Emmett went out on the rooftops of Belport earlier than usual that Thursday night. As per usual, he slipped into an alley, donned his mask, turned his hoodie inside out and wore it overtop of his backpack. Then he buckled his utility belt and climbed up to the roof.
He was excited about the...
2023-03-19 13:13:59 +0000 UTC View PostA city is nothing without its foundation.
Beneath the bustle and gleam of Belport’s skyline lies a framework of concrete, steel, piping, and wires, subways, electricity, and plumbing.
So much unseen. So much taken for granted.
And beneath even the skeleton and nerves of Belpor...
2023-03-18 19:53:23 +0000 UTC View Post“What about a utility belt?” Emmett asked.
He’d already wrapped up training for the evening and had basically dragged Clara to section 002. Now she stood across from him in one of the many storage rooms. The overhead lights reflected harshly on the scattered metal tables.
His mi...
2023-03-18 16:26:44 +0000 UTC View PostEmmet ran home across the rooftops of Belport Wednesday evening and spent the rest of the night hunched over his kitchen table, working on his radio locator project. It was the beginning of March now—already halfway through the semester.
He already noticed a difference in his low-light vi...
2023-03-17 19:46:26 +0000 UTC View PostDr. Venture strode quickly through the halls to wing 002 where Clara was waiting. He’d asked her to check on the analysis of Porcelain’s samples. Apparently, the results were compiled.
Venture entered one of the half dozen testing rooms of the mechanical wing. Apertures lined the walls...
“Let me get this straight… You’ve been a super for a little over a week, and you want to take another mutagen already?”
Dr. Venture’s eyes were narrowed and focused on Emmett. There might have been a hint of a smile on the doctor’s face, but somehow that unsettled Emmett more. 2023-03-16 19:52:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Emmett spent Saturday trying to focus on schoolwork. It wasn’t easy.
He topped off the mutagen vials with fresh ice and pushed them back under his bed. Even after Lock woke up and rushed out of the apartment, Emmett tried to keep from fixating on the vials—
There wasn’t any poin...
2023-03-16 14:45:12 +0000 UTC View PostClara had found her father in the hub of section 006—the biomedical wing—staring intently at a cluster of monitors. He didn’t so much as turn when she entered.
“I have a lead,” she said.
“A lead on what?”
“Porcelain.”
Her father still hadn’t responded b...
2023-03-15 16:43:00 +0000 UTC View PostLock woke up Saturday afternoon to the sun peeking through a crack in the curtains. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and sat on the edge of the bed. He winced at the headache and massaged his temples.
So… he could still catch a hangover—it just took him three bottles of rum now instea...
2023-03-15 13:50:02 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett jogged the rest of the way to his apartment, hoping that he looked completely normal—like a guy out for a jog at 11 o’clock at night.
Even though jogging was easier than it had ever been, Emmett’s heart was racing the entire way home. By the time he got to the Woods apartments ...
2023-03-14 20:51:14 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett took a minute to stash his phone and wallet on the roof of a nearby coffee shop, hiding it in a crevice of the air conditioning unit. Then he backtracked to the warehouse roof, keeping an eye out for any guards as he leaped across the rooftops.
While Emmett and Athena waited, crouche...
2023-03-14 12:04:16 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett took his time walking down the hallway to the training hub. His right arm still ached from the first time he tried punching Clara’s fiery robot. Now the rest of his body ached too: It felt like he’d spent the last hours of the evening running for his life and getting burned al...
2023-03-13 20:34:33 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett spent the rest of Friday evening in the Gray Room, struggling to find a difference between running and fighting.
Emmett still didn’t like running.
He blamed it on reading too many comics and watching too much anime. There was nothing heroic about running from a fight.
It had only been a week since Emmett had gotten his new body and powers, and it was only getting harder to pay attention in his classes.
He spent most of engineering and machine design classes doodling in the margins of his notebooks: Mostly mod ideas for his arm.
Venture had said tha...
2023-03-12 23:38:20 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett rode the bus back to Eastside and spent the rest of Thursday evening trying his hardest to work on classwork and not get distracted by superhero stuff.
It mostly worked.
He caught up on the readings and discussions he had to finish—weekly busywork. Then he worked on his final...
2023-03-12 18:08:48 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett napped on the bus to class and then dozed off again on the bus to the lab. He’d done homework until almost three in the morning before he finally gave up and went to sleep.
His older brother Darryl used to say that as he got older, it got harder to pull late nights. Emmett hadn’t...
2023-03-12 13:54:07 +0000 UTC View Post[Truck-kun waking up in a strange forest]
Truck-kun’s engine rumbled to life, the revometer visibly trembling. The last thing it remembered was that rogue box truck barreling toward it… Joe’s wide-eyed face through the coffee shop window… The sound of screeching metal and busting gl...
2023-03-12 00:44:54 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett took the bus home Wednesday night.
Part of him wanted to run home across the rooftops of Belport, but his entire body was sore from training in Gray Room. Emmett sat down on an empty seat in the middle of the bus and tried to stretch his legs out without moving them too much—
Lachlan jogged the West End streets of Belport, concentrating on the steady rhythm of his shoes on the pavement.
He went right past Gnosis’s sprawling concrete headquarters, not stopping until he reached a set of unmarked buildings on the far end. To the uninformed, the warehouses probabl...
2023-03-11 18:03:04 +0000 UTC View PostDr. Venture rubbed his eyes and adjusted his glasses.
He’d been watching Clara and Emmett train—
Clara and Emmett.
Venture still wasn’t sure if he was okay with that. Then again, there was still a chance he was getting worried over nothing. A few years ago, Clara ...
2023-03-11 12:08:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter two hours of combat training, the chest cavity of Dr. Venture’s robot opened, and it pulled out the long gray whip.
Emmett’s eyes widened. He’d been so preoccupied with training that he’d forgotten about his mods.
The robot walked over to Emmett and held out the whip.<...
Emmett spent most of Wednesday’s classes alternating between trying to concentrate and staring at the clock on the wall, watching it tick away—
Waiting for his time at the lab—
Waiting until he could train in the Gray Room.
Waiting.
Waiting.
By the time hi...
“You can relax,” she said again. “They’re not coming after us.”
Emmett had run another four blocks across the rooftops, and only stopped when they were definitively along the boardwalk and out of the slums.
Clara had flown beside him with her cloaking system engaged. Durin...
Emmett was about to walk out of the lab when Dr. Venture stopped him in the hallway outside of section 003.
Venture stood ominously in front of Emmett, blocking his path. “Before you go, we need to talk.”
Emmett swallowed dryly, wondering if it was related to whatever was eating...
Emmett spent the next two hours chasing after the blue robot.
At first, Emmett had doubts about how much he would enjoy training in the Gray Room, but after the first few minutes Emmett had lost himself in the simulation and in the game—
Which was equal parts amazing and frustrating...
2023-03-10 18:44:11 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett followed Dr. Venture out of section 002 and to the door of section 005, carrying the pile of modifications in his arms. The whip dragged behind him on the ground.
Venture paused at the door, allowing the camera and system to scan him.
Emmett regarded the screen, camera, and spe...
2023-03-10 18:43:53 +0000 UTC View PostEmmett followed Dr. Venture through a sealed door and into the next room of the lab, section 002.
“I’ve laid out several basic modifications for your arm. These are all pieces that would be useful for a new mask.”
Four metal tables pushed together in the center of the room and s...
2023-03-10 18:43:38 +0000 UTC View Post“You didn’t let me finish telling you about your new body.”
It was Tuesday, and the day had dragged on while Emmett waited for the afternoon to get there.
He was finally standing back in the lab, back in section 006—the same white hospital-like section he’d woken up in a few...
2023-03-10 18:42:53 +0000 UTC View Post[Montage accompanies opening Narration]
What is a truck?
Is it more than the sum of its parts? More than its frame, its cab and wheels? More than its ability to haul boxes and freight?
Is it more than just a truck when it's transporting life saving medicine, or hauling ...
2023-03-10 18:42:41 +0000 UTC View PostThat evening, Emmett finished his commute home in minutes, running across the rooftops and then jogging through the Woods apartments to his block.
He felt like his head was swimming—this time in a good way. He was elated, curious, and apprehensive, and again the feeling of standing on the...
2023-03-10 18:42:27 +0000 UTC View Post