Mod Superhero

Chapter 7.45 - Krystal 1

Everyone handled life underground differently.

Some buried themselves in training until their muscles shook. Others tinkered with broken gear or volunteered for endless patrol shifts, trying to hold on to a sense of purpose through the monotony. A few even found ways to fall in love—fleeting sparks in the dark.

Krystal had done a little of everything.

A year underground—a year of hiding, fighting, waiting. Time seemed to stretch down here. Days blurred together beneath humming lights and recycled air. The walls always seemed to vibrate faintly, alive with the pulse of servers and power cables. The air carried a constant tang of ozone and metal.

Whenever she could, Krystal took the northern tunnels to visit Cherry—now officially her stepsister—and their dads in the civilian sector. Those dinners were rare and quiet. They talked about small things: Food, shows they'd managed to pirate, rumors from the surface, that kind of thing. For a few hours, it almost felt like the world above hadn't turned into a surveillance state nightmare.

Almost.

Krystal had shared her post with Larian for most of that time. Her shadow-wielding friend had taken to the underground life better than anyone. It wasn't because of his powers, though. He was simply comfortable in his own skin and in his own thoughts. Over the last year, he'd become something like family—even going to visit each other's families when their schedules aligned. Together, they and the rest of their Resistance hub found an easy rhythm.

She had a few flings with other supers along the way. Brief, bright distractions that burned out before morning. Lately though, she'd been sleeping alone. And for once, that was fine.

When Krystal was feeling philosophical, she mused that her love life was a metaphor for most of the Resistance members: People surviving in fragments. Most of them had given up trying to build something lasting.

Lasting change might've been the ultimate goal, but most nights, it felt impossibly far away.

~

Krystal was taking a nap when the siren went off. The piercing tone was accompanied by pulsing red emergency lights.

She leapt out of bed. Throughout the underground bunker, a little over a dozen Resistance members were leaping to their feet, grabbing gear, and shouting half-formed questions into the air. Someone cursed. Another shouted that it was probably just a drill. Most of them knew better.

Drills were always scheduled.

Krystal was already halfway into her uniform when the ceiling speakers crackled to life. When TINA spoke to them that way, she always used a generic AI voice.

"Alert...sis... compromised—"

The words were riddled with static and dissolving into feedback. Krystal froze, hanging on the distorted words and trying to ignore the confused chorus around her.

"What happened?"

"Are our AIs down?"

The static dropped for a heartbeat, replaced by TINA's generic but distorted tone.

"The Brotherhood... discovered your location. Communications... severed. You are cut off from the Resistance network."

The room went dead quiet. Then chaos returned tenfold—people suiting up, grabbing weapons, and shouting to squad leads.

TINA's voice returned, clearer this time. "I am still able to assist. Follow my guidance. Parsing evacuation route."

Krystal's nanite suit finished forming her helmet, and the Heads Up Display turned on. An evacuation route appeared that would shepherd them through the tunnels and, hopefully, to safety.