Chapter 1.1.9 — Better Already

Emmett spent the rest of the day working on his project and taking breaks to catch up with Lock. Apparently, the concert had gone smoothly, except for a rowdy drunk that Lock got to throw out the gate himself.

He still had trouble picturing Lock as a bouncer—despite Lock’s thick build, Emmett knew him too well. He knew that Lock would rather spend his time relaxing and expanding his mind, as his roommate was fond of saying.

Lock must have been good at his job, though, because he was never hurting for work.

Eventually, Lock left Emmett to go smoke on the roof, wanting a moment of privacy. Sometimes he offered to share whatever drug he was taking with Emmett—this wasn’t one of those times.

Emmett didn’t pry.

All the while, Emmett tried to pay attention to his injuries. He still felt a deep ache when he moved, something like a cross between a deep bruise and a bad flu. But it slowly faded throughout the day until Emmett wasn’t sure if he was imagining the pain—

He almost died… shouldn’t he feel like shit?

When he woke up on Sunday, Emmett couldn’t tell he’d been injured at all. He felt fine. Felt good—better, even.

Emmett spent the rest of the weekend working, or at least attempting to. He couldn’t help but marvel at his recovery. He almost brought it up to Lock, but quickly stopped himself.

Emmett found himself looking forward to Monday afternoon at the lab so that he could talk to Dr. Venture and Clara about it.

~

The rest of Sunday evening and Monday morning classes passed so slowly that Emmett felt like he was ten years younger and waiting for his birthday to arrive. He was so excited he could’ve run from campus to the lab instead of taking the bus.

When he finally got to the lab, he jogged down the halls to the testing hub, where Dr. Venture and Clara were waiting for him.

“I’m better already,” Emmett said, patting himself. “One hundred percent. Is that normal?”

“No,” Venture replied. Clara glared at her father before he continued. “That’s not normal for someone who’s been in a serious accident. It is normal for your new body.”

Emmett looked at both of them. “You didn’t just heal me, did you?”

“No. Your new body also has some enhancements: Bones, muscle—enough to handle your new arm.”

Emmett’s throat felt suddenly tight. “Why?”

“To give you a choice,” Venture replied, crossing his arms across his chest. “Bringing you into the fold wasn’t the only thing I had in mind… You said you felt powerless. You don’t have to feel that way anymore—not if you don’t want to.”

Emmett felt the realization of what Venture was saying slowly dawn on him—

But apparently too slow for Clara.

“You’re a super, Emmett,” she said, a small smile on her face.

Emmett looked at his hands, both marveling and feeling somewhat ridiculous because he didn’t look any different—he didn’t really even feel any different. His stomach swam, and he desperately wanted to sit down.

But disbelief and guilt settled on him, too.

“Why? …Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful to be alive, but this is different. Why me?”

Clara responded, “Why anyone? No one gets to choose to be a super.”

Venture added, “You’re a good person, a good student, and hard worker. You’re a better candidate than most who become supers. And, we need someone else we can trust.”

Emmett stumbled over to the holographic table in the center of the room and leaned on it, trying to steady his breathing.

He was a super! What powers did he have? Super strength? Speed? …He could even register and become a cape!

This was what he’d always wanted, wasn’t it?

Screeching metal and fire flashed across his mind again. He’d almost died that day—almost been killed—because of a super.

Did he want that responsibility? What if next time it was him killing someone innocent?

But there was another feeling that stuck out that day: He’d been powerless, lying face down in the middle of the street, unable to save anyone, unable to save himself—

Unable to do goddamn anything at all.

Emmett never wanted to feel that way again.

And instead of just saving himself, maybe he could save other people, too. Maybe Emmett could keep other people safe where some super had failed him.

When Emmett finally met Venture and Clara’s eyes, they were both smiling.

Clara said, “Looks like you’ve made up your mind.”

Emmett took a deep breath to steady himself. Underneath his uncertainty, excitement was building.

“So, what can I do?”

Before Clara could answer him, Dr. Venture replied, “You can take the rest of the evening off and make sure this is what you really want.”

Emmett felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath him.

“I’ve already made up my mind.”

Venture held up a hand for silence, as much for Clara as for Emmett. “You won’t just be working with us, you’ll be working for me. This isn’t danger by association. You’ll be expected to fight. Once you go down this path, there is no stopping.”

“Forgive me, Dr. Venture, but you stopped being a super.”

Venture scoffed. “You’re missing the point. It took me twenty years to escape… and I still can’t stop.”

Venture’s words hung heavy in the testing hub, loaded with the weight of a life and decisions that Emmett could only guess at, but felt all the same.

It was Clara that finally broke the silence.

“You should take your time,” she said, staring at the center table. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Reluctantly, Emmett nodded. “Okay. I’ll take the night and think about it… but can I help out for a bit? The next bus doesn’t come until three.”

~

Dr. Venture agreed to let Emmett stay for another two hours, but work was slow. Since Emmett was still on the outside of their circle of trust, Dr. Venture had relegated their work to systems Emmett already knew about.

So again, Emmett found himself testing heat sinks and batteries. Only this time, he wasn’t nearly as excited about the technology in front of him as he was about all the things that lay undiscovered in the rest of the lab.

What other tech did Venture have stored away? Were any of the systems things that he had used during his time as a cape?

Then there was the question of just who Dr. Venture was, and what his powers were.

Emmett and Clara were hunched over the testing formation of testing chamber 2, rearranging strips of batteries between the heat sinks.

He had so many questions, and he was stuck waiting another day!

Emmett groaned audibly with frustration.

Clara raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” He stared at her in disbelief.

Clara smirked. “I’m not psychic.”

Emmett dropped his wrench and leaned on the batteries. “Waiting is killing me.”

“I hate to break it to you, but there’s a lot of waiting as a super.”

“What do you mean?”

“Crimes don’t just happen every day, you know. Sometimes you have to wait for intel, or wait in hiding for the villain to arrive. It’s a lot like police have to do. Just because you’re a super doesn’t mean it will be any different. Then there’s the research and development. Sometimes we’re waiting for parts or waiting for Dad to figure out a missing piece. Lots of waiting.”

There was something in Clara’s voice that caught Emmett off guard. “It almost sounds like you hate waiting as much as I do.”

Clara nodded. “Yep. But that’s part of the process.”

But Emmett wasn’t deterred. He narrowed his eyes. “It almost sounds like you know from experience.”

Clara glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, so fast he almost missed it. “I do. I just said that even in the R and D stuff, there’s a lot of waiting.”

Emmett waited, but Clara didn’t turn to him—didn’t give any indication that she’d heard his accusation.

If her father was a super, was Clara a super too?

He waited another moment before he resolved to get back to work.

Just one more answer he had to wait for.

~ ~ ~