The rest of the afternoon was hazy. Emmett slipped in and out of consciousness as they flew away from the monstrosity. The world passed by in a haze of cloudy sky and the smell of metal and exhaust from Arsenal’s exosuit. 

Emmett woke up in a submersion tank in section 006. He was intubated and submerged in lukewarm water. Past the haze, the room was bright white, except for the spider-like set of mechanical arms dangling from the ceiling. 

He rapped his knuckles on the glass and a second later, TINA’s voice sounded through the water.

“Welcome back.”

TINA opened the top hatch. Emmett sat up and pulled out his intubation tube, coughing as he did. He doubted he would ever get used to that feeling. 

He pushed his hair back and wiped his eyes. “How long was I out?”

“Seven hours.”

“Shit. How bad was it? I got hit…”

“The monstrosity struck you with its tail. You had numerous fractures and soft tissue injuries from the impact. Because of the number of injuries, it was easier to treat you in a submersion tank. You should make a full recovery.”

Emmett sighed. “I was dumb. I shouldn’t have stopped.”

“You stopped to make sure your teammates were evacuating the area.”

“They weren’t my teammates…  I got hurt because I was checking on villains.”

The door hissed open and Dr. Venture walked in. “I’m inclined to agree with TINA. You made the right call… even if it doesn’t feel like it.”

Emmett hadn’t seen much of the Doctor since the war with the Deep Ones started. Whatever he’d been working on, things were starting to take a toll on him. The stubble on his face couldn’t really be called stubble any more, and his eyes were heavy with bags. 

Emmett laughed bitterly. “Who are you again?”

Dr. Venture ignored the joke and stood beside the tank. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m still waking up. I think.”

“You were lucky. Most of your injuries weren’t anything to be alarmed about. However, the injuries to your brain and your spinal column were concerning.”

Emmett stared back at his mentor. “And?”

“Well, by all accounts, you’re fine. But we need to talk. Get dressed and meet me in the section hub.”

Emmett waited for the Doctor to leave. Then he climbed out of the tank on unsteady legs. TINA used the robotic arms to hand him a towel to dry off the saline solution, then Emmett put on the change of sweat clothes hanging nearby. Slowly, his faculties came back to him. He wasn’t sure if it was anesthesia wearing off or Mutagen-A speeding up his recovery. Either way, he was thankful to be awake. And alive.

All the while, one of the robotic arms hovered near him. 

“I’m fine, TINA. Really.”

The arm didn’t leave Emmett’s side until he walked out of the room.

~

Both Clara and Dr. Venture were waiting for him in the hub of section 006. Clara ran over and wrapped her arms around his waist. 

“Hey, you,” she said, resting her head against his chest. 

“Hey…” Emmett glanced at Dr. Venture. The Doctor had been watching out of the corner of his eye and quickly turned back to the wall monitors. 

Emmett wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeeze. “I’m alright. Really.”

“You said that earlier too. Right before you passed out.”

He chuckled. “Sounds about right.”

After another moment, Clara let him go and turned to her dad. “Alright. Let’s get him a suit.”

Venture tilted his head in thought. “If you’re going up against Class four monstrosities all the time, it might not be a bad idea.”

Emmett added, “I didn’t exactly plan on it.”

“More to the point… But I actually had something else in mind. TINA, would you pull up your proposed upgrade paths for Emmett’s body?”

Several flowcharts appeared on the screens. Each path pertained to a different bodily function or organ cluster. Minimized diagrams were inlaid in the paths, and Emmett knew from experience that each could be expanded and contained pages of notes. Emmett knew this because TINA had sent him those same files 2 weeks ago, and he’d been pouring over them ever since. 

Several things he’d already done—his skeleton was woven and reinforced with a lattice of metal alloy, nanomachines suffused his body to aid with healing and pathogen defense, his nerves had intertwined with connections to his prosthetic limbs and to his prosthetic eye. 

Emmett knew he’d come a long way, but it was something else to see it laid out in front of him. 

Emmett also knew that he was going to go further. 

There were several things holding him back, however. First, each upgrade required time—some of these being much more intensive than others. A nanite injection was relatively quick, even when including time for them to replicate or propagate, but neural connections took hours. 

Second, each upgrade had several prerequisites. Emmett couldn’t just swap out his entire skeleton for metal alloy—bone marrow also produced red and white blood cells, as well as platelets. Nanomachines could stand in for those, but then he needed a nanomachine manufacturing implant so that his body could make them. Replacing organs yielded similar issues—they would need to account for essential vitamins and minerals that his other organic tissue still needed. 

Third, Emmett still wasn’t sure how far he wanted to go. 

Mutagens and bodysuits would only take him so far. Even Mutagen-X—the most powerful biological enhancement in the world—would only take Emmett to Class 3… And it would kill him in the process.

He could wear an exosuit like Clara, but then he needed to keep it around at all times. He would be vulnerable without it. 

Emmett didn’t want to be vulnerable. 

But going down those upgrade paths meant trading away more and more of himself. Not only could he not reverse some of the procedures, but he’d be further and further away from being human—from being like his friends or his family. It felt silly, but he already didn’t see the night sky the same. The sky above Belport was utterly black—the stars blotted out by light pollution. But Emmett could see them. 

How much different would the world be to him if he replaced his skin with kevlar or his stomach with a fusion battery? What about when he could see radio waves, or plug TINA directly into his brain, or surf the internet with a thought? What about when he wasn’t human at all?

Maybe that was what it was like to be Class 4 or Class 5. 

Clara had already made it clear that she would support him, at least to a point. He doubted she’d want a boyfriend made out of metal. 

Clara nudged his arm, and Emmett startled. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked. 

“Yeah. Just, uh… Taking it all in.”

Venture cleared his throat. “As I was saying… You gave us a scare this time, even compared to previous times. Most of your body is healing well, but I’m concerned about your brain. People—supers and normal, alike—discount the seriousness of brain injuries. It’s possible to walk away from an impact or collision without any outward signs of injury, but the brain tissue is damaged.”

The screen shifted to show scans of Emmett's brain. Venture pointed to the images as he went. 

“This was both a test of new nanites and of Mutagen-A. Most of the problems with brain injuries occur from blood pooling or clotting, and from intracranial pressure. Thankfully, we’ve formulated nanites capable of handling both. While we managed those factors, your brain tissue was able to start healing on its own thanks to Mutagen-A.”

“Thanks,” Emmett said meekly. “Doc, when did you become an expert in brain surgery?”

Venture smirked. “I’m not. TINA is.”

“I am up to date on all current medical research about traumatic brain injuries and reconstructive neuroscience.”

“Thanks, TINA.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Which brings me to my next proposal…” Venture waved away the scans and brought the flowcharts of upgrades. He highlighted one in particular and minimized the rest:

Emmett’s brain.

This flowchart, in particular, was one of the most complex and theoretical. Despite all of TINA’s planning, even she admitted that the flowchart would change depending on which technology was possible—even which theories of the mind proved to be true.

Emmett swallowed dryly. “There’s a lot of steps on that path. Which one are you proposing we stop at?”

“I’m not proposing a stopping point. I’m proposing that we start.”

Emmett had already gone through the preliminary steps: He had several types of nanites in his body already, including new nanites specifically tailored to work on his brain. And he had Mutagen-A, which elevated his body’s general resilience and recovery. 

But just because the preliminary steps were easy didn’t mean that the next step was easy too. If anything, the next step required the biggest leap of faith out of every other upgrade in every other path: 

Nanites would go through millimeter-by-millimeter, synapse-by-synapse, cell-by-cell, until Emmett’s brain was completely changed from organic tissue to synthetic tissue. 

Venture continued, “The idea would be to sedate you, and let the nanites work unimpeded until they’re finished.”

Emmett chuckled at the absurdity of the task. “Why not just upload my brain into a computer and use a chip?”

Venture didn’t blink. “That’s a few steps later. Besides, this solves the issue of translation. By keeping your brain structure intact, we can make sure that you’re still you after all this is done.”

Emmett breathed deep to steady himself. “And you guys are absolutely sure that this will work?”

Venture scoffed. “We’re on the cutting edge of science, Emmett. There are no guarantees. But I wouldn’t propose this if I didn’t think it would work, and if I didn’t think it was necessary for your safety.”

Emmett stared at the screen. He tried to imagine nanites flooding his brain, imagine the process… and quickly gave up. It was too much for him to comprehend. He was essentially taking them on faith. 

He turned to Clara. He’d been so captivated that he almost forgot she was there. Clara was chewing on a nail and staring straight ahead—not at the screen, but through it. 

“You haven’t said anything yet. What do you think about this?”

Clara turned and looked up at him. “...I think you should do it. I trust Dad, and I trust TINA. And weirdly, this doesn’t feel like the craziest thing you’ve let them change.”

Emmett nodded and reached out for her hand. Her fingers intertwined with his and he focused on her warmth. 

He’d already replaced so much—his arms, his legs, his eye—and yet it didn’t feel like that much. Clara certainly didn’t feel any different. She felt just as warm and real through his prosthetic limb and his artificial skin as she did before—back when their hands had only touched accidentally. 

What difference would a brain make?

Emmett met Dr. Venture’s eyes. “When do we start?”

~ ~ ~