Mod Superhero: Initialize: A Scifi Progression Fantasy Series, page 31
His mind spun with the possibilities.
Emmett woke suddenly, his notebook splayed across his chest. It was the middle of Sunday night. His burner phone was going off. Emmett rolled over and grabbed it from the floor. When he saw the message, he nearly fell out of bed.
1:46 AM: We found her. Drone inbound. Get to your roof for pickup.
The message didn’t have a tag, but Emmett knew it was from Clara or Venture.
Emmett got up, pulled on his bodysuit and clothes overtop of it. Then he pocketed his mask and burner phone.
Emmett left his room—
And ran straight into his roommate.
Lock stood in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water. He was still wearing his hoodie and shoes, like he’d just gotten in from a late night—
Well, semi-early night for Lock.
“Hey,” Emmett said, trying to think of an excuse for leaving in the middle of the night… At least he still had makeup on.
Lock finished drinking the entire glass before he set it down on the counter and turned to Emmett.
“Hey man. You feeling better yet?”
Emmett nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I guess so. I’m, uh, actually going up to the roof to clear my head.”
“Want some company?”
Lock asked so flatly that it caught Emmett off guard. It sounded like Lock had a long night and just wanted to turn in.
“Thanks… but I just want to be alone.” Emmett didn’t know what else to say. Hopefully, being direct would be enough.
Lock nodded once, his eyes never leaving Emmett’s. Silence dragged on until it was awkward and then intense.
Finally, Lock turned and went into his room. “I’m going to sleep. Catch you later, engineer.”
Emmett waited until his roommate’s door shut to go out onto the fire escape. He tried to push aside what had just happened, but Lock’s eyes felt like they’d bored into him.
He could definitely see why Lock kept getting work as a bouncer. Emmett couldn’t imagine anyone messing with his roommate.
Emmett just hoped Lock wouldn’t worry and come up to the roof looking for him. Emmett had just pretended to be sick all weekend and now he was going to hang out on the roof in the cold night air, probably for several hours.
Hopefully Lock would just go to sleep.
Chapter 48
Venture / Lock
Dr. Venture stared at the wall monitor, watching the view from Clara’s exosuit camera and the view from the Fast-Response Drone intently. It was nearly to Emmett’s apartment and would pick him up momentarily.
“Don’t forget what we discussed,” Venture said.
A moment later, Clara responded over the radio. “I won’t.”
“Maintain a one block perimeter, but wait to engage until Emmett and the other drones are in position. I’ll brief him en route.”
In an ideal world, Porcelain would’ve stayed in hiding for another few days, then Emmett and Clara could have practiced the plan in the Gray Room. It was more difficult this way, but ultimately better. They didn’t have the luxury of time anymore.
Amarque was awake, and the Summit of Heroes would start their own investigation. Which was a problem because Venture hadn’t exactly been upfront about the connection with Porcelain. Venture felt it was necessary, but the Summit wouldn’t see it that way.
They’d think he was keeping secrets from them.
That was fine. Venture had given up trying to prove himself to the Summit.
While waiting for Clara to get in position and for the drone to pick up Emmett, Venture familiarized himself with the report on Amarque.
Amarque claimed they were drugged while they were in the Donjon club and reported similar hallucinations to what Emmett experienced. These hallucinations might’ve incapacitated someone like Emmett, who was both a low-powered super and without psychic powers, but Amarque was also a Class 4 psychic. Instead of losing consciousness, they experienced waking hallucinations vivid and disturbing enough to make them lash out.
Porcelain also maintained consciousness due to their different biology, but her version of lashing out wasn’t nearly as devastating as Amarque.
…Or as devastating as it could have been.
After all, Paragon had stopped him before his warping became permanent and destroyed downtown Belport.
Dr. Venture pushed his glasses farther up his nose and sighed. The report ended with a description of the culprit—a female super who’d worn a purple dress and white gloves and had somehow charmed Amarque enough to get close to him. Venture shook his head in irritation.
There were dangerous implications: The culprit was clearly not working alone—someone had prepared her. There was no record of her attending the Donjon club before and the club’s safeguards were not common knowledge. The only name she’d given was Juliet. Second, her powers were formidable and she clearly had refined control over them. She must’ve secreted the poison before entering and somehow shielded it from discovery. The third was Amarque, himself. His powers were perhaps the most formidable in the Summit of Heroes, yet he was a fool to be charmed so easily.
Venture breathed slowly and reminded himself that power alone didn’t make someone worthy of being on the Summit. No matter the super, they were nothing special—people, demi-humans, occasionally aliens. Even those that fancied themselves immortal were just as fallible and flawed as their shorter-lived brethren.
The problem was that when Class 4 and Class 5 supers forgot their humility, lots of people tended to die.
Venture watched the screen with renewed interest. The drone was slowing down as it reached the roof of Emmett’s apartment. It was almost time…
They would have answers soon.
Lock sat on the edge of his bed, listening intently as Emmett opened the outside window and climbed up the fire escape. He could follow Emmett’s footsteps, even through the thick concrete of the roof.
Emmett claimed he’d been sick all weekend, then tried to cover up his bruises with makeup. It might’ve worked if Lock had been normal but he saw better than any normal person, heard better... And he could smell better than any normal person.
Lock recognized that smell as soon as he came home Saturday morning. He could smell it through Emmett’s door as he slept. He knew it from Champion street, when those capes had fucked everything up and that super had gotten away from him.
It had been hard not to tear Emmett’s door off the hinges that night. Hard not to question him about Porcelain.
Now his roommate was running off in the middle of the night—
Sorry, going up to the roof to clear his head.
Emmett needed to work on his excuses.
Once Emmett was up on the roof, Lock quickly got up, left his room and crossed the apartment in a blink. He paused at the fire escape, head hanging out the window to listen.
Emmett’s footsteps came his direction again, and Lock pulled his head back in the apartment so he wouldn’t be seen. Emmett wanted to make sure Lock didn’t see what he was doing or, more likely, where he was going.
Lock waited just inside the window for Emmett to walk across the roof again, then he crept up the fire escape, stopping before he came over the top.
There was a faint whirring sound, quieter than the wind. Lock peered over the roof and saw Emmett standing on the other side. A moment later, something shimmered beside him. Doors appeared in midair, like a hidden closet opening up. Emmett stepped inside and the doors closed around him.
Lock would’ve been surprised if he hadn’t already seen Venture’s drones before. The last time, Lock had watched while the drone scooped up a lifeless body off of Champion street—
At the time Lock hadn't paid it enough attention. Hadn't realized that it was his roommate.
The drone shimmered as its cloaking reengaged fully, then the whirring grew fainter as it sped off across Belport.
Lock chased after it, hurling himself off the roof and sprinting down the streets of the West End, receiving a few honks of car horns and screams of startled pedestrians. Not many people were still out this early in the morning, and none of them were prepared for a super to pass by at highway speeds.
If the drone had bothered to change direction or vary its flight route, Lock might not have been fast enough to maintain line of sight. But once the buildings got taller and Lock leapt up to the growing skyline, he was able to keep sight of the drone even as it shrunk to a flickering pinprick in his vision.
Lock didn’t hold back, running with the reckless speed across the skyline that he’d used on the street—easily leaping up three stories at a time and only avoiding the very tallest skyscrapers of Belport.
His lungs burned for the first time that he could remember and there was the slightest burn in his legs. The discomfort came and went as his body adapted. Even now, the Mutagen-X in his body was making him stronger, adapting his mind and body to new stresses and dangers.
He felt like a Class 3 super.
There was a good chance that Venture would discover Lock’s involvement tonight, and if he did, Venture might change the cloaking device on his drones so that Lock could no longer follow them. But it was a chance that Lock had to risk.
He couldn’t risk Venture and Emmett getting to Porcelain before he did.
The drone was heading toward the warehouse district, past Gnosis headquarters and the Eastside. Lock briefly considered calling in on his phone, then decided against it. They would want him to handle things on his own.
Soon the shimmer of the drone grew, and Lock knew he was getting close. He didn’t even mind when he noticed five more shimmers in the sky—five more drones converging on Emmett’s position.
It meant that he’d been right to follow.
And things with Porcelain would soon be over.
Chapter 49
Best Laid Plans
There was a slight lurch as the Fast-Response Drone stopped. The mesh inside loosened around Emmett, and a moment later, the doors opened. Cold night air rushed in, and Emmett grit his teeth.
It took Emmett a moment to get his bearings, but he stepped out onto a roof in the warehouse district. Nervously, he adjusted his mask and looked around for Clara.
She materialized beside him a second later, clad in her gray exosuit.
Dr. Venture had briefed him on the plan on the flight over. The drones would surround the warehouse while Clara and Emmett converged on it. Clara’s exosuit had been outfitted with a sonic weapon that would prevent Porcelain from duplicating. Clara would shoot her with the sonic blast, then together they would destroy any duplicates until only a single copy of her was left. The drones were there to prevent her from fleeing if she figured out their plan. If an unaffected duplicate got away, it would all be for naught.
Clara handed Emmett two small sonic grenades about the size of grapes, which he stuffed into his upper arm compartment. Those were his backup in case Porcelain targeted him or in case she tried to get away.
Venture hadn’t answered when Emmett asked how he’d come up with the sonic weakness. Emmett had just rolled his eyes and hoped Venture saw the gesture.
“Are you ready?” Clara asked, her voice slightly tinny from the intercom.
Emmett snapped back to the moment. He still felt sore from their last fight, but he adjusted his mask and nodded. “I’ll follow your lead.”
“She’s in the basement this time. Drop to the street and we’ll go in through the side entrance.”
Clara descended, and Emmett swung down to the alley between warehouses. Then the pair snuck through side streets until they came to a creaky side entrance. They squeezed in sideways, careful not to push the door open anymore than needed.
She led the way into the gloom of the hallways. Neither she nor Emmett needed the lights to see, so they walked in near-complete darkness. The only sign to mark their passing was the occasional crunch of broken glass beneath their feet.
They pushed open a set of giant double doors and entered the warehouse’s main floor. Rows of metal shelves littered the room. Most still stood upright, but several were toppled against the far wall, their criss-crossed braces giving the appearance of giant spiderwebs covering the room.
Emmett peered through the veil of metal and gloom, at first finding only the occasional box and wisps of trash—
Until he saw Porcelain.
She stood in one of the aisles, hands cupping her face in her hands like she was crying. Emmett pointed her out to Clara, and after watching Porcelain for several long seconds, Emmett realized she wasn’t moving or making any sound at all.
If he hadn’t already seen her before, Emmett would’ve thought she was a nude department store mannequin.
Slowly, Clara and Emmett stalked across the aisles. Emmett wasn’t sure how close they would need to be for Clara to use the sonic blast, but he guessed that she couldn’t use it across the room or through so many barriers.
There was a cut-through aisle in the center of the room, and the pair crept through it. When they came to Porcelain’s aisle, they realized they weren’t as alone as they thought.
There were two more copies of Porcelain, both of them unmoving: One had a hand on the crying duplicate’s shoulder, as if reassuring her. The second stood in the next aisle over, peering through the bars at the first two with a mournful expression on her face.
“I’m sorry.”
The voice came from behind them, and both Clara and Emmett whirled around, searching for it.
A duplicate sat perched at the top of a shelf beside them, peering down like a gargoyle, but it didn’t move and it didn’t speak again.
“I didn’t know.”
The voice came from the original group—from a new duplicate reassuring the crying one.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry…”
One by one, duplicates appeared around them, filling up the warehouse. Their voices overlapped until the room was deafening. But no matter how fast Emmett turned, he never actually saw them move—never saw them appear. It was almost like they’d already been in the warehouse, hidden from sight.
In seconds, Clara and Emmett were back-to-back and surrounded by hundreds of duplicates.
Emmett swallowed dryly. His hands were clenched, but he was afraid to reach into his arm compartment for a grenade.
Soon, he wouldn’t have a choice.
Emmett searched the room, waiting for an attack to come from any angle. Every duplicate was completely still, frozen in a myriad of poses across the warehouse and atop the shelves.
Now they were silent—whether that meant Porcelain was at her limit and there were no more duplicates forming, or that she’d simply stopped apologizing, Emmett didn’t know.
“What are you sorry for?” Emmett asked. The question came out as little more than a whisper.
Through the web of metal and dolls, one duplicate turned her head and looked directly at Emmett—
All of them looked at him.
Emmett flinched at the sight and pressed his back against Clara’s armor.
Then the screaming started. Hundreds of white mouths opening, quickly turning from a discordant choir to an ear-splitting scream.
The duplicates descended on them, sprinting from the aisles and leaping from the shelves. Clara raised an armored hand and blasted—clearing entire aisles of copies.
Emmett lashed out with his whip, hoping to keep the first few enemies at bay. Surprisingly, his whip cracked two of them in half. He swung twice more quickly and cut down several more just as easily. He realized that Porcelain had divided her power as she made copies, and making so many had spread her thin.
Emmett wasn’t going to complain.
He lashed out as quickly as he could while Clara let loose kinetic blasts behind him. Soon Porcelain’s screams were drowned out by the thumps and cracks of impact.
Despite the sweat beading on Emmett’s forehead, they were faring well. The only problem was he could already feel the duplicates growing stronger. For every one they destroyed, the next seemed even more durable. Soon, they were taking multiple strikes from Emmett’s whip to destroy, and then his whip wasn’t hurting them at all.
Emmett retracted his whip and waited for them to close in, meeting the first few duplicates with full power punches with his metal right hand. Thankfully, they fell and shattered.
Clara flew up and tackled the shelves, causing them to topple. Screeching metal filled the room as the shelves fell into each other like dominos, crushing dozens of duplicates beneath them.
“Here goes,” Clara said, still hovering in the air behind Emmett.
The first blast of her sonic weapon echoed through the room. It sounded like the ringing of a glass, but even higher pitched. It felt like Emmett’s teeth were ringing in his skull and the pain caused him to wince, mid-punch.
Unfortunately, the duplicates in front of him didn’t flinch at all, and a Porcelain punched him in the face. The impact sent Emmett reeling and nearly tripping over the fallen shelves.
The punch left him dazed and Emmett could already feel blood pooling in his mouth. They’d destroyed enough duplicates that now Porcelain was probably back to full strength—far too strong for Emmett to trade punches with.
Emmett shook his head and managed to kick away the first duplicate that tried piling on top of him. He resisted the urge to use his own sonic grenades while more shots echoed from Clara’s kinetic weapons.
Two more blasts rang out from the sonic weapon, and Emmett’s eyes watered as he struggled to keep them open. A punch from his right hand bought him enough time to leap to his feet. Emmett had been about to scream from the pain in his ears when he saw the duplicates glowing in front of him—
