Chapter 1.1.15 — Personal Touch

Emmett spent the next two hours chasing after the blue robot.

At first, Emmett had doubts about how much he would enjoy training in the Gray Room, but after the first few minutes Emmett had lost himself in the simulation and in the game—

Which was equal parts amazing and frustrating.

As awesome as it was hurtling across rooftops with superhuman speed, Emmett felt like a kid who’d just had the world’s most enormous and awkward growth spurt. Several times he slipped when trying to turn or overstepped the edge of a roof and fell two stories to the gray street below.

It took him almost half the time just to work out that he could, in fact, leap up a full story from one rooftop to a higher one, but only if he remembered to slow down before he reached the edge. Otherwise, he would be moving too fast and slam into the side of the building.

After the full two hours, Emmett was leaping from one roof to the next, climbing and falling from different heights with a coordination that he’d never known.

During one of their breaks, Venture admitted that this was due to his new body—not only was he more coordinated than any unenhanced human, but his body would also learn and adapt much quicker.

The highlight was following the robot as it leapt off a fourth story building.

Emmett was only a few steps behind but skid to a halt. He peered over the edge of the roof in time to see the blue robot skid a few feet down the side of the wall before leaping across the alley and skidding down the opposite building. It did this once more, skidding and leaping to the opposite wall—each time slowing its descent until it landed in the alley below.

The robot looked up at Emmet, seemingly waiting for him to try.

Emmett breathed deep, took a few steps back, and leapt across the alley. He’d been so used to leaping clear across to the next roof that he slammed into the side of the building.

“Shit,” Emmett muttered as he fell, gray tiles passing concerningly fast in front of his face.

He pushed off awkwardly, hurling himself back toward the original building and slammed shoulder-first into the wall.

By the time he turned and pushed off again, the floor was right below him.

Emmett managed to land feet-first, but tripped careened into the ground. Again, the breath was knocked out of him and it was a moment before he tried to stand.

Flashes of that night came back to him—when he was laying in the middle of the street—feeling like he couldn’t move.

Emmett grit his teeth. He wasn’t there now. The floor was gray. He was in the Gray Room. He wasn’t there.

He rolled over and forced himself to stand. Emmett’s shoulder ached from landing on it, and his knees didn’t feel great either, but he was still in one piece.

Better than he’d felt that night, dying in the street.

The blue robot nodded to him, and Venture said, “It will get easier.”

Emmett stared at the robot, realizing that Venture wasn’t just talking about running and jumping and relearning his body—Venture knew.

“I still think you’re psychic,” Emmett muttered.

“No. But I’ve seen enough trauma to know what it looks like. Emmett, this life will never be easy.”

“I know,” Emmett said, trying to put the conversation past him as quickly as possible. “Let’s keep going.”

“...Very well.”

~

Emmett caught the robot four times in those two hours.

Two of those times he got lucky, and Emmett suspected that Venture let him catch up during the other two. One time, it felt like an honest win.

The last time, he followed the robot over the edge of a roof and fell on it as it tried sliding down the side of a building. Both of them had fallen the last two stories to the ground, Emmett landing on the robot in a twisted heap.

Emmett wished he would’ve just landed on the ground—landing on the robot hurt even worse. Whatever it was made of was not soft at all. And Emmett had landed on his one arm that was still flesh and bone.

Emmett rolled off of the robot and used the nearby alley wall to push himself up.

“That’s enough for today,” Dr. Venture said, his voice bleeding back into the open air.

“No,” Emmett stammered. “I can keep going,” he added, clutching his aching shoulder. And he still hadn’t gotten to test out any modifications yet!

“We have work to do in the lab, and you’re not a machine. You will still need ample time for rest and recovery.”

The gray walls of the faux city descended, their tiles shrinking back into the floor with eerie clicks. A square opened in the floor and the blue robot also disappeared beneath the Gray Room.

Emmett watched, heart aching at the possibilities of his upcoming training.

When all but the highest gray roofs had disappeared, Emmett turned to find a single doorway opening across the room. He grabbed his unused pile of mods and exited, following the dimly lit hall back to the locker room, and changed before going to work.

~

Dr. Venture was waiting for him just down the hall in the training hub—standing on the white platform and removing the shin guards of the VR suit.

Emmett stared while Venture removed the last pieces and tidied them up on the wall.

“You were controlling the robot?”

“Not the entire time. The robot has several autonomous programs, but I felt like you needed a personal touch.”

“Thanks, I think.”

Clara’s voice sounded through the intercom. “He means there isn’t a beginner mode.”

Emmett scoffed. “Nice of you to join us.”

“I would have, but I’ve been over here setting up our experiment in section three.”

Venture replied, “Point taken. We’re on our way.”

Emmett followed Dr. Venture out of the hub and down the hall, feeling like he’d missed something.

“Is she upset because we lost track of time?” he asked.

Venture grumbled. “Possibly.”

Emmett knew enough to leave the topic alone.

Since learning that Dr. Venture was a retired cape, Emmett hadn’t given much thought to the relationship between Venture and Clara—but he imagined there was a lot more going on than he thought. Was Clara following in the family tech business and the family cape business? What powers did she have?

Venture didn’t offer any more insight, and Emmett didn’t ask. They walked in silence through the halls, and Venture informed Emmett not to bother leaving his stuff in the locker room anymore; it wasn’t necessary. Then they continued to the testing hub of section 003.

Clara was waiting for them, arms crossed and face wrinkled like she had tried to hide her impatience and given up halfway.

“So,” Emmett said awkwardly, “where are we starting?”

When Clara didn’t answer right away, Dr. Venture added, “Well?”

Clara turned and started walking toward the next hall. “We’re set up in testing chamber two. I need help checking the heat sinks and connections.”

Emmett looked to Dr. Venture, but he had already turned to one of the monitor screens and didn’t say anything. So Emmett took that as his cue to follow Clara.

He jogged to catch up.

~

Once they were down the hall and out of earshot of the testing hub, Emmett asked, “Hey, is everything alright?”

Clara didn’t respond—didn’t even acknowledge his question.

Moments later, they emerged in testing chamber two, the large domed room with the spherical reactor in the center, wrapped in coils of glowing, purple refrigerant and layered in batteries.

Emmett followed Clara to the center of the room and paused to look over the experiment.

It looked exactly the same as the last set up, even down to the layout of the batteries. There had to be something different…

“Did you change the power output?” Emmett asked.

“Yes.”

“Increased?”

“No,” Clara replied. “Lower output, longer duration. Looking for higher overall stress tolerance.”

As much as Emmett listened, he was watching Clara.

“Is everything alright?” he asked.

Clara turned and stared at him, face flush, as if the answer was obvious.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. I need—I want—to get back to work.”

“Alright,” Emmett replied, slightly defeated. He’d never seen Clara irritated like this before…

And a part of him was worried he might’ve done something that caused it. He thought back to his earlier questions about Clara and her dad. Maybe their relationship wasn’t what he thought: Maybe Clara didn’t have powers after all. Maybe Emmett had unwittingly stumbled between a retired cape and his powerless daughter. Emmett imagined that would do a number on both of them.

Emmett suppressed a sigh. Hopefully Clara just needed some time and she would talk later.

~

Clara did not want to talk later.

She seemed content to focus on the heat sink experiment.

If anything, ‘focus’ wasn’t an intense enough word. Clara seemed captivated by it.

Emmett wasn’t sure why and he was afraid to ask. He was also hesitant to ask why Dr. Venture had been silent throughout the four tests they ran.

Emmett imagined Venture was watching the experiments—he always did. But he didn’t even chime in to celebrate the final test—not even when Clara herself finally seemed to cheer up.

They’d lowered the power output by 75% from their previous maximum output, but the heat sinks and battery overflow lasted seven times as long.

Emmett and Clara were standing in the broom closet, watching the final test wind down. Clara breathed a sigh of relief.

Emmett smiled. He resisted saying anything—he was just glad she was in better spirits.

“Does that mean we’re celebrating with Big Larry’s gourmet pizza again?” Emmett asked.

Clara chuckled. “No. I’m done. I’m going to sleep.”

Clara said goodnight and then left Emmett standing in the closet with more questions than answers.

Not the least of which was: What was the missing system in the reactor, heat sink, and battery set up? What was it made to run?

~ ~ ~