Mod Superhero

Chapter 4.31 - Masks and Villains

Emmett and Clara got cots and slept at the shelter that night.

Dr. Venture took some convincing, but eventually relented. Emmett, Clara, and Max were due to patrol in the morning. Their super suit and exosuit were in the heavy drone, which stayed cloaked just down the block. But to be extra safe, they got cots on the edge of the room by an emergency exit. If the worst happened, and Clara had a meltdown in the middle of the night, Emmett could rush her out the door and down the block.

Max, Cherry, Larian, and Krystal came back shortly after lights out. They exchanged quick greetings and the girls insisted on hugs, then they all went their separate ways to crash.

"We'll catch up tomorrow," Max said, shuffling off to his own cot.

Emmett and Clara laid down on their cots, facing each other. Emmett wasn't sure how well she could see him in the gloom, but he could see her smiling at him. The kind of smile that made his heart skip a beat.

"What are you smiling for?"

"It's the first time we're spending the night together..." Someone started snoring a few rows away, and Clara quickly added, "Not alone. But it's kind of like a sleepover."

Emmett smirked back. "Yeah... Good end to a hell of a week."

~

Monday was the start of a new week.

That morning, Mod and Clara went to the heavy drone and suited up. TINA had loaded a spare fusion rifle for him since his original was still unaccounted for. McGuire met them there a few minutes later.

He trudged up the drone ramp and sloughed off his backpack. Then he slumped down on the bench. The drone door closed behind him. The group regarded each other while the drone rumbled into flight.

"Are you alright?" Mod asked. "You look like shit."

McGuire scoffed. "Thanks! ...I feel like shit. We haven't had a day off in a week! I want to talk to OSHA."

Mod replied, "We're in the middle of a war... Extenuating circumstances."

Clara mumbled, "I don't think OSHA handles that."

"You know what I mean." McGuire sighed. "Look, you can fly, and you're half robot. Do you even get tired anymore?"

Mod suppressed a grin. "Not very often."

"Exactly my point. How are us normal people supposed to keep up with machines? Pretty soon, the robots are going to take our jobs."

Even though Clara's eyes were hidden behind her exosuit helmet, Mod could tell that she rolled her eyes.

Mod asked, "Don't you have spring boots and a grappling hook?"

McGuire laid all the way down on the bench in defeat. "Wake me up when we're at our block."

A few seconds later, the heavy drone set down on a roof, and TINA's voice came through the speakers.

"Wake up, McGuire. We're here."

~

Mod, Arsenal, and McGuire scouted the rooftops, moving south and then starting a wide loop through the flooded half of Belport. Arsenal circled overhead, while Mod and McGuire hopped and swung from rooftop to rooftop.

"You sure you don't want me to carry you?"

McGuire landed and rolled to a stop on the roof. Each time he rolled, he had to roll sideways to accommodate his giant backpack. The process had only grown more ridiculous the more tired he got.