A few hours later, TINA was fully embedded and hidden in the drone warehouse. Mod left her a canister of nanites and miniature fabrication factory. The suitcase-sized bundle contained everything TINA needed to retrofit the partitioned sections of the warehouse. She had to take apart and rebuild multiple assembly lines and estimated the process would take two to three weeks. Then she could begin constructing the reactor—pieces of it, at least.

  Even TINA couldn’t estimate how long it would take to finish Dr. Venture’s most powerful invention. The reactor was one of the most complicated things ever built and required special materials and rare elements. TINA had already scaled up her Uranium 235 and Deuterium harvesting from nearby soil and seawater. It was good progress, but she would need to scale it up again to actually finish harvesting within the year.

  The sun was going down, spilling reds and orange across the trees that lined both sides of the highway. Traffic thinned out as the day went on, but there were always cars on the interstate. Everyone in the group was anxious to get back and had planned on running late into the night.

  An alert passed wordlessly from TINA to Mod.

  SUPERHERO BATTLE IN PROGRESS

  The rest of the information came with it—two former masks were engaged with a squadron of biomechs and drones, roughly two miles away and just off the highway. Their dossiers and powers came next.

  It was a lot of information to take in, but that wasn’t what distracted Mod. He was trying to figure out what to do.

  Mod’s pace slowed. Both Arsenal and Lock noticed and slowed down beside him.

  “What’s wrong…” Arsenal started to ask, but TINA was already passing the information along to his teammates via text in their Heads Up Displays. TINA also passed along Mod’s dilemma.

  MUST HIDE OUR POWER SIGNATURES

  DO WE ENGAGE?

  “Shit,” Arsenal muttered.

  Lock scoffed. “That’s a problem for you two.”

  Shortly after Mod became a cyborg, they’d come to blows with the Summit of Heroes. Shortly after that, capes managed to track the energy signature of Clara and her exosuits. Normally, Clara’s power dissipated within the hour. But if they engaged now, biomechs and drones would know who they were.

  They could hide their power signatures, but that meant severely handicapping themselves. Arsenal couldn’t use her fusion at all, but could still use kinetic blasts.That also Mod couldn’t use his potent new abilities.

  “We can manage,” Mod said aloud. “...What do we do?”

  They hadn’t stopped running, and at their current pace, they had about thirty seconds until they would be in the vicinity of the battle. Mod ignored the timer ticking down.

  It only took Arsenal a moment to decide. “Let’s engage.”

  Lock replied, “I don’t have anywhere else to be tonight.”

  Beneath his mask, Mod smiled.

  Then he focused on a battle-plan.

  ~

  TINA guided them off the highway. The group hurtled through a line of trees and then leapt over an off-ramp. Trees and grass gave way to dirt and concrete. They passed a truck stop and continued to the outskirts of a small town. Stores and quick stops lined the street. Most stores were boarded up, and the few that were still open and occupied looked like islands of light in the darkness.

  Mod spotted the engagement from a half mile away. His eyes zoomed in and he pulled information from TINA to form a detailed picture of the battle.

  The former mask, Revel, was fighting off a squad of biomechs. She was a Class 3 reality warper, whose powers manifested in tentacles of colorful light. She’d tucked herself into a ball and surrounded herself with a kaleidoscope of flailing limbs—which looked even more otherworldly in UV and infrared. She rolled backward across the street while simultaneously lashing out at rec and sec units that got too close.

  Revel looked like she was holding her own, but her powerset was a bad match-up for the rec and sec units. They darted around her like a school of piranha. The mechs had the benefit of coordination, and Revel couldn’t focus on one at a time.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Meanwhile, Fast-Response drones circled overhead.

  Mod began forming his magnetic gauss rifle as he ran, but TINA interjected wordlessly.

  Analyzing engagement… Loading simulations…

  Mod motioned for the others to wait, and the three of them skidded to a halt. Mod followed TINA’s attention and looked skyward.

  Fast-Response drones dotted the sky, and Mod immediately understood TINA’s concern. Despite Midas and Savanus’s competition, it was normal to encounter both mechs and drones on a raid. But these drones were spread out across a square mile of sky, and their sensors weren’t focused on the struggling mask. They were focused on the surrounding area.

  Revel wasn’t the target—she was bait for the Resistance. The word TRAP blinked across their displays.

  A moment later, TINA sent more information, which she condensed down for Arsenal and Lock.

  The sheer number of drones overhead would overwhelm the group’s cloaking. They were safe outside the perimeter, but once they were surrounded on all sides, TINA wouldn’t be able to keep it up. Coupled with the lack of cover on the street, getting away would be next to impossible. All three of their group members were fast, but the drones were faster.

  Mod followed her QUERIES and SIMULATIONS one by one. Targeting the drones first… Targeting the mechs first… Ambushed by additional Brotherhood squads… Ambushed by Summit forces… Ambushed by heavy drone…

  He parsed it all in a half second. In the end, none of them mattered.

  Mod shook his head. “She’s right. We have to abort.”

  Arsenal replied, “We can handle it—”

  She started to walk forward, but Mod grabbed her arm. “Not this time.”

  Arsenal pulled, and Mod released her arm. Arsenal balled up her fists. The metal of her gauntlets creaked. “TINA, are you sure we can’t pull it off?”

  Arsenal stared into the distance, at the struggling mask. “It’s not right leaving them behind.”

  “I know.” Mod had already turned and was double-checking their route back to the highway.

  Lock whispered to Arsenal, “He already got caught once. ...We got to let it go.”

  Arsenal didn’t reply, and Mod pretended like he didn’t hear.

  ~

  A few minutes later and a few miles down the highway, TINA sent Mod more information. They didn’t send it to the rest of the group until they stopped for the night.

  It was almost eleven before the group stopped. They left the highway and found a small clearing in the trees. They didn’t need any supplies other than food and sanitary wipes. TINA had added a self-cleaning feature to their nanite suits to manage sweat and odor, and nanites dissolved their trash.

  The entire set up made for a surreal camping experience. They slept in their suits and didn’t need a tent or sleeping bags. The nanite suits were waterproof and regulated their body temperature. They also adjusted firmness and softness so that sleeping on the ground wasn’t just tolerable, but actually comfortable.

  Mod had only ever been camping in his parent’s backyard. …It could barely be called camping. He and his brothers had stayed outside one spring, and Antony hadn’t lasted the night. Darryl and Mod stayed up late playing cards and taking turns playing the one handheld video game they had. It was a fond memory, but neither of them camped again.

  That first night on the way to the drone warehouse, Lock said, “I’ve never been camping. Doesn’t feel right doing it this way.”

  The next night, TINA experimented with simulating a campfire. TINA overlaid the campfire over their HUDs and simulated heat using their suits. Lock stuck his hands out, warming them by the fake fire, and let out a genuine laugh. He even tried warming up a Mighty Munch bar, but it didn’t help the taste. Lock promptly turned his taste receptors off again.

  TINA didn’t admit it, but she’d made the fire for Lock.

  On the way back from the warehouse—the night after they left Revel to her fate—the group sat on the ground with the simulated fire between them. This time, the mood was somber.

  TINA finally sent the rest of the information to Arsenal and Lock.

  There had been a second squadron of Brotherhood drones lying in wait. As soon as a Resistance group moved in to help Revel, the second squadron would’ve attacked. A heavy drone supported by twenty weaponized Fast-Response drones.

  That was the worst-case scenario for an ambush, short of Paragon or another Class 5 showing up.

  If the heavy drone was by itself, Mod’s group might have been able to take it down. But even winning simulations resulted in massive collateral damage and death. There was no way they were going to risk innocent bystanders or teammates.

  Arsenal sighed in defeat. “I know… There was nothing we could do. It just—running away was the right decision, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

  Mod nodded in agreement. “We’re at war. And we’ve been winning a lot. It’s okay to lose once in a while.”

  The words felt hollow, even to him, but he had to believe that was the truth. He had to believe that they could win, even if things were getting harder.

  Mod added, “It wouldn’t do us any good to save Revel back there if we got caught in the process.”

  He should’ve left it alone. Arsenal stared at him, and even through her helmet, he could sense the accusation on her face. Both fortunately for Mod and unfortunately for the group, other news overshadowed the moment.

  TINA said to all of them, “That wasn’t the only ambush.”

  ~ ~ ~