[The Atomic Punk]

@Jeimuzu: Thank you. I designed Chickadee for the Character Challenge. Didn’t give much thought to her origin or actual powers. Probably something magic-based as I often use green energy to represent the supernatural and psychic. I have added her to my meta-verse.

@H@RLEK(!)N: And thank you. I have not been satisfied enough with the actual story to post it. How Elizabeth went from Hungarian royalty to Empress of a solar system would be the first book. It would be an expanding universe over several books after that! As for Erzsé and Rebecka, yes, I have more ideas for them. They are also going through re-writes.

[The Atomic Punk]

Inspiring use of items! Has a definite “Stargate” vibe. But that by no means takes away from the sleek contours.

[The Atomic Punk]

Thunder

[The Atomic Punk]

Concluding the Three-Part Introduction of Hothead.

HOTHEAD: Chapter 3
Original Character by WMDBASSPLAYER; Story by The Atomic Punk

General Bettis paced around the glass “nursery.” Inside, a lizard-like creature the size of a rat was flying frantically, occasionally bumping into the transparent walls. Now and then it would spit fire at its captors. The General turned to the three civilians.

“Impressive, but why is it so damn small?” scowled the General.

Professor Sumner put on her glasses and grabbed her laptop. She went to show the General the various procedures that went into creating the new species. General Bettis ignored her. He nodded to University President Carlsbad and the two exited the laboratory.

Gary stepped to Professor Sumner’s side, “Why are we working on this project, again? So we can create new life that the military will use to kill?”

Sumner glared at her assistant, “You and the high horse you rode in on, Gary. Military-funding has advanced technology for decades.”

She turned her attention back to the creature in the nursery. Jinx continued to bang into the walls and spit fire. It was obvious that he wanted out. Feeling confident that the nursery and lab were secure, Sumner and Gary went to lunch. The young idealist wanted to debate ethics. Professor Sumner wanted a chicken sandwich. Finally, she relented a little.

Sumner explained to Gary that Project: Hothead was to create an artificial intelligence that could infiltrate enemy facilities and detonate itself. Literally, it was a walking bomb. The nanochip brain was programmed so Hothead could make tactical decisions and be elusive. That’s how she was able to escape. Sumner was convinced that the trash can fire was a diversion not an accident. In fact, there had been no sign of Hothead for months.

That is until one day, there was a house fire near the campus. All five members of the family escaped including two dogs. Local news interviewed the survivors. They all spoke of a tiny angel who flew into their home and absorbed most of the flames. Then she motioned for the family to follow her out of the house, which they did.

Professor Sumner took note. Hothead seemed to act contrary to her programmed suicide mission. General Bettis and President Carlsbad had many questions for Sumner. There had been no real progress with the tiny “firebird” that Gary named Jinx. It stayed in the nursery, continuing to bang the walls and spit fire. There was no nanochip brain. Gary’s expertise helped link the amino acid chains but the result was a wild animal.

General Bettis and President Carlsbad were in the laboratory waiting for Sumner’s latest test results and progress report. The three, and Gary, were discussing options for another experiment. Bettis demanded a new nanochip. Carlsbad wanted faster results. Gary wanted “peaceful uses” for the project as demonstrated by Hothead’s rescue. Sumner wanted another chicken sandwich.

The firebird continued to bang the walls. Suddenly, he stopped. This caused the four to stop arguing. There was a calm silence. They looked into the nursery where Jinx was sitting on the floor. He made a loud clucking noise almost like a chicken. His eyes looked over the humans toward the ceiling. Gary turned his head. Inside the vent, there was a soft glow as if something was on fire. A soft coo could be heard from the vent. Jinx replied with his own coo.

Suddenly, the grate blew off the vent and out flew Hothead. She was engulfed in flames. She circled the glass enclosure several times, buzzing between the startled humans while doing so. General Bettis tried to grab her from the air but he burned his hands doing so. In seeming frustration, Hothead landed on the floor then began to push against the glass. The intensity of her heat was melting a hole in the cage. Jinx rushed to meet her and began spewing a stream of fire in the same area.

Just as the hole opened, Jinx quit the nursery. In the meantime, Carlsbad had found the fire extinguisher, He sprayed Hothead and the firebird. Fire alarms blared and the extinguishers began spraying the room. When the cloud from the fire extinguisher dissipated, Hothead and Jinx had disappeared.

General Bettis and President Carlsbad were in disbelief. Simultaneously, they yelled: “Son of a… !”

“Jinx, you owe him a soda,” Professor Sumner said with a laugh.

[The Atomic Punk]

Character Design Contest ♯30- 50 States Of Play

Chickadee: Crime-fighting Flapper from Medford, Massachussetts

Close-up

[The Atomic Punk]

@H@RLEK(!)N: Csodálatos!

I came up with this design for WMDBASSPLAYER’s “Hothead.”

HOTHEAD: Chapter 2
Inspired by WMDBASSPLAYER’s Original Character

Every fire alarm in the building was blaring. The overhead fire extinguishers activated. Professor Sumner cursed herself for being so careless. This was the ultimate failure of Project: Hothead. She darted to her laptop. Hothead’s nanochip “brain” featured a GPS tracker. The search returned no trace.

Gary panicked, “How are we going to find her? Oh, man, what if Carlsbad finds out?”

“I believe that I already have,” said an angry voice behind the assistant.

Gary turned to the lab’s entrance. There stood University President Albert Carlsbad. His normally pressed and crisp suit soaked by the artificial rain.

“Come with me, both of you,” he commanded.

Lydia grabbed her notes and laptop then stuffed them in her travel pack. She slung it over her right shoulder and grabbed Gary’s arm with her left hand. Sumner dragged Gary into the slippery hallway.

The walk across campus was uncomfortably silent. The only thing the scientists could do was follow Carlsbad’s wet, shiny bald head like a beacon. When they reached the University President’s office, Carlsbad politely held the door for them to enter first. He bowed and smiled.

Standing behind Carlsbad’s desk was a military officer. Professor Sumner and Gary flinched when they heard Carlsbad slam the door behind them. Sumner recognized the officer as General Bettis from the nearby army base. The General slammed his fist hard against the desk. Gary could swear that smoke was coming out of his ears.

“Dammit, what happened now?” demanded the General.

Gary was the first to speak, “I’m sorry, sir, you are…”

“Shut up, Gary,” muttered Professor Sumner. “I’ll do the talking.”

“General Bettis, the incubator malfunctioned. It must have surged, causing all the alarms and extinguishers to go off.”

“That’s not what the cameras show,” growled President Carlsbad. “We saw Project: Hothead escape! Where is it?”

Professor Sumner stuttered as she reached for her laptop, “We don’t know… the GPS failed. Look at this reading. The temperature must have short-circuited the nanochip.”

“We’re not abandoning this project. I will personally see to the capture of the rogue experiment,” General Bettis said. “You two will remain on the job. This time no cute little faeries. However, we do want something that can fly. That will increase the versatility of this weapon. You want something from a children’s book? How about… a freaking dragon!”

Gary spoke up, “Wait… weapon… what’s going on?”

General Bettis and President Carlsbad both shouted, “You want off this project?”

“Jinx, you… owe him… a soda,” Professor Sumner injected meekly.

President Carlsbad ordered the scientists to return to the laboratory, help with the clean up, then get back to work. Professor Sumner fumed. Her anger turned into a plan. If the General wants a dragon, a dragon he shall get.

[The Atomic Punk]

Bizam! Those gloves and boots are amazing. And that mask!

[The Atomic Punk]

@CantDraw said:

Holy rain water!

DiCicatriz is well-versed in Aztec religion. Awesome interpretations.

[The Atomic Punk]

The Justices are very sold characters. I like Blind Justice’s helmet and True’s motif.

[The Atomic Punk]

Check along the taskbar / bottom of Chrome. You should see the image export. The file automatically saves to the “Downloads” folder. Select “Open in Folder” to view it. Und, willkommen!

[The Atomic Punk]

Bend

[The Atomic Punk]

@Lightningsword said:
Wait, I thought AP was a female! Blah, whatever. Still awesome either way.

Sigh… only in my head.

Thanks for the promo, ams!

You guys and gals have no idea what a positive outlet HeroMachine is for me. Actually, I’m sure a lot of you do.

[The Atomic Punk]

Squee!

[The Atomic Punk]

Hate to say it… but those Nazis are so cool! Yeah… awkward.

[The Atomic Punk]

Gateway really shows your changes and direction. Or, as we used to say “improvement and progress.” You know what I mean.

He has a very “Dr. Fate” vibe going. And, despite what my brother says, I really enjoy visiting Saint Louis.

[Author]

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