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Roman didn’t know how Ava would respond to his request.
He didn’t know her schedule, nor did he know if she worked weekends, which was why he was relieved to quickly receive a response from her.
I’m on my way.
“She’s coming,” he told Coma, who stood to his right. Celia was at his left, and the three of them were under an awning attached to the gym he’d been training at all week.
“Sounds good.” Coma placed her hands on her hips and watched a trolley pass, something registering across her red eyes.
“We should ride a trolley soon,” said Celia, speaking for her counterpart. “That would be interesting.”
“It’s not as interesting as teleporting, but it is a little easier on my stomach,” Roman admitted.
Everything was in its right place. He’d been waiting for the sadness to hit him since leaving the hospice, but it hadn’t. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel remorse; no, remorse and guilt were still ever present. It was more that he felt determined to make good on his promise to his wife—to leave his mark on society.
“You have another one,” Ava said as soon as she appeared out of thin air, a stringy teleporter with long white hair behind her. The teleporter nodded and flitted away.
“Yes, yes, I do. Her name is Celia.”
“Nice to meet you, Celia,” said Ava as she approached the doll clad in superhero clothing. She extended her hand and Celia took it. “I like your hair.”
“I like your hair too,” Celia said, her red hair a shade darker than Ava’s fiery locks.
“Very interesting,” Roman’s teacher said under her breath. She turned back to him. “And you’re sustaining them both?”
“I am.”
He showed her his power dial and her eyebrows rose.
“Impressive. And you’re using a bit less energy than before.”
“It is starting to feel normal, supporting two additional lives.”
“We like being alive,” added Coma.
Ava chuckled. “I’m sure you do, even though you are extensions of Roman. So you called me here for training, correct?” she asked, turning back to Roman.
“That’s right.” He ran his hand through his white hair and offered her a toothy grin. Roman was pretty sure he looked a bit crazy at the moment. He was in the same outfit from last night, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he felt good regardless—energized, despite the fact that he hadn’t slept much and had eaten hospital food for breakfast.
“Then let’s get started, and your dolls are going to need to change as well.”
“We can’t fight in this stuff?” Celia rotated her left hip forward and looked down at her superhero outfit.
“Maybe you can, but you definitely can’t.” Ava nodded to Coma, who was still in her gothic Lolita getup, the tops of her bosom exposed. “I’m assuming that part of your attack strategy going forward will be to use them, correct?”
“Correct,” said Roman. “I mean, I’m still working on an overall strategy, but yes, I believe they will be part of it.”
“Then they should change, and we should see if there isn’t some way you can imbue more power in them. I don’t know. This is all new territory for me, but it is something we should work with. I’ll ask the guy I have assisting me with your case.”
“The one who did the research on my abilities?”
Ava winked. “That’s the one. Let’s get inside and get changed. I’m guessing you’re really in the mood to train, considering that you’ve called me on my day off.”
“Yeah, I am. There are other things, too.”
“Oh yeah?” Ava asked as she opened the door that led to the gym. “What’s that?”
“I’ll explain once we get inside.”
Ava stood before Roman, stretching her hands over her head. She was lean yet curvy, her tight athletic clothes straining to cover her breasts. Celia and Coma wore similar outfits, and it was strange for Roman to imagine that the three of them had gone into the locker room together and all changed at the same time.
This wasn’t a sexual thought; rather, it just reminded him that the two dolls were exceedingly autonomous, which he was still getting used to.
“All right, before we begin, you said you wanted to tell me something.”
“I have a question for you,” Roman said.
Ava raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m all ears.”
Celia snickered.
“Was that funny?”
“I was just imagining you as all ears.” The red-haired doll looked to Coma for support. Coma, who was still in her mask, thought about how this would look and shrugged. “It would be funny, right?”
“Strange more than funny.”
“Moving on,” said Ava. “What’s your question?”
“Is it possible that someone like me, a non-exemplar who is on his way to becoming an exemplar...”
“So you think you’re exemplar material, huh?”
“You know what I mean. I plan to do everything in my power, no pun intended, to get your approval. I don’t care how long it takes me.”
Ava stretched her arms wide, grabbed one of her wrists with her opposite hand, and bent to the left, sighing as she stretched out her side. “I’m listening...”
“I want to do something different with my power. I don’t want to have a menial job like the teleporters, or some Type IV Class C tasked with cleaning the water supply.”
“Those are very important functions in Centralian society.”
“I realize that, but if possible, I want to use my power to help people.”
“You want...”
“Yes.”
“...to be a superhero?” The smile on Ava’s face cracked as she finished her statement.
“Something like that. I mean, yes, exactly that. I want to use my power to help people. To live a different life than I’ve lived up until this point.”
“You keep saying that, but I don’t think you realize what it entails, nor the training you’d have to go through. Especially at your age. Those tasked with hero work start very young.”
“That’s why I’m asking you if it’s a possibility. What would I have to do? I have the endurance, and the stamina. I’m not worried about those types of things, and I’m not saying I couldn’t improve those abilities. I also think that if I improved my strength and stamina, I would be able to create more of them.”
Ava considered the eager look in her student’s eyes. She’d seen it once before, but she wasn’t self-aware enough to realize it was the same look she’d given her sister when Ava had trained to be a hero.
“How would I do it? How would I become a hero? I know that there are things Centralia is dealing with all around the globe, and I would like to be part of them.”
The words were spilling out of Roman’s mouth now. He felt obsessed with what he was saying, determined to make things right. He wasn’t thinking about the fact that he’d just made a deal with Nadine, that he was actively committing treason. All he could think about was helping others, whatever that meant.
It was entirely unlike him.
“What is it?” he asked, noticing a sadness behind Ava’s eyes.
“It’s not uncommon for someone to want to be a hero after they’ve been given a power, but I don’t think you understand what a hero is tasked to do here in Centralia. It’s by no means an easy life. The training is difficult—believe me, I know—and you have to train with the group that they put you in, which can be difficult, especially given your half-powered background. I suppose you could convince them you’re forming your own group, but that would be a whole different round of paperwork and approvals you would need to get. The point I’m trying to make is: it’s not easy.”
“I didn’t sign up for this because it was going to be easy.”
Ava laughed. “You didn’t sign up for this. You were granted this power—you won it.”
“No, I didn’t.” Roman looked from Coma to Celia, realizing he’d said too much. They knew it, too; they shared some of his memories in a blurred way. It was odd, but he could tell by the way they glanced back at him that they knew what he was thinking.
“Then how did you get it?”
“How good are you at keeping a secret?”
“By asking a question like that, I get this feeling that you already know the answer.” Ava turned her palm around, and a spark of fire appeared in it, then disappeared. She did it again, Celia watching her intently this time, her fists at her side.
“I mean, the people that granted me my powers, your sister and the council, seemed to know. So I guess it isn’t that big of a secret. It all started when my coworker tried to commit suicide...”
Roman quickly caught Ava up.
It wasn’t as long of a story as he’d anticipated, and while telling it, he realized that he was sort of a dick for what happened. Well, maybe not a dick, because there was some luck involved, but he could’ve done more to stop Kevin from trying to commit suicide.
And then the poor guy wouldn’t have been killed in the hospital, whatever happened to him.
Since he was on the truth train, Roman figured he would tell Ava more about his ability, and the fact that he’d discovered he could modify documents. He explained this to her as well, leaving out the part about Paris and Ian Turlock.
By the end of tonight, Paris would no longer be in the equation anyway.
The spark of fire in Ava’s hand disappeared. “That is quite a story, Roman Martin. From what I can tell, you haven’t done anything that was illegal, per se, but it is a strange way to come about a power. Especially considering you were attacked by a super who could manipulate shadows.”
“Hazrat, I’ll never forget him.”
“Right, which led to you getting the lottery ticket, which led to you getting the ability you now possess. And I have to admit, this new extension of your power has me interested. Moving ink around is something that could be useful in a variety of ways.”
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t going to tell you about that, but I had some epiphanies last night and I’m trying to change the way I operate. It’s important for me to be clearer with you, to have a clean slate.”
“Well, then I will have the same attitude towards you,” Ava said, offering him a firm nod. “You are the twentieth or thirtieth person I have trained. Some of them had different types of powers, like the lady who could manipulate gases inside other people’s bodies, which was a terrible power to have, to the person that could turn anything he touched into wood. You would think that was a good power, and it’s useful for a construction company, but the training with him was brief—hell, most of their trainings have been brief.”
“That sounds odd.”
“It was. And what I’m trying to tell you is this: I think that there is a potential for your ability that neither of us have recognized. If that potential is on a team with other supers, then I will do everything in my power to get you there. Now, enough talk. Because you are trying to become a big bad super, I figured today’s lesson would be a little more interesting.”
“A big bad super?”
She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “I want you to fight me. And you can use your friends, too. We can’t, or maybe we shouldn’t, call them dolls. That just seems wrong.”
“It doesn’t bother us,” said Coma.
“I think it sounds cute,” Celia added.
“Cute?” Ava looked from Celia to Roman. “Anyway, Roman, I want you and your dolls to attack me.”
“You’re just going to melt them.”
Ava gave him a hurt look. “I promise I won’t melt them. Although, in the future, we will train with higher stakes, and at that point, they could face those results.”
“What about me?” he asked, loosening up his arms.
“I want you to attack me. And don’t kill me. I don’t know if that’s what you’re going for, but obviously, neither of us should try to kill the other. What kind of teacher would I be if I let that happen? I really should’ve laid out some ground rules.”
Roman smirked. Ava was more bubbly than usual. There was something about her personality that he had really started to enjoy, likely that she didn’t take things too seriously.
“Okay, first, try to take me down. Just try to bring me down to my knees. And I didn’t come in on my day off just to take a sick day tomorrow. Although that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“How’d you get this job anyway?”
Ava cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do you want to go on a date or something? You sure have a lot of questions for a guy who called me to train.”
“I don’t...” Roman gulped.
For once, he was feeling a little apprehensive around her. This wasn’t normal for him; normally he felt in control when he spoke with women he was attracted to. “Sure, we can have a meal later. Not today—I’m already taking up too much of your time. But later.”
“Did you just ask me on a date?” Ava’s hand flared up, the flame dancing in her palm as she turned it around.
“I thought you asked me on one.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ll deal with that later. It’s time to get started. Try to take me off my feet, and I promise not to melt your dolls.”
Roman simply rumbled the floor beneath her, like he’d done the previous night against Ian.
Ava shot her hands out, stabilizing herself. “That’s kind of cheating. I guess I should have said this a different way: let’s really try not to bruise each other too much, but still actually go at it.”
“If you say so...”
Roman nodded at Coma and Celia, sending his two dolls forward. They advanced quickly, and as they did, he pulled some of the metal piping from the space heater that ran along the bottom wall of the gym.
Like a snake, the heating coils slithered toward Ava, who simply blasted them back with fire.
“Okay, this place is going to need some repairs after, but we have a budget for that. Let’s do this!” she cried, fire flaring behind her pupils.
With an eye on his power dial, Roman lifted the ground beneath Coma into the air, giving her a perch to jump from. He realized as she jumped down toward Ava just how much of an extension of her psyche belonged to Roman.
As he would have done in a similar position, Coma came down with her knees bent, fists back and ready to take Ava out. Instead, she crashed into a column of hot air Ava had erected around her body.
The air suspended her, and Ava stepped forward, actually able to spin Coma around. Celia too was swept up by a column of hot air.
“Let me down!” Celia cried out, punching at the air. Coma simply spun, an angry look on her masked face.
“Oh, come on,” Roman called over to Ava.
“It’s a tactic!”
Roman glanced around the gym, looking for something he could use to attack Ava.
Hating to do what he was about to do, but knowing it would have some effect, Roman focused on Ava’s tight clothing.
He began to melt her clothing down, until it formed into a puddle on the ground, leaving her standing in her bra and panties.
Of course, by this point, Ava had dropped Celia and Coma to cover herself, which gave the two dolls the time they needed to corner her.
“That’s fucked up!” she said as she blasted both of them back, the explosion at their feet sending the two dolls high into the air.
Ava’s eyes again glared with fire, and her red hair actually turned to flame as she levitated into the air, fiery snakes twisting up her arms and legs as they formed armor.
She torpedoed towards Roman, who was barely able to bring the ground up to create a wall to protect himself. His power dial flashing, Roman dropped his control over Celia so he could focus more power on controlling the artificial wall.
He backpedaled, the floor beneath him writhing as Ava tried to burn through the barrier he’d erected, smoke filling the air, the crackle of fire reaching his ears.
She’s going to get through that, he thought as he glanced up at the ceiling.
The ceiling extended down like a person stretching backward with their arms wide, forming a bowl over Ava. The building’s structural integrity was starting to go, evident in the creaks, and the fact that the ceiling was starting to shift.
One of them was going to have to give.
Roman raised his hands into the air and let the floor down, returning the ceiling to its rightful position.
A flaming bolt of fire zipped towards him, Ava’s burning fist stopping inches away from his face.
“Your attack was to strip me of my clothing?” Ava asked, her chest heaving up and down. She floated a few feet back and righted herself. She was completely covered in flames now, her eyes yellow orbs of fire.
“I was trying to throw you off guard! Please don’t burn the shit out of me.”
The flames fell off her body, all but a swathe of fire that formed a bathing-suit-like covering over her lady parts.
“What should I do?” Coma asked, her fists still at her side. Celia was near her, standing with her head bent forward, dead to the world.
“Hold on a second,” Roman told her.
“I have to admit,” said Ava, “that was an interesting tactic.”
“And I was literally just trying to throw you off guard,” Roman said, his hands coming up. “There are other things I could have done; I could have used your clothing to strangle you.”
“Interesting, but I’m still offended.”
“I’m sorry...”
“You know what? It’s fine. I’ll just keep this form. And it’s too bad, because I like wearing my athletic clothing. They look good on me.”
“Yeah, they do, but the flame-suit is cool too,” he said as she floated another foot back or so. “I can still fix your clothes, if you’d like.”
“And let you see me in my bra and panties again? Actually, I’d be naked, so the answer is no.”
Roman had noticed that engulfing her body in flames had burned off her bra and panties. If he looked hard enough into the flames over her chest, he could almost see her nipples, or at least he imagined he could see them.
“Like I said, I’m sorry.”
Try as he might, Roman couldn’t help but grin as she floated back to the other side of gym. And try as he might, he couldn’t help but get a glimpse of her ass as the fire raged off her skin.
Old habits die hard, he thought as he re-animated Celia.
Roman wiped the sweat off his brow.
His shirt was off, his muscles tense, and as he stood opposite Ava, his shoulders moving up and down as he took in big gulps of air, Roman felt better than he had in a week.
It was two hours later, and they were still going at it. The gym was destroyed, but Ava assured him that would be okay—that these gyms had Type IV duplicators on hand whose job it was to repair the facilities.
Ava was at the halfway point between the ceiling and the floor, her body still covered in flames. Roman was impressed by the fact that she could maintain this unnatural condition for so long. For Roman’s part, he’d had to again de-animate one of his dolls, Celia, as he’d been afraid of maxing out.
Truth be told, he probably could’ve gone longer with both of them at his side, but he was trying to play it safe, and Coma was the better fighter anyway.
“Have you tried forming an armor yet?” Ava asked.
“I would tell you if I had.”
“You didn’t tell me about your ability to modify documents and move ink,” she said.
“It was a surprise,” Roman said, slicking his hand back through his white hair. He was sweaty; one glance to his right and he saw Coma sweat free, her hair a little frazzled but looking good otherwise.
“Well, I want you to try it then. See if you can make armor out of...” Ava looked up at the rafters. “That should work, the steel.”
“Got it,” Roman said as he glanced up at the object he would need to animate.
His first order of business was bringing the steel down, which he did simply by focusing on a few of the pieces he deemed not as important as the others. The steel dropped to the ground, rattling the floor a bit.
It snaked over to Roman, changing to the consistency of a putty, and once it met his legs, it began to slither up, similar to the way he’d seen fire overtake Ava’s form.
His first attempt was a little bulky, but he reset his breath and kept playing with his armor until he was able to form a movable steel defense around his body, with hunks of metal jutting off his forearms, mirroring the spiky protrusions that defined Ian’s.
He tried moving his arms and noticed they were a little stiff. Focusing on the metal that had formed under his armpits, Roman imagined it being more porous, even opening up a small space to give him some room for mobility. He did the same between his legs, and at his most important joints—shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles.
“It’s not bad,” said Coma, who had walked over to him as he’d been forming the armor. She placed her hand on his arm, and he looked to her, returning her soft grin.
With her red eyes behind the mask on her face, Coma, like most supers, looked like she was keeping a secret, that she held a mystery. She was different in her athletic gear, still sexy but also fierce.
“Let’s try this.” Roman used some of the steel that had gathered at the backs of his shoulders to scale up his neck and make a mask. To give his head the space it needed to look around, he made sure the metal on his neck was ribbed, so he could move his chin around and look left to right.
Once he’d finished his armor, Ava started clapping, flames bursting in the air every time her palms met. “Bravo, bravo, now of course, that would do nothing against someone like me, because I would simply melt that steel around your body. But it is very interesting.”
“It seems like everything I do is interesting to you.”
A curious look came across Ava’s face. “Have you tried doing anything with water?”
“No; I didn’t know if that was in the parameters of my abilities,” he said, his skin warm beneath the armor he’d created. “It never really crossed my mind that I could do something with a liquid.”
“Remove your armor and follow me.”
Roman did as instructed, his armor falling to the ground. He glanced up to the ceiling to make sure he didn’t need to send the steel back, and once he saw that the structure was sound enough, he just let the material rest on the floor.
“Can you get Celia?” he asked Coma.
She nodded and moved over to Celia, who stood perfectly still, her head bent forward. Coma lifted the other doll over her shoulder, her hands just below Celia’s ass, and glanced to Roman, letting him know she was ready to move.
Roman and Coma followed Ava into another room, where they found a long hallway defined by its white paneling. “One thing the general public doesn’t know about this facility is that it is a lot larger than it seems from the front of the building. It’s an optical illusion, created by one of the Type III exemplars Centralia employs.”
Roman looked up at the place.
“An optical illusion from outside.”
“Really? How many buildings are like that?”
“More than you’d think.”
“Good to know,” he said under his breath. “Buildings can be optical illusions.”
“That they can, and this should be the perfect place for our next test.” Ava, Roman, and Coma entered another gymnasium, this one with a giant pool in its center. Coma set Celia down, making sure she was able to support herself.
Ava turned to Roman, a mad grin on her face. “I want you to animate this water, and then if that’s possible, I want you to try to create a water-based armor.”
