Chapter 1.1.42 — Keeping Secrets

Emmett and Clara spent the day training in the Gray Room. Any other day, it would’ve been a nice change from the earlier—getting lectured by Dr. Venture about the nature of trust, waiting, and finding answers. The Gray Room should have been cathartic.

It was for one of them, at least.

It was Clara’s opinion that Emmett should spend his time training against as many different powersets as possible. So, each time Emmett and Clara’s robot started fighting, Emmett found himself facing a completely different super. They were all scaled down to Emmett’s level, of course, but that only helped so much when every battle was new and unexpected.

Clara sounded giddy, though Emmett wasn’t sure if it was because she was getting to use so many different powers or if it was using those powers against him.

The first powers Clara used were glass and silica-based powers, which were almost impossible to escape from. Windows could be shattered and turned into a storm of shards, turned into obscuring sand, or melted and reformed into weapons.

Light Sculpting was difficult to fight outside and reminded Emmett of Athena’s powers. Light itself could be forged into barriers and weapons, or magnified into beams. Emmett needed to fight indoors as much as possible, and ultimately delt with these first two sets of powers in the same way: By luring Clara’s robot inside a building and using tight hallways and low-light to his advantage.

Clara even used a negation-super against him—one specializing in tech-negation. Emmett had come to rely so much on his mechanical arm for attacks and his whip for movement that this was a wake-up call for him. Instead of using his whip to climb, he was forced to leap to windowsills to climb higher buildings and fight one handed when he did get close enough to engage.

Summoners were next. These types could conjure anything from a massive single ogre to a pack of wolves or flock of bats. Either way, Emmett had difficulty, though the bigger the enemy, the more he could lean on his increased speed and ability to climb. Though when an ogre hit him, it really hurt.

General telekinesis came after, and this was both the power that varied the most in difficulty and that Emmett had the most fun fighting. Clara took her time ramping up the difficulty, at first only using telekinesis to throw the odd object at Emmett while he chased her robot. Slowly, her fighting style became more complex. Soon, the robot was throwing chairs like boomerangs, changing direction mid-jump while pestering Emmett with clouds of debris that buzzed him like wasps. By the end, Emmett felt like he was fighting three opponents at the same time—Clara’s robot was fighting hand to hand while simultaneously assaulting him with random objects.

Emmett sat down on the roof to catch his breath. “No—no more.”

The robot put its hands on its hips, and Clara’s laughter echoed through it. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“For right now. Give me five.”

It didn’t take quite that long. After only a minute, Emmett was already feeling good enough to start again.

He looked up and found Clara’s robot still hadn’t moved. It was still looking down at him expectantly.

“So… Are you going to talk to me about what’s going on between you and your dad? Did you guys have a fight or something?”

Clara didn’t answer. Her robot didn’t move at all.

Emmett sighed. He hoped he hadn’t pressed his luck by asking. “It’s just… seems like something happened. It’s been kind of… awkward.”

Still nothing.

Emmett’s face felt even more flush than it had from working out. “You don’t have to talk to me about it if you don’t want to. I’m just offering, I guess. You’ve never really talked about having a lot of friends, so I was… So I was offering, I guess.”

Silence dragged on, and Emmett tried to hide his growing distress. He stood up and paced to the edge of the roof, fingers laced on top of his head.

“Sorry,” Emmett said. “Forget I said anything.”

A few moments later, someone landed on the roof beside Emmett, startling him. Clara tossed her sweatshirt and beanie on the roof, then stood ready with her hands on her hips. Emmett was taken aback at her sudden appearance and her training outfit—it was rare to see her without her sweatshirt and beanie... It was even stranger to see the metal armor she wore overtop of her outfit: Metal boots, gloves, helmet, and sparse frame that wrapped around her joints. It looked like her exosuit, only stripped down do the barest essentials, like a car without any paneling.

“My eyes are up here,” Clara joked.

Emmett felt his face turn another shade of red and cleared his throat. “I’ve never seen you wear this one.” Thankfully, he’d been looking at her exosuit and not her.

“This?” Clara held up her hands for emphasis. “This is just what I wear when I don’t need all the extra armor. Who were you talking to a minute ago?”

Emmett glanced back at the robot that still hadn’t moved. Now he knew why and felt even more ridiculous.

“I thought I was talking to you. I was just wondering what’s up with you and your dad. It’s been awkward.”

“Has it?” Clara’s face wrinkled in concern. “Sorry. I guess it has been pretty obvious.”

“You can talk to me about it, you know,” Emmett offered. “But I get it if you don’t want to. No pressure. I just figured I would offer.”

“Thanks,” Clara said, managing a smile. “It’s mostly just about him not trusting us.”

“Us?”

“Well, me. But also you. With all the stuff that’s going…” Clara sighed in frustration. “I guess I was just hoping that we were getting to the end of all the secrets.”

Emmett raised an eyebrow. “I know he’s keeping secrets from me—about what super he used to be, about Porcelain, maybe even about what really happened on Champion street… But what’s he keeping from you?”

“About what really happened to Mom.” Clara’s shoulders sagged like it took an enormous amount of effort to tell him… maybe even just to give voice to it.

“Clara… I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”

“Mom was a super, too. And she’s gone.” Clara turned and looked out over the faux city of Belport. “I can’t even tell you the official story.”

“...Because that might affect your dad’s cover story?”

“Yep. Dad’s a retired hero and if I tell you the story about Mom, then you might put the rest of it together… All that matters is, the official story about Mom is bullshit, and the only one that can tell me the truth, won’t.” Clara’s fist shook at her side. “I know we have more important things going on right now. I just thought… I just thought Dad might finally tell me.”

Emmett stepped up beside her on the edge of the roof, wishing he could think of something to say. “Sorry,” was all he could find.

Then a moment later, he added, “Let’s go around the city. I’d like to see what that suit can do.”

Clara nodded and wiped her eye. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

~

Emmett ran across the white rooftops while Clara flew beside him.

Her training exosuit was a marvel. She flew mostly with the thrusters in her boots, but at slower speeds, she stabilized and compensated with the thrusters in her gloves. Despite the bare bones frame, it had all the speed and maneuverability of her normal suit.

Emmett commented as much, then asked, “How did you shrink the power source?”

Clara stopped and hovered beside the roof. “Most of our suits use modified fusion reactors. This one may look the same, but it, uh, has a lot less power.”

Emmett chuckled. “That wasn’t convincing at all. Come on, what’s up with the suit?”

Clara shrugged. “It’s pretty close, but definitely different. And check this out.” Clara aimed an outstretched palm at him. Air shimmered around the glove.

Emmett had the sense to jump out of the way just before a pulse of heat blast through where he’d been standing a moment ago. He quickly stood and looked at the crumpled tiles on the next building over.

“What was that for?” Emmett asked, only half laughing.

“Just keeping you on your toes.” She held up the glove and wiggled the metal fingers. “The suit can fire kinetic blasts. It’s a similar process to how it flies—taking fusion heat energy using a laser to super-heat air. By adjusting the laser, we can adjust the explosion, changing the range and power of the blast.”

The near miss was all but forgotten as Emmett gawked at the suit’s tech.

“That. Is. Awesome.”

“Yes, it is.” Clara aimed her gauntlet at Emmett again, and they took off across the Gray Room in another game of cat and mouse.

Since he wasn't sure if Clara had any powers beside her suit, Emmett focused on escape instead of fighting back. He didn’t want to hurt her accidentally.

It was only a few minutes before Dr. Venture’s voice came over the intercom—

“Porcelain sighted. Clara, Emmett, both of you report to the armory, immediately for deployment. I repeat, Clara, Emmett, both of you report to the armory for immediate deployment.”

Emmett and Clara glanced at each other, and without saying a word, took off out of the Gray Room and down the hall.

~ ~ ~