Once they got back to the lab and disembarked the heavy drone, Emmett and Clara went straight to section 006, the biolab. The harsh metal lines of the bunker halls gave way to sterile white. They held hands while they walked through the medbay and back halls to the surgical suites.
Venture was nowhere to be found. Even TINA was strangely silent. Emmett wondered to himself if Venture and TINA were trying to give him and Clara some privacy.
For a moment, the two supers lingered in the hallway. Emmett wanted to kiss her, but Clara didn't lean forward.
"I, uh..."
Emmett wasn't even sure what he was trying to say. It had only been 24 hours, and they'd had two potentially deadly fights. What was he supposed to say after that? Emmett was glad she was alright, and also horrified at the prospect of going back out again. At the same time, it had been thrilling—not just to fight, but to fight beside Clara. Emmett's stomach turned and his heart swelled.
Clara looked up at him. It might've been Emmett's imagination, but it looked like she was also barely hiding her turmoil.
"I'll see you in a few," Emmett finally said.
If Clara was disappointed in his answer, she didn't say. She smiled and squeezed his hand. "Don't run off without me."
Then the pair stepped into their own separate rooms.
Emmett pulled off his bodysuit. Then he laid down on the cold surgical table and relaxed as robotic surgical arms descended from the ceiling. The first time Emmett had seen them, they reminded him of a giant mechanical spider. Cold, and almost alien. Now... Well, he wouldn't say it was a comforting sight, but it wasn't any different to him than being in a hospital.
If anything, a hospital would've been worse. Doctors and nurses coming and going. Most completely indifferent to who was occupying the bed. Compartmentalizing—not caring too much about the faces that stared back at them.
Maybe it was the compartmentalization that bothered him, or the pretending to care... But were the patients any different? Did they see the doctors, nurses, and orderlies as anything but parts of a machine?
Emmett felt the cold steel prodding and suturing his cuts. Dull with occasional twinges of pain. He clenched his teeth and focused on his breathing.
Eventually, Emmett rolled over and closed his eyes while the arms closed the wounds on the front of his body. They lingered on his thigh and his calf where the gashes were especially deep.
Emmett shook his head.
He understood why people compartmentalized. Caring too much about one patient could affect the doctor, then affect how they treated other patients afterward. It was necessary for that kind of work, just as it was necessary for their mental health.
Soldiers and supers weren't any different.
Emmett wasn't any different.
Hadn't he just done the same thing last night? Havoc, Tatianna, Lou, and Marie.
Emmett had buried what he'd done. Pushed it aside so that he could carry on.
He could still feel Havoc and Tatianna in his whip, like a phantom pain buried in his forearm that wouldn't go away. Could still feel the tug and pop that Lou made. Could still feel Marie poking and prodding at his mind...
Still remembered the numbness he felt after each of their deaths... After he'd killed each of them.
Emmett thought about ejecting his whip. It would be easier that way. He could make another one, or even make a completely different attachment to help him get around the city. Emmett almost left it on the floor of the medbay, but couldn't bring himself to do it.
He didn't want to push it aside. Didn't want to forget how it felt or what he did. Didn't want to compartmentalize. ...It felt wrong.
Emmett had killed them.
He would have to live with that.
No matter their crimes, he didn't want to think of them as anything but human. He didn't want to think of them like monsters like the Deep Ones. Emmett didn't want it to be easy.
Maybe when war with the Deep Ones was over, maybe the group could all talk about it and work through it together.
Emmett could carry it for a while, then they would all put down the weight. Together.
~
"You want more power?"
Dr. Venture turned from the wall monitors of the mechanical hub in section 002. One side of the collar of his labcoat was flipped up and his face was dark with stubble. Heavy drone schematics hung on the displays. Emmett wanted to ask if Venture was modifying their design, but he had other, more pressing questions.
For the moment, he and Venture were alone.
In one sense, Clara had been lucky. She'd escaped the conflict without injury. Even her exosuit was largely unharmed. But that didn't mean Clara was alright. Not only was Clara back to using her full power, she'd talked TINA into adjusting her power dampening.
She was overextending herself.
Emmett used to think that Clara's balancing act was like running a marathon. It was actually more like keeping a bonfire lit. She had to burn hot enough to power her exosuit, but not so hot that her power flared. If that happened, she wouldn't just run out of fuel, she risked having a meltdown—something catastrophic and potentially deadly for anyone near her.
Maybe a nuclear reactor as a better analogy.
Clara had overextended herself during the fight with The Freakshow, and now she'd done it again with the Deep ones. She was still decompressing.
It was one more reason Emmett wanted more power. Clara shouldn't have to put herself in danger. He could do it.
Emmett had pulled on a new bodysuit and put sweatpants on over them. He forced himself to stand up squarely when he answered.
"Yes. I want more."
"Why?" Venture's gaze was somewhere between curious and unflinching.
"I'm not strong enough."
Venture turned back to the wall monitors. "TINA, bring up footage of Mod's most recent engagement."
The displays of drone schematics were replaced by footage of their battle with the Deep Ones on the South Side of Belport. Video clips showed Emmett fighting on the rooftop against the horde of fish-men soldiers. Soon after, hazy clips showed Emmett inside the building fighting the monstrous shock troopers.
Emmett shifted uneasily as he watched the footage.
It didn't look like him.
Of course, it was Emmett, but something in his gut rebelled at the thought. The super on the screen moved too fast, was too strong, and too coordinated—moving his whip independently like a third arm. He could see through smoke and fight creatures twice as big as himself.
Emmett saw all this, and for a moment, he reveled in it. But that was short-lived.
Emmett shrugged. "It looks easier than it was."
"It always does. Watch again, and this time, really watch."
"I was there," Emmett said quietly. "I know how it went, and I know how it ended. We had to run. We only made it out because Golden Boy saved us."
Venture smirked. "You're a long way from that kind of power. Even one of my heavy drones can't lift that much weight."
"But could the drones have killed that thing?"
"Probably."
Emmett crossed his arms. "I don't need to fly or have super strength. I would settle for firepower."
Venture stroked his chin in thought, like he was seriously considering Emmett's request. In just the few minutes he'd been in the medbay, he'd already come up with several possibilities. He struggled to push them out of his mind while he faced down his mentor.
But before Venture answered, the door hissed open behind them, and Clara walked into the mechanical hub.
"There you guys are—oh no, what did I just walk in on?"
"Nothing," Emmett said quickly.
Clara raised an eyebrow at Emmett and then at her dad.
"Just brainstorming ideas," Venture replied.
"Uh huh," Clara said suspiciously. "I'm going to make coffee. Anyone else interested?"
Both Emmett and Dr. Venture mumbled in agreement.
Clara turned and started walking out of the mechanical room hub. Emmett deflated, feeling like he was watching the possibility of upgrades float out to sea.
"Come on," Venture said, patting Emmett on the shoulder. "There will be time for work later."
~
Clara put on coffee in the living quarters of section 001. Emmett admired her from the couch. Each time she turned, she'd push back the hood of her oversized hoodie, catch his eye and smile. Emmett thought it was beyond cute, but there was an unspoken tinge of something beneath it—for Emmett, and he suspected, for Clara too. A sunny day with storm clouds coming over the edge of the horizon.
Dr. Venture watched video feeds and lines of data on the wall monitors. If he noticed Emmett and Clara exchanging looks, he didn't say anything.
Emmett was thankful for that. It was weird enough being in a new relationship while humanity went to war with another species... Dr. Venture could've made it ten times more awkward if he wanted to.
Clara waited until there was enough coffee to sneak three cups out of the pot. Then she added creamer, stirred, and brought two cups with her to the couch. Clara leaned against Emmett's shoulder. Both of them sighed and settled into quiet comfort.
Emmett forgot about his upgrades for a while.
Dr. Venture left his coffee on the counter.
~ ~ ~
Author's note:
I'm going to be driving tomorrow, so Friday's chapter has dropped early! Enjoy the weekend everyone