people at the other end of their suit camera working things out in their heads, making strategy, offering advice, providing information, and so on. I think that is partly because of the proliferation of technology. We truly do live in an information age now. But as a writer, it also gives you an opportunity to bring in more characters for your lone hero to interact with. So they are not truly alone after all.

I do keep going back to those crows, don't I? I do not have anything specific in mind for them, at least so far. But just like with Teresa of the Faint Smile, they are January's spirit guide. So they will always turn up when something important is happening.


Darkness Eternal: I am hoping the Google Map can make things more clear when I go off on my landscape porn binges. I am hoping that in the end the city itself will come alive as a real place to people reading. Rather than being as vague as Metropolis or Central City.

I have faced many vagina ciphers. Sadly, I am no crytographer. sad.gif

The big airport fight was a lot of fun to write. I originally only had two mercs for Crowgirl and Ligthguy to deal with. Then a week before I posted the first episode of the fight I realized that did not give as much of a challenge as I would have liked. So I doubled it to four mercs.

I picked Krav Maga because unlike January's other martial arts - Karate and Muay Thai - it is does not have a specific focus on one or two different styles of striking. Instead Krav Maga is a collection of so-called 'dirty tricks' that work in all kinds of situations. It gives her a lot of diversity in her fighting ability, rather than just punches, kicks, and elbows.

I had a lot of fun writing Crowgirl and Lightguy. Look for more interactions between them in the future. They have very different philosophies when it comes to supering. That creates an opportunity to each to challenge the others ideals, and examine their own. Fertile ground for developing character in both. They also do have things in common, which makes it possible for them to disagree and still retain an alliance. Or at least a relationship of some form.

Emilia is another character to watch for. We will be seeing her appear more in the future, as January begins reaching out to forge alliances with the 'authorities'. She knows she does not want to be a rogue outlaw type like Lightguy. That means building trust with people like Emilia.



Beatrice Grand Trunk Warehouse & Cold Storage Building

The Junkman's Lair, adjacent scrapyard, and City Incinerator (top)

The Junkman's Lair, adjacent scrapyard, and City Incinerator (left)

The Junkman's Lair 01

The Junkman's Lair 02

The Junkman's Lair 03


Archimedes



Book 2.11 - Stormcrow Recycled

It was a massive, white building. January guessed it was at least nine stories tall. A square block of concrete, its lower two stories were pierced by the wide bays of a loading dock that ran the entire length of one wall. The yawning black abysses of smashed out windows loomed for three stories above. The remainder of the building over that was an uninterrupted wall of solid white, like the face of a snow-bound cliff. She noted a rusted out water tower on the roof, along with four structures the size of small buildings themselves. January imagined there might be air conditioners, or heaters, of other machinery within them.

A lower, two story annex branched off from the nine-story cube of the building. This abutment also had smaller structures rising from its roof, along with actual trees that had somehow taken root there. One of these structures was particularly large, and rose up a good six stories. This portion of the building was entirely windowless. The only way in or out seemed to be a metal roll up door in its back wall. January saw this clank open to allow the robo-truck to drive within.

"I have them," January said. "It's a big abandoned building beside the Incinerator. I can see some old writing that says 'Division of Beatrice…', the rest is too faded to read."

"Ok, I've got it on Googol Earth," Gadget replied. "But I just lost the GPS."

"You think they found it?" January bit her lip. Her sneak attack might have just turned into a trap.

"Or maybe they just have better jamming around the building," Gadget speculated. "How do you want to play this?"

"You mean should we just sit back and call the cops?" January asked. "You know my answer to that."

"Yeah, well, the lasers those bots have are pretty dangerous," Gadget warned, "and they're probably not going to hit you with electricity again. As far as they know, that didn't hurt you the last time."

"All the more reason for me to be the one who goes in," January insisted. "These things will turn a SWAT team into a puddle of goo."

"Ok, so maybe you can try to sneak in?" Gadget offered.

"You mean rather than just bust down the door and shout 'Stormcrow Smash!'" January chuckled. "I'll consider it…"

Most of the ground around the building was wide open. But January's eyes gravitated to the scrapyard directly north of the building. The graveyard of iron was lined with trees, which led directly to the white building. That would make for her best approach.

January leapt back into the sky and skimmed over the treetops. She sailed across St. Aubin road, and after it the fence that rimmed the eastern border of the junkyard. There she disengaged her wings, and dropped to the earth amid the piles of metal. The sounds of heavy machinery filled her ears, along with the pungent stench of diesel fumes. The giant orange claws of excavators rose up over the piles of scrap, digging through them like children scooping up sand at a beach.

January trotted through the mountains of tortured iron and hoped that no one would notice her. There were a few trees, and she leaped to them for cover. They thickened as she continued south, where she eventually came across another fence. The tall, white, Beatrice building loomed beyond. The fence was lined with trees, so January followed the cover they provided around to the side of the building.

That brought her within just a few feet of her target. A single leap took her up through a gaping window in one of the lower floors. She found that the interior was just an empty, open space. She wondered if it might have once been an office in the past, or a warehouse? It was now so bare that there was no way to tell. She took her time and tried her best to remain silent as she moved through the building, one barren floor after another. She looked for cameras and alarms that might betray her presence, but found nothing.

"The main building is empty," she said softly. "I'm going to check out that smaller area off the back."

"Copy that Stormcrow, no sign of activity from the outside either." Gadget's voice came in her ear. "I did some digging, and found that this was the Grand Trunk Warehouse and Cold Storage of Beatrice Foods. They were a huge company once, but went under back in the 80s and their pieces got bought up by other companies. The building's been abandoned since then."

"A perfect place for a lair," January murmured.

Eventually she came upon a steel door that looked very new, and very solid. This did have a camera perched over it, and a keypad beside it. Obviously the bad guys were on the other side. Given its position, it had to lead into the smaller annex that branched off from the main building. Rather than try to break it down, or make a futile attempt at guessing the code, January turned around and went back up.

She leaped over to the roof of the annex. Using the trees that sprouted there for cover, she snooped around the small structures up there. All were empty. But she did find a promising air shaft leading down. It was no trouble at all to pull out the wire mesh that covered it. Then she slid down the narrow metal passage, and soon found herself dropping into a gigantic open room.

It was a mad inventor's lair. The edges of the space were lined with a mesh of copper wire. Walls, ceiling, everything. She even saw that the copper vanished into the cement floor, and imagined that it must stretch beneath it as well. She wondered how many abandoned buildings must have had their copper stripped out to outfit the room with so much of the metal?

A great iron scaffolding rose up five stories tall. It was made of a mish-mash of metal parts all welded and bolted together. Hanging from chains within it was the skeleton of a giant robot, or perhaps a mecha. It was humanoid in shape, and built from gleaming steel. Metal conduit was welded to the bones, and sprouted bared wires at the joints where the limbs separated. Rubber hoses ran up and down the metal frame as well, disappearing into what may have been pumps or generators of some kind. A lattice of steel rose up from around the bared bones, outlining what might have been the eventual skin of the colossus. January wondered if that stolen titanium might be destined to clamp onto this framework, and create an armored hide?

The other side of the room contained a design lab. The walls were covered in diagrams, and even more blueprints and schematics hung from portable chalk boards. There was a giant drafting table, and several bins filled with PVC tubes, which January imagined might contain more rolled up diagrams.

A box-like office rose up from the floor along one wall, with a wooden stair leading up to it. A single window was cut into its side to look down over the floor. Beneath it was a small kitchenette and dining space, with a refrigerator, stove, sink, and microwave behind a long table and plastic lawn chairs.

However, most of the space was piled high with what January could only describe as junk. Partly disassembled car engines, household appliances, an old lawnmower, a rusty bicycle, pipes, conduit, wires, hoses, levers, knobs, chairs, windshields. It was a phantasmagoria of cast-off machinery. Some of it was bursting from metal and plastic bins. Some was loaded into buckets and barrels. But most of it was just piled about like a dragon's treasure hoard. Some of those piles were even taller than January was herself.

Avery would have swooned from envy.

The garbage truck was parked near the scaffolding and the unfinished mecha, and several of the man-bots were clanking around unloading the stolen titanium. The Face-Bot floated around from behind the truck, its twin eyes glowing red. Alongside it was an old man.

His brown skin was lined and cracked, like a dried up river-bottom baked in the sun. His short hair had gone dull gray, and a pair of small bifocals hovered above the tip of his nose. He was dressed in plain blue coveralls, and he carried a wrench in one hand. His eyes looked as worn and tired as his skin. It was like they had seen far too many miles, and now just wanted to sit down and rest beneath the shade of a sheltering willow tree.

The Face-Bot immediately opened fire. January tried to dodge, but this time its cherry-red lasers caught her in the side. It was hot. Really hot. Touching a frying pan hot. Enough for her to cry out in spite of herself. She concentrated on Earth, and its strength and resilience. Just as it persevered, so too would she.

She bounded forward, and was on top of the Face-Bot in an instant. This time it was not quick enough to escape. She grabbed hold of both of its backward-flaring shoulders and sent a devastating head butt directly into its faceplate. One of its eyes cracked and went dark. The other set off a shower of sparks.

The Face-Bot tried to fly out of her grasp, but she held on. Its final eye glowed red once more, and January pulled her head down out of its line of fire. She continued the motion and swung her entire body around the robot, until she was literally doing a handstand atop it. Then she doubled over and brought her legs down. Her feet crashed into the top of the flying machine. More sparks erupted, and its cowling was clearly dented inward.

"Enough!" The old man cried out. "Stop it! Leave Archie alone."

"Archie?" January leaped off the robot, and could not resist adding in a forward flip and sticking the landing on the concrete floor. "You named your killer robot Archie?"

"He is not a killer robot!" the old man snapped, "and Archie is short for Archimedes."

Then he turned to the Face-Bot, and ran a soothing hand along its dented cowling. "It's ok Archie, the mean girl won't hurt you anymore."

"Mean girl?" January bristled. "I'm not the one who started shooting!"

She glanced down at her side, where the robot's lasers had struck her. Smoke curled up from her armor, but otherwise it still appeared to be intact. Gadget had said that the hagfish fibers were fireproof. She hoped that her flesh had fared as well underneath. She probed with uncertain fingers. It was hot, but everything still felt solid underneath.

"You scared him," the old man insisted.

"I scared him?" January stared incredulously. Then she realized that he was not holding a drone controller, or even a phone. "Wait a minute, you're not flying it. That's an actual AI, isn't it?"

"Well of course Archimedes is an AI. He's a person." The old man gestured at the man-bots who were still unloading the stolen titanium, oblivious to all that was unfolding. "He's not a brainless drone like those other things."


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Acadian
post Sep 28 2019, 07:45 PM
Post #96


Paladin
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Las Vegas



Looks like the stealth approach was a good call as January quietly made her way all the way into the heart of this crazy junk lab.

Once Archie opened fire though, it was time for some Stormcrow Smash and I’m sure January was happy to finally get her hands on the elusive little face bot.

Wow, this really raises plenty of questions. Who is Old Man? He sure doesn’t seem like the arch villain I imagined might be behind this. The concept of a giant mech warrior roaming Detroit does seem disturbing though.


--------------------
Screenshot: Buffy in Artaeum
Stop by our sub forum!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Renee
post Sep 29 2019, 03:27 AM
Post #97


Councilor
Group Icon
Joined: 19-March 13
From: Ellicott City, Maryland



See, where is Lighthammer during all of this? It makes me wonder if he's .... somehow not as forthcoming as he seemed when he and the crow met amicably.

Whaaat??? Wow, what an odd conversation she just had with that man. blink.gif I wonder where that is all going. Like, maybe he's just really smooth with his offhand conversation (at such an intense moment), and he's about to try shooting her, or something.

And where is the African Goddess too? wub.gif Maybe she was just in that one scene. I keep thinking she's eventually going to come back to rock Stormcrow's world.

(ignore me I'm just rambling...) But yeah, that is really offhand at the end.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 29 2019, 03:41 AM


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
treydog
post Sep 30 2019, 11:30 AM
Post #98


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 13-February 05
From: The Smoky Mountains



Caught up again- yay! And also phooey, because now I have to wait again. Most excellent writing once more.

QUOTE
...if she could see them, they could see her.


Indeed. “If the enemy is in range, so are you!”

QUOTE
“Beatrice”


I also remember those rather creepy “We're Beatrice” television spots. There was always something alarmingly Borg-like about that declaration....

QUOTE
She found that the interior was just an empty, open space. She wondered if it might have once been an office in the past, or a warehouse?


Or perhaps the alien parasites all found human hosts?

And somehow, the partially constructed bot or mech is even more frightening than seeing it in its completed state. Numidium in Detroit?

QUOTE
She grabbed hold of both of its backward-flaring shoulders and sent a devastating head butt directly into its faceplate
.

To paraphrase the Nac Mac Feegle- “Have a face full a' dandruff, ye wee robut beastie!”

Archie is... a person? And will we be seeing Reggie and Jughead? Or Betty and Veronica?

A quite excellent start to the reveal of the brains behind the activities the Crow and Gadget team have been investigating.


--------------------
The dreams down here aren't broken, nah, they're walkin' with a limp...

The best-dressed newt in Mournhold.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
SubRosa
post Oct 2 2019, 10:02 PM
Post #99


Ancient
Group Icon
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Between The Worlds



A minor note. Thanks to tredyog correctly identifying Beatrice as a food company, I was able to find exactly what the building was used for. I even found an urban explorer's blog post describing his exploration of the ruin, with lots of pictures. I went back and added in a paragraph about the building, and added the above link.


--------------------
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Darkness Eternal
post Oct 4 2019, 03:33 AM
Post #100


Master
Group Icon
Joined: 10-June 11
From: Coldharbour



Chapter 2.1:Ah, Jan has been meeting some ladies as of late, eh? First the officer, and now the Exotic Goddess that's quite blatantly flirting with her. It was a random encounter, at least for her, so I can relate to her doubt whether she was being pranked or pick-pocketed. I have a feeling this woman is going to show up later, perhaps I'm wrong.

You beautifully painted the not-so-pretty picture of modern-day Detroit. I know little of the place, but what I do know I have through the story(with those awesome references), and of pictures I have seen. The comparison to WWII battlefield was very appropriate.

Great seeing Lighthammer again! She makes a fine point. Unlike him, she's tethered to her morals and responsibility as a super. Engaging in conflict in a certain way, well, could very much tarnish her image. 50K is good money, though!

"This is Detroit. We are all mental here. All the sane people left decades ago."
laugh.gif laugh.gif

I like the training in the end, and though she's busting out some Krav Maga moves, her mind was on that Ebony Goddess. I know mine would've been!

Chapter 2.2: Heh the Wannabee Gucci Biker tried to pull a fast one. Made sense why she would be reminded him of her brother, heh, what a turd. He oozes narcissism.

Jan trusts Avery very much, and so far he's been very sound in his decisions. He's great!

I like how the chapter literately ended with her feeling like a deflated balloon.

Chapter 2.3: Avery is that one friend we all need when our stuff breaks down, or we need something working far better than it does.

"My man parts are my best parts!", "I have some parts here that you'll like."

His humor and wit are always amusing! I love this guy smile.gif

Avery is a good friend, and like all good friend he shows the proper concern to her regarding her new partnership with Lighthammer. As a Grey Hat, I'm sure he can be quite unpredictable.

Though they are usually prepared and ready for anything, they weren't ready for good ol' grandma making a surprise.

"Do you have that white girl downstairs? I thought I saw her come in."
Hahaha!

"You should tap that thing. I bet she's a wild one in the sack. The quiet ones always are."
LMAO. Well, damn, Vanessa!

This was a very humorous part that went very sad with her condition. Its never easy to have a loved one of that age suffer through something like that. On a positive note, Jan is always there for him as I am sure he will always be there for her. The two are always there to support each other, even in the worst of times.

Wow! The bike is indeed good as new!






--------------------
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post

50 Pages V « < 3 4 5 6 7 > » 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 

- Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 19th March 2024 - 05:50 AM