Mod Superhero (Book 6 STUBBING on Oct 27th)

Chapter 6.15 - Compromised

The reality warped area flickered and died. At first, Emmett thought it had timed out, but then he heard Midas's groan of frustration. He must be having trouble concentrating...

Emmett took a quick breath and glanced down at the bisected jet-suit. "Thanks, Midas. That trick would've never worked on Venture."

"You insolent little shit!"

Further down the hallway behind him, Lock and the boulder-suit were still exchanging blows. Each punch and shove sent the other slamming into the wall. Even without TINA feeding him information, Emmett knew it wasn't going well. Lock's cries were bleeding from frustration to distress. No matter what he tried, he couldn't break through the boulder-suit's armor. He could barely even scratch it.

Meanwhile, Lock's healing factor was working in overdrive. His skin was covered in bone, but even that wasn't enough. The boulder-suit was still breaking through it. TINA was monitoring Lock's vitals, and bone was metastasizing inside his body too. His bones were growing uncontrollably, and his muscles and ligaments were stiffening. If this kept up, Lock wouldn't be able to move, much less fight.

Emmett called back to Lock, "Hold on!"

The shard-suit flickered and suddenly appeared in front of Emmett—moving so fast it appeared to teleport. Twin blades unfolded from its forearms, each one glowing white hot.

Emmett moved on instinct—his bo staff was out, extended, and he flicked the blade switch.

The shard-suit flickered again—

And cut off Emmett's left arm at the elbow. His forearm dropped to the floor.

There was no pain, just the sudden lack of feeling below his elbow. Emmett wasn't sure if that was worse. Diagnostics were already running in the background. It was a clean cut, and there was no damage to his upper arm. His impact shield was in there...

Emmett pushed the diagnostics aside. Desperate, he flung a single handful of gadgets. A flare and a signal jammer... He was going to throw his whole utility belt, but stopped abruptly.

Both the flare and the signal jammer were hanging in the air—frozen in mid-throw by the shard-suit's time warp. They hadn't even engaged yet.

The shard-suit stood hovered menacingly just a few feet away. It lifted a glowing blade up to marvel at it.

Midas sneered, "It would be so easy to kill you... You're lucky Savanus wants you alive. Now, surrender—before I change my mind."

Emmett stared back, trying to play up his injury and uncertainty. "Wait... Just wait..."

Hopefully, it sounded convincing because there was no way he was going to surrender.

Beneath his ablative armor and exosuit, ports on Emmett's still-attached arm opened, offering a direct connection from his fusion canister to his rifle. He didn't bother raising it. Firing from the hip was good enough for what he needed to do.

The same power that coursed through Clara flowed through Mod's arm. He'd only done this a few times since TINA gave him the ability. Each time it risked burning out his rifle and connections in his arm, and it hurt.

But this time the burn was welcome—it meant everything was still working.

Text flashed across his vision:

FUSION RIFLE OVERLOADING

POWER DISPERSAL RECOMMENDED

The tip of the barrel flattened, and Emmett fired a line of plasma as wide as the hallway. It shot toward the shard-suit and stopped short—caught in the time bubble. The exosuit didn't bother moving.