History Literature / TheChroniclesOfFid

'The Chronicles of Fid'' is a sci-fi / contemporary fantasy / superheroic series of novels by David H. Reiss. The stories follow the life, adventures, and emotional evolution of Dr. Terrance Markham…and his {{powered armor}} wearing alter-ego, the supervillainous Doctor Fid.

But that was twenty years ago, and much has changed in the intervening decades. Doctor Fid’s goals have shifted, as have Terry Markham’s. Dr. Markham himself has become a successful businessman; his villainous counterpart, on the other hand, has taken on the responsibility to punish those heroes who he believes to be unworthy of their accolades.

Along the way, he adopts an adorable young ArtificialIntelligence / android named Whisper, saves the world, fights forest fires, rescues earthquake victims, saves his city, saves another world...and beats up a lot of people who may or may not have deserved it.

The chronicles focus as much on the characters’ inner conflicts as upon the superpowered battles. Told in largely {{anachronic order}}, the {{villain protagonist}}’s backstory and motivations are explored throughout the novels’ adventures.

Currently, the series consists of ''Fid’s Crusade'', ''Behind Distant Stars'', and ''Starfall''.

** Doctor Fid generally tries to be polite...even in the middle of violent battles.

* WorthyOpponent: Valiant and the Red Ghost are two of the only superheroes that Doctor Fid unconditionally respects, because they're some of the few heroes who he feels are actually trying to make the world a better place rather than grandstanding over people.

* BadassBaritone: Doctor Fid's powered armor includes a voice modulator that serves both to disguise Terry Markham's voice, but also to carefully control his expressed emotions and maintain a frightening mien.

* BoomStick: Doctor Fid's WeaponOfChoice is his Battle Rod, which is useful both as a melee instrument and can fire various energy beams. He goes through several upgrades over the course of the series.

** Doctor Fid himself descended into monstrous behavior while battling those he perceived as being deserving of punishment.

** Cubic, the first AI superhero [[spoiler: turns out to have been murdering newly emergent AI consciousnesses for years purely on the off chance that one of them ''might'' turn evil.

* CoverBlowingSuperpower: A hero choosing to avert this trope is what cause's Terry's StartOfDarkeness and causes him to become Doctor Fid. He'd figured out the secret identity of a superhero his kid brother idolized and took his brother to meet said identity. Then a supervillain attacked and Terry's brother got badly wounded. The hero could have possibly acted in time to save his life had he chosen to blow his identity, but instead he did not and Terry's brother died of his injuries. This led to Doctor Fid's vendeta against that hero and any others he perceived to put themselves over helping people.

** He presumes the worst of superheroes' motivations, often without evidence. For example, he makes the assumption that a taunt from Titan was a regression "to the childhood days when he must have victimized smaller students and stolen their lunch money."

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fids_crusade_cover_sm_2.jpg]]

''The Chronicles of Fid'' is a sci-fi / contemporary fantasy / superheroic series of novels by David H. Reiss. The stories follow the life, adventures, and emotional evolution of Dr. Terrance Markham…and his {{powered armor}} wearing alter-ego, the supervillainous Doctor Fid.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Subverted when Doctor Fid agrees to secretly work with the Red Ghost to ensure that lifesaving technology is made available to the public.

Along the way, he adopts an adorable young ArtificialIntelligence / android named Whisper, saves the world, saves his city, saves another world, and maybe...just maybe...finds some level of redemption.

** The same weapon was deployed at the Mercer-Tallon battle, destroying an entire building in moments.

But that was twenty years ago, and much has changed in the intervening decades. Doctor Fid’s goals have shifted, as have Terry Markham’s. Dr. Markham himself has become a successful businessman, while his villainous counterpart has taken on the responsibility to punish those heroes who he believes to be unworthy of their accolades.

* Mad Scientist: In addition to Doctor Fid himself, supervillains such as Technos, Dr. Chaise, and the Ancient all qualify.

Terrance Markham was a brilliant but socially awkward young college professor, an inventor and polymath who excelled in several of the hard sciences. His quiet, comfortable life in academia was unfortunately short-lived; when Terry was caught in the middle of a superpowered battle, a tragedy occurred that shredded all of his plans for the future.

Half-mad with grief and guilt, Terry came to blame the {{superhero}} who was present even more than the {{supervillain}} who initiated the conflict. Terrance withdrew from public life and, in secret, began building a suit of powered armor with which he could obtain a pyrrhic revenge. Taking on the nom de guerre of Doctor Fid, Terry quickly became one of the most feared supervillains on Earth. Never caught and never unmasked, the archvillain struck terror into the hearts of heroes and civilians alike.

But that was twenty years ago, and much has changed in the intervening decades. Doctor Fid’s goals have shifted, as have Terry Markham’s.

** While he has no qualms against misleading his enemies, Doctor Fid makes a point to avoid lying as much as possible.

* {{Antivillain}}: Doctor Fid is this. While he has performed (and continues to perform) many violent and morally dubious actions, his end goal is always to punish the unworthy and create a better world for the innocent.

* BadassBookworm: Dr. Terrance Markham seemed like such a quiet, gentle soul...
* BarrierWarrior: The superhero known as Shrike has the ability to create unbreakable pillars and walls of pure energy [[spoiler: subverted because the power can also be used to create spikes to impale opponents]]

* ClothesMakeTheLegend: Doctor Fid has appeared in dozens of suits of powered armor over the years, but they all follow the same intimidating theme.

* GenreSavvy: Much of Doctor Fid's dark, cynical humor involves noticing the patterns of behavior and chance that appear in superheroic stories.

* AbsentMindedProfessor: During his days as a college professor, Dr. Markham often lost track of time and relied upon his teaching assistants to ensure that schedules were followed, and that he was fed or sent to bed at appropriate intervals.

* Antivillain: Doctor Fid is this. While he has performed (and continues to perform) many violent and morally dubious actions, his end goal is always to punish the unworthy and create a better world for the innocent.

* EnergyWeapon: It's a world with superheroes and supervillains. There are lots of these.

* BlackKnight: The surface of Doctor Fid's powered armor is so non-reflective that he seems a silhouette.

Currently, the series consists of ''Fid’s Crusade'', ''Behind Distant Stars'', and ''Starfall''.