Mod Superhero

Chapter 4.13 - Patrol

TINA woke Emmett up at six with a message from Serenity. Both Mod and Arsenal were due for Summit patrols in an hour. She'd brief them with more when they arrived.

Emmett groaned and sat on the edge of the bed. He unwrapped the bandage from his thigh. A thin line of blood wiped away to reveal a thick scar. Emmett stood, testing his weight on the leg.

It still ached—the deep, dull pain reminded him of when his bones had been laced with metal—but he could manage. Muscle would heal faster than bone, and Emmett was no stranger to pain. Between TINA patching him up, and the Mutagen-A and nanites helping him heal...

Well, Emmett was just glad that he could go back out there.

Emmett pulled his pant leg back down and went outside. Clara and her dad were already at the kitchen table. The smell of eggs wafted through section 001.

He stretched and walked over. Clara looked as tired as he felt.

She waved an energy bar at him and set it in front of his chair. She chewed and mumbled, "Breakfast of champions."

"Everything the body needs... for half a day," Venture added. He smirked and took another bite of his eggs.

Emmett sat down and glanced between the energy bar and Dr. Venture's breakfast.

          Mighty Munch—the Official Energy Bar of the Summit of Heroes

Emmett had heard of them before, at least on the forums, but he'd never actually seen them in real life. When Emmett was a kid, he'd begged and pleaded for his parents to get him some. Apparently, they weren't sold to civilians.

Since then, he'd read enough about them on the forums to temper his excitement. They were closer to military rations than a protein bar you got from the supermarket. The consensus was that Mighty Munch bars were made to keep you alive—they weren't made to taste good.

Emmett was pretty sure you couldn't buy them unless you were a sanctioned hero. Whether that was because they were licensed by the Summit or because they didn't sell was up for debate.

The Mighty Munch bar in front of him was mint chocolate chip. That one supposedly tasted like toothpaste.

"Better than eggs, huh?"

"Absolutely not," Venture replied. "But you don't have time for a real breakfast. I'll give you another energy bar to take with you."

"...Do you have any other flavors?"

~

Mod and Arsenal flew in a heavy drone to their assigned staging area. Even though TINA had repaired his super suit, Emmett had been given a backup to wear for today.

Apparently, TINA wanted to test the repairs to make sure the non-newtonian fluid channels in the suit weren't compromised. Mod thought she was worrying over nothing, but expressed his gratitude.

It was odd to think of the AI worrying about him like that, but Mod didn't dwell on that fact. Assisting in research was part of her programming, and the super suit was part of her research.

Mod and Arsenal departed the heavy drone and walked the rest of the block to the staging area. Some of the new recruits from yesterday were already in the fenced-in parking lot and going through their own training. Most of them had traded in their homemade costumes for color-coded Summit bodysuits. It helped, but Mod still couldn't shake the thought of a Class 1 recruits going up against the Deep Ones.

Even before Mod and Arsenal got to the gate, nearby supers paused to look at them. There was no applause this time, only murmurs throughout the groups. Mod couldn't tell whether they were in regards to yesterday's events with the Deep Ones, or whether other rumors had spread.