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----
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!!''Heart of Steel'' conatins the following examples:
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[[quoteright:297:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/23213007.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:297:]]
[[caption-width-right:297:]]
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* BeastMan: The half-himan, half-animal chimera minions.
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* BeastMan: The half-himan, half-human, half-animal chimera minions.
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* DontYouLikeIt: Mechanus' initial gifts utterly fail to charm Julia, and by turns confuse and horrify her.
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* DontYouLikeIt: Mechanus' initial gifts utterly fail to charm Julia, and by turns in turn confuse and horrify her.
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commented out zces
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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* BigDamnKiss: After the climactic battle. Overlaps with SmoochOfVictory.
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* BrainComputerInterface[=/=]ElectronicTelepathy: Mechanus has a mental link with his computer network and robot drones built in via the cybernetic implants in his head.
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* BrainComputerInterface[=/=]ElectronicTelepathy: BrainComputerInterface: Mechanus has a mental link with his computer network and robot drones built in via the cybernetic implants in his head.
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* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mechanus, ''constantly''.
* CurbStompBattle: Mechanus Vs. Cyborg Jim, once Mechanus has all his abilities back.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
* CurbStompBattle: Mechanus Vs. Cyborg Jim, once Mechanus has all his abilities back.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
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* GibberishOfLove: Mechanus' reaction in the wake of the AccidentalKiss described above.
* GiveGeeksAChance
* GiveGeeksAChance
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* IChooseToStay: Julia, by the end.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Shark Reef Isle.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Shark Reef Isle.
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* InsistentTerminology: ''Dire'' wolves.
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* LightningGun: The Jovian Stormcaller.
* LimaSyndrome
* LimaSyndrome
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* MadScientist: Explored and PlayedForDrama.
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* AMatchMadeInStockholm
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* NoSocialSkills: Mechanus.
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* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars
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* [[PsychoExGirlfriend Psycho Ex-Boyfriend]]: What Jim turns into, post-cyborging.
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* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
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* ThreateningShark: Scarface, the shark-man.
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* TraumaInducedAmnesia
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* UnwillingRoboticization: Jim.
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* WeCanRebuildHim
* YouAndWhatArmy: Asking Mechanus this proves to be a rather dire mistake.
* YouAndWhatArmy: Asking Mechanus this proves to be a rather dire mistake.
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X Meets Y isn't supposed to get crosswicks.
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* XMeetsY: ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' meets "[[JonathanCoulton Skullcrusher Mountain]]".
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* SheCleansupNicely; happens in both directions:
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* SheCleansupNicely; happens SheCleansupNicely: Happens in both directions:
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** ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic'': One of the robots responds to requests with "By your command".
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** ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic'': ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'': One of the robots responds to requests with "By your command".
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* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Lampshaded when Mechanus reconnects to the network and his physical reaction is compared to a particularly intense orgasm.
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* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Jim's disassembly plays with this a bit.]] Alistair has paralyzed him and cut off his access to the speakers in the room, but Jim mentally screams and rants the entire time, which only Alistair can hear through the neural link.
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* GoryDiscretionShot: Alistair does not watch as [[spoiler:Jim is disassembled by his drones]], but he hears the man's mental pleas and ranting through the neural link they share, and then he looks at the resultant mess with grim satisfaction.
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''Heart of Steel'' is Creator/ElizabethEinspanier's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
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''Heart of Steel'' is Creator/ElizabethEinspanier's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}. Its [[Characters/HeartOfSteel character page]] is under construction.
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* BallsOfSteel: Alistair manages to NoSell a GroinAttack from another cyborg. Justified by an earlier off-hand reference to Alistair being "gone from the hips down" after a traumatic car accident.
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* MundaneMadeAwesome: Mechanus makes the ''hell'' out of a grilled cheese sandwich. Justified in that, considering the lack of dairy animals or grocery stores on the island he has to start with raw milk proteins for his cheese, but played with in that he doesn't consider it anything unusual.
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* MundaneMadeAwesome: MundaneUtility: Mechanus makes the ''hell'' out of a grilled cheese sandwich. Justified in that, considering the lack of dairy animals or grocery stores on the island he has to start with raw milk proteins for his cheese, but played with in that he doesn't consider it anything unusual.
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* BeastMan: The half-himan, half-animal chimeras minions.
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* BeastMan: The half-himan, half-animal chimeras chimera minions.
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* BeastMan: The half-himan, half-animal chimeras minions.
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* HalfHumanHybrid: The chimera minions.
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It is Creator/ElizabethEinspanier's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
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* FantasticRomance: Though not as supernatural as some, having a {{Cyborg}} MadScientist as the hero of a romance certainly counts.
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* TheDulcineaEffect
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* TheDulcineaEffectTheDulcineaEffect: Justified in that Julia is the first human companionship he's had in ten years.
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* BrokenBird: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
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* DarkAndTroubledPast: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
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Julia Parker is an ER doctor currently caught in an unhappy relationship with her thrill-seeking, overbearing boyfriend, Jim Thompson. She didn't want to go scuba diving during their vacation in Hawaii, especially not to a place called Shark Reef Isle.
Alistair Mechanus is a {{cyborg}} MadScientist who has made Shark Reef Isle his home for the past ten years, with no memories of who he was before then, and his only companionship comes in the form of his chimera minions, the robot army he is building to help him take over the world, and an AI named Arthur.
Dr. Mechanus has never been the sort to welcome visitors with open arms, and Shark Reef Isle has been at the center of legends involving monsters and demons for the past ten years, as part of his design to keep intruders away. However, when Jim and Julia are captured during their dive, Mechanus finds himself smitten by the lovely Julia, who reminds him of his previous life, and his plans for world conquest are set aside in favor of trying to charm her in the only ways he knows how--which, unfortunately, do not always mesh with commonly-held ideas of romance.
Things only get more complicated when Jim refuses to let go of Julia, and Mechanus starts suffering intense flashbacks of his tragic past.
Alistair Mechanus is a {{cyborg}} MadScientist who has made Shark Reef Isle his home for the past ten years, with no memories of who he was before then, and his only companionship comes in the form of his chimera minions, the robot army he is building to help him take over the world, and an AI named Arthur.
Dr. Mechanus has never been the sort to welcome visitors with open arms, and Shark Reef Isle has been at the center of legends involving monsters and demons for the past ten years, as part of his design to keep intruders away. However, when Jim and Julia are captured during their dive, Mechanus finds himself smitten by the lovely Julia, who reminds him of his previous life, and his plans for world conquest are set aside in favor of trying to charm her in the only ways he knows how--which, unfortunately, do not always mesh with commonly-held ideas of romance.
Things only get more complicated when Jim refuses to let go of Julia, and Mechanus starts suffering intense flashbacks of his tragic past.
to:
Alistair Mechanus is a {{cyborg}} MadScientist who has made Shark Reef Isle his home for the past ten years, with no memories of who he was before then, and his only companionship comes in the form of his chimera minions, the robot army he is building to help him take over the world, and an AI named Arthur.
Dr. Mechanus has never been the sort to welcome visitors with open arms, and Shark Reef Isle has been at the center of legends involving monsters and demons for the past ten years, as part of his design to keep intruders away. However, when Jim and
When one such misguided act of kindness backfires on both of them, however, Julia is forced to trust the
Things only get
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It is the author's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
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It is the author's Creator/ElizabethEinspanier's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
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Julia Parker is an ER doctor currently caught in an unhappy relationship with her thrill-seeking, overbearing boyfriend, Jim Thompson. She didn't want to go scuba diving during their vacation in Hawaii, especially not to a place called Shark Reef Isle.
Alistair Mechanus is a {{cyborg}} MadScientist who has made Shark Reef Isle his home for the past ten years, with no memories of who he was before then, and his only companionship comes in the form of his chimera minions, the robot army he is building to help him take over the world, and an AI named Arthur.
Dr. Mechanus has never been the sort to welcome visitors with open arms, and Shark Reef Isle has been at the center of legends involving monsters and demons for the past ten years, as part of his design to keep intruders away. However, when Jim and Julia are captured during their dive, Mechanus finds himself smitten by the lovely Julia, who reminds him of his previous life, and his plans for world conquest are set aside in favor of trying to charm her in the only ways he knows how--which, unfortunately, do not always mesh with commonly-held ideas of romance.
Things only get more complicated when Jim refuses to let go of Julia, and Mechanus starts suffering intense flashbacks of his tragic past.
It is the author's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
----
* AbductionIsLove: ... sort of. Mechanus' people had already taken custody of Julia and cleaned her up a bit before Mechanus even set eyes on her (or her boyfriend), but once he sees her he is instantly infatuated and doesn't want to let her go.
* AccidentalKiss: Julia was aiming for his cheek, but he turned his head at just the wrong moment...
* AfterActionHealingDrama:
** Julia patches up Mechanus after he tangles with Rampant!Jim, alongside several robots that both serve as her surgical team and attend to his damaged cybernetics.
* AnArmAndALeg: Several examples:
** Mechanus lost one arm and both legs and replaced them with metal limbs.
** Julia loses a leg while being captured; Mechanus gives her a flesh-and-blood replacement.
** Jim loses an arm in addition to being torn in half.
* BeastAndBeauty: Mechanus is socially inept and not conventionally handsome, but he is intelligent, inventive, and quite determined to make Julia happy--even if he doesn't quite know how at first.
* BerserkButton: Don't hurt Julia unless you want a crazy cyborg hunting you to the ends of the Earth.
* BigDamnHeroes: When Mechanus, a minor shit-ton of flying combat drones, and three packs of dire wolves come thundering in to rescue Julia from Cyborg!Jim.
* BigDamnKiss: After the climactic battle. Overlaps with SmoochOfVictory.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Mechanus speaks like he's from the 1800s, and dresses and acts like a stereotypical scientist from a pulp novel.
* BrainComputerInterface[=/=]ElectronicTelepathy: Mechanus has a mental link with his computer network and robot drones built in via the cybernetic implants in his head.
* BreakTheCutie: A rapidfire series of tragic events in Mechanus' forgotten past shattered his mind, which reassembled in its current state.
* BridalCarry: After the climax, Mechanus carries the battered and exhausted Julia to a room to sleep. She falls asleep in his arms.
* BrokenBird: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
* BroughtDownToNormal: For certain definitions of normal, when Arthur is disabled and Mechanus loses his ready access to the lair-wide network and surveillance systems. He's still a genius cyborg, though.
* ClothingDamage: After Jim goes rampant, Mechanus's lab coat becomes increasingly damaged, leaving him with a torn-open collar and missing one sleeve, exposing part of his chest, a couple of surgery scars, and a well-toned arm.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mechanus, ''constantly''.
* CurbStompBattle: Mechanus Vs. Cyborg Jim, once Mechanus has all his abilities back.
* DeclarationOfProtection: When Jim goes off the deep end, Mechanus takes it upon himself to protect Julia.
* DontYouLikeIt: Mechanus' initial gifts utterly fail to charm Julia, and by turns confuse and horrify her.
* TheDulcineaEffect
* ElectronicSpeechImpediment: Arthur's voice stutters and skips when he's talking to Mechanus shortly before Jim manages to disable him.
* FaceRevealingTurn: Julia first sees Mechanus's right profile, but as she approaches he turns to face her, revealing the cybernetic implants on the left side of his face and startling the hell out of her.
* FantasticRomance: Though not as supernatural as some, having a {{Cyborg}} MadScientist as the hero of a romance certainly counts.
* FlashbackEcho: Several, as Julia unwittingly stimulates Mechanus' memories.
* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Julia has a weakness for "broken" men. She met Jim when he was in the hospital after a skiing accident.
* FlowerMotifs: A subtle example shows up during Mechanus' lunch with Julia, wherein their eating area is surrounded by yellow tulips, at Arthur's suggestion. Yellow tulips mean "hopelessly in love", which pretty accurately describe Mechanus' feelings toward Julia at this point.
* FreakOut: Mechanus has one in his backstory, which caused his TraumaInducedAmnesia. He describes it as "when I broke".
* GadgeteerGenius: Mechanus built everything he needs for world conquest in ten years, on a secluded island.
* GeekyTurnOn: Mechanus' interest in Julia is first sparked by her beauty and his ten years of isolation, but he only gets more interested when he finds out about her background in medicine.
* GibberishOfLove: Mechanus' reaction in the wake of the AccidentalKiss described above.
* GiveGeeksAChance
* GivingThemTheStrip: Towards the end, Julia has to shed her shirt to get away from Jim, leaving her in her bra.
* GlowingMechanicalEyes: Mechanus has one.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Mechanus' amnesia was due to learning that Lauren [=MacKenzie=], the woman he loved most in the world, was dead, which caused a psychotic break. When his memories are restored, it nearly happens ''again''.]]
* GoneHorriblyRight: Mechanus' attempts to distract Cyborg Jim leads to him getting the shit beaten out of him.
* GrandRomanticGesture: How does a MadScientist show his love interest how much he loves her? ''He conquers the world as a gift for her.'' Can't get much grander than that.
* GroinAttack: Attempted, to no great effect.
* HalfHumanHybrid: The chimera minions.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Mechanus, since before the story starts, and Jim, accidentally ripped in half when he and Julia are captured, only to be fitted with cybernetic limbs afterwards.
* HandsOnApproach: Accidentally, as Mechanus shows Julia how to use a plasma rifle. He gets ''really'' uncomfortable when he realizes this.
* HasAType: Both objects of Mechanus' affection are blonde and intelligent, but this may be due to a small reference pool.
* HulkSpeak: Many of the chimeras (especially Scarface) have an imperfect command of the English language, which comes off like this.
* HybridMonster: Mechanus builds one of these as a companion for Julia.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Shark Reef Isle.
* IKissYourHand: Mechanus does this to show his affection for Julia in the first third or so. She's not as charmed by his gallantry as he hopes, though.
* IfICantHaveYou: Cyborg Jim goes murderously rampant when he discovers Mechanus is in love with Julia, intending to kill them both rather than lose Julia.
* [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him]]: Arthur, to Julia, regarding Mechanus: "If you break his heart, I will disassemble you."
* InsistentTerminology: ''Dire'' wolves.
* IsThisWhatAngerFeelsLike: After not feeling much of strong emotions for ten years, Mechanus' first taste of anger frightens himself almost as much as it scares Julia.
* JawDrop: This is Mechanus' reaction to seeing Julia dressed up for dinner.
* LabCoatOfScienceAndMedicine: The classic MadScientist Howie-style lab coat makes up the bulk of Mechanus' wardrobe.
* LightningGun: The Jovian Stormcaller.
* LimaSyndrome
* LimitedWardrobe: Mechanus wears lab coats almost exclusively.
* LongingLook: Mechanus aims a lot of these at Julia in the first third, when she's still so afraid of him that she won't even let him touch her.
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler:Lauren [=MacKenzie=], the woman Mechanus keeps getting flashbacks of.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Mechanus' reaction upon first seeing Julia. Justified as a) she's one of the first humans he's seen in about ten years, and b) she reminds him of a woman he knew from his previous life.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Mechanus falls so hard for Julia that he neglects his plans for world conquest and things like sleep in his quest to make her happy. This leaves him mentally weakened when Jim starts to fight back against his control.
* MadScientist: Explored and PlayedForDrama.
* MadScientistLaboratory: Mechanus has built a sprawling lair in the interior of a dormant volcano, with countless laboratories for his projects and experiments.
* AMatchMadeInStockholm
* MundaneLuxury: Played with. Mechanus can build anything he needs for survival, plus a number of luxuries and a world-conquering army of robots, but he is so desperate for human company that Julia's smile and touch are absolute heaven to him.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Mechanus makes the ''hell'' out of a grilled cheese sandwich. Justified in that, considering the lack of dairy animals or grocery stores on the island he has to start with raw milk proteins for his cheese, but played with in that he doesn't consider it anything unusual.
* NakedFirstImpression: In Mechanus' defense, she was unconscious and he had the good grace to be embarrassed.
* NightmareFetishist: Mechanus' initial gifts for Julia include rebuilding her bisected boyfriend as an inarticulate, misshapen cyborg (he saw it as "improving" Jim) and a half-horse, half-gorilla chimera (because both animals are naturally gentle and he wanted to make a companion for her to make up for Jim). He is honestly confused by her negative reaction to both. He additionally declares the shark-man Scarface to be a sweetheart and doesn't understand when she's terrified of the creature that pulled off her leg and tore Jim in half (accidentally).
* NoSell: Cyborg Jim's kick to Mechanus' squishy bits has no effect... because Mechanus has no squishy bits there.
* NoSocialSkills: Mechanus.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mechanus' efforts to remove Jim as a romantic rival instead created a berserk monstrosity that is willing to kill Julia to keep her from leaving him.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Mechanus has demonstrable talents in robotics, genetics, anatomy, and biochemistry.
* OneHeadTaller: Julia comes up to Mechanus' collarbone.
* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars
* PrecisionFStrike: Mechanus only thinks the f-word twice in his side of the narration, once in frustration and the other in extreme rage.
* [[PsychoExGirlfriend Psycho Ex-Boyfriend]]: What Jim turns into, post-cyborging.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Normally Mechanus' ElectronicEye glows blue, but when get gets angry it blazes red.
* RemovingTheRival: Mechanus' motivations for turning Julia's boyfriend Jim into a horribly misshapen cyborg are somewhat less than altruistic.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Explored. Mechanus' metal arm is super-strong and attached to an equally-reinforced spine and torso plates, but his intrinsic ability to shut off the pain centers of his brain screws him over when they are neutralized and he subsequently gets the shit beat out of him.
* RobotBuddy: Lots of them, with Arthur's interface drone being the one seen most often.
* ScarsAreForever: It is evident early on that whatever happened to Mechanus to necessitate the mechanical limbs, it was pretty traumatic.
* SenseLossSadness: When Arthur is taken out, most of Mechanus' cybernetic-enhanced omniscience goes with him.
* SheCleansupNicely; happens in both directions:
** While Mechanus already finds Julia beautiful, he is [[JawDrop jaw-droppingly astonished]] when he sees her all dolled up for their dinner.
** Likewise, Julia is delighted to see Mechanus in his pseudo-Victorian tuxedo rather than the lab coats he has been wearing up till now.
* ShoutOut:
** The title itself is one to an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
** Early on, Julia compares Mechanus to a villain in a ''Film/JamesBond'' movie.
** [[Music/JonathanCoulton "Skullcrusher Mountain"]]:
*** One of Mechanus' assistants is named Scarface, and while said assistant is a terrifying shark-man, Mechanus considers him a sweetheart.
*** Mechanus makes a chimera companion for Julia out of elements of pony and gorilla.
** ''Film/{{Moon}}'': Arthur's interface drone displays a generic smiley face (or frowny face, or neutral face) to indicate his moods.
** ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic'': One of the robots responds to requests with "By your command".
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* SinisterSurveillance: Mechanus is able to monitor every portion of his lair, through cameras and other sensors distributed throughout the island.
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Most of the maintenance and security robots seem to be intended as purely functional Bricks, but actually act like Robo-Monkeys or Average Joes. Arthur himself is a Nobel-Bot, having been created as a conversational companion for super-genius Mechanus.
* SurveillanceDrone: A number of these patrol the hallways, variously resembling large insects or flying metal spheres.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Played with. Mechanus wants to take over the world in order to make the world a better place.
* {{Technopath}}: Mechanus is connected to his lair-wide computer network via a mental link, and can control any of his robots, tap into his surveillance cameras, and communicate with the network's A.I. with a thought.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Mechanus' thoughts as he is preparing to delay Cyborg Jim at a doorway, are summarized thus:
-->This was ''not'' the worst idea Mechanus had ever had.
* ThreateningShark: Scarface, the shark-man.
* TinmanTypist: Mechanus is forced to resort to keyboard-based data entry when he losed access to Arthur.
* TragicVillain: Once his backstory is revealed, Mechanus becomes this.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia
* TryNotToDie: This is roughly Julia's advice to Mechanus when he getting ready to fight Jim as a distraction.
* TwoFaced: Mechanus. The right side of his face is described as handsome, but the left side is covered with overlapping metal plates and sports an ElectronicEye.
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Stickman, who is a spindly collection of limbs compared to a cross between a stick insect and a coatrack.
* UnwillingRoboticization: Jim.
* WakingUpElsewhere: After being attacked by Scarface the shark-man, Julia wakes up in a relatively posh guest room inside Shark Reef Isle.
* WeCanRebuildHim
* XMeetsY: ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' meets "[[JonathanCoulton Skullcrusher Mountain]]".
* YouAndWhatArmy: Asking Mechanus this proves to be a rather dire mistake.
* YouMonster: This is roughly Mechanus' reaction when he discovers [[spoiler:how Jim contributed to Julia's PTSD.]]
* YouShallNotPass: Mechanus faces down Rampant!Jim to protect Julia. He gets the shit kicked out of him for his troubles.
----
Alistair Mechanus is a {{cyborg}} MadScientist who has made Shark Reef Isle his home for the past ten years, with no memories of who he was before then, and his only companionship comes in the form of his chimera minions, the robot army he is building to help him take over the world, and an AI named Arthur.
Dr. Mechanus has never been the sort to welcome visitors with open arms, and Shark Reef Isle has been at the center of legends involving monsters and demons for the past ten years, as part of his design to keep intruders away. However, when Jim and Julia are captured during their dive, Mechanus finds himself smitten by the lovely Julia, who reminds him of his previous life, and his plans for world conquest are set aside in favor of trying to charm her in the only ways he knows how--which, unfortunately, do not always mesh with commonly-held ideas of romance.
Things only get more complicated when Jim refuses to let go of Julia, and Mechanus starts suffering intense flashbacks of his tragic past.
It is the author's first [[SelfDeprecation (attempt at a)]] {{romance novel}}.
----
* AbductionIsLove: ... sort of. Mechanus' people had already taken custody of Julia and cleaned her up a bit before Mechanus even set eyes on her (or her boyfriend), but once he sees her he is instantly infatuated and doesn't want to let her go.
* AccidentalKiss: Julia was aiming for his cheek, but he turned his head at just the wrong moment...
* AfterActionHealingDrama:
** Julia patches up Mechanus after he tangles with Rampant!Jim, alongside several robots that both serve as her surgical team and attend to his damaged cybernetics.
* AnArmAndALeg: Several examples:
** Mechanus lost one arm and both legs and replaced them with metal limbs.
** Julia loses a leg while being captured; Mechanus gives her a flesh-and-blood replacement.
** Jim loses an arm in addition to being torn in half.
* BeastAndBeauty: Mechanus is socially inept and not conventionally handsome, but he is intelligent, inventive, and quite determined to make Julia happy--even if he doesn't quite know how at first.
* BerserkButton: Don't hurt Julia unless you want a crazy cyborg hunting you to the ends of the Earth.
* BigDamnHeroes: When Mechanus, a minor shit-ton of flying combat drones, and three packs of dire wolves come thundering in to rescue Julia from Cyborg!Jim.
* BigDamnKiss: After the climactic battle. Overlaps with SmoochOfVictory.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Mechanus speaks like he's from the 1800s, and dresses and acts like a stereotypical scientist from a pulp novel.
* BrainComputerInterface[=/=]ElectronicTelepathy: Mechanus has a mental link with his computer network and robot drones built in via the cybernetic implants in his head.
* BreakTheCutie: A rapidfire series of tragic events in Mechanus' forgotten past shattered his mind, which reassembled in its current state.
* BridalCarry: After the climax, Mechanus carries the battered and exhausted Julia to a room to sleep. She falls asleep in his arms.
* BrokenBird: Both Mechanus and Julia, in different ways.
* BroughtDownToNormal: For certain definitions of normal, when Arthur is disabled and Mechanus loses his ready access to the lair-wide network and surveillance systems. He's still a genius cyborg, though.
* ClothingDamage: After Jim goes rampant, Mechanus's lab coat becomes increasingly damaged, leaving him with a torn-open collar and missing one sleeve, exposing part of his chest, a couple of surgery scars, and a well-toned arm.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Mechanus, ''constantly''.
* CurbStompBattle: Mechanus Vs. Cyborg Jim, once Mechanus has all his abilities back.
* DeclarationOfProtection: When Jim goes off the deep end, Mechanus takes it upon himself to protect Julia.
* DontYouLikeIt: Mechanus' initial gifts utterly fail to charm Julia, and by turns confuse and horrify her.
* TheDulcineaEffect
* ElectronicSpeechImpediment: Arthur's voice stutters and skips when he's talking to Mechanus shortly before Jim manages to disable him.
* FaceRevealingTurn: Julia first sees Mechanus's right profile, but as she approaches he turns to face her, revealing the cybernetic implants on the left side of his face and startling the hell out of her.
* FantasticRomance: Though not as supernatural as some, having a {{Cyborg}} MadScientist as the hero of a romance certainly counts.
* FlashbackEcho: Several, as Julia unwittingly stimulates Mechanus' memories.
* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Julia has a weakness for "broken" men. She met Jim when he was in the hospital after a skiing accident.
* FlowerMotifs: A subtle example shows up during Mechanus' lunch with Julia, wherein their eating area is surrounded by yellow tulips, at Arthur's suggestion. Yellow tulips mean "hopelessly in love", which pretty accurately describe Mechanus' feelings toward Julia at this point.
* FreakOut: Mechanus has one in his backstory, which caused his TraumaInducedAmnesia. He describes it as "when I broke".
* GadgeteerGenius: Mechanus built everything he needs for world conquest in ten years, on a secluded island.
* GeekyTurnOn: Mechanus' interest in Julia is first sparked by her beauty and his ten years of isolation, but he only gets more interested when he finds out about her background in medicine.
* GibberishOfLove: Mechanus' reaction in the wake of the AccidentalKiss described above.
* GiveGeeksAChance
* GivingThemTheStrip: Towards the end, Julia has to shed her shirt to get away from Jim, leaving her in her bra.
* GlowingMechanicalEyes: Mechanus has one.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Mechanus' amnesia was due to learning that Lauren [=MacKenzie=], the woman he loved most in the world, was dead, which caused a psychotic break. When his memories are restored, it nearly happens ''again''.]]
* GoneHorriblyRight: Mechanus' attempts to distract Cyborg Jim leads to him getting the shit beaten out of him.
* GrandRomanticGesture: How does a MadScientist show his love interest how much he loves her? ''He conquers the world as a gift for her.'' Can't get much grander than that.
* GroinAttack: Attempted, to no great effect.
* HalfHumanHybrid: The chimera minions.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Mechanus, since before the story starts, and Jim, accidentally ripped in half when he and Julia are captured, only to be fitted with cybernetic limbs afterwards.
* HandsOnApproach: Accidentally, as Mechanus shows Julia how to use a plasma rifle. He gets ''really'' uncomfortable when he realizes this.
* HasAType: Both objects of Mechanus' affection are blonde and intelligent, but this may be due to a small reference pool.
* HulkSpeak: Many of the chimeras (especially Scarface) have an imperfect command of the English language, which comes off like this.
* HybridMonster: Mechanus builds one of these as a companion for Julia.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Shark Reef Isle.
* IKissYourHand: Mechanus does this to show his affection for Julia in the first third or so. She's not as charmed by his gallantry as he hopes, though.
* IfICantHaveYou: Cyborg Jim goes murderously rampant when he discovers Mechanus is in love with Julia, intending to kill them both rather than lose Julia.
* [[IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer If You Ever Do Anything To Hurt Him]]: Arthur, to Julia, regarding Mechanus: "If you break his heart, I will disassemble you."
* InsistentTerminology: ''Dire'' wolves.
* IsThisWhatAngerFeelsLike: After not feeling much of strong emotions for ten years, Mechanus' first taste of anger frightens himself almost as much as it scares Julia.
* JawDrop: This is Mechanus' reaction to seeing Julia dressed up for dinner.
* LabCoatOfScienceAndMedicine: The classic MadScientist Howie-style lab coat makes up the bulk of Mechanus' wardrobe.
* LightningGun: The Jovian Stormcaller.
* LimaSyndrome
* LimitedWardrobe: Mechanus wears lab coats almost exclusively.
* LongingLook: Mechanus aims a lot of these at Julia in the first third, when she's still so afraid of him that she won't even let him touch her.
* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler:Lauren [=MacKenzie=], the woman Mechanus keeps getting flashbacks of.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Mechanus' reaction upon first seeing Julia. Justified as a) she's one of the first humans he's seen in about ten years, and b) she reminds him of a woman he knew from his previous life.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Mechanus falls so hard for Julia that he neglects his plans for world conquest and things like sleep in his quest to make her happy. This leaves him mentally weakened when Jim starts to fight back against his control.
* MadScientist: Explored and PlayedForDrama.
* MadScientistLaboratory: Mechanus has built a sprawling lair in the interior of a dormant volcano, with countless laboratories for his projects and experiments.
* AMatchMadeInStockholm
* MundaneLuxury: Played with. Mechanus can build anything he needs for survival, plus a number of luxuries and a world-conquering army of robots, but he is so desperate for human company that Julia's smile and touch are absolute heaven to him.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Mechanus makes the ''hell'' out of a grilled cheese sandwich. Justified in that, considering the lack of dairy animals or grocery stores on the island he has to start with raw milk proteins for his cheese, but played with in that he doesn't consider it anything unusual.
* NakedFirstImpression: In Mechanus' defense, she was unconscious and he had the good grace to be embarrassed.
* NightmareFetishist: Mechanus' initial gifts for Julia include rebuilding her bisected boyfriend as an inarticulate, misshapen cyborg (he saw it as "improving" Jim) and a half-horse, half-gorilla chimera (because both animals are naturally gentle and he wanted to make a companion for her to make up for Jim). He is honestly confused by her negative reaction to both. He additionally declares the shark-man Scarface to be a sweetheart and doesn't understand when she's terrified of the creature that pulled off her leg and tore Jim in half (accidentally).
* NoSell: Cyborg Jim's kick to Mechanus' squishy bits has no effect... because Mechanus has no squishy bits there.
* NoSocialSkills: Mechanus.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Mechanus' efforts to remove Jim as a romantic rival instead created a berserk monstrosity that is willing to kill Julia to keep her from leaving him.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Mechanus has demonstrable talents in robotics, genetics, anatomy, and biochemistry.
* OneHeadTaller: Julia comes up to Mechanus' collarbone.
* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars
* PrecisionFStrike: Mechanus only thinks the f-word twice in his side of the narration, once in frustration and the other in extreme rage.
* [[PsychoExGirlfriend Psycho Ex-Boyfriend]]: What Jim turns into, post-cyborging.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Normally Mechanus' ElectronicEye glows blue, but when get gets angry it blazes red.
* RemovingTheRival: Mechanus' motivations for turning Julia's boyfriend Jim into a horribly misshapen cyborg are somewhat less than altruistic.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Explored. Mechanus' metal arm is super-strong and attached to an equally-reinforced spine and torso plates, but his intrinsic ability to shut off the pain centers of his brain screws him over when they are neutralized and he subsequently gets the shit beat out of him.
* RobotBuddy: Lots of them, with Arthur's interface drone being the one seen most often.
* ScarsAreForever: It is evident early on that whatever happened to Mechanus to necessitate the mechanical limbs, it was pretty traumatic.
* SenseLossSadness: When Arthur is taken out, most of Mechanus' cybernetic-enhanced omniscience goes with him.
* SheCleansupNicely; happens in both directions:
** While Mechanus already finds Julia beautiful, he is [[JawDrop jaw-droppingly astonished]] when he sees her all dolled up for their dinner.
** Likewise, Julia is delighted to see Mechanus in his pseudo-Victorian tuxedo rather than the lab coats he has been wearing up till now.
* ShoutOut:
** The title itself is one to an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
** Early on, Julia compares Mechanus to a villain in a ''Film/JamesBond'' movie.
** [[Music/JonathanCoulton "Skullcrusher Mountain"]]:
*** One of Mechanus' assistants is named Scarface, and while said assistant is a terrifying shark-man, Mechanus considers him a sweetheart.
*** Mechanus makes a chimera companion for Julia out of elements of pony and gorilla.
** ''Film/{{Moon}}'': Arthur's interface drone displays a generic smiley face (or frowny face, or neutral face) to indicate his moods.
** ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaClassic'': One of the robots responds to requests with "By your command".
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan
* SinisterSurveillance: Mechanus is able to monitor every portion of his lair, through cameras and other sensors distributed throughout the island.
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Most of the maintenance and security robots seem to be intended as purely functional Bricks, but actually act like Robo-Monkeys or Average Joes. Arthur himself is a Nobel-Bot, having been created as a conversational companion for super-genius Mechanus.
* SurveillanceDrone: A number of these patrol the hallways, variously resembling large insects or flying metal spheres.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Played with. Mechanus wants to take over the world in order to make the world a better place.
* {{Technopath}}: Mechanus is connected to his lair-wide computer network via a mental link, and can control any of his robots, tap into his surveillance cameras, and communicate with the network's A.I. with a thought.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Mechanus' thoughts as he is preparing to delay Cyborg Jim at a doorway, are summarized thus:
-->This was ''not'' the worst idea Mechanus had ever had.
* ThreateningShark: Scarface, the shark-man.
* TinmanTypist: Mechanus is forced to resort to keyboard-based data entry when he losed access to Arthur.
* TragicVillain: Once his backstory is revealed, Mechanus becomes this.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia
* TryNotToDie: This is roughly Julia's advice to Mechanus when he getting ready to fight Jim as a distraction.
* TwoFaced: Mechanus. The right side of his face is described as handsome, but the left side is covered with overlapping metal plates and sports an ElectronicEye.
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Stickman, who is a spindly collection of limbs compared to a cross between a stick insect and a coatrack.
* UnwillingRoboticization: Jim.
* WakingUpElsewhere: After being attacked by Scarface the shark-man, Julia wakes up in a relatively posh guest room inside Shark Reef Isle.
* WeCanRebuildHim
* XMeetsY: ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' meets "[[JonathanCoulton Skullcrusher Mountain]]".
* YouAndWhatArmy: Asking Mechanus this proves to be a rather dire mistake.
* YouMonster: This is roughly Mechanus' reaction when he discovers [[spoiler:how Jim contributed to Julia's PTSD.]]
* YouShallNotPass: Mechanus faces down Rampant!Jim to protect Julia. He gets the shit kicked out of him for his troubles.
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