Robert Meta

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 7 - Introductions

“This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League.” Batman said, pacing on the solid concrete floor before turning to face the four younger heroes.

While he talked, I stood alongside M’gann, my back leant against the metal frame of the Justice League’s super secret teleport device, a Zeta-Tube. The machine  was a fairly impressive piece of technology, reproducible super science that was actually around fifty years old. The machine teleported any individual ...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 26 - Friends!

The coffee was decent, though nothing to write home about. I sat at a small circular table with Erik, who was clearly doing a lot better. Ema stood behind me, a hand on the back of my chair. I had barely had my second sip of coffee when we heard a gasp from behind us. We all turned to find a younger woman standing by the back entrance.

“What is the Bowman doing here?” She asked, quickly stepping closer.

“Who?”

“Bowman, you know the guy who was helping in Harlem? Sh...

First addition to the super truck! (Conceptual Deck)

Earlier in the story Carson expressed interest in using the super truck as a place to keep everything, even the kitchen sink. When the Thor ark is over, adding to the truck is something that will be on the docket. What should he focus on and build first (The other things are likely to happen eventually, but later and to a lesser degree)

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 25 - You can’t handle the truth

In the end I didn’t go far. While part of me wanted to go into town and see if I could find Jane Foster,  mostly because I knew Thor would probably stumble into her at some point, I knew someone would absolutely come for the hammer, probably Thor if this was some sort of redemption story.

So instead of seaking Dr. Foster out, I passed the time by helping out around the site, lifting heavy things and using the deck to get everything in place. When I was finally ready to call it a ...

First Book Announcment - Prologue

Hello! This is it everyone! I have decided to give writing a full time shot. My first book, tentatively titled The Lair Divers Tale, is officially underway. My plan at the moment is to release five chapters a month on Patreon, before releasing the final book on here when its done. I will also probably be releasing the final product on Amazon. The process will repeat for the next book, and the next, ad infinitum.

A few points! Please keep in mind the chapters I will be releasing will be ...

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 6 - Training Day

Eventually Toph, or whatever she was, got sick of me staring at her and saying nothing. She kicked her foot forward almost casually and a slab of rock rose under my backside hard enough to launch me to my feet. I couldn't help but yelp at the sudden movement.

“Enough of that slack jawed stuff!” She said. “I was created specifically to help you get better, so that's what we are going to do!”

She turned and walked away, heading for the nearest pile of rocks. Hesitating for a...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 24 - Set up

The flight was largely uneventful. At first Clint and I talked about the finer points of archery, which I felt a bit bad about considering the only reason I could keep up was my archery ring. It passed the time however, and I think I actually learned a thing or two. After that, while Clint talked to the pilot and Ema and Coulson talked about the quarantine and retrieval protocol, I focused on what the next few days might include.

I knew from Ema’s more recent research sessions that Dr...

Inspiration files and a small announcement

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well! I just wanted to make a post about the lack of inspiration files. While I'm not sure about how many people were actually looking at them, I have decided that I would be lowering how often I make them too really only when a chapter calls for it.

I can say that in the next few weeks I have a bit of patreon exclusive content coming out, so look forward to that! 

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 23 - Travel

It didn’t take long to run into our first problem. In fact, it happened at the entrance to the warehouse.

“Are you going to change out of… that?” Fury asked Ema, gesturing to her exosuit. “It’s not exactly inconspicuous.”

I looked at Fury with a raised eyebrow. There was no way Ema was leaving her exosuit, not while we were going into a Shield headquarters, especially not when we were on our way to say hello to Thor.

“It’s my armor, and my weapon.” Ema re...

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 5 - The five D’s

We stood about fifty feet apart in a large open area surrounded by rocks and gravel piles. I adopted a low stance that felt completely natural, while Superboy stood like a someone two steps away from going feral, somehow already angry. I glanced to the side, noticing that Black Canary, Martian Manhunter and M'gann were all watching from a safe distance away. Black Canary looked concerned, as did M’gann. I was starting to think that maybe this was a bad idea. Nevertheless I turned back to Su...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 22 - Leap of faith

It took me several minutes to really get my head started when Ema woke me up, but eventually I was awake enough to go through an abridged version of my morning routine. I took a quick shower while the coffee maker was going and dressed in loose baggy clothes. When we finally left, Ema floating beside me in the truck, the sky was still dark. We drove for a while before I found a place to make the switch to the super truck. From there it was another twenty minutes until we found an abandoned wa...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 21 - Eureka

The metal woman sat on the floor among the broken pieces of my coffee table, looking around as if wondering how she got here. Neither of us made any more sounds until she looked back up at me. Her hair was pulled back, though it lacked individual strands of hair.

“Ema?” I asked after a moment. “That you?”

“Who else would it be?” She asked, still no expression on her face. “You saw me connect to this, and then saw me changing its default setting.”

“I… I do...

Mettle, Metal, Meddle - Chapter 4 - Work out

Miss Martian, M’gann listened with rapt attention as I described the last few months of my life, as well as the basics of my life before. It was much easier this time, both because M’gann was a much better listener than Batman, and because I was giving the abridged, sanitized version. Even so, when I was done she was still upset.

“What kind of person does that to someone?” She asked, shaking her head. “To violate someone's mind like that, especially someone who couldn't defend...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 20 - Upgraded

I spent a better part of two hours randomly walking around the city, making sure I wasn't being followed. I took the opportunity to contemplate how I would solve the money tracking problem, coming up with a possible solution, even doing some shopping so I could test it when I got back. When I got back to the apartment I let out a sigh of relief and pushed Ema out of her card before heading to the living room. I stripped and carded my deployable armor before putting my casual clothes back on, ...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 20 Inspiration File

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 19 Inpiration File

I made an error and uploaded the previous inspiration file again, this is the correct one. Thank you to the patron who pointed it out!

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 19 - Commissioned

The next few hours were spent giving my new armor pieces the same treatment I had given my new shield. First was figuring out how I wanted my armor to morph, settling on my upper torso armor being kept in my chest and stomach armored pieces while the armor for my lower torso would be kept in the hip pieces and armored belt. When I was done planning everything I made two more super metal sheets and applied it to my under armor. It was one of the most important things I had made so far and I di...

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 3 - Suprise ride

Batman’s interrogation, because that's what it felt like, lasted for a few hours. He asked about my old life, about every detail of my current life in Central City, and everything I knew about my powers. He was particularly interested in what could be learned from the super soldier serum, and whether it could be copied from my blood. I explained that technically it could, but it required a special type of radiation exposure to be fully effective and safe. Further it's not a simple extractio...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 18 Inspiration file

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 18 - Easy come, easy go

The next few days were filled with slow but exciting progress. When I woke up the next morning I was greeted by an absolutely pristine black motorcycle with a brand new key in the ignition. It took me and Ema a couple of hours to take a few pictures outside, then use those images to set up a craigslist post for about half what it was actually worth. I was hoping that selling a motorcycle worth twelve grand for six and acting like I had no idea what I was selling would keep questions to a mini...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 17 - First step

It took a few minutes for my companions to recover enough to talk. By then Agent Coulson had whittled down his old knife to nothing and Clint was looking mildly disappointed that even when the blade was out he couldn't cut anything with it.

“How difficult are things like this to make?” Agent Coulson asked eventually, folding the knife away and putting it in his suit. “How much would you charge?”

“Unfortunately it is impossible to predict. For new things I me...

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 2 - Wake up call

The slow steady beep of an EKG machine, as well as slow and steady breathing were the only sounds in the private hospital room. Suddenly the door opened and three individuals entered. The first was a doctor, followed by two men dressed in costumed outfits. One man was in a red suit with yellow accents, while the other was  black and gray suit, a long black cape on his back. The doctor seemed nervous but spoke anyway, focusing on his clipboard.

“His metabolism is elevated, anythin...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 16 Inspiration File

Just a warning, this one is very light as this is a dialogue heavy chapter.

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 16 - Bearing gifts

Clint chuckled and patted the suited man's shoulder, who’s only reaction was a small smile and a subtle nod.

“Well you know, it needed a bit of spring cleaning.” He replied with a smirk, reaching over the table.

I reached over as well, shaking his hand. After a moment I offered my hand to the other person. After a moment he shook it as well, his grip firm and steady. He was an unassuming man who had a cool confidence about him while still appearing so… normal.

“I a...

Hello Everyone! Quick detail about Chapter 15

When Chapter 15 - Preparation is posted normally it will contain a little blurb at the bottom that explains I am stretching out the normal time line just a bit. I'm worried that more information would lead to spoilers, so I'm keeping it basic and informing you that what is normally a week is being stretched out to a few weeks. I apologize for not including that here.  And thank you to the patron who pointed this out/reminded me!

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 15 Inspiration file

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 15 - Preperation

I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far, let me know what you think!

Edit: I got a request to post the chapter in the actual post, rather than just an attached PDF. I'm giving it a shot but no promises on it becoming a regular thing.

New York City - Local Shield Headquarters - Armory

“I didn’t know what else to tell him.” Clint explained as he slowly disassembled his bow. “The intel was way off. I had to improvise.”

“Understanda...

What fighting style/weapon should Carson eventually use?

So eventually Carson is going to realize he needs a primary weapon and fighting style, pick which one you want.  (Keep in mind this wont be his only weapon, just the one he spends the most time making and using. )

Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 1 - Origin Story

This is the first chapter of a new story I will be releasing along side The Conceptual Deck. The plan is to post a chapter every Wednesday, with the caveat that if life gets busy, like I finally find a job or anything else then it would be the first thing that gets put on pause. Patrons would of course get it a week early,  as well as occasional polls to decide story beats for third tier patrons. The first chapter is a bit of a whirlwind but it calms down afterwards. Let me know what you...

The Conceptual Deck - Chapter 14 - Joyride

Here is the next chapter everyone, I hope you all enjoy it! No inspiration file this update either, there just wasn't much point this chapter