Line #13 Literature/SkyeEmeryBluebird


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bluebird_header_0.png]]
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3	''Skye Emery: Bluebird'' - consisting of ''Singularity'' and ''Blue Skye Rising'' - is a series of superhero [[WebSerialNovel web novels]] written by Marc Quill. First published in 2016, the series centers on the superhuman Skye Emery and her struggles to expose a conspiracy that's targeted her for mysterious reasons.
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5	''Singularity'' begins Skye's story as she's found herself on the streets of Toronto with no memories of her past and a set of superpowers that she has no idea of how she got them. Soon, she encounters Finch "Finn" Finwick, a gay youth who immediately decides to help Skye in discovering an expansive conspiracy that may also hold the key to her past. Along the way, they encounter a young superhuman named Ava Lorenz, who quickly joins in on the search for the truth.
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7	''Blue Skye Rising'', the sequel to ''Singularity'', continues Skye, Ava, and Finn's story as they not only have to contend with a brand new conspiracy that's got its eye on global domination, but the fame that comes with being Toronto's newest superheroes.
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9	You can read both stories [[http://blueskyerising.wordpress.com here]].
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12	!!''Skye Emery: Bluebird'' provides examples of:
13	* ActionGirl: The Bluebird is the definitive example in the series, though [[spoiler:her adopted younger sister]] Ava Lorenz is no slouch in this category herself.
14	* AdaptationExpansion: Both stories can be technically considered this, on the basis of Skye Emery originally starting out as Ramona Skye, a generic punkish-looking created wrestler that Quill made in ''WWE 2K16''. A lot of the elements seen in ''Singularity'' & ''Blue Skye Rising'' were added to expand upon an originally-generic character concept.
15	* AlphabetNewsNetwork: The [=TriDyne=]-owned USNN in ''Blue Skye Rising'', which presumably stands for "United States News Network".
16	* AllThereInTheManual: The official site for the novels also feature additional profiles, a timeline of events, and even a map -- all of which further detail certain events not covered by ''Singularity'' or ''Blue Skye Rising''.
17	* AlliterativeName: Skye's friend Finch "Finn" Finwick, as well as Toronto Mayor Miguel Morales, and Dr. Elizabeth Emery.
18	* ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes: Most of SDI's soldiers all wear combat armor, whereas Skye and her friends are completely unarmored.
19	* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: The first chapter of ''Singularity #8'' ("Undaunted") [[spoiler:largely takes place inside the mind of a near-death and comatose Skye. While she encounters manifestations of her younger self and Dr. Elizabeth Emery, Skye ends up having to fight a version of herself that represents SDI's vision for her as a Project Singularity super-soldier. Skye wins this showdown by ultimately admitting that while she can't change what she is, she can always work to become the best of who she is.]]
20	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Given the nature of Skye's healing abilities, this is averted on several occasions, as it's shown that Skye can suffer injuries that will just be healed up.
21	* BigBad:
22	** Gerald Selfridge, the CEO of SDI Genomics, serves as this in ''Singularity''.
23	** For ''Blue Skye Rising'', Jacqueline Quincannon and The Conglomerate fill this role.
24	* BigBadWannabe: Oscar Hellinger and Roland Rycroft from "Credibility Gap" seem to think that they're criminal masterminds after apparently succeeding in turning the city of Toronto against Skye with their plan to use a neo-Nazi impostor to frame her. Once Skye gets wind of their activities and stops them, everything quickly falls apart for Hellinger and Rycroft. By the end of the story, the former's arrested for his crimes and the latter is killed by the Conglomerate for his failures.
25	* BlueIsHeroic: By the beginning of the appropriately-named ''Blue Skye Rising'', blue becomes a colour synonymous with Skye, representing her kindhearted nature. She starts wearing an intricately-designed superhero costume that's mostly blue (save for the ChestInsignia, which is a red maple leaf), as well as adopting "Bluebird" as her superhero name.
26	* TheCape: Skye gradually grows into this role through the course of discovering her past, ultimately fully embracing it by the start of ''Blue Skye Rising''.
27	* CasualDangerDialog:
28	** "Unbreakable", the penultimate issue of ''Singularity'' has Skye literally giving romantic advice to Finn while beating down scores of SDI mooks.
29	* CityOfAdventure: The action takes place almost entirely in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, with the exception of the final two issues of ''Singularity'', which take place inside SDI's Base Alpha near Georgian Bay.
30	* CoolBike: Skye's Bluestorm motorcycle, originally hijacked from a mercenary she stopped.
31	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Villainous characters Gerald Selfridge & Jacqueline Quincannon, though it's more overt with the latter.
32	* CorruptPolitician: Senator Joseph Rosenthal, a politician under the employ of the Conglomerate. It's implied that there's more in the United States Congress who are a part of the organization.
33	* CriminalAmnesiac: [[spoiler:After having her memories wiped clean, Skye is manipulated by Gerald Selfridge to believe that she's under SDI's control as Subject SK-591. Luckily, she's able to regain her memories through sheer willpower.]]
34	* {{Deuteragonist}}: Finch "Finn" Finwick, Skye's best friend and most trusted confidante.
35	* DownerEnding: Vol. 2 of ''Singularity'' ("Profectus in Virtute") doesn't shy around having things not ending well for our heroes, with Issues #5 and #7 having this kind of ending:
36	** Issue #5 ("Falling Upwards") [[spoiler:ends with Finn arrested after being framed for killing Isaac Ellerton, as well as Skye having her memories completely overwritten and now being reprogrammed to serve SDI.]]
37	** Issue #7 ("Unbreakable") [[spoiler:ends with Skye dead and Selfridge sending his Genetic Extractors to take her corpse to complete Project Singularity.]]
38	* DrivingQuestion: What is Project Singularity and what does it have to do with Skye? [[spoiler:As it turns out, everything. The Project was a failed SDI-financed initiative designed to create so-called "perfect" humans with the intent of having them cure life-threatening illnesses. It failed due to SDI CEO Gerald Selfridge corrupting it for his own means, and the Canadian government shutting it down due to illegal activities. So how does Skye figure into this? She's actually the first and only true success of Project Singularity, liberated from SDI by Dr. Elizabeth Emery in 1995.]]
39	* ElevatorActionSequence: "Unbreakable" has Skye, Ava, and Finn laying the smackdown on an elevator filled with SDI thugs.
40	* EpunymousTitle: ''Blue '''Skye''' Rising'', the sequel to ''Singularity'' starring Skye Emery.
41	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
42	** Skye Emery
43	*** ''Singularity'' #1 opens with Skye surviving a truck colliding with her head-on, no-selling the truck driver punching her in the face, then even helping said driver.
44	** Finch "Finn" Finwick
45	*** Even when outmatched by a more physically-stronger opponent attacking his best friend Leo, Finn's response to them? "That all you got?" That moment shows Finn's fearlessness and desire to stand up for his friends, no matter what the odds may be.
46	* EvilKnockoff: The Canadian Freedom Militia's fake Skye [[spoiler:(in actuality, disgraced Toronto Police constable Renata Brooks)]], who they created in order to destroy the real Skye's reputation.
47	* ExpansionPackPast: The large gaps in the events of Skye's life from her creation in 1995 to her arrival in Toronto in 2016 allow for quite a few interesting events to have happened between those two points. [[spoiler:The fact that it's largely shrouded in fractured memories due to amnesia caused by incomplete Project Singularity conditioning certainly helps, too.]]
48	* FightingFromTheInside: In "Unraveling", [[spoiler:Skye's memories of her friends is enough for her to gradually break free of Selfridge's programming, even as she's been deeply reprogrammed as Subject SK-591.]]
49	* FriendshipMoment: ''Singularity'' #4 has a moment where Skye tells Finn how much she appreciates his presence in her life, even after about a week or so of knowing him.
50	* GenreShift: ''Blue Skye Rising'' adds in more superheroic elements on top of the conspiracy-based plots of ''Singularity''.
51	* GoodFeelsGood: Seems to be Skye's motivation for being a hero for the city of Toronto [[spoiler:on top of trying to live up to her surrogate mother's legacy]]. She even explicitly says as much in "Credibility Gap" when talking about protecting the innocent against evil forces.
52	* HeroicBSOD: Skye is understandably suffering mentally after [[spoiler:she nearly kills Finn while unknowingly under her latent Project Singularity programming.]]
53	* TheHeroDies: ''Singularity'' #7 ends with [[spoiler:Skye sacrificing her own life to save Ava from a massive SDI super-weapon. In the next issue, she recovers from these fatal wounds and is back fighting.]]
54	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:''Singularity'' #7 ends with the massive Super-Soldier Omega apparently killing Skye by stabbing her through the chest with a bifurcated blade. She gets better.]]
55	* KarmicDeath: In ''Singularity'' #8, [[spoiler:Gerald Selfridge, who has been plotting to resurrect Project Singularity by trying to hunt Skye down, dies while crushed by the Singularity super-soldier chambers.]]
56	* LightEmUp: Ava's superpowers, which usually activate whenever her friends are in danger.
57	* MentalWorld: The final issue of ''Singularity'' gives us a glimpse of Skye's mind as [[spoiler:she recovers from being killed by Super-Soldier Omega. It largely is comprised of whatever memories she has of her past and her hopes and fears made manifest.]]
58	* MirrorMatch:
59	** ''Singularity'' #8 features Skye fighting a warped, demonic copy inside her head.
60	** "Credibility Gap" has Skye taking on a duplicate version of herself recruited by a neo-Nazi terrorist group to destroy her credibility in their name. Unlike most examples, Skye easily defeats her doppelganger and exposes her lies in short order.
61	* MuggedForDisguise: After escaping SDI captivity, Skye does this in "Unbreakable" as she takes out a SDI guard and pretends to be them in order to rescue Ava & Finn.
62	* MythologyGag: In "Missing Persons Case", Skye adopts "Ramona Stevens" as a fake name to disguise herself as a Health Canada inspector. She originally was a created wrestler in ''WWE 2K16'' by the name of "Ramona Skye" before having everything changed about her.
63	* NebulousEvilOrganisation: The appropriately-named Conglomerate from ''Blue Skye Rising'', a secret cabal of several influential figures both from industry and politics with their eye on manipulating global events in their favor.
64	* NewOldFlame: "Credibility Gap" & "Flight of the Bluebird" introduce Zaida Khan, a young Muslim girl who Skye had a crush on way back in 2009. She subsequently rekindles this relationship with Skye in these two stories, joining the supporting cast.
65	* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Selfridge deciding to reveal [[spoiler:what he's doing to Finn to a captive and subservient Skye, outlining his plans for the reborn Project Singularity. Just the sight of seeing her friend in grave danger is enough for Skye to break free of SDI's programming and rebel against them.]]
66	* NoodleIncident: A lot of Skye's activities prior to "Singularity" are mentioned on an official timeline, but aren't told in greater detail.
67	* OfficialCouple: Finn & Stephen O'Day. Their impending wedding even becomes the secondary plot in ''Blue Skye Rising''. There's also Skye and her girlfriend Zaida Khan.
68	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Initially, it's never made clear if "Skye" is her real name. It's not helped by the fact that she's got little-to-no memories of her past. [[spoiler:Ultimately, it does turn out to be the closest thing she's got to a legal name, thanks to Dr. Emery giving Skye her name when she was a baby.]]
69	* OrwellianRetcon: There have been several edits to past issues of ''Singularity'', mainly to tone down the language to make it less R-Rated and more PG-13.
70	* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Dr. Elizabeth Emery, Skye's mother-slash-creator, apparently disappeared without a trace when she was six years old for an unknown reason.]]
71	* PedestrianCrushesCar: ''Singularity'' #1's first scene opens with Skye surviving a truck running into her. While she's unharmed, the truck ends up getting dismantled into a wreck.
72	* PompousPoliticalPundit: USNN host Tom O'Callahan, the host of the eponymous "The O'Callahan Briefing", who we're introduced to in ''Blue Skye Rising'' #2. He's said to be a hardline version of this who frequently rails on whoever he feels is "destroying America", as well as someone who's very preferential towards [=TriDyne=] CEO Jacqueline Quincannon.
73	* PoweredArmor: [[spoiler:Gerald Selfridge wears one in ''Singularity'' #8 to fight Skye, Ava, and Finn.]]
74	* ProtagonistTitle: ''Blue Skye Rising'', named for main character Skye Emery.
75	* PsychoElectro: Patient A-001 from "Missing Persons Case", who uses electric-based attacks as his primary form of offense.
76	* ReverseCerebusSyndrome: The story begins as a tense conspiracy thriller set in a world of superpowers, before gradually becoming more of a superhero story by the start of ''Blue Skye Rising'' (while still keeping some conspiracy elements). This fittingly coincides with Skye's transformation into a full-blown superhero.
77	* SecretPublicIdentity: Skye is simply just publicly known by her given name, though she's adopted "Bluebird" as a personal codename between her and her friends.
78	* SequelHook: ''Singularity'' concludes [[spoiler:with [=TriDyne=] CEO Jacqueline Quincannon discussing something about a "Conglomerate" to help pick up where SDI left off with Project Singularity. Meanwhile, Skye and her newly-adopted sister Ava begin to figure out what happens now -- especially with Skye apparently becoming Toronto's superheroine thanks to the Singularity debacle.]]
79	* ShutUpHannibal:
80	** Skye cuts off the superpowered Patient A-001 in the middle of a villain speech in "Missing Persons Case" by literally ripping away at her foe's metallic armor bit by bit.
81	** In "Undaunted", [[spoiler:even as she's recovering from a near-fatal stab through the chest, Skye manages to do this in her mind, this time stomping on a disembodied head that took on her face to taunt her.]]
82	** Later, in that same issue, Team Blue Skye collectively shut Selfridge up as he's taunting Skye about having Ava help her in fights.
83	** When faced with a doppelganger hired by a neo-Nazi terrorist organization in "Credibility Gap", Skye simply shuts her down at every turn, culminating in the following:
84	-->'''Skye:''' You've failed to impersonate me and you'll fail to beat me... so just get this over with, and we can skip to the part where I haul your racist ass to jail.
85	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Both stories have their feet firmly planted on the "idealistic" side of the scale, with a strong emphasis on heroes (for all their faults and quirks) doing the right thing and the importance of trust and friendship. All of this also happens to take place in the midst of plots usually revolving exposing expansive evil conspiracies.
86	* StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: [[spoiler:Selfridge attempts to invoke this on Skye after she's beaten him and stopped his plans to resurrect Project Singularity. Skye decides not to oblige him, believing that it's not what Dr. Emery would've wanted for her to do.]]
87	* SuperSoldier: Skye is explicitly identified as one many times throughout ''Singularity'' & ''Blue Skye Rising''. [[spoiler: Unsurprising, given that she was essentially designed to be one by SDI before Dr. Emery liberated her.]]
88	* SuperWindowJump: "Singular Focus" features a somewhat tragic version with Skye and Finn attempting to escape SDI soldiers chasing them by leaping from the second floor of Robarts Library. Unfortunately, due to being hit by gunfire, Finn ends up taking the worst of it, even with Skye using herself as a cushion for their fall.
89	* SuperhumanTransfusion: In order to save Finn's life in "Singular Focus", Skye decides to give some of her blood to her friend, which heals Finn gradually. WordOfGod states that the healing abilities are temporary, disappearing once someone exposed to Skye's blood is fully healed. Also, they don't give the person undergoing the transfusion any permanent superpowers.
90	* TokenTrio: The heroic trio of Skye (white lesbian female), Finn (Jamaican-Canadian gay male), and Ava (Portuguese teenage girl).
91	* TitleIn: Used frequently to denote scenery changes.
92	* TrueCompanions: By the end of ''Singularity'' Skye, Ava, & Finn grow to become this. It's noted numerous times how the trio have become a makeshift family, able to weather any storm no matter what.
93	* TwoLinesNoWaiting: ''Blue Skye Rising'' features Skye & Ava on the trail of the Conglomerate's conspiracy as the A-Plot, while Finn planning for his wedding with Stephen while cheering him on in the AHL Playoffs forms the B-Plot.
94	* TheUnmasquedWorld: Before the events of ''Singularity'', having a literal superhuman roaming around is literally treated as an urban legend for most people. By the time ''Blue Skye Rising'' begins, Skye's existence (and very public displays of her superpowers) have turned her into a local icon in Toronto.
95	* VillainousBreakdown:
96	** Gerald Selfridge absolutely snaps after [[spoiler:Skye repeatedly overcomes everything he throws at her, culminating in him using a suit of powered armor to take on Skye and her friends after they defeat his squadron of Genetic Extractors.]]
97	** The fake neo-Nazi Skye from "Credibility Gap" increasingly loses her composure after her ruse is exposed by the real Skye and Torontonians. Actual!Skye even lampshades the idea of bad guys breaking down after taking her on.
98	-->'''Skye:''' That tends to happen a lot to villains who think they can win against me.
99	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [=TriDyne=] CEO Jacqueline Quincannon is viewed by most Americans as a proud patriot serving her country. In reality, she's one of the heads of a secretive cabal that wants to rule America by force.
100	* WeNeedADistraction: In ''Blue Skye Rising'' #1 ("Politics for Fun & Profit"), Skye uses a well-timed distraction by way of playing music by Drake on her cellphone to save a Secret Service agent from being killed by Conglomerate agents.
101	* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "Unraveling" almost extensively explores the backstory behind Dr. Elizabeth Emery and how she played a role in Skye's creation back in 1995, though there are also scenes set in the present.
102	* WorfHadTheFlu: Selfridge's Genetic Extractors are only able to defeat Skye whenever she has her powers removed. When Skye has her powers fully restored, though? It doesn't end well for the Extractors.
103	* YouAreNumberSix: Skye is originally designated as [[spoiler:Project Singularity Subject SK-591]].

Context Literature / SkyeEmeryBluebird