Yes, it’s not a "problem” per say, and I generally try not to slag off on stuff that doesn’t really do it for me. I only mentioned it because I was so enamored with the proceedings up to that point, then suddenly they have a machine that can completely remake a person inside and out. It brought on a sense of dread that theyhe had achieved total victory, which might spell the end of delicious dramatic tension. Perhaps an irrational fear, but OP equipment necessarily complicates the telling of a compelling narrative. I realize the next two chapters are already written and I’m just armchair editorializing, but felt I should qualify my previous statement.
Regardless, I remain very much into the tone of the story and all the little things you’re doing along the way. Very effective stuff.
I think all of that's pretty valid. Bimbeau and Candace both, in their own ways, have plenty of defeats ahead of them, less so in this story, more in the ongoing arcs. I'm currently working on a story that's some jumps ahead in-setting (it takes place in 2010, not 2005) entitled
Kara Kraft and the Serpent's Kiss.
On the whole, my thinking on the setting is that bad guys might win out sometimes, but being bad doesn't, if you get me; if this was a novel I'd call the entirety of The Corruption prologue. In the pulp/supers tone that the setting will be letting us in on over time, I call it an origin story.
But if I push on along that line of thought much longer, I'll start giving actual spoilers...