Mod Superhero (Book 4 STUB on JULY 30th)

Chapter 4.53 - Clara 12

The other two Deep Ones mages fled across the rooftops, and Arsenal hounded them from the sky. They ran on all fours, moving much faster than even the regular fish-men.

Until a few moments ago, the two mages had been protected by their powerful leader and the huge cloud of frost that enveloped the block. Arsenal didn't need TINA's powers to tell that the mages were more powerful when they were clustered together, or that the cloud of frost was bolstering their power even further.

Just like the heavy drone before her, the frost tried to coalesce around her exosuit—weighing her down and choking off her ventilation. Given enough time, it could cut off Arsenal's oxygen and suffocate her. But the far more immediate danger was impeding the suit's cooling and throwing off her equilibrium.

Between that and their heightened magic, Arsenal had been forced to keep her distance. She had plenty of energy to power her kinetic blasts, but for every shot she took, the Deep Ones conjured thick walls of ice.

It had been a maddening stalemate.

So when the two mages broke off from their leader, Arsenal leapt at the chance to follow.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Arsenal had waited a tense few seconds to fire her first volley. She'd hoped that once these two mages broke off, they'd lose the protective nimbus of frost, but that wasn't the case. The pair of mages dragged a haze behind them as they ran, though it was much smaller than the original, and still smaller than the cloud that was left.

She stayed a safe distance above them and fired her first volley. Kinetic blasts slammed into the rooftops, narrowly missing the mages. Arsenal cursed and fired again.

The two mages leapt to either side, avoiding the blasts again.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

TINA's voice surprised her. "The mages appear to be using their magic as an early warning system."

"That's fine. I was just about to switch to my sonic, anyway!"

Arsenal circled low and let loose sonic blasts from both gauntlets. This time, the mages stumbled, skidding across the gravel of the roof. The mages chattered and the nimbus flared with a bright blue light. They changed direction and leapt over the side.

Meanwhile, the nimbus grew larger and denser until it blocked the entire building from view. Arsenal cursed and switched to infrared imaging, but the cloud was dense enough with water vapor that she still couldn't see through it.

"TINA, keep an eye on my systems for me. I'm going in for a closer look..."

Arsenal circled around the building, edging closer to the cloud before finally bursting through a window on the upper floor. She flew around the floor of the office building quickly, then dove down to the next. It was there that she found a broken window and a puddle of salt water leading back outside.

Arsenal huffed in irritation. "Where did they learn that from?"

They'd just tried to give her the slip. The entire thing brought back memories of sparring with Emmett in the Gray Room. It was exactly the kind of tactic he would use.

Arsenal burst through the wall and resumed following the pair. They were heading into the still smoldering blast zone where Mod had just blown up a monstrosity and a parking garage. In another second, the mages would be out of cover...

Just what are they trying to do? Arsenal wondered.

Arsenal swooped low again, buzzing them with the sonic. The mages stumbled, but didn't stop. They clawed their way forward, even as she kept the sonic on them. She quickly switched to her kinetic blasts and tried to hit them before they dove into the waves.

One shot hit, sending the mage tumbling into the water, but the second mage escaped beneath the waves. A moment later, the mage grabbed its brethren and pulled it beneath the surface.

Arsenal circled low, shaking her head. Even though the tide seemed to be going out, the two creatures were completely hidden beneath the dark, frigid waves. If they were trying to trick her and ambush her, now would be the time. Arsenal stayed vigilant. If the mages were going to attack, they'd give themselves away in the process.

Arsenal was okay with that exchange. With her exosuit, she was immune to the remnants of their psychic crystals, and she would fare better against their magic than some other poor super.

But the attack never came.

Nervousness grew like a hole in her stomach. Her heartbeat quickened.

She circled around the wreckage of the parking lot. Slabs of concrete jutted above the surface like the skeleton of a titan. She scanned the waves, waiting for a blip of color against the frigid background. Waiting for the fish-men to make their move.

In the distance, Mod was fighting the lone mage in its crystalline armor. Beyond that, the rest of the swarm was coming at them. It almost looked like they were veering toward Mod, specifically.

Arsenal's attention snapped back to the parking lot. There was color in her infrared vision. Arsenal raised a gauntlet, and promptly froze.

There was color.

A lot of color.

There was no way those mages were making that much heat beneath the waves.

"TINA, are there any records of the Deep Ones using fire magic?"

"No. This is something else."

Arsenal flew closer. If she could find the mages before they completed whatever they were trying to do... But between the frigid water and magic, the mages were completely hidden.

With one final idea, Arsenal aimed her gauntlets at the wreckage and fired her sonic. She poured power into it. Maybe—just maybe—it would be enough to distract them and interrupt the spell.

The glow beneath the waves flared with light, so bright that it overloaded Arsenal's sensors. Even with TINA dampening the display, the feedback made Arsenal wince. Her vision went white, and she quickly tried to blink it away.

Somewhere below, rubble moved. The sound of shifting and grating rose until it was coming from all around like a slowly building thunderclap.

By the time her eyes adjusted, Arsenal couldn't believe what she was seeing:

The serpent monstrosity was alive.

It rose from the rubble, shaking loose chunks of wreckage and concrete. A hundred wounds covered its flank—not just from the collapsed parking garage. There were several wounds that were still smoking, where Mod's bomb had blown holes in the snake.

Arsenal didn't care what kind of magic or psychic powers the Deep Ones had—they shouldn't be able to bring something back from the dead!

The giant snake reared up four stories in the air—high enough to look at Arsenal, face-to-face. A head the size of a heavy drone stared at her. One of its eyes was missing, and the scales around it sloughed off and fell to the wreckage below.

Arsenal shook off her disbelief. She raised her gauntlets and fired kinetic blasts. At the same time, she leaned back, angling to fly away as quickly as she could.

The giant snake shrugged off her blasts. It lunged, moving in a blink—its mouth yawned wide and bit down on Arsenal. Darkness enveloped her.

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