Athena used her forcefields to smash the van and the remaining crates. Then Emmett followed her back up to the roofs, using her invisible platforms instead of his broken whip.
They sprinted away from the scene across the skyline of Belport. Despite their blistering pace, Emmett kept both hands on his hoodie pouch to keep the vials from jostling too much. When they were ten blocks away, they slipped over the edge of an apartment roof and rested on a fire escape.
Athena wiped the blood from her face with a handkerchief and pinched her nose to stop the bleeding.
"That was fun!" she said, her voice nasally. It took Emmett a moment to realize that she wasn't being sarcastic about it.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Oh yeah! I didn't drip anywhere, did I?"
Emmett chuckled. Somehow she'd managed not to get any on her glass-lined jacket or her T-shirt underneath. "No, you're good," Emmett replied. "What happened back there? That guy didn't even hit you."
"Good observation," she replied, still holding her nose.
"It was because he destroyed your forcefield."
Athena smirked and checked her nose, satisfied that the bleeding had stopped. "Can you guess what that guy's name was?" She folded the handkerchief and wiped the blood off her lips.
"No idea," Emmett replied.
"His name is Feedback. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of him. He's not exactly a big time super. His energy manipulation isn't that powerful, but the damage can travel through projections and back to the creator."
Emmett found himself considering the villain in a new light. That would be a useful power to have...
"But you knew about him. That's why you changed tactics."
Athena nodded, her face finally blood free. "I wasn't sure at first. Quite a few supers like wearing leather, but as soon as he attacked my barrier, I knew."
Emmett didn't let up, though. "I've been trying to research supers in Belport so that I can be prepared, but there's not a lot of information on low-level supers."
Athena smirked and leaned against the railing of the fire escape. "You won't find a lot of newbies or Class one and two heroes on the internet."
"So, how did you find out about him?"
She shrugged. "There's a lot of low-level supers in Belport but not that many. It's a smaller community than people realize. Word gets around, and it's good to pay attention to supers that are hard counters to your powerset."
Emmett nodded along, then extended his whip part way from his right arm. The last several linkages were damaged from where Feedback had hit it.
"Did that hurt?" Athena asked, curiosity on her face instead of concern.
Emmett nodded. "Not much, but I felt it."
"Weird—in a good way. I didn't want to ask how much feeling you had in that arm."
"Should the damage have hurt more?" Emmett made a point not to look at the traces of dried blood around Athena's nose.
She said simply, "His power caused feedback damage through my forcefields. Your prosthetic isn't a superpower."
Emmett suddenly felt self-conscious. He retracted the end of the whip and once again his arm looked otherwise flesh-covered and normal.
"I didn't mean anything by it," Athena added, unconcerned. "We all have our strengths. Your arm is one of yours."
"Yeah..." Emmett muttered. Despite Athena's reassurance, the words stuck with him:
Your prosthetic isn't a superpower.
Emmett pushed the thought aside and tried to change the subject. "Feedback... The name makes sense."
"See what I mean! I can't even be mad at the guy."
Emmett and Athena shared a laugh and parted ways afterward. Emmett had to get back to his apartment and put the mutagen vials on ice so they would survive until he could take them to the lab the next day.
Now that the excitement was over, he was ready for the day to be over, too.
He checked his phone and saw he'd missed a text from Clara about his new superhero name:
Clara 9:02 PM: OMG the name is perfect!
Emmett 9:39 PM: Thanks. Heading home.
Emmett smiled and readied himself for the long jog back to the apartment. The smile stayed almost the entire way back.
~
Emmett jogged across the roofs until he got to downtown Belport. Even though it was late, it was still busy, and the skyscrapers were way too tall for him to traverse. So Emmett climbed down to street level, removed his mask and walked through downtown.
No matter how many times he walked through the heart of Belport, the sheer size of the buildings and intensity of the displays never ceased to amaze him. Electronic billboards the width of a city block displayed ads for Gnosis beauty products, high end fusion-powered cars and the latest phones. Though some of the ads caught his eye from afar, Emmett kept his head down and hood up until he was out of downtown and back on the West End.
From there, Emmett jogged until he got to the Woods apartment blocks. There were several blocks in total, most of which were rented out to students of Belport University. Most nights, students milled about the lawn, the gazebos, and the stairwells, and tonight was no exception. Emmett passed by most and nodded to the few he recognized, but he didn't stop to talk.
He hiked up the stairs to the fourth floor, room 449, and let himself in.
It wasn't much. Two bedrooms, living room, one bathroom... but at least they had roof access and frequently made use of it. The apartment definitely wasn't the Heights, but it was the place Emmett and Lock had called home for the past two years.
And they'd made it their own: Strings of ambient lights hung around the living room and could sync with the TV and speakers. The dining room table was covered with skeletons of electronics. So long as Emmett and Lock didn't knock down any walls and repainted before they graduated, they'd get their security deposit back.
Emmett called out as he entered but Lock wasn't back yet. His roommate, Lachlan, worked part time as a bouncer for clubs and security for concerts, and rarely got in before midnight. But it didn't hurt to be sure—
Especially when Lock's main job was working an internship for Gnosis, and Emmett was carrying contraband mutagens.
Emmett glanced around the apartment, then stuck his head out of the fire escape and called up to the roof. Finally, Emmett was satisfied that he was alone in the apartment.
He went to the kitchen, grabbed a cup, filled it with ice, and grabbed several plastic sandwich bags from the drawer. Then he took everything into his room, and shut and locked the door.
Since the first time Emmett had shown up with a hoodie stuffed with mutagens and ice, Dr. Venture had given him a soft lunchbox to use instead. By the time Emmett stuffed it with the vials and ice, it barely zipped closed, but it did the job. Emmett stuffed it between his storage boxes.
He took his mask and burner phone out of his pocket and stuffed them both into the mattress cover. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.
Another day, another score. Now he just had homework to take care of.
~
Unfortunately, Emmett burned the rest of the evening getting his regular classwork done and working on the algorithm for his radio locator project. By the end of it, his eyes hurt from looking at the computer screen. Resolving to take a break, Emmett climbed out the window to the fire escape and went up to the roof.
Emmett walked around the rows of humming air conditioning units to the folding chairs stacked in the corner. He pulled one out and plopped down into it.
The night air was crisp and clear, and Emmett stared up at the starless sky. And his mouth dropped open in surprise...
Usually the light pollution of Belport was too much to see any stars, even from the rooftops. The couple of times Emmett thought he saw stars, he'd assumed his eyes were just playing tricks on him.
But now he could see them. Not just a few pinpricks of light, but an ocean of stars.
Emmett's smile widened and he took in the sight of a starry sky over Belport for the first time.
What changed? A blackout might explain it, but Emmett glanced out over the city and saw the skyline lit up like normal. The lights in the Woods hadn't gone out either.
Then Emmett remembered the first batch of knock-off mutagens he'd found. He hadn't been able to take most of them, for one reason or another, but the one Emmett did take boosted his low-light vision.
Had that really been it? After a minute, Emmett shook his head in disbelief. That had to be it.
So many things had changed in just a few weeks. Emmett's entire life was different. Sometimes it felt like he was living on a completely different planet.
The night sky was just another reminder.
But as Emmett stared up at the sight and lost himself in it, he decided that this one wasn't so bad.
~ ~ ~