Mod Superhero

Chapter 1.2.5 - Actual Choices

Emmett and Clara met Dr. Venture in the biolab—section 006. Compared to the rest of the bunker-like aesthetic of the lab, the biolab looked almost like a hospital room. Except that the sterile white walls of the room were almost completely hidden by a jungle of empty glass tanks and tubes of bubbling liquid that twisted like vines.

This was where he woke up after the Champion street attack—the first place Emmett saw when Venture brought him back from the dead.

Even though it had only been a few weeks, it felt like much, much longer since he'd woken up to bright lights, steady beeping, and pain. He felt like an entirely different person, figuratively and literally.

Emmett suppressed a shiver as he walked up to the sleek metal tables in the center of the room.

Dr. Venture pushed up his glasses, then stood with his hands in his pockets expectantly.

Clara stepped up beside Emmett and pointed at the vials spread out on the table. "So, when do I get to take one of these?" She'd clearly meant it as a joke, but Venture ignored her.

"I will say, this time you actually will have a choice to make. Several of the compounds are either duds or will be of minimal use to those. Would you like me to start with the good choices or the duds?"

Emmett sighed. "At least this time I have a choice. Tell me about the duds."

First up was the vial filled with soft pink liquid. "This mixture is for enhanced strength. Unfortunately, it has diminishing returns when combined with other strength enhancements, such as the Mutagen-A already in your system."

Venture pointed to the swirling orange vial next. "This one was interesting. It results in an elongated, prehensile tongue... like a chameleon. It's slightly more useful to you, but unless you're concerned about your dating game, I think we can skip it."

"What do you mean—"

"What's next?" Clara asked quickly.

Without missing a beat, Venture continued to the deep red vial. "This one stimulates bone growth. It increases bone density, which could be useful, but it also had the side effect of causing protrusions and even bone claws in several simulations."

Emmett's shoulders sagged. So far, that was two out of five vials that were useless and a third that was troubling.

"What else?" he asked.

"This one was interesting." Venture held up the vial with a gritty purple liquid inside. "It causes the body to produce excess pheromones, causing others to feel increased connection, fear, or attraction. It's not as exact or potent as something like psychics could do, but it has its uses."

Emmett wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It certainly didn't seem as useful as some of the other powers, but when he looked to Clara for advice, she seemed apprehensive of it. So Emmett asked about the final vial.

Venture picked up the shimmering blue vial. "This increases your body's tolerance to extreme cold, and potentially even ice-based attacks."

Emmett raised an eyebrow. Training in the Gray Room was fresh in his mind. He hadn't run into many ice-based supers... any, really... but that could be useful, even if it was niche and in the future.

Venture set the blue vial back down, and Emmett reviewed his choices. And sighed, again. Even if he had a choice, this time compared to last time, nothing was popping out as the obvious choice.

Dr. Venture cleared his throat as if he had something to add. Clara chuckled.

Emmett scoffed at both of them. "Oh, come on. What is it now?"