Emmett spent the next two days on patrol and catching up with friends and family at the shelter. Clara stayed with him, but by the time Thursday came around, she wanted to go back to the lab. 

She wanted to decompress, both in the Gray Room and in her own bedroom. She also wanted to see her dad. Apparently, these couple days were one of the longest times she’d been away from the lab. 

After she mentioned that fact, Emmett felt a strange mix of guilt. It was easy to forget just how cooped up Clara had been. All these years buried underground because of her powers. He honestly wasn’t sure how she’d managed all this time.  

Emmett decided to accompany her. As relaxing as it was to catch up with everyone, Emmett wanted to go back to the lab too. Maybe it was how smitten he’d become with Clara or the lack of actual sparring they’d had lately…

And also, the drive to continue his own research. 

The pair rode back to the lab in the heavy drone and then walked the halls to section 006. Clara’s first part of decompression was literal. In the back of the biolab, there was a special holding tank just for her. The first time Emmett saw it, he’d been expecting a tank like he’d used for surgery. Clara’s couldn’t have been further from it. 

The sphere was over twenty feet tall—towering over them and taking up almost the entirety of the room. Pipes and wires crisscrossed the surface—modified versions of the heat sinks that he and Clara had spent so much time working on. The small entry hatch opened, revealing walls that were almost a foot thick. 

Clara kissed him deeply before sealing herself inside. Thankfully, this time she would only be inside a few hours—long enough for TINA to run diagnostics. 

Knowing that it would be a short time made it easier to be apart, but as soon as Clara was gone, Emmett found himself missing her warmth. 

~

Before Emmett began work or training, he wanted to check in on something else that had been on his mind. 

Hunter Nine. 

Emmett got back to section 001 and stripped off his super suit, then paced the living room. It’d been three weeks or so since Hunter Nine had shown up at his parents’ house. Three weeks since Emmett had put him in the hospital. 

He’d put off checking on the injured cape. 

Emmett had a mix of feelings about the entire thing. Between Hunter Nine and The Freakshow… 

It surprised Emmett how easily violence came to him, and how comfortable he was with it. 

TINA pulled Hunter Nine’s hospital records and put them on the living room wall screen. 

Patient Name — [Redacted]

Summit Alias — Hunter Nine

Injuries — 4 broken ribs, broken jaw, broken clavicle, broken forearm. Ruptured spleen. Internal bleeding. Torn ligaments. Severe concussion.

Treatment — 4 surgeries. 25 pins. 

Prognosis — Partial physical recovery in 1-2 months. Full physical recovery expected in 3 months. Psychiatric recovery uncertain. 

Follow-up Care — Subject beginning physical therapy. Subject suffers from PTSD from the incident, but is refusing counseling. 

X-rays appeared alongside the records. Emmett winced. Most of the bones weren’t fractured, but were instead completely broken. 

Emmett shook his head and waved away the screens. He hadn’t meant to do that… well, definitely not all of that. Hunter Nine was an asshole, but they were supposed to be on the same goddamn side. 

And now the world was at war, and the Summit was down a super because Emmett couldn’t control himself. 

He thought about Serenity and Golden Boy, and how they’d looked at him with apprehension. 

Serenity’s opinion of unregistered masks hadn’t gotten any better—that was for sure. Emmett just hoped she didn’t turn out like Hunter Nine and hate him. 

Emmett sighed, and decided to go train. 

It’s not like he could help Hunter Nine recover faster, or change Serenity’s mind about him overnight. 

But as Emmett turned to leave, TINA’s voice came through the living room speaker. “Emmett, please stay put. Dr. Venture is on his way. I’ve found something.”

~

The something TINA was referring to was the reason for Emmett’s hallucinations. 

Each time Emmett went out on patrol in the flooded parts of the city, he’d see things beneath the water and occasionally moving in buildings. 

“You’re not seeing things, Emmett. The Deep Ones are infiltrating deeper into the city.”

Emmett and Dr. Venture stood together in the living room while TINA explained her findings. Clara was still decompressing, and TINA would fill her in later. 

“Show me,” Venture said. 

Drone footage and photographs appeared on the living room screen. Emmett was familiar with the ghostly humanoid shadows moving through the frame. To Emmett, they’d appear in the corner of his vision and vanish when he looked right at them. 

“Applying visual filters.”

One by one, the footage and images resolved, turning from blurry masses into fish-men. Emmett recognized most of the all-too-familiar sight of soldiers, mages, and shock troopers, but there was another type that Emmett didn’t recognize. 

This new creature was roughly the same stature as the Deep Ones’ mages, but instead of their normal scaly skin, these creatures looked like they’d been crossed with jellyfish. Their skin was almost completely translucent and was covered in finger-long tendrils which waved about, even when they were out of the water. Even though they had two arms and two legs, they didn’t appear to have faces. 

Venture studied the images intently and rubbed his chin. “TINA, are there any records of this new type?”

“No. This is a completely new creature.”

The images shifted to highlight several buildings. These new creatures were inside and were huddling around crystalline structures. Some rose from floor to ceiling and even seemed to span several stories of the building's interior… 

It took Emmett a moment to realize that the crystalline structures were the same near-translucent color and had the same waving tendrils as the creatures that tended them.

“...What are they?” Emmett asked. 

“I believe they are one creature in two distinct life-cycle phases. Though this cannot be confirmed without DNA testing, their appearances are too similar to be coincidence.”

Venture said, “So, these new creatures are able to hide from human vision and they’re able to hide from our sensors?”

“Correct. The Deep Ones are using these creatures to emit a mass psychic block and effectively shield themselves from view.”

Emmett’s mouth fell open. “They’re doing what The Freakshow did…”

Venture added, “Except on a truly staggering scale. The Menagerie would be impressed. …How are they doing it?”

“I haven’t located the exact mechanisms, but Emmett is correct. They are likely using a psychic feedback loop.”

Venture asked, “But they just started doing this, correct?”

“There’s speculation between organizations that the Deep Ones have control over their own biology. Their mages have harnessed magic and their monstrosities are amalgamations of DNA without consistency between them. These creatures are made, rather than born.”

“Damn it!” Venture’s outburst caught Emmett off guard. “They’ve been toying with us! No wonder they were willing to sacrifice millions of their own for meaningless battles. They weren’t sacrifices—they were testing us.”

“They likely created sensory profiles of our supers and our technology, then forcefully evolved a creature that could cloak themselves.”

Emmett remembered all-too-well how easily The Freakshow had combined the powers of a psychic and an illusionist to fool his team. It had even fooled Mod for a time. 

“Wait,” Emmett said. “...How am I able to see them?”

“Your unique mix of biology and technology. I am set to upload the new visual filters to our drones, and I can upload it to you as well. Once it’s complete, you will be able to see these new enemies clearly.”

Emmett shifted as he thought about the proposition. He’d had one day with a new brain, and TINA was already talking about uploads. 

Venture asked, “These aren’t just visual countermeasures, are they? What’s the purpose of the second life-cycle stage?”

TINA hesitated.

“...I don’t know. But considering the evolutionary capabilities of the Deep Ones, the structures are likely weapons. I’m beginning scans now, and the structures have appeared in every major city.”

Both Emmett and Venture took deep breaths.

“So,” Emmett said, “what’s the plan?”

~ ~ ~