Super Powereds: Year 2 (12 page)

“A benefit of the truth: it holds together effortlessly,” Professor Stone said with a smile. The metal door to her left slammed shut forcefully, and across the room Mary could hear a locking mechanism click into place.

“I thought this was just an evaluation.”

“It is, but we take safety very seriously here in the Hero Certification Program,” Professor Stone said.

“How does locking us in make us safer?”

“It wasn’t our safety I had in mind,” Professor Stone informed her. “I’ve seen your fights and read your file. A girl with your talents will likely cause significant collateral damage before she reaches her own threshold.”

Mary gave the elderly woman a half-smile. “Not to mention the amount of power necessary to bring me there.”

Professor Stone returned the cheerful grin. “Yes, that, too.”

* * *

Chad was in the gym doing a bench press when he heard a distant rumbling through the walls. Briefly, he wondered if it was thunder. After a moment’s pause, he realized any thunder strong enough to be heard all the way down here would leave the topside of Lander in splinters and destruction. He considered investigating, then shrugged it off and finished his set of reps. Whatever it was, it probably didn’t concern him.

* * *

“Very impressive,” Professor Stone said, stepping over the newly-formed rubble at her feet. “You can pack a lot of wallop in your attacks.”

“I’ve been told I’m strong for my age,” Mary said graciously.

“Don’t be ridiculous: you’re strong, period. Age has nothing to do with it.” Professor Stone reached down and selected one of the biggest hunks of concrete, plucking it from the ground with a frail arm that couldn’t have budged the miniature boulder without mental assistance. “Of course, raw blasting force is only one aspect of our abilities. There are other things, too. Things like sustained effort.”

Professor Stone tossed the concrete in the air and it zoomed toward Mary. Mary took hold of it when it was a little over halfway to her, slowing its movement only to discover that something was still pushing it forward.

“Think of it as an inverted tug of war,” Professor Stone explained. “We both push it toward one another until it reaches someone.”

Mary understood and ratcheted up her effort level. The concrete moved back to the middle of the space between the two women where it stopped abruptly. Mary tried to push it further, but Professor Stone seemed to be able to match her perfectly, increasing power when she increased, and dropping when Mary faltered. Mary adjusted her foot positioning for comfort. If the old lady wanted to make it an endurance contest that was fine by her. She’d spent the first seventeen years of her life in constant mental alert to deal with the voices splashing through her mind. Mary could hold up a rock for days if she had to.

“You really could, too. This is almost effortless for you,” Professor Stone complemented.

Mary blinked. It hadn’t occurred to her the professor might be reading her own mind.

“Of course not; you’re accustomed to being the only telepath at the party,” Professor Stone said. “That’s why you’re so prideful and careless.”

“Beg pardon?”

“You’re prideful. Despite what has happened, you still have a disproportionate sense of your abilities. Right now, you really think you can best one of your teachers in their field of specialty. Did it perhaps occur to you that George and Professor Fletcher aren’t flukes? That all of us are quite adept with our skills?”

“I just-”

“And as for careless, well, coming here alone in the first place was rather stupid of you. I know you told people, but by the time they knew you were gone you could already have been beyond retrieving. No, you showed up because at the end of the day, you believe that the only reason you were taken last time is because you were caught unaware. You think that if you’re cognizant, you can handle yourself in any situation.”

“I didn’t-”

“No, of course you didn’t. Well, let me lay it out for you, young lady. You are one of the strongest advanced minds I’ve ever encountered. That said, if I’d come down here to do you harm, you would already be unconscious. You need to start being cautious, you need to start watching yourself, and most importantly, you need to realize that ‘one of the strongest’ is not the same thing as ‘the strongest’.”

Mary felt the concrete tear through her own force as it sailed toward her small body. She tried to press back, but she couldn’t do more than slightly slow it down. A few feet before impact, the giant piece shattered and sent a spray of concrete shards around her. They tore against her arms and legs, but not one piece touched her torso.

Mary realized that at some point she’d closed her eyes. She slowly peeled them open to reveal Professor Stone slowly making her way toward the door, which was now open.

“I look forward to teaching you, Mary. You’ve got a lot of potential. Go see a healer before you head above ground.”

Mary glanced down and realized she had dozens of small cuts along her appendages, each one about the same length and depth. Only then did she understand what the professor had really done.

“Every piece... you were controlling every piece after it broke, all of them simultaneously,” Mary said, her shaky voice betraying the shock in her words.

Professor Stone didn’t bother stopping or turning around. She’d seen how far the girl could go, and seen where she was weakest. All that remained now was to see if she had the determination to take her talents to the next level.

19.

Camille was happy to walk into her first class of the afternoon wearing regular clothes instead of her HCP uniform. As much as Lander underground was relaxing, in that everyone knew what she was and there was no pretense, it was also such an cloistered community that slipping into the background became nearly impossible. Camille had spent years steeling her nerves to be able to fight when the situation demanded it, but in her day-to-day life she was still much happier as the small girl who few people noticed. Not to mention that up here she was enrolled with the full Lander student populace, making her chances of running into Vince significantly lower.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like being around her silver-haired teammate; it was that she liked it far too much and was awful at hiding her feelings. Every time she flushed, every time she got all nervous and bumbly, she was sure it would be the time Vince would finally notice those things only happened around him. Mercifully, that hadn’t happened yet; however, Camille wasn’t one to push her luck. If she was going to help him, she needed to be near him, and there was surely no way to drive him off faster than revealing she cared for him as more than a friend.

Camille ascended the steps of the lecture hall, so absorbed in her thoughts that she nearly jumped a foot in the air when a well-manicured hand snaked out from an aisle and grabbed her arm.

“Gah!”

“Whoa, relax,” Alice assured her. “I was calling your name, didn’t you hear me?”

“Oh, I, uh, I guess not,” Camille stammered out as her heart thundered in her chest.

“Sorry about that,” Alice apologized. “I just wanted to get your attention before you went past. There are plenty of seats by me.”

“Right, of course,” Camille said as the adrenaline exited her system. She entered the row Alice was perched in and took a seat to her left. It wasn’t exactly the anonymous background she’d craved, but at least it wasn’t Vince. “So, how was your first day? I haven’t seen you since our... since Professor Baker’s class.”

“It was okay,” Alice replied. “I think Professor Pendleton’s will be my worst. I mean, I’m not really good at any of them, but at least the others have outlined syllabi and stationary classrooms.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that is one of the tougher subjects to excel in,” Camille replied.

“No worries there. I’m pretty sure he expects most of us to fail out of it by year’s end, which is fine by me. The hard part will be deciding which of the other two I want to try and squeak by in.”

“I’m sure it isn’t that bad. I mean, you made it to year two, after all.”

Alice sighed. “I did, but I’m still not sure if I would have if I’d gone through the normal channels.” Alice paused for a moment and seemed to steady herself mentally. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a bummer. I guess all the stress of things is already getting to me.”

“It’s a problem I certainly understand,” Camille assured her.

“You know what the biggest issue is? It’s been all work since we got here. Even last weekend was a training exercise. I think we need to take a night off, just do activities that have nothing to do with... well, you know.” Alice had almost said ‘HCP’ out loud, a slip that easily would have ended all of her worries about it if she’d been overheard.

“That sounds nice,” Camille said, her tone as noncommittal as she could manage. She didn’t have the heart to tell Alice that any night spent around Vince wasn’t going to reduce her stress level, even if the activities were relaxing.

“Oh! I’ve got it,” Alice said, a spark of excitement lighting in her bright blue eyes. “Let’s do a girls’ night this Friday. Just me, you, Mary, and maybe some of the others. No training, no shop talk, we’ll even skip our afternoon classes and go do a mani/pedi treatment.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Camille objected.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s the first week of classes, what’s the most we could miss? And I know a perfect little place near the ocean. I’ll make us reservations as soon as class is over.”

“I should really check my calendar,” Camille tried again.

“That’s a good idea; if you don’t have a class that runs too late in the morning we can get lunch, too. We can practically make a whole day of it!”

Camille took a deep breath and tried to think of another excuse to throw up. Unfortunately she was learning the hard lesson that Mary had been privy to last year. Alice may not have much in the way of special abilities, but once her mind was set on something, one would have better luck changing the course of a river.

“Sounds... fun,” Camille conceded. It wouldn’t be that bad. It was just the girls after all, and they were going to be teammates now so a little bonding was in order.

“It will be, just wait, by the time Saturday rolls around we won’t have a care left in the world.”

“Except for the coming week, and the one after that, and the one after that, et cetera,” Camille pointed out.

“Well, yes, but you can’t let all of that snow pile on you. Or, if you must, you have to at least put it aside for our days off,” Alice replied.

“Days? As in multiple?”

“Of course, we’ll need more than just this over the coming year. Don’t worry; they won’t all be girls only. I just don’t want Nick to hijack our relaxation plans into some sort of ridiculous shenanigans.”

“He does that often, huh?”

“Ugh, more than you would believe. You’ll see for yourself soon, the boy is absolutely insufferable.”

Camille didn’t have a chance to reply because the professor stepped up to address the class, but even if he hadn’t she wouldn’t have known what to say next. She certainly couldn’t say what she was thinking, which was that for a girl who slandered Nick so readily, Alice seemed to light up noticeably when she talked about him.

That would be inappropriate, not to mention that Camille was the last person who ought to call someone out over conflicting feelings.

20.

Julia was halfway to her dorm when the tall, muscular figure fell into step beside her. She could smell him almost immediately, no frilly body wash or sickly sweet cologne; his was the smell of freshly scrubbed hard work. It set her teeth on edge before she ever turned to face him. Julia had managed a fling or two over the summer, but nothing that put her through the metaphorical (and one time literal) wall like he could.

“Afternoon, pretty lady,” Roy greeted, an easygoing smile stretched out amidst the afternoon stubble on his face.

Julia’s tongue nearly betrayed her, smashing against her teeth to usher a familiar greeting, a bubbly laugh, or just an immediate invitation to the nearest secluded place she could find. Her brain prevailed, clamping down on the friendly muscle and issuing new orders, ones that were not optional to comply with.

“Get lost, freak,” Julia spat, her libido raging internally.

“Now, that doesn’t seem like a neighborly greeting,” Roy replied, his grin unfaltered. “Sure you wouldn’t like to try again?”

“Fuck off.” Julia quickened her step, determined to make the travel run out before her self control did. She hated herself for even feeling the temptation. Yes, she’d enjoyed her time with Roy, and yes, they’d had tons of fun together, and sure, she might have developed some feelings for him over the past year. But none of that mattered. She couldn’t be the girl rolling around with a Powered. What would the other students say? Or, heaven forbid, what if her parents ever found out? No, she had to be done with Roy Daniels. Done with his stupid muscles, done with his handsome face, done with the way he bit her gently at the crux of her collarbone while his strong hand wrapped around the small of back and he... Julia refocused herself and increased her gait even more.

“You sure about this?” Roy asked as Julia’s walk began to verge on sprinting. No, she wasn’t, and she desperately wanted to turn around and pretend it had all been a joke. She plowed forward instead. Soon she’d be away from him and the frustration she was feeling would be nothing more than a barbed memory that time and forgetfulness would smooth until it was bearable. Somewhere deep down, a part of Julia recognized that it wasn’t just her sexual desires railing at her for this choice, but a part buried under so much fear that its voice had no hope of rising to audibility.

Roy watched the blonde hustle toward her dorm and ceased his own walk. He’d suspected such a greeting when she refused to make eye contact with him in their classes, but he’d been hopeful a little personal attention would change her mind. It looked like he was wrong. Such a shame; Julia really had been one of Roy’s favorites, holding his attention for over a year. A normal man might have taken such a dismissal by a girl so formerly enraptured with him as a blow to the ego.