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With prose and illustrations, visual fiction is my idle imagination at work. Try one!

120 pounds of composite armor and dense electronics surrounding his body felt rather weightless, Luke Veronus often thought. Volunteering himself with his father’s assurance to openly test the most advanced flight-capable exoskeleton project ever conceived of by the VerTaK Corporation, he mastered reaction times that could make his video gaming friends quiver and many fighter pilots scoff with envy. But his very nature never let that job interfere with the most important things in his life: art, friends, family, and God. A college-bound student who hoped to excel in all things metallurgy, he envisioned creating elaborate steel works as easily as he stealthily executed Immelmans around the Philadelphia skyline.

But military powered armor prowess and material mastery became an impassable test when his father James, part-time sculptor and veteran employee at VerTaK, died from a testing accident one year ago. Struck with incredible grief that not even Gilles Malone could console, Luke resorted to his Christian upbringing to overcome the loss. This was without additional troubles looming, though: the corporation soon broke into two independent branches, East and West, conflicted over seemingly-trivial matters on testing methods. Of course, Luke knew which side he’d continue working with: the one James always felt better-situated in the City of Brotherly Love. Later problems worsened when a VerTaK West combat mech, URWST-105-2, was sent to kill Luke on more than one night – only to absentmindedly fall into his possession, letting him retrain the sentient machine as his own. And what were these excessively-powerful experimental weapons showing up at his doorstep one day, alongside “secret” e-mails from VerTaK East containing directions on how to use them? His father’s administration still has competent, responsible individuals, right? He began doubting that…

On traveling, discovery, and unlikely bonds, this short story brings together Luke, Gilles, and URWST-105-2 for a roadtrip across the United States to pin a message on the headquarters of the once-prolific Vertical Tactical Kinetics Corporation. But as common sense failed them just once more, it’s not the destination that counts, but the journey itself.

Characters:

Luke Veronus
Gilles Malone
URWST-105-2
Dr. Marcus Wright

Chapters:

Prelude
Chapter 1