Chapter 1.1.35 — Different Powersets

Emmet ran home across the rooftops of Belport Wednesday evening and spent the rest of the night hunched over his kitchen table, working on his radio locator project. It was the beginning of March now—already halfway through the semester.

He already noticed a difference in his low-light vision when he needed to pee in the middle of the night. His room looked so bright Emmett thought he’d left a light on. It was a long, groggy minute before Emmett realized that he had, in fact, not left any light in his room on, and that the new mutagen was already affecting his vision.

Emmett could see all the patterns on his comforter and on the clothes in his laundry basket. He could make out the posters on his wall and even the wood grain on his dresser—the only odd thing was that his new night vision was in black and white. He couldn’t make out color at all.

No, that wasn't quite right... There was a soft glow to some things so faint that Emmett almost didn't notice it. Venture had mentioned that his eyes might develop new receptors for UV and infrared light—that must be what he was seeing. His skin was the brightest example; it almost seemed to glow faintly.

Emmett was fine with that, though, and spent several more minutes looking around his room in awe before he tried to go back to sleep.

~

After Thursday morning classes, Emmett found himself back in the Gray Room. He stood on a featureless rooftop, facing Clara’s robot.

“We’re going to try a different powerset today,” Clara said through the robot. “Are you familiar with Lord Sumac?”

Emmett chuckled awkwardly. “You mean the sovereign ruler of the Greenspire forest? Class five, plant-based powers?”

“That’s the one.”

Emmett had seen news footage of Lord Sumac’s battles—clips of him plucking helicopters from the sky, collapsing buildings and single-handedly fighting off the Summit of Heroes.

The last time they trained against a random powerset, Clara had used abilities from Instaflame… Lord Sumac might actually be even worse.

“You’re going to tone his abilities down, right?”

Clara laughed through the speaker. “You know, I do actually enjoy our training. I don’t want to stomp you so bad you give up.”

He smirked and shrugged. “I’ll just start running.”

Clara’s robot shimmered and turned blue, as it did when signaling Emmett to chase it. Simultaneously, a section of tile raised up from the tiles of the roof, forming a one cubic square box. This turned golden, and Clara stooped down and picked it up. The roof tiles slid together to fill in the gap.

“This is your objective,” Clara said, gently tossing the cube for emphasis. “Try to get it.”

Emmett didn’t need any further goading—he’d been ready for a change in their training. Not to mention a powerset like Lord Sumac’s was way different from anything he’d trained against so far.

Emmett took a step forward and nearly fell flat on his face.

Vines were growing up from the tiles and had wrapped around his ankles—they were stark white with hints of green and stood out against the rest of the Gray Room. Individually, they were no thicker than a pencil, but they were growing impossibly fast and converging on his feet.

Emmett reached down and easily snapped the first vines, then leapt across the roof toward Clara’s robot.

The one edge that Emmett had in this fight, compared to other powersets Clara had used, was that Emmett was already familiar with Lord Sumac's powers.

This was commonly referred to as Lord Sumac’s grasping vines and they were relentless. Emmett knew that as soon as he landed, more vines would sprout, forcing him to keep moving.

Meanwhile, Clara’s robot turned and ran.

Emmett chased her across the faux rooftops of the Gray Room.

Despite his increased speed and stamina, she kept half a rooftop ahead of him with no sign of slowing down. It wasn’t surprising, most supers Class 3 and higher were stronger, faster, and more resilient than normal people, even if their powersets weren’t based on physical strength.

It meant that Emmett was going to need to do more than just mindlessly chase after Clara though, if he was going to catch her.

So when Emmett neared the end of the next rooftop, he lashed out with his whip and snared the edge. Then he jumped a few steps early and pulled as hard as he could on the whip—slingshotting himself forward.

He hurtled through the air, gaining on the robot, and ready to do the trick again.

But by the next jump, Clara was ready for him. As soon as she cleared the roof, vines erupted into the air, creating a barrier between them.

Emmett groaned and stopped his whip mid-swing. His run stuttered, then he humped upward, trying to hurtle the vine wall as it grew steadily higher—just clearing it.

As he sailed over the vines, Emmett lashed his whip downward. The tip struck the roof and dug into the faux brick. Then Emmett hauled himself downward, landed, and continued running without missing a beat.

Ahead, Clara was already growing barriers at the next several roofs like she was raising a hedge maze on the skyline of Belport—each seemingly faster and taller than the last. Thicker vines whipped toward Clara’s robot, hoisting it up and over the walls.

Emmett reached the next vine wall and again leapt up and over. This time, instead of hauling himself back to the roof, he lashed onto the next vine barrier and hauled himself toward it. Immediately, the vines of the wall grabbed for his whip, but it was easy to pull it free. Emmett flew across the roof—ten feet in the air—

But he was already falling and wouldn’t clear the next roof. As quickly as he could, Emmett grabbed the opposite edge of the wall with his whip and hauled himself sideways—going around the wall instead of over it. His arc was wide and wild, but Emmett swung again, grabbing the next vine wall and hurling himself upward and across the roof again.

He passed over another two roofs using this S-pattern, swinging across the roof and around the already towering vine walls.

And the next time Emmett swung around, he lost sight of Clara. The robot had seemingly vanished in the middle of the air.

Emmett looked around frantically as he swung across the alley and saw Clara’s robot falling between the buildings—plummeting toward the street. Emmett followed—lashing his whip to the nearest building and hurling himself downward.

He tucked and slammed into the robot feet first.

It had been a gamble—Emmett tried to slow himself by grabbing the wall with his whip, but it was too little, too late. Both he and Clara’s robot slammed into the ground. Even landing feet first, Emmett was set sprawling and stopped hard up against the corner of a building.

He smiled in spite of the fierce pain in his shoulder and side, because he heard Clara hit the ground with a crunch.

All his joy vanished though, when Emmett pushed himself up and saw the robot standing in front of him, clad in thick, barkskin armor.

He’d forgotten about that one. Barkskin was one of the most common abilities plant-based supers tried to develop, and for good reason.

Emmett was on his feet, just in time to dodge a heavy first. Clara punched and kicked at him, and Emmett could hear and feel the extra weight behind each strike. The only thing saving him was his faster speed.

Even that wasn’t enough though, because new vines sprouted from the street and the walls of the alley. Some reached for Emmett, trying to grab his ankles and his wrists. Others threaded together, making a wall behind Emmett to keep him from escaping.

Even though Lord Sumac’s abilities were toned down, Emmett found himself almost overwhelmed by the sheer number of abilities Clara was throwing at him—so much so that he almost missed the fact that she was no longer holding the golden cube.

It was hanging in a cluster of vines three stories above him. She must’ve ditched it on the way down.

Emmett backpedaled as he dodged the robot’s armored punches and kicks, but was dangerously close to the vine wall behind him. Deciding to test his strength against Clara’s barkskin armor, Emmett struck back, punching fast and hard. His fists cracked against the thick wood, the sound echoing through the alley and pain shooting through his hands.

But no matter how hard Emmett punched, Clara’s robot didn’t so much as flinch in its attacks. In addition to the bulk that the armor added, its feet were probably anchored to the ground by roots.

Emmett was left with only one other option:

He ducked and opened the compartment on the back of his upper right arm—the skin separating with a thought—and pulled out two smoke pellets. He threw one at the ground and it exploded into a cloud of dense gray—nearly black—smoke.

For a moment, Emmett was completely blind. The smoke was so thick he couldn’t see even an inch in front of him and could barely hear the crunch of Clara’s armor on the street. Emmett didn’t dare even try to breathe.

Then Emmett leapt up, easily clearing the smoke and leaving his enemy behind. He lashed out with his whip, grabbed the wall, and hurled himself upward. Vines reached for the whip, but he was already ascending quickly.

Emmett smirked, thinking he’d won—

Until the gray sky dimmed and looked like it was falling. Simultaneously, all the vine barriers above them collapsed, sending a tidal wave of writhing faux vegetation toward Emmett.

There was no way he would beat the vines to the golden box.

Eyes wide and breath held, Emmett hurled his whip through the largest opening in the mass and grabbed the faux brick behind it. And when he felt tension, Emmett pulled as hard as he could.

He rocketed upward, just barely threading through the hole in the vines—several thorns catching on his arms. He made it, and the mass of foliage tumbled past him.

In fact, it was everything Emmett could do to catch himself on the edge of the roof before overshooting. He kept his whip embedded until he steadied himself, then planted his feet and leapt off the wall toward the golden cube.

A breath later and Emmett grabbed the cube, and grabbed the edge of the roof to keep from falling. Emmett had been about to leap away with the cube, but the vines around him faded. The alley below cleared, leaving Clara’s robot, sans-bark, and slow-clapping.

Emmett hung there for a moment longer, triumphant.

~

“That was awesome!” Emmett exclaimed as he dropped to the alley, chest still heaving from excitement and exertion.

Even though Emmett had had good showings in training before, there was something different about this victory. Maybe it was the fact that Emmett knew how potent Lord Sumac’s powerset was, or that he’d managed to use his abilities differently. Either way, it truly felt like a victory, instead of just surviving.

Clara’s robot stood across from him in the alley, hands on its hips and laughter leaking through. “I honestly thought I had you at the end.”

“I thought you did too! How did you even know where I was?”

“The vines. I could feel where you went each time you touched the vines.”

Emmett smacked himself in the forehead. Of course, she’d been able to see him. He should’ve remembered that from Lord Sumac’s powers.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Clara continued. “It’s easy to forget that supers won’t just have extra powers, but extra senses intertwined with them: Lord Sumac can see through his vines. Psychics can sense the mind of someone nearby, even if they’re cloaked or invisible. Sorcerers can sense other magic users and relic users.

“It’s even more than that, though. Changelings and shapeshifters are adept at spotting their own kind because they know exactly what tells to look for. Vampires or supers with heightened senses can smell when another super has recently been in a battle by the traces of blood left on them. Even time and reality warpers can sense the scars in the world left over from other warpers.

“There are as many different senses to keep track of as there are different types of supers. But…” Clara paused for emphasis, holding up a robot finger. “There are ways we can cloak ourselves with technology, turn the senses of supers against them, and even mirror their senses.”

Emmett was listening intently as Clara monologued, his mind already spinning with possibilities. He’d already been thinking about his own abilities—how he could use additional mods and upgrade his capabilities—but now there was so much more.

Why did he have to be limited by mutagens or even mods, when he could be using the senses of other supers?

It was a long shot, of course—it had taken Emmett over a year to develop the newest versions of the radio locator… and if he was being honest with himself, it still wasn’t quite finished. Something like reverse engineering the senses or abilities of other supers was bound to take longer…

But even as Emmett had that epiphany, another realization hit him suddenly. One that couldn’t wait for the end of training.

~ ~ ~