Mod Superhero

Chapter 7.25 - Mirror, Mirror

Emmett and Athena stood alone in a specially made room of the backup lab.

The clean room was as bare as they come—four dark metal walls, no fixtures, no windows, no visible vents. Instead of being biologically sterile, it was electronically sterile. No unshielded circuits, no idle processors. Magical artifacts gave off their own energy signatures, so the room had been stripped down until there was nothing left that could interfere. The only sound was a faint hum in the walls from the active dampening fields.

A single cable snaked from Emmett's waist and into a port in the wall, the only connection to the outside world and to TINA. She wasn't in the room with them, but it felt like TINA was leaning quietly over his shoulder to get a better look.

The Mirror of Borrowed Fates sat on a lone metal table at the center of the room. Even inert and perfectly still, it loomed large over the room. The surface was black glass, but despite its obsidian sheen, it didn't reflect like a normal mirror. If anything, it felt like it absorbed light. Shadows and glimmers moved just beneath the surface, murky like oil on water. An antique frame of tarnished silver curled around it like the ribs of an ancient creature.

Records of the mirror were incomplete, at best, so there was no telling how old it really was. In all likelihood, it wasn't as old as the super standing across from him.

Athena crossed her arms. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Every artifact has a feel to it. The staff feels like standing in the shadow of a massive tower. Cool, quiet, and empty. The kind of stillness that makes you want to hold your breath. Fitting, since it shapes space itself."

Emmett nodded along. "And this one should be similar..."

Athena hesitated. "Should be, but it doesn't always make sense."

Emmett stepped up to the table. Most mages would've put their palm to the surface and waited for the sensations Athena described. But he wasn't a mage, and he wasn't human. Not anymore. He had to do this a different way, like a blind man reading by using braille.

Nanites flowed from his fingertips in a thin stream. They spread out in a scaled-down version of his detection web, creeping across the Mirror's surface, tracing the frame, seeping into the tiniest pores and grooves. Emmett numbed his other senses and went off of feeling alone.

The frame was nothing special—functional, inert. The surface was another story. His web met resistance there, something that flexed and yielded in slow motion. It was like touching the skin of a frozen ocean and feeling the current beneath, sluggish but alive.

He pressed further. The world faded away and became a steady rhythm of sweep, probe, withdraw, repeat. Somewhere along the way, the rest of the room ceased completely, and Emmett lost track of time.

~

Emmett came back with a jolt, like he'd startled out of a dream.

He was still in the clean room, standing in front of the mirror. Athena was no longer standing across from him. She was sitting on the floor nearby, meditating.

"How long...?"

"Four hours," TINA answered wordlessly.

Emmett blinked and absently reeled his detection web back in. To Athena, he said, "You didn't have to wait."

Athena opened her eyes and rose in one smooth motion, stretching her arms until her shoulders popped. "We're in this together. Besides, I needed the break."

She glanced at the Mirror. "Well? Anything?"

"I think so."

Her eyebrows lifted. "What does it feel like?"