Fic Update Thread: 56th edition

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How was that for disturbing?

Barricade and the Decepticons don't even need to be in robot mode to commit grisly murders.

For further context, aside from Barricade being an "Outside Context Problem" as a science fiction villain, whenever he's shown from the human perspective (such as with poor Kelly here), I tend to write him as a flat-out horror villain. So, he's pulling double duty as a Genre Refugee, being a sci-fi and horror villain (sometimes both) at individual points.

Speaking of Kelly, while I'm not sure on how well I'm doing, one of my goals here is to basically deconstruct her character from the Robots in Disguise 2001 anime. More specifically, her Butt-Monkey/Recurring Extra status in her encounters with the Transformers. In that series, they were all played purely for comedy, especially since most of her encounters were with Autobots who never meant any harm to her. But encounters with the flat out cruel Decepticons, especially a sadist like Barricade?

... yeah, not so funny anymore, is it? Poor woman's developing a pretty bad case of Amaxophobia for her troubles.

I have no idea how well I'm doing on deconstructing that, as intent and execution are two very different things, but I hope I'm doing a decent enough job.

Fun fact, when I was initially planning the final section, it wasn't gonna be located around Berlint General Hospital, but I couldn't figure out where else to put it because (we) don't exactly get a detailed map of Berlint. This does also allow Loid's job to tie into the chapter somewhat and gives us even more of Spy X Family's classic Dramatic Irony, so I think it was a good choice.

As far as bonding with the Sumdacs goes, Yor gets to be a cool aunt/big sister-figure to Sari and connects with Isaac as a parent. Plus, in addition to Yor being casually superhuman, Sari gets to be casually superhuman too. Do be expecting her to show off more of her Techno-Organic nature throughout this short little arc. She probably would've accidentally blasted the SSS officers with an energy ball had Yor not jumped in when she did.

And yeah, we get your unfortunate reminders that Ostania is still very much a police state, that the State Security Service most certainly can (and will) arrest innocent people for the smallest suspicions or pettiest of reasons, and have unchecked authority to get away with it all while no one bats an eye.

Sorry for the notable lack of Loid in the chapter, but when I was planning things, I had a harder time figuring out how to integrate him directly into the events and just decided to have him absent and at work. He'll still appear in this arc, but his role's gonna be minor and rather detached from what his family and the Sumdacs are doing. Plus, while I love all the members of the Forger family, I have the most fun writing Yor and Anya, with Loid kinda being my least favorite of the Forgers to write.

Like I said, I love them all, but those two give me an easier time while Loid's more of a challenge. I think I have a lot more fun writing him from Anya's POV as well since Anya's POV tends to be the most enjoyable for me to work with.