Mod Superhero (Book 6 STUBBING on Oct 27th)

Chapter 6.63 - Stronghold

McGuire wasn't really hiding from them.

TINA had traced McGuire while he hitch-hiked and hoverboarded sixty miles outside the Belport city limits. There was an old radio telescope array, and that was where McGuire had been for most of the last two years.

It was a divide that had been building for a while.

First the Continuum Protocol, then the end of all supers, and TINA's ultimate goal of remaking society... Somewhere along the way, they lost McGuire.

Emmett needed to get him back.

He jogged parallel to the highway, easily keeping up with nearby cars. He could've gone faster, but that risked being discovered en route. His cloaking nanites had limits. Flying had similar issues.

As he was moving now, Emmett would make it there in a little under an hour.

Plenty of time to think of what he was going to say.

~

Emmett crested a hill and paused at a rusted razor-wire fence. Wind whipped through the field, tracing a path toward his destination—

McGuire's stronghold.

From a distance, the old radio telescope array looked like a boneyard. A dozen white dishes and other buildings dotted the field, the dishes lulling to their sides like skulls. The facility had been decommissioned eight years ago, and even the high-grade paint was starting to flake, giving a mottled appearance to the metal.

The area was oddly cold, practically glowing blue in Emmett's infrared vision. Cold buildings would've been one thing, but the effect looked like a bubble around the entire facility that wasn't affected by wind or midday sun. The effect seemed to come from the largest dish, the only one that didn't point some variation of skyward but instead pointed downward, unnaturally angled toward the ground. In his UV vision, the scene looked even stranger. Despite the site having been decommissioned and cut off, the dish in question glowed with power. It almost looked like the dish was broadcasting into the ground.

Emmett turned his attention to the fence in front of him—just because he couldn't sense any countermeasures didn't mean they weren't there. Gadgeteer devices often looked completely inert at a glance. Emmett willed his nanites outward. Instead of a cloud, they formed a thin web that stretched out in all directions, even through the ground. He used the detection web as a thousand miniature arms.

Emmett smiled. The first trap—an electrified fence that extended beyond the fence itself. There was faint electrical potential twenty feet below ground and twenty feet above the height of the fence... But then it seemed to stop. A gentle boost sent him up to the top of the effect. The trap did indeed stop there—just high enough to be a gentle deterrent and early warning system for most supers, including any flying low to avoid surveillance. A quick boost later, and Emmett was inside the fence.

No alarms... No fluctuations...

Emmett smiled again. He couldn't imagine a more serious conversation than the one he was about to have, but he was also excited to see his friend again. In Emmett's mind, getting inside McGuire's stronghold had turned into a game...

Emmett moved slowly and deliberately across the field, using his detection web to probe for more traps.

He felt them immediately. Traps hung all around him—on the ground, underground, and hanging in the air. Emmett sent a trickle of energy through his web. It wasn't enough to trigger any of them, but it caused each object to glow softly in his UV vision. Each trap was a different shape—snowflakes, arcs, spirals, and abstract shapes he didn't have names for. Energy leaked out of them in UV mist so fine that Emmett could barely see it.