Chapter 1.1.43 — We Just Want to Talk

Emmett sprinted after Clara to the armory, section 004, feeling like his heart was beating in his throat. Not only was he finally getting to go after Porcelain, he was going to see the armory.

Despite his super speed, Emmett felt like he was chasing Clara through a dream, like he was moving through water or syrup. He barely heard Clara call for TINA to prepare her suit.

They ran through familiar twists and turns as the layout of section 004 mimicked the halls and hubs of neighboring sections, but no amount of imagination could’ve prepared Emmett for what he saw when they reached the depths of the armory.

The hallway turned into an open air catwalk which extended out into the center of a massive spherical room several hundred feet across. The walls of the room were blocky, like the steps of an ancient pyramid, but at the same time metal and not nearly as uniform. The longer Emmett stared, the more it reminded him of an abstract drawing—something made to play tricks on the eye. Maybe it was made to hide the true structure beneath…

Emmett didn’t get a chance to ask because Clara was already at the end of the catwalk and yelling for him to hurry up.

“You can gawk later,” she said.

Emmett ran over to the center of the room, his eyes still struggling to take it all in. There was something clearly different about the armory. Like the Gray Room, it didn’t fit with the rest of the bunker.

Everything else Emmett had seen looked like normal technology. Cutting edge—sure. Futuristic—totally. But the armory and the Gray Room… they felt otherworldly.

“If you told me that your dad was an alien, I would believe you.”

Clara scoffed, and then quickly wiped the spittle from her lips.

Emmett followed her eyes across the enormous room and his jaw dropped.

A compartment had opened in the wall of the armory, and Clara’s exosuit floated out of it. Floated over to them.

Emmett couldn’t do anything but watch and grow progressively more dumbfounded by the second. There wasn’t any platform moving the suit. There weren’t any wires holding it up. It wasn’t even being piloted remotely or automatically. It just floated and set down gently on the platform next to Clara.

Was it anti-gravity? Magic? …Was Clara telekinetic?

“Don’t ask,” she said, glancing back at him. “I don’t know how the armory works or how TINA interacts with it.”

Clara’s comment brought Emmett back to the moment, and his attention focused on the exosuit. It was sleek and almost form fitting, with just a hint of hard edges to suggest armor. Emmett found it beautiful—like a mix of classical statue and deadly weaponry.

His admiration was dwarfed by his curiosity, though. Emmett wanted to examine the suit, even tear it down and dismantle it. Wanted to figure out how it worked, and then make his own.

One day. One day…

The back of the exosuit opened, Clara climbed inside, and the hatch closed behind her. Emmett watched jealously as the suit hummed to life.

Something else across the room caught Emmett’s eye. A large metal box floated toward them, sleek and dark, about ten feet tall and six feet wide, and almost completely square. It looked like a glorified suitcase compared to the exosuit Clara used.

Emmett couldn’t help but chuckle. “What is that?”

Dr. Venture’s voice seemed to echo from the walls all around them. “One of my Fast-Response Drones. Now get in.”

As if on cue, the drone set down on the catwalk and split open like the doors of a giant closet, revealing a glossy mesh-covered interior.

Behind him, Clara’s suit rumbled with life. “Now’s not the time to be shy.”

Emmett swallowed and awkwardly climbed in, trying not to think about how dark and completely enclosed he was about to be.

The doors closed around him, sealing Emmett in the dark. The mesh felt cool and squishy beneath his hands, and then Emmett felt it close in around him to encase his legs, his hips, stomach, chest, and arms. By the time the gel crept up the back of his neck, Emmett was struggling not to panic.

He couldn’t move his legs or his arms—he couldn’t move at all. Even his head wouldn’t turn—not even as gel solidified around his face and Emmett felt cool air around his mouth and nose…

He could still breathe.

He could still breathe.

“Try to relax,” Venture said. His voice filtered through the gel, sounding almost ethereal. “The gel is to keep you safe from any impacts, toxins, and extreme temperature changes. You don’t need to do anything except enjoy the ride.”

Emmett sighed and wrinkled his face, feeling the gel give slightly around his mouth. “I can talk… What happens if I pee myself?”

“Don’t do that.”

Clara added, “If you two geeks are done, let’s go.”

There was a soft rumbling from outside that Emmett could barely hear through the gel, then a slight lurch—such a small movement that Emmett thought he’d imagined it.

TINA’s voice came through a moment later. “Following exosuit.”

Emmett waited in absolute darkness, but couldn’t tell if anything was happening.

“Are we moving?”

Clara laughed over the intercom. “Yes. It’s probably good that you can’t see this part. The speed is hard to get used to.”

Emmett sighed. “I’ll have to trust you on that.”

~

Flying across Belport was much quicker than Emmett expected, even sitting in a pitch-black drone.

TINA’s announcements came one after the other:

“Exiting Lab…”

“Target locked…”

“Approaching…”

“Nearing drop point…”

By the time TINA announced, “Prepare for drop,” it felt like only a minute had passed.

The drone split open, and Emmett winced at the lights of the warehouse district. Then it unceremoniously dumped him onto the roof.

Emmett tucked and rolled, his enhanced reflexes making up for the surprise. Behind him, the drone was already engaging its cloaking system.

Despite how dead the warehouse district was, it took Emmett a moment to adjust. All his senses had been muted in the drone. Now even the sparse lights and muted sounds of the traffic felt overwhelming, and he shivered as he felt the night air.

“Come on,” Clara said, her exosuit shimmering in the air beside him. “She’s two buildings over on the top floor. It looks like there’s an open window we can go through.”

Emmett nodded. He leapt across the roofs to follow.

They were on the far Eastside of the city—the old warehouse and business district. It was the first time Emmett had been on this side of Belport, and he was taken back by the squalor. Buildings looked like they were being held up by wooden boards and a prayer. The roof creaked beneath his feet.

Clara flew into the fourth-floor window of the next warehouse, visible only by a shimmer and the hum of her thrusters. Emmett followed, using his whip to swing after her.

Inside, the warehouse looked like it had been hit by a natural disaster. Papers and splintered office furniture lay strewn about. Walls were crumbling or completely knocked down—graffiti covered the parts that were still standing. The smell of mildew and old smoke lingered in the air.

A crash came from down the hall, like shattering glass.

“That’s her,” Clara whispered. “She’s alone in the building. Stay behind me, but stay close.”

She kept the suit’s cloaking engaged and stepped out into the hallway. Dappled light filtered in through broken windows, but otherwise the building was dimly lit and without power.

Emmett actually didn’t mind that part; he could see just fine.

“What’s the plan?” Emmett asked, peering around cautiously.

“Talk to her… hopefully. Otherwise, subdue her and bring her in for questioning.”

Clara crept forward down the hall. Emmett followed, twitching his mechanical fingers for reassurance. He hadn’t forgotten that Porcelain was a Class 2 super—

Class 2.3, actually. Which meant she could punch up even higher than Class 2.

A shuffle of paper beneath Emmett’s feet brought him back to the moment. He followed Clara’s shimmering form down the hall, focusing on where he was stepping. Despite its armor and bulk, somehow Clara’s suit moved in complete silence. It took focused effort for Emmett to do the same.

Another crash came from a room at the end of the hall. White shards tumbled out of the room.

Porcelain was definitely in there.

Clara disengaged her cloaking and the sleek gray of her suit appeared. She stepped into the doorway, hands raised in a nonthreatening manner.

“Porcelain, we’ve come to talk to you. It’s okay. You don’t have to be afraid. We’re just here to talk—”

An explosion tore through the air—bright white and a sound like shattering glass.

Emmett recoiled as it erupted from the room and pushed Clara back. White shards sprayed across the floor and past Emmett’s feet. As quick and violent as the explosion was, it was over in a millisecond and reminded Emmett of a flashbang grenade.

Clara was still standing defiantly. She’d been pushed back a few feet, but otherwise her suit looked unharmed.

“Fine,” Clara said. “Let’s do this the hard way.”

Clara disappeared into the room and chaos ensued. Impacts echoed from the room—squeals of metal, crunching glass, and more flashes of light.

For a moment, Emmett didn’t know what to do. If Clara got overwhelmed, how much help would he really be? Emmett wasn’t sure if she was a Class 2 or maybe even a Class 3 super, but she had to be higher than his lowly Class 1.

Maybe he could sit just outside the room, ready to surprise Porcelain if she tried to run…

It was a short-lived brainstorming session, because a moment later Porcelain ran out of the room—

Then another—

And another.

Three Porcelains turned and ran straight for Emmett.

He barely had time to process before the first Porcelain lunged for him. Emmett recoiled and blocked her first punches, and immediately regretted it—not only did the super look like a white marble statue, she was as solid as one too. Each punch felt like getting hit by a club and sent Emmett stumbling back a step.

His mechanical arm fared better, and Emmett was almost able to block direct hits with it, but he was wary of stressing it too much against her.

Porcelain was powerful, and even Venture hadn’t been privy to all of her combat data. She might have even more tricks she could pull out.

Immediately, Emmett stopped trying to block and focused on avoiding or redirecting Porcelain’s strikes. She may have had super strength, but it didn’t seem like she had the speed to back it up, while Emmett realized he had both. He was able to stay a few millimeters ahead of her.

At least until the other two duplicates reached him.

Emmett backpedaled wildly to stay away from all three. Meanwhile the sounds of battle in the other room hadn’t stopped. Worse, Porcelain didn’t seem to be running—she seemed content to fight Clara and Emmett at the same time.

Emmett reached into his upper arm compartment for a handful of smoke pellets and threw them at his feet. They exploded, blanketing the hallway in smoke.

Out of desperation, Emmett slipped the folding knife from his utility belt. He crouched and slipped to the side so his back was against the wall. When the first Porcelain appeared in the smoke, Emmett lunged, but the knife scraped across her side. He tried again, stabbing straight into her stomach, but the blade broke in half. Out of options, Emmett punched, driving his mechanical fist into her side. A crack sounded through the hall as her body splintered. Porcelain turned, half crumpling as she lunged for Emmett, but he slipped out of the way.

A second Porcelain came at him as more explosions sounded in the other room. Emmett slipped her punch and retaliated with one of his own, sending her sprawling away.

The third lunged straight for him, and Emmett reached out reflexively to push her away. His hand found her throat and for a moment, she paused, as if realizing her mistake.

“We don’t want to fight you,” Emmett said. “Stop! We don’t want—”

Emmett’s vision went white and he felt hundreds of pinprick stabs all across his skin—from his face down to his legs. There was nothing left in his hand; Porcelain was gone.

He pawed at the air, deaf and blind from Porcelain’s explosion except for the ringing in his ears.

Haze came back into view, right before something hit Emmett in the side of the head—sending him sprawling across the hall. He couldn’t tell if the smoke was swirling or if his vision was swimming from the blow, but Emmett clawed his way up from the ground.

The two remaining Porcelains came at him with crazed fury, and their lack of coordination was the only thing that allowed Emmett to survive the onslaught. He slipped under one while her punch gouged chunks out of the wall, then ducked behind her to keep his enemies stumbling over one another.

Despite his panic, Emmett noticed the duplicates were cracking and beneath their stony white skin were cybernetics that sparked with electricity… It caught Emmett so off guard that he nearly took a punch for it.

Emmett’s ears hadn’t stopped ringing, and he could see faint flashes of light behind the veil of smoke—Clara was still fighting other duplicates. She wasn’t coming to help.

Another duplicate slammed into Emmett from behind, and the impact brought him back to the moment. Emmett stumbled while it wrapped its cold stoney arms around his chest.

Emmett’s vision went white again and he rolled across the ground. He expected pain, but there was only a dull burning ache all across his back that felt distant and blurred like his vision. His ears were ringing again.

More flashes in the distance—

Another up close.

The world was a haze of light… But somehow he could still see the glistening metal and wires beneath the cracks in Porcelain’s skin.

Maybe there was a reason after all why Venture wanted to keep him away from this mission.

Darkness bled in from the edges as Emmett started to lose consciousness.

Shit.

~ ~ ~