Mod Superhero (Book 6 STUBBING on Oct 27th)

Chapter 6.18 - Updates

Emmett gave Clara some space and focused on other things.

Ever since they found the backup lab, Emmett and the others had thought about expanding it.

For one, the living quarters were cramped. There also wasn't a dedicated space for training, like the Gray Room. It was also, quite frankly, lacking in hardware. So TINA, Emmett, and Athena worked on expansions.

Emmett and TINA would handle those in physical space, using nanites to hollow out and build new rooms. The first of which were additional rooms for everyone involved. Originally, the backup lab only had one dormitory room, and they'd divided it up three ways, resulting in the spaces being comically small. Now, everyone had their own proper room.

TINA had even expanded her nanite sculpting to furniture. Instead of nanite-black cots, everyone had an actual bed that wasn't rendered in grayscale. Clara had even designed her own nightstand, desk, and light fixtures. She'd opted for an art déco style—geometric designs and bold colors. Emmett had some input on their designs, but let Clara take the lead. It'd been a while since he'd seen her so engrossed in something new, and he didn't want to stifle her.

Besides, the way Clara told it, she didn't have much say in the decorations in her old room. Dr. Venture had been many things, but an interior designer wasn't one of them.

Athena's design choices had been even more interesting. She'd done everything in classical stonework, like transplanted ancient Greek architecture. It had thrown Emmett off initially, because there were clearly supposed to be full-sized marble statues in her room. Except instead of marble-white, they were fully painted... Emmett still remembered when he saw them for the first time.

"It just doesn't look right," Emmett replied. Clara echoed his sentiment.

Lock elbowed Emmett. "They're not for you, are they? Athena wants some funky colored statues."

Athena crossed her arms. "Well, this is how they actually looked."

Emmett couldn't tell if she was actually offended or playing it up. As far as knowing what ancient statues actually looked like, Athena was old enough to know.

~

At the same time that TINA was excavating new dorm rooms, she was excavating additional spaces for nanite vats, a manufacturing wing, and additional server space. To the surprise of no one, servers took up the majority of new construction.

TINA tried explaining her reasoning to the others, but it was hard for them to keep up. Clara understood computers and nanotech in the abstract sense. She would never have the familiarity that Emmett and TINA had. Athena and Lock both agreed to whatever TINA needed—Athena because she had her own magic to work on, and Lock because he seemed to trust TINA completely.

"What's up with that?" Emmett asked.

Lock shrugged a reply. "TINA knows her shit. And she doesn't tell me what to do."

Later on, when Emmett was sitting alone in the control hub, cross-legged on the cold floor, he'd asked TINA about the rest of her plans for the backup lab.

"I plan to dig down as far as the soil will let me, then expand outward. The sublevels won't need to be designed with humans in mind, so they can be modular and compact. Fusion and geothermal heat sinks will keep our expansion off-grid and hidden."

Emmett saw diagrams and schematics in his HUD. At the same time, an understanding flowed through him. TINA had sent him the diagrams and schematics, but Emmett didn't need to see them anymore. She should know that. The entire exchange made TINA feel like a child trying to explain herself.