Mod Superhero

Chapter 1.1.4 - Homebase

Emmett grabbed his things from the locker room, left the lab, and hustled down the Eastside to the bus stop on 61st Street.

The first and second bus of the day was a mix of passengers—students, workers, and retirees going down town—but this bus was almost exclusively workers going home from Gnosis.

Then he settled in for the long trip back to his apartment by putting on some tunes and getting started on his homework; he couldn't do much, but he could at least map out the rest of what he needed to get done by the end of the night and the next couple days.

When he finally got to his apartment on the West End, Emmett felt like he had a handle on the rest of his evening.

He hopped off the bus and walked the last few blocks to the Woods. It was one of several blocks of apartments that were predominantly rented out to students of the university. Lazy guitar echoed through the apartments, and he passed groups of students under the gazebos.

Emmett hiked up the stairs to the fourth floor, picking up two squashed beer cans along the way—he'd throw them away when he got inside. He opened up room 449 on the top floor and stepped in.

The apartments weren't much, they definitely weren't the Heights, but the Woods had been home these past two years of college. Two bedrooms, living room, bathroom—everything a college student needed, and not a damn thing more.

They had to scrounge for furniture, but at least the Woods let them have free rein, so long as they didn't knock down any walls and repainted when it was time to leave.

And remodel, they did.

Room 449 was decked out in strings of ambient lights, all connected with the TV in the living room and speakers throughout the house. It was currently pulsing red in time with the symphonic music his roommate preferred when studying.

Skeletons of electronics littered what would've been the kitchen table.

Emmett stepped in and shut the door behind him, calling out a greeting to his roommate, Lachlan—who went by Lock—but no one answered.

Emmett walked through the small kitchen and living room, and peered into Lock's empty room, but he wasn't there. The living room window was open, so Emmett climbed out to the roof and checked there too, but didn't find him.

Lock kept odd hours—frequently working nights and preferring to sleep during the day—but usually they crossed paths in the morning and evening.

Emmett shrugged and started on his homework.

~

Emmett had migrated with his laptop to the living room couch. Then he migrated again to the roof, hoping the cool night air would wake him up.

Each apartment block had a small flat section of roof where the air conditioning units sat in rows. Emmett's apartment just happened to be located right beneath it, and their fire escape went directly up to it. Emmett and Lock had stashed folding chairs and a small table up there—their own private balcony.

They rarely went up there in the Summer, but this time of year was perfect.

It was ten o'clock and the bustle on the street was starting to settle down. Emmett had knocked out his daily assignments and started on his engineering project—the radio locator.

It was equal parts design and programming, but ultimately simple. Three antennas were linked together and fitted with directional cones. The computer program helped analyze incoming signal strength and then pinpointed the origin of the signal. Ideally, the cones would turn and the antennas would move. This would make triangulation quicker, but Emmett's program worked well enough with stationary mountings.