Venture paced the halls of the old backup lab.
All of his backup labs were small copies of the original. Similar layouts and materials made things easier. In the same way mass production cut costs and raised efficiency, the routine and sameness of the backup locations were easier on Venture. Less stress that way. After all, he was only using a backup location because his original lab was compromised.
In an emergency situation, procedures, routine, and sameness were good things.
...The backup lab was noisier than he remembered—not from machinery or experiments, but because of Emmett's family. Mostly the two boys. The noise made it harder to think, and Venture had taken to using nanite earplugs to dampen the sound.
Footsteps and laughter sounded behind him—fast approaching.
Justin and Martie ran past Venture, weaving expertly between him and the wall. They were clearly laughing, but everything was muffled. Even though the boys passed right by him, they felt distant, like ghosts passing through the halls.
Still, Venture couldn't help but smile at the boys as they passed. It felt good to have life in a place that was supposed to be barren and unused.
For so long, Venture and Clara had been alone, but it wasn't always like that. Narine used to be here. Venture even used to be part of a team. He used to get out and go places instead of hiding underground behind a screen.
So, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that for all the talk of the future and about their grand plans, lately Venture had been feeling nostalgic. Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise, but there was irony there, he was sure of it.
How many times had Venture walked through the halls of this particular lab? Two—three times, maybe? Once was when he and Narine had a fight. He'd come out to the outskirts of the city and stayed the weekend in this tiny lab. ...Venture couldn't even remember what that particular fight was about. Had he apologized? Had they even talked about it? Oftentimes they didn't—they'd brush the argument under the rug and pretend it never happened.
They used to do that, anyway. Narine was gone. And there was no going back.
Time moved like a river, inexorably and mercilessly forward. Even the most powerful Class 5 reality warpers and mages could only rewind time a few moments or create small loops.
In a superhero battle, a few seconds might erase a mistake, but what was a few seconds in the grand scheme of things?
A few seconds wouldn't have stopped Midas from scheming or stopped Venture from getting captured. A few seconds wouldn't have stopped Emmett and Lock from attacking the lab, or stopped Emmett from getting captured. Those were all too big, too fundamental to change.
A few seconds might've saved some of the arguments that Venture and Narine had, but it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Narine would still be gone.
It said something about the nature of the universe, that someone could walk the same exact path, stand in the same spot, even with the same people, but never be able to get back to that moment. All those other things were variables while time was fixed and immutable.
Even if Narine were with him right now, things would never be the same between them. Even if she journeyed across the stars and came back tomorrow, could they ever erase the distance between them?
Venture didn't want to think about the answer.
"TINA, can you open up a line to Daedalus?"
"That won't be necessary. Icarus and I are maintaining a connection for the time being."
YOU ARE READING
Mod Superhero (Book 6 STUBBING on Oct 27th)
خيال علميFor this cyborg, power is just an upgrade away. Emmett was used to being caught between college and his engineering internship, but when he gets caught between a powerful hero and an even stronger villain, he becomes collateral damage. Instead of d...
