Mod Superhero

Chapter 4.14 - Serenity 2

Serenity peered through the glass. Summit station number three was an unmarked, mid-sized office building on the upper end of Belport's Eastside. From her vantage point on the second floor, she could just make out the edge of the flood waters.

Several stations were underwater, but the furthest ones inland had been spared.

Which was good because the stations served as vital hubs of communication for artificers, psychics, and mages, in addition to more mundane communications between the rest of the Summit.

Currently, Serenity was waiting for a meeting, and her head bobbed with both exhaustion and impatience. There were a hundred other things she could be doing right now—or should be doing right. At the very least, she should be taking a round of patrols so that the other capes could rest. Sure, she was tired, but everyone needed to pull their weight. The capes in Belport were stretched thin enough as it was.

Especially with both Liara and Hunter Nine in the hospital.

The civilian militaries of the world were stretched even thinner. It was one thing to fight one war, but this war had a front in every city that bordered the Atlantic coast and conventional navies were at a loss against a species that controlled the oceans. So far, world governments had restrained from bombing their own flooded cities by using a mixture of conventional soldiers and supers, but something had to give.

Drafting supers was more acceptable than drafting civilians. The influx of new capes allowed militaries to focus on safeguarding navy bases around the world.

Serenity was glad she wasn't making those decisions. Just thinking about the bigger picture was exhausting.

Thankfully, she only had to wait another minute before she felt a psychic ping. That was her cue.

Serenity walked through halls, keeping her eyes ahead so that she didn't meet the curious eyes of the support staff.

She paused at an unmarked door in the center of the floor and psychically confirmed her identity. Inside was a small conference room with a giant mass of resonating crystal sitting on the center table. The crystal was rough and uncut, standing three feet tall, and it shimmered with ethereal light.

Psychic and telekinetic abilities were functions of power, ability, and distance. Unless one was immensely powerful or had a knack for it, long-distance communication was impossible or prohibitively draining. In modern times, even the most powerful psychics used resonating crystals for meetings like this.

As soon as she sat down, the head and shoulders of her immediate boss, Ryder, appeared in front of the crystal like a hologram. He was both ruggedly handsome and fond of well-tailored suits. His smile was keen and dangerous.

"Serenity, we've reviewed your psychic account of yesterday's battle in Belport, along with reports from the other officers and Golden Boy. First, allow us to commend you for your actions and for those of your team."

Serenity nodded, trying to appear more grateful than she felt. She knew better than to interrupt her superior—

Especially when he had stressed twice that there was another psychic in the room with him.

Ryder went on about Serenity's psychic abilities and her tenacity for leadership. It reminded her painfully of her old corporate internship—vague, ambiguous phrases that sounded nice as long as you didn't think about them too long.

Serenity almost tuned him out on instinct.

Suddenly, Ryder asked, "What did you think of the new recruits, Mod and Arsenal?"

Serenity chose her words carefully. "They both performed admirably. They're extremely capable, as you saw. I compared notes with the other officers. Mages and shock troopers were taken down by groups of three to six capes per enemy. Mod and Arsenal were the only capes in those battles that could hold their own in a pair."