On Thursday morning, Emmett hit the snooze twice on his alarm. By the time Emmett actually got up for class, he was running late. He grabbed a granola bar and his backpack.

He did so quietly, so he didn’t wake up his roommate. Lock must’ve gotten in late last night.

Emmett sighed. It was good they’d gotten to hang out Monday. They’d both been so busy with work that they rarely got to just hang out like they used to.

It definitely hadn’t gotten any better on Emmett’s end since he’d become a super. Between class, homework, training with Clara at the lab, and moonlighting in the evenings, Emmett felt like he barely had time to breathe—

Not that he was complaining.

Okay, maybe he’d gotten a case of senioritis with college, but he wouldn’t give up anything about being a super.

He got five steps down the hall before he jogged back to the apartment and grabbed the lunchbox of vials from under his bed.

Emmett opted to take the seven o’clock bus from the West End over to the satellite campus of Belport University over on Eastside. He hopped off on 34th Street, pushed back his dark, shaggy hair, and put his earbuds in. Endure had a new single out, “Faux Side of the Moon”, which was good but definitely different from their previous stuff. Less electronic and more industrial.

Belport’s satellite campus didn’t look much different from the surrounding businesses. All of them focused on engineering and health sciences and shared a love of glass. If everything went well, Emmett would graduate and get a job right down the street in one of them.

Only two more months to go.

The saying had become a mantra for Emmett, one he repeated to himself pretty much every morning as he sat in class, struggling to pay attention to one lecture or another. Today, he tried not to think too much about the vials in his lunchbox and the choices that awaited him.

~

After struggling through Statistics and his last elective, Modern Government and Applied History, Emmett took the two o’clock bus to the edge of Eastside.

The ads and the glass slowly faded from the sides of buildings until they were little more than concrete sides and parking lots. The last few blocks that Emmett walked were taken up exclusively by the Gnosis company headquarters which flanked the right side of the street like a military compound.

It was surrounded by razor wire and flanked by guards holding machine guns. The buildings were sleek, white, and barren of everything except the Gnosis logo—a white square with a simple, blurry face staring back.

On the left, the Gnosis parking garage was covered by two electronic billboards for Gnosis’s beauty products. One showing a generic skin cream. The second showing the tagline ‘The standards may change, but the pursuit of beauty is immortal.’

Emmett passed beneath the garage and stopped at a nondescript metal door. He pulled back his hood and waited.

A moment later, the eye scan registered and TINA’s robotic voice said, “Thank you for verification. Please step through, Emmett Laraway.” Even six months later, he still couldn’t find where the scanner, camera, or speaker were.

Emmett considered now that he was officially in the fold, Dr. Venture might reveal the secret if Emmett asked… Then again, there were plenty of secrets the doctor still kept.

“TINA, where is Dr. Venture this morning?”

“Dr. Venture is currently in section 005. He is expecting your arrival.”

Emmett followed the long, dim stairwell over one hundred steps before he reached the bottom. From there, he passed six numbered doors that looked like they belonged in a nuclear bunker instead of a laboratory. Only a few weeks ago, Emmett had only seen the inside of section 003. But that was when Emmett thought that Dr. Venture was just an eccentric engineer working on fusion reactors and heat sinks.

Now he knew the truth: His boss and mentor was a retired superhero.

…Emmett still didn’t know which hero, but one day, the old man would probably confide in him.

Emmett chuckled to himself. Only a few more months to go.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He pushed the thought aside and waited for TINA to let him into section 005—the section Emmett had spent almost all of his time in since the accident that turned him into a cyborg super.

The Gray Room.

~

Emmett stopped in the small locker room to change out of his clothes.

He’d taken to wearing his bodysuit under his clothes on the reasoning that if something dangerous and unexpected came up, it would be easier to leap into action. All he would have to do was strip off his hoodie and jeans.

Thankfully though, most superheroics had the decency to wait until evening, when Emmett was ready for them.

The suit itself wasn’t much to look at. It was black and covered everything except his face, neck, and hands. It fit snugly, like something an athlete or a dancer might wear. The ‘shoes’ even contoured to his feet and toes, and the right arm had cutaways for his storage compartments.

Emmett stuffed his clothes in a locker, put his utility belt back on, picked up the lunchbag of mutagen vials, and walked down the bunker corridors.

One of the questions that still floated around Emmett’s mind was why there was such a mix of technology in the corridors of the lab. In some sections, TINA’s voice crackled through ancient speakers and access was granted by voice scan. Others used eye scans, but the monitors looked old.

The corridors of section 005 seemed pristine in comparison. TINA’s voice came through clearly and without static. White lights came on as Emmett walked, illuminating the floor in time with his steps.

Emmett stopped at section 005’s version of the testing hub. Most of the section hubs had screens lining the walls and worktables in the center, and this one was no exception. But there were two main differences: The large Virtual Reality platform along the side wall, complete with a haptic outfit that was hung up like a suit of armor, and the large viewing window that looked out on a large, dark room—

But it would have to wait.

Dr. Venture cleared his throat expectantly.

The doctor was tall and broad, never without his titular grease-stained lab coat. Despite his profession, rugged was the best word to describe him. His hands were covered in calluses, his face in stubble, and his graying hair always swept back.

Emmett kicked himself for not realizing the truth about his mentor earlier. Now that Emmett knew what to look for, it was ridiculous that he hadn’t pegged Dr. Venture as a retired super earlier.

Then again, maybe it was easy to overlook things like that. Most people weren’t scrutinizing everyone they met, wondering if their coworkers, roommates, or their family were secretly moonlighting as supers.

Currently, Dr. Venture was hunched over the center table, staring at a holographic diagram. At first, Emmett would’ve guessed it was for the heat sink systems that they had worked on the last few months, but it wasn’t any system that he recognized. It almost looked electrical…

Venture stood and pushed up his glasses. “I see you’ve brought lunch.”

Emmett couldn’t keep from smirking as he set the bag on the table and unzipped it. “Athena and I busted another mutagen drop.”

Emmett recounted the events of last night as Venture examined the new vials, nodding along until Emmett got to the part about his whip being damaged by Feedback’s power.

“Let me see.”

Emmett extended the whip and let Venture examine it.

He rolled the linkages over in his hands, examining the damage. “Athena was right when she said that your cybernetics aren’t a superpower.”

Emmett shrugged. “At first I thought it sounded offensive. I know she didn’t mean it that way, but still…”

Venture chuckled. “Understandable, but it’s the truth. Super is a broad term. Some powers are elemental. Some are biological. Others are magical.”

“Some are based on technology.”

“Exactly.” Venture pulled a small screwdriver from his coat pocket and held the end of the whip down on the table to work on it. “Every type of power has advantages and disadvantages. Every type has strong matchups and difficult matchups. I’m not sure what type of power Feedback uses, but it looks like you didn’t suffer nearly as much damage as Athena did.”

Emmett thought back to the fight. “She definitely stayed away from him and was careful how she used her barriers.”

“I bet.”

Something clicked in the whip and the damaged linkages popped off. It might have been five linkages—only a half foot or so—but Emmett flinched.

“Are you alright?”

Emmett rubbed his arm, but the feeling was already gone. “It felt like that section went numb, then vanished completely.”

Venture examined the burnt linkages. “That is interesting.”

“Why?”

Venture set the broken pieces down on the table. “I wasn’t sure how well the prosthetic would integrate with your new body. In a sense, this is uncharted territory.”

Emmett examined the end of the whip before retracting it back into his arm. As much as he still clung to the idea of swapping out modifications on the fly, Emmett had to admit that he was partial to the whip. It was far more versatile that he’d imagined.

“Can you fix it?”

Venture laughed heartily. “You can fix it.”

Emmett scoffed. “I don’t know how.”

“Then today is a good day to learn.”

The door hissed open behind Emmett, and Clara walked in. The resemblance between father and daughter was uncanny, but Clara set herself apart. Her dark hair was buzzed short, and she was fond of leggings, baggy sweaters, and beanies instead of lab coats. She might smile more than her dad, but they both had the same intense focus.

Clara walked over to the table and crossed her arms. “Gray Room first. Fix your toys later.” She looked to be only half-joking.

“Fine,” Venture said flatly. “I’ve got things to look into, anyway. Emmett, come see me before you leave and I’ll show you what you need to know.”

~ ~ ~