Mod, Arsenal, and Athena stood on the second floor of the foyer, waiting as casually as they could while the nanite suitcases dissolved and saturated the room. Nanites dripped down the suitcases and ran like streams across the floor. The nanites spread out until they were too few to be seen by the naked eye, but they were highlighted blue in Mod’s HUD.

Each suitcase represented 500% of his original canister capacity, for a total of 1,500%.

It was a stretch for Mod, especially considering that he was holding an additional 500% across his own body. He’d successfully controlled a swarm this size before, but controlling it to do so many different tasks at once would’ve been impossible.

But he wasn’t alone. TINA was helping him with the heavy lifting.

She had already infiltrated Gnosis’s systems, and soon TINA would have control of their hardlines as well. She would cut the silent alarm and then they could move freely, without worrying about security guards alerting each other or Gnosis sending a message to the Summit. And the cellphone signal was so bad in the building that calls were routed through Wi-Fi—which TINA was monitoring.

Mod checked his phone and saw that his signal was zeroed out. A smirk crept across his face.

Arsenal leaned forward. “What is it?”

“This is why they’re afraid of us.”

Athena shifted uneasily on her feet. “Don’t get cocky.”

Mod shrugged, his fusion rifle shifting beneath his disguise. “Is it really being cocky if we can back it up?

Athena scoffed. “We’re an awful long way from done. It’s too early to celebrate.”

Arsenal said, “He’s right though. We’re four people, and we don’t even have the lab.

Athena met both of their eyes. “What makes you think Ichabod is going to let us walk out of here?”

Mod and Arsenal shared a glance. Her face was unreadable behind her nanite mask, but he wasn’t scared.

Part of him wanted the vampire to try to stop them.

When was the next time he’d get to fight a Class 4 super?

Mod stared at Athena. “Are you afraid of him?”

“I think you’d be stupid not to be. But it’s not that… He’s got an angle. He had an angle when he decided to work with Venture, and he has an angle in working with us now.”

Mod didn’t admit it out loud, but the thought had crossed his mind. Ichabod could betray them. Maybe this was just a ploy to test the headquarter’s security measures.

“He thought Dad could do it,” Arsenal said quietly. Her words hung in the air with absolute finality, so heavy that they sent a chill down Mod’s neck.

Ichabod had said that Venture had planned something. Something that could defeat every other super on the planet. That night, Ichabod had boasted about their allegiance, saying that Venture needed him…

But why the hell would one of the most powerful vampires in the world ally with a lone artificer? Gnosis had resources, money, and power beyond measure. What could Venture have possibly offered? Except…

Clara was right. Ichabod believed in Venture’s plan. He thought Venture could pull it off.

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What had Venture been planning?

Mod broke the silence. “We’ll find out one day. For now, let’s focus.”

“Head down the central stairs and proceed to the back elevators.”

At TINA’s direction, the group started walking across the upper floor. It would take them approximately two minutes to get to the elevators. Mod watched a readout of TINA’s progress in the corner of his HUD. She’d have the security hardlines cut by the time she reached the elevator.

They filed down the side stairs and into the foyer, slipping into streams of Gnosis employees.

Mod resisted the urge to double-check his disguise as they walked, instead bringing up a small view in his HUD. His business suit was generic, and he’d modified his face to appear middle-aged with just a hint of gray in his beard. It was good enough.

Mod glanced over at Arsenal. Even with the nanite disguise over her body, Mod could see she was tense, and he felt the urge to break the

He whispered, “You look good in a suit.”

Arsenal chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Athena added from behind them, “I hope TINA lets us keep these outfits after this is done… And that we survive.”

“I’ll let you keep the outfits.”

Athena chuckled grimly.

There were two sets of elevators: One set went within the normal confines of the building. The other set went down to the research wing—the lowest levels of Gnosis. That was their destination. Where Lock and the other test subjects were kept.

We’re on our way, buddy. We’re gonna get you out of here.

The stream of employees slowed as they approached the back of the room. The line for the elevators was backed up. Mod, Arsenal, and Athena shuffled forward, surrounded by Gnosis employees.

For the first time that morning, Mod started to worry.

This was one of the riskiest parts of their plan. If they lingered in the same spot too long, the smell of Arsenal’s armor would build up enough in the air that a powerful vampire could smell her. Any queue or elevator was a risk.

Step by step, the line shuffled forward. Even through his suit, Mod could feel the temperature difference of having so many bodies packed together. Mod sighed and kept his gaze forward, trying to act as casual as possible.

Arsenal bumped against his arm accidentally, and muttered, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Mod replied. Then he added, “Just another day at the office.”

Neither Arsenal nor Athena laughed, and any chance of levity died as they took the last steps to the elevators. There were security personnel in front of the research wing elevators, each armed and armored. Employees scanned their ID badges before stepping onto the elevator.

Mod took a breath before his turn came. He didn’t let it out until he scanned his badge and the light blinked green.

Another success. TINA had come through again.

But each successive victory took them deeper into the compound and further from safety.

Thankfully, Mod didn’t have time to contemplate that as he filed into the elevator. Athena and Arsenal followed right behind him. A second later, and they were packed in alongside four other employees. Arsenal positioned herself in the back, as far away from others as possible, and Mod and Athena stood in front of her.

The two men on the right of the elevator punched in floor buttons for everyone. Mod’s group were the only ones going to sublevel 10. The two men got off on sublevel 2.

Mod watched out of the corner of his eye as floors ticked by on the elevator screen.

The man and the woman on Mod’s left knew each other, and made idle small talk about their plans for the weekend. Coincidentally, those two were also vampires—their body temperatures however around 95 degrees.

Mod tuned out their conversation—

Until the woman sniffed, like she’d caught the scent of something. Then she sniffed again.

Mod turned like he was going to talk to Arsenal, and instead bumped into the woman, depositing a small cluster of nanites on her.

“Oh, excuse me,” Mod said exaggeratedly.

She sniffed again.

Mod turned to her and asked, “Allergies bothering you?”

She didn’t get a chance to reply.

The streams of nanites had been too thin for anyone to see and too light for the vampire to feel. But Mod watched through his HUD as they coalesced in the woman’s nostrils. Mod wasn’t sure if they were completely blocked, but she snorted and then promptly coughed.

She nodded and muttered something, then both she and her partner got off on the sixth sublevel floor.

Finally alone, Mod, Arsenal, and Athena breathed a quick sigh of relief before they arrived at sublevel 10.

~ ~ ~