Mod Superhero

Chapter 7.36 - Clara 5

The fighting blurred into a rhythm, the three of them moving in practiced sync. Each junction they cleared felt like one step closer to their target at the bottom of the Vault.

Arsenal's gauntlets hissed and lit the hall in red-hot arcs, cutting through the last mage's ward before Lock shouldered him into the wall hard enough to knock him cold. Athena pushed another mage away with her barrier, knocking him through a closing portal.

For a moment, there was quiet—overcut by Arsenal's own breathing. But underneath it all, she could feel the Vault groaning around them. Every battle was one more blow against the fragile balance holding this place together.

And yet, despite all the roadblocks, they were making progress. Fast progress.

They were almost at the bottom of the mountain. Their goal lay in the mountain's heart, where a dormant magma pool waited beneath layers of rock and spellwork.

Arsenal's HUD showed that the ambient temperature and pressure rose steadily with every corridor, but she could also feel it. The geothermal energy resonated with her. She'd felt it deep in the core of her power, but now that power felt like it was ringing throughout her entire body.

Like it was calling to her.

TINA had run countless simulations about how to bring down the fault, and realized early on that breaking the magic alone wouldn't be enough. The Vault was stitched into the Rocky Mountains and got its structure from the mountain itself. Arsenal wasn't a mage, but she knew that demiplanes were a lot like magical artifacts. Age and stability played a huge role in the foundation of a demiplane, and it was hard to beat a mountain.

To truly take down the Vault, they needed to crack the underlying structure.

The easiest way to do that was to warp the upper magma chamber. Then the entire machine would collapse in on itself.

It wasn't without risk. There were two pools of magma under this stretch of the range, and if they targeted the wrong one, they could destabilize more than the Vault. She'd skimmed enough of TINA's simulations to know the danger: A chain reaction that might awaken the Yellowstone caldera. That was the nightmare scenario.

But Mod and TINA had mapped the geology and ley-lines. They weren't touching Yellowstone. Just the upper pool. The price would be geysers and groundquakes across the region, most of it affecting uninhabited areas. TINA was already preparing for the fallout, using a complement of drones and mini swarms to comb the mountainside for bystanders.

There would be collateral damage, but with any luck casualties would be minimal.

Before Arsenal could dwell on that thought, her HUD flickered, and Mod's voice crackled in her ear, sharp with strain.

"You guys must've made an impression. They're onto both of us now."

Her visor updated in real time, corridors flashing red as new troop movements lit the map like veins. Enemy markers pulsed toward their position from every angle.

Arsenal's group didn't spare another second. The three of them took off running for the next junction.

Mod continued quickly, "Sorry. I can't hold them all. Running out of time. I'll intercept as many as I can—shunt a few patrols sideways. But expect resistance."

Lock scoffed. "Bring it on."

They leapt through the next portal and cleared the next wave of guards in a blur of motion—Athena's barriers snapping like glass panes, Clara's beams carving lines of white light, and Lock a crashing avalanche of claws and muscle.