SamuelFlemingBooks

Chapter 1.2.13 — Lock 7

The Dionysus Club pulsed with music and strobe lights. The dance floor in the center pit undulated like waves, while other patrons watched from the bar or from tables and chairs around the outside. All around was a bastardized mix of industrial décor, purple neon, and palm trees.

Lock prow...

Full Throttle Heart — 4 — A Big World

[Theme Song — “Hātofurusurottoru” by Gunpowder Audition — Full Throttle Heart, season 1]

[Montage of Truck-kun fighting the Undead Legions of Liquid Shadow]

We spend our days dreaming

Stirring in our sleep

Chapter 1.2.12 — Evasion Successful

“Evasion successful,” TINA announced.

Within the cocoon of the Fast-Response Drone, Emmett breathed a sigh of relief. The rumbling around him slowed as the drone entered the tunnels beneath Belport. Soon it stopped and opened up on the catwalk of the armory. Emmett hopped out a...

Chapter 1.2.11 — Serenity 2

Serenity flew back to Summit station number three, an unmarked mid-sized office building on the upper end of Belport’s Eastside. She didn’t know if Hunter was behind her. She didn’t really care.

She needed to meet with her superior officer.

Even as Serenity flew, she was reachin...

Chapter 1.2.10 — Summit of Heroes / Serenity 1

Emmett stood frozen, staring out the window at the cape hovering just outside.

Clara didn’t lower her weapons. “State your names first.”

A second shadow rose up beside the first, and Emmett thought he heard a man scoff. But the woman outside replied, “My name is Serenity and�...

Chapter 1.2.9 — Better Already

The surgery on Emmett’s arm took a little over half an hour.

Even though Dr. Venture hadn’t mentioned any risks to his prosthetic, Emmett was still anxious when the metal sheathing was reattached and the pain blocking diodes were removed. He wasn’t fully convinced until both he and Ve...

Chapter 1.2.8 — Minor Surgery

Between Emmett’s excitement for his quick-connect system and his senioritis, Emmett’s Friday classes positively dragged. It took all his willpower to focus on his lectures that morning.

‘Just two more months’ had become Emmett’s mantra.

Life after college would be a...

Chapter 1.2.7 — Lock 6

Lachlan had been ready for a quiet Thursday night in when he got the text:

UNKNOWN 10:36 PM: Immediate assignment. Report to testing ground.

So much for that.

~

Lock jogged the West End streets of Belport, past Gnosis’s sprawling headquarters, ...

Chapter 1.2.6 — Swapping Mods

Venture brought out two more modifications. The first was a thin metal box a little under a foot long and the second was a short cylinder. Emmett recognized them immediately as the impact shield and the concealable pistol. Venture set them on the table, and Emmett tried to hide his unease at the ...

Chapter 1.2.5 — Actual Choices

Emmett and Clara met Dr. Venture in the biolab—section 006. Compared to the rest of the bunker-like aesthetic of the lab, the biolab looked almost like a hospital room. Except that the sterile white walls of the room were almost completely hidden by a jungle of empty glass tanks and tubes of bu...

Chapter 1.2.4 — Options

Emmett walked out through the last corridor by himself.

A few twists and turns later, he stepped out into a large, cavernous room. Darkness receded as he entered, light emanating from the square tiles that covered the walls, floor, and ceiling. Each changed color, giving the impression of a...

Chapter 1.2.3 — Priorities

On Thursday morning, Emmett hit the snooze twice on his alarm. By the time Emmett actually got up for class, he was running late. He grabbed a granola bar and his backpack.

He did so quietly, so he didn’t wake up his roommate. Lock must’ve gotten in late last night.

Emmett sighed....

Chapter 1.2.2 — Another Day, Another Score

Athena used her forcefields to smash the van and the remaining crates. Then Emmett followed her back up to the roofs, using her invisible platforms instead of his broken whip.

They sprinted away from the scene across the skyline of Belport. Despite their blistering pace, Emmett kept both ha...

Chapter 1.2.1 — Mutagen Bust

The sun was setting over the skyline of Belport, and superheroes were running across the roofs.

Emmett Laraway was one of them.

Emmett ran across the rooftops, leaping across alleys with superhuman agility. Even now, Mutagen-A was changing his cells, making his bones denser, his muscl...

Chapter 1.1.53 — Venture 5 [Part 1 Epilogue]

Dr. Venture leaned on the table of the hub in section 004. He’d given up on work for the day, and was reviewing drone footage from Clara and Emmett’s run in with Porcelain and Lock.

There were several interesting moments, including Lock being affected by Emmett’s noise makers and dis...

Chapter 1.1.52 — Normal-ish

Monday morning classes went alright enough, in that Emmett managed to stay awake for them. Dr. Venture’s reassurance about success at being a super only lasted so long, and multiple times Emmett wished that someone had invented sleep in a bottle.

Lock texted while he was in his f...

Chapter 1.1.51 — Sleep Over

Emmett didn’t go back to the apartment that night. More Fast-Response Drones arrived on scene to evacuate Clara and Emmett and take them back to the lab.

Apparently, their fight had attracted the attention of lower members of the Summit of Heroes. Clara and Emmett had just escaped before ...

Chapter 1.1.50 — Third Party

The double doors burst off their hinges. The force sent the doors cartwheeling across the warehouse’s giant room. They slammed into the opposite wall, half-embedded and sticking out.

Fast-Response Drones shone spotlights through the upper windows, highlighting the lone super. They stood i...

Chapter 1.1.49 — Best Laid Plans

There was a slight lurch as the Fast-Response Drone stopped. The mesh inside loosened around Emmett, and a moment later, the doors opened. Cold night air rushed in, and Emmett grit his teeth.

It took Emmett a moment to get his bearings, but he stepped out onto a roof in the warehouse distri...

Chapter 1.1.48 — Venture 4 / Lock 5

Dr. Venture stared at the wall monitor, watching the view from Clara’s exosuit camera and the view from the Fast-Response Drone intently. It was nearly to Emmett’s apartment and would pick him up momentarily.

“Don’t forget what we discussed,” Venture said.

A moment later, ...

Chapter 1.1.47 — Late Night Rendezvous

By the time they finished the makeup tutorial, it was 3 A.M. Saturday morning. Clara suggested he stay the night in the med-bay, but Emmett wanted nothing more than to get home and sleep in his own bed.

So Clara sent Emmett home with a small bottle of foundation and concealer, as well as ma...

Chapter 1.1.46 — Makeup and Answers

Emmett had no desire to be confined to a hospital bed again. Despite the dull pain all across the front of his body, he sat up on the edge of the bed.

Meanwhile, Clara and Venture stared at him with tired, apprehensive eyes.

Emmett smirked through his bandages. “You know, being a su...

Chapter 1.1.45 — All that We See or Seem

In Emmett’s mind, he’d never left the abandoned warehouse.

There was another flash of light as a duplicate of Porcelain detonated. Emmett managed to cover his face in time, but pain seared the front of his body—his arms and chest. Through the haze of light and dust, he saw circuitry b...

Chapter 1.1.44 — Clara 2

Clara spun around, using a mixture of punches, kicks, and kinetic blasts to dispatch duplicates of Porcelain. Her targeting HUD flashed red in the corners of her vision, alerting her to duplicates trying to strike her from behind.

Meanwhile, Porcelain retaliated with her own punches and kic...

Chapter 1.1.43 — We Just Want to Talk

Emmett sprinted after Clara to the armory, section 004, feeling like his heart was beating in his throat. Not only was he finally getting to go after Porcelain, he was going to see the armory.

Despite his super speed, Emmett felt like he was chasing Clara through a dream, like he was moving...

Chapter 1.1.42 — Keeping Secrets

Emmett and Clara spent the day training in the Gray Room. Any other day, it would’ve been a nice change from the earlier—getting lectured by Dr. Venture about the nature of trust, waiting, and finding answers. The Gray Room should have been cathartic.

It was for one of them, at least. 2023-03-21 19:45:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 1.1.41 — (Not) Superhero 101

Emmett barely slept at all Thursday night. Between everything that happened with Paragon and Amarque’s accident downtown, then talking with mom on the phone, and waiting for Lock to come home, Emmett was a mess.

Emmett heard his roommate finally come home around three in the morning, and...

Full Throttle Heart — 3 — A Small Hero

Truck-kun drove through the dark forest, its tires deftly weaving around trees and over their thick roots. Its headlights pushed aside the oppressive darkness and the rumble of its engine pushed aside the stifling quiet.

It had left the body of the dire bear behind, and tried to do the same...

Chapter 1.1.40 — Like a Child

Paragon. Savior of the World.

His presence alone was enough to send villains running. He was nigh-invincible and his strength was without limit. Fast enough to catch bullets and outrun missiles. His eye rays burned hotter than the center of the sun.

The first time Emmett saw Paragon w...

Chapter 1.1.39 — Round 2, Fight

Emmett managed to push himself up on shaking arms and legs to face his enemies across the alley.

Green Mask leaned against the wall, arms crossed overtop of his dark green tracksuit. “You sure you’re up for this?” the rail-thin man asked his counterpart.

Skull Mask—Zanté—st...