Mod Superhero: Initialize: A Scifi Progression Fantasy Series, page 19
Emmett’s mouth was open in disbelief.
He walked over and knelt down on the other side of the case. “You can block bullets?” His voice still sounded faint to him, even though he was shouting.
“That’s why I said for you to get out of the way.”
Emmett still couldn’t believe it, but he found his gaze dropping to the open container of vials. And found his hand reaching inside it.
He already had Mutagen-A in his system… Could he take something else? It was probably a stupid idea—who knew what would happen if he mixed mutagens. Emmett could already imagine Dr. Venture saying the same thing.
But it wasn’t like Emmett was going to use any of the vials now. He could be a little patient. Besides, even if Dr. Venture talked him out of it, maybe Venture could help track down the origin of the compounds.
Emmett paused. The vials were only a few inches away from his fingers. He looked to Athena for approval.
Athena was already looking at him, her face a mix of apprehension and concern.
“I’m not your mother,” she finally said. “I’m not going to stop you, but I think it’s a bad idea. You’ll need to keep them on ice, and for gods’ sake don’t take more than one at a time.”
Emmett quickly grabbed two of each color vial—ten in total and stuffed them into his hoodie and his trousers.
The men fired another impotent barrage at Athena’s barrier, making Emmett flinch.
“Do you have everything you need?” Athena stood, eyeing down the guards.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Athena turned and swept her hand toward the van, and an invisible forcefield shattered all the crates and the interior of the cab. Metal screeched, wood and glass shattered, and mutagens sprayed across the van and the pavement.
Emmett jumped back in surprise, shielding his face.
Athena grabbed him by the shoulder of his hoodie to get his attention. “Step exactly where I step.”
She started running upward like she was bounding up huge invisible stairs… which Emmett supposed she was. Emmett followed, keeping his eyes on her shoes. It was even more nerve-wracking than walking a balance beam; Emmett kept his whip ready because it felt like he might fall at any second.
Moments later they were back on the roof and sprinting toward the center of the city, crossing the coffee shop roof so that Emmett could grab his stashed items. Emmett clutched the vials as he ran, trying his best to keep them from clinking together.
Two blocks later, they heard the first police sirens.
“Down into the alley,” Athena said. Emmett followed her off the roof, using his whip to drop to the ground. “Now change up your disguise.”
Emmett pulled off his hoodie and wrapped all the vials inside it, along with his mask. He made sure to keep his face turned, so it was hidden by his hair and by the darkness of the alley.
Athena slipped off her dark leather jacket and flipped it inside out. It was plain red leather on the inside. Emmett hadn’t realized that it was reversible; it couldn’t have been comfortable—the original dark side had shards of mirror woven into it…
Athena finished by wrapping her long white hair into a bun and slipping on a beanie.
It wasn’t until Athena was done changing her disguise that Emmett realized her jacket shouldn’t have been able to flip inside out like that.
Athena noticed him staring and said nonchalantly, “It’s a magic coat.”
“Oh.”
“One day I’ll tell you the story, but for now, we need to split up. Are you okay going home from here?”
Emmett nodded. “Yeah, I think I’m good.”
“Alright, see you around,” Athena replied, giving him a quick nod. “Next time you can tell me about that arm.” With that, she walked down the alley, leaving Emmett holding his hoodie full of Gnosis knock-off contraband.
Emmett let out a sigh that he didn’t know he’d been holding.
Well, that was something.
Just when Emmett was about to start walking home, Athena stuck her head around the corner and said, “Don’t forget to think of a name!”
Chapter 29
Part-A
Emmett jogged the rest of the way to his apartment, hoping that he looked completely normal—like a guy out for a jog at 11 o’clock at night.
Even though jogging was easier than it had ever been, Emmett’s heart was racing the entire way home. By the time he got to the Woods apartments on the West End, Emmett was a bundle of nerves.
He just wanted to make it to his room without talking to anyone—without any luck Lock would be out tonight, too.
It seemed like everyone was out tonight—the gazebos and lawns of the Woods were littered with students. Maybe it wasn’t anymore than usual; it was Friday night, after all.
There was even someone lighting fireworks; three quick pops of light shone over the apartments.
Emmett kept his head down as he passed the gazebos and breathed a sigh of relief—a small one—when he got to the steps of his apartment building.
He’d made it.
A wave of exhaustion hit him, and Emmett couldn’t wait to lie down and go to sleep.
Emmett walked up to door 449, took out his keys, and froze—
There was music coming from inside, and not the stuff that Emmett or Lock normally listened to.
And people were talking inside.
Oh shit. Lock had people over.
Until then, Emmett was going to stuff the vials in the bottom of the ice maker or even in a random food box; he would’ve used something Lock didn’t like to minimize the chance of him stumbling on the vials—at least until tomorrow when he could take the vials to the lab.
But it wasn’t like he could just walk in, say hi, and start stuffing the vials in the freezer. What if Lock or one of his friends were in the kitchen? Oh, don’t mind these, they’re just knock-off Gnosis, not the real thing.
Emmett turned and kept walking. He didn’t know what else to do. At least this would buy him a few minutes to think.
He walked across the hall to the next set of stairs, meaning to go down a floor and circle back.
The vials were supposed to stay cold, so the freezer was preferable, but maybe he could hide them somewhere else in the meantime. His room might have to do. The only problem was, Emmett wasn’t sure if they had a spare lunch bag in the apartment, much less anything insulated.
Emmett chuckled defeatedly to himself. Maybe one of Lock’s friends brought a cooler. Hey, mind if I use that?
Maybe the roof? Emmett shook his head. It wasn’t supposed to be cold tonight, so it was the same problem as his room.
Maybe he could put them in a plastic bag and put them in the toilet tank. Emmett felt like he’d seen that in a movie once. The water was cold-ish and he could dump ice in too. At least there was no chance of anyone looking in there.
…Welp, it might have to be the toilet.
Emmett finished his lap of the third floor and went back up. Then he went to room 449 and opened the door.
Lock had people over.
Emmett was hit by a wall of sound when the door opened. There was a group talking in the kitchen who all simultaneously turned to greet him. Emmett gave a half-hearted nod as he tried to process what he was seeing. There were even more people in the living room. All looked like they might’ve been college students, wearing a mix of hoodies, polos, and dresses.
Emmett wasn’t big on parties, but he’d been to a few—enough to realize that’s what he was looking at now.
Lock wasn’t just having people over. Was he having a party?
His stomach turned and his hands felt clammy. Immediately, Emmett clutched his hoodie tighter.
Normally, he would’ve been equal parts annoyed and confused that Lock would throw a party without telling him. They’d always been solid enough roommates that they checked with each other before bringing people over—especially this many people.
And here Emmett was, standing in the kitchen clutching vials of knock-off Gnosis mutagens.
Emmett looked over the room again. He didn’t see Lock.
And the bathroom door was closed.
Alright, next plan—keep the vials in his room. That would have to do for now. Thankfully, Emmett’s bedroom door was cracked and the light was off.
Emmett muttered, “excuse me,” as he shuffled into the kitchen. Carefully, he pushed aside the couple of empty liquor bottles on the counter and set down his bundled hoodie so that the vials didn’t clink together, then grabbed a soda from the fridge. He grabbed the largest cup they had in the cabinet, filled it with ice, and grabbed a plastic sandwich bag from the nearby drawer—several bags.
The whole time hoping that his face wasn’t actually as red as it felt and that no one could see his heart thrumming in his chest.
Then Emmett scurried to his room and flicked on the light—
And came face to face with a woman sitting on his bed. She’d been scrolling her phone and now stared at him with a wide-eyed expression.
“This… This is my room.”
Her cheeks turned as red as Emmett’s. “I was just checking my phone. Needed a break from the party.”
“That’s okay,” Emmett stammered, trying to reassure her and think of an excuse to get her out. “But, uh, I need to change.”
“Oh! Okay,” she said, jumping up and hurrying past him.
“Wait! Is Lock around?”
She paused and glanced around the living room. “I guess he’s still up on the roof.”
Emmett nodded, quickly shut his door, and locked it. Then he collapsed on his bed, sighing deeply.
Now he’d made it. He could stash the mutagens somewhere safe for the night. And it had only been a little awkward getting in the apartment and to his room.
Emmett dumped the ice from the cup into the plastic bags, then tucked the vials, ice, and a can of cold unopened soda into a spare hoodie. Then he shoved the hoodie under his bed and between his storage boxes. It would last at least until everyone had left.
He tucked his mask and burner phone in the mattress cover, then laid back on his bed, exhausted and in disbelief.
What was he going to do now? Emmett didn’t feel ready yet to go out and talk to Lock, much less random people. He thought about trying to sleep and talking to Lock about the party in the morning, but there was no way he was going to fall asleep with everything going on—as if on cue, two more pops of fireworks echoed through the Woods. And it wasn’t like he could get any work done—all his stuff was either in the living room or out on the roof.
So Emmett pulled out his phone to kill some time.
And immediately saw he had missed messages:
Lock 6:12 PM: Hey. Going to celebrate with friends tonight. Don’t wait up.
Lock 7:39 PM: Cool if a few of us hang at the apartment?
Lock 8:31 PM: People coming back to the apartment. Be there around 9:30.
Emmett sighed. He hadn’t even thought to check his phone—he’d been too busy training in the lab and then knocking off that shipment with Athena.
Well, at least Lock had tried to get a hold of him. He texted back:
Emmett 11:46 PM: Missed your texts. I’m back. Chilling for a bit.
Then he scrolled the forums, going through Double Mask, Reddest Knight, and The Green Machine, looking for any information about the mutagens or their knock-offs.
There wasn’t much, which didn’t surprise Emmett—big companies like Gnosis would scrub any leaked information. He managed to find one thread on Double Mask talking about mutagen variants, but all of the posts and user info had been deleted.
Emmett groaned in frustration, lay back on the bed, staring at his ceiling.
He could always ask Dr. Venture… Venture said himself that he was familiar with Gnosis. Not to mention the fact that he’d somehow procured a dose of Mutagen-A to save Emmett’s life.
Maybe Venture could analyze the samples and figure out something about their origins…
There was always the chance that Venture would be mad about Emmett taking the vials in the first place and that he would try to talk Emmett out of supplementing his diet… But if he could help Athena out then it would be worth it.
Oh, yeah… He’d have to tell Dr. Venture and Clara about Athena. Emmett had forgotten to mention her.
Oops.
Emmett lounged in bed until midnight before he was calmed down enough to venture outside his room.
The party was still going, and Lock was still nowhere to be found. So Emmett waded through the living room, past the half-dozen people talking, to the fire escape and climbed up to the roof.
Emmett found Lock and several others talking on the roof. They had pulled out folding chairs and were gathered in a circle, vaping, drinking, and carrying on.
“What’s going on,” Lock said, waving Emmett over. “Guys, this is my roommate, Emmett. The engineer.”
Emmett walked over sheepishly with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
Lock’s tone made Emmett think his roommate had been enjoying his party—not to mention the empty bottle of rum beside his chair.
Lock introduced the other three: Manton, Carter, and Jessie. Manton met Emmett’s eyes from behind a thick beard and an equally thick pair of glasses; he and Lock had known each other from biology classes. Carter smiled from behind the popped collar of a stylish long coat, their features sharp and androgynous. Jessie hid behind a baggie hoodie. Lock knew them both from Gnosis.
They were celebrating Jessie’s promotion.
Emmett tried to keep a straight face. “Cool. And congratulations.”
Jessie let out a loud woo, cupped her hands together, and then threw something upward. A small bundle of light sailed high into the night air and popped.
“So that was you earlier…” But Emmett had seen her hands… No fireworks. No lighter. “How did you do that?”
Jessie peered out from behind her hoodie and flashed a smile.
Lock smirked. “Jessie’s special like that.”
Emmett’s eyes widened, and Jessie nodded quickly, like she was a kid on a playground sharing a secret. She cupped her hands together, and this time Emmett watched intently as a tiny flame peeked out from between her fingers. She hurled it up into the air and it popped overhead.
Carter leaned over and elbowed Lock. “He doesn’t look impressed. You said he would be impressed.”
Lock gestured at him. “Man, this guy here is a bona fide super fanboy. Or at least I thought so.” Then Lock’s face suddenly turned blank and unreadable. “Guess, I was wrong.”
“It’s not that…” Emmett muttered. “It’s cool. I just had a long day. Tell you about it later—” He turned to Jessie. “You’re not worried? I thought most people… you know… hid their powers?”
Carter interjected. “Why should she hide?”
Lock replied, “We’re all friends here. Emmett’s cool.”
Emmett shrugged and said to Carter, “Most supers wear masks, don’t they?”
Carter raised an eyebrow. “Maybe they shouldn’t.”
Manton rolled his eyes behind his glasses. “Oh, don’t start that again. We were having a nice night, and you had to go and get political.”
Carter added, “There’s nothing wrong with reevaluating things we take for granted, even things about ourselves.”
Jessie made another firecracker with her power and tossed it overhead. It popped a moment later.
Lock chuckled—clearly inebriated and in better spirits than everyone, except maybe Jessie. “What Carter is trying to say is that the world’s backwards. Why are supers the ones skulking around at night and in masks? Hiding from normal people.”
There was something menacing about the way Lock said ‘normal people’—even beneath his jovial inebriation. And it almost made Emmett shudder.
Emmett asked, “What else would supers do?”
Manton rolled his eyes again. “Don’t get them started. I beg of you.”
Jessie giggled. “Manton, you’re just sad ‘cause you’re normal.”
Lock held up his hands. “Fine. Fine. No more supers or politics.”
Jessie threw another firecracker into the air for emphasis.
Chapter 30
Lock
Lock woke up Saturday afternoon to the sun peeking through a crack in the curtains. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and sat on the edge of the bed. He winced at the headache and massaged his temples.
So… he could still catch a hangover—it just took him three bottles of rum now instead of one.
Thankfully, only Manton, Carter, and Jessie had seen him chugging straight out of the bottle and they already knew Lock was enhanced. They didn’t give him any grief.
He didn’t have to hide from them.
Emmett on the other hand…
Synth music was playing quietly in the living room. No doubt Emmett was working steadily on his radio locator project. Lock could picture him hunched over the table, surrounded by electronics. The man was a machine like that, always working.
If only Emmett would’ve stayed like that—It would’ve been so much easier if one of them was normal. But no, Emmett had to go and get shot up with Mutagen-A.
Emmett had to go and fuck it up.
Lock reached into his nightstand and grabbed pills for his headache, then he pulled out his pipe and something for his nerves.
He inhaled deeply, letting the powerful drugs take the edge off his changing body. All the while, he looked at his bedroom door, toward the living room and Emmett beyond.
Emmett was lucky. Lock wasn’t sure how Venture had gotten Emmett a dose of Mutagen-A, but at least he’d started with that and not something else from Gnosis. Not all of their mutagens were created equal—even turning into a monster wasn’t the worst that could happen with a bad reaction.
To make things worse, there were other nefarious parties that were making their own alterations to the mutagens and selling them on the street. Rumor was, there was a mole in Gnosis. The company poured resources into the problem—not just finding the mole, but trying to keep it quiet.
