Mod Superhero (Book 6 STUBBING on Oct 27th)

Chapter 6.28 - Return Error

A few hours later, TINA was fully embedded and hidden in the drone warehouse. Mod left her a canister of nanites and miniature fabrication factory. The suitcase-sized bundle contained everything TINA needed to retrofit the partitioned sections of the warehouse. She had to take apart and rebuild multiple assembly lines and estimated the process would take two to three weeks. Then she could begin constructing the reactor—pieces of it, at least.

Even TINA couldn't estimate how long it would take to finish Dr. Venture's most powerful invention. The reactor was one of the most complicated things ever built and required special materials and rare elements. TINA had already scaled up her Uranium 235 and Deuterium harvesting from nearby soil and seawater. It was good progress, but she would need to scale it up again to actually finish harvesting within the year.

The sun was going down, spilling reds and orange across the trees that lined both sides of the highway. Traffic thinned out as the day went on, but there were always cars on the interstate. Everyone in the group was anxious to get back and had planned on running late into the night.

An alert passed wordlessly from TINA to Mod.

SUPERHERO BATTLE IN PROGRESS

The rest of the information came with it—two former masks were engaged with a squadron of biomechs and drones, roughly two miles away and just off the highway. Their dossiers and powers came next.

It was a lot of information to take in, but that wasn't what distracted Mod. He was trying to figure out what to do.

Mod's pace slowed. Both Arsenal and Lock noticed and slowed down beside him.

"What's wrong..." Arsenal started to ask, but TINA was already passing the information along to his teammates via text in their Heads Up Displays. TINA also passed along Mod's dilemma.

MUST HIDE OUR POWER SIGNATURES

DO WE ENGAGE?

"Shit," Arsenal muttered.

Lock scoffed. "That's a problem for you two."

Shortly after Mod became a cyborg, they'd come to blows with the Summit of Heroes. Shortly after that, capes managed to track the energy signature of Clara and her exosuits. Normally, Clara's power dissipated within the hour. But if they engaged now, biomechs and drones would know who they were.

They could hide their power signatures, but that meant severely handicapping themselves. Arsenal couldn't use her fusion at all, but could still use kinetic blasts.That also Mod couldn't use his potent new abilities.

"We can manage," Mod said aloud. "...What do we do?"

They hadn't stopped running, and at their current pace, they had about thirty seconds until they would be in the vicinity of the battle. Mod ignored the timer ticking down.

It only took Arsenal a moment to decide. "Let's engage."

Lock replied, "I don't have anywhere else to be tonight."

Beneath his mask, Mod smiled.

Then he focused on a battle-plan.

~

TINA guided them off the highway. The group hurtled through a line of trees and then leapt over an off-ramp. Trees and grass gave way to dirt and concrete. They passed a truck stop and continued to the outskirts of a small town. Stores and quick stops lined the street. Most stores were boarded up, and the few that were still open and occupied looked like islands of light in the darkness.

Mod spotted the engagement from a half mile away. His eyes zoomed in and he pulled information from TINA to form a detailed picture of the battle.

The former mask, Revel, was fighting off a squad of biomechs. She was a Class 3 reality warper, whose powers manifested in tentacles of colorful light. She'd tucked herself into a ball and surrounded herself with a kaleidoscope of flailing limbs—which looked even more otherworldly in UV and infrared. She rolled backward across the street while simultaneously lashing out at rec and sec units that got too close.