Ravela reached the finish line just barely ahead of Jocul. Taking first place was easy, but making it look like an effort wasn’t.

 

She sat down beside the track, pretending to be out of breath. This little victory secured the girls and herself some privacy from Kahli. Waiting on the ground for her partner, Ravela thought about how she could make up for last weekend with the girls.

 

The fact that Safora was a bundle of nerves that needed to blow some steam was ever-present in her mind. There was also the looming specter of the Bomber still running loose in Pliada City. His silence and absence in the past weeks were bothering Ravela. She was unsure why a man on a seemingly determined crusade would halt his movements because of one tough encounter. It didn’t fit the overall picture she had formed of him.

 

Kahli came up the finish stretch side by side in an intense race with Donna in the first third of the following recruits. But she looked less tense than usual, Ravela noticed. On the last few meters of the race, Kahli pulled ahead and beat Donna for what must’ve been the first time in a long time because she had an impossibly relieved smile as she crossed the finish line.

 

Quickly banishing her contemplations, Ravela walked over to her partner to congratulate her on beating Donna. While still pretending to be exhausted. “What a finish. Impressive, truly.”

 

Kahli looked at him sharply. “You got first place, didn’t you?”

 

Ravela smiled. “Just a little bit. On the plus side, having free reign on weekends means I will soon be able to sleep in my own house instead of a motel. So, see it from my position: I want to get out of that motel.”

 

“Fine, you still have to show me how you drove through the course.” Kahli insisted.

 

“Sure, but I once again reiterate that it was pure luck I didn’t hit anything on that run. Believe it or not.” Ravela responded, planning not to be so lucky when they raced through it. She shrugged and continued. “After we start weapons training, it should be fine, don’t you agree?”

 

Kahli rolled her eyes for a moment before grumbling her assent.

 

They both caught up with the other recruits of their group and gathered before Instructor Harmond. It had been a long morning, and Ravela hoped the last three hours wouldn’t feel like a drag. The last thing she wanted was to come to her home drained of all enthusiasm. She wanted to get some work done before midnight.

 

Instructor Harmond looked over the recruits. “Needless to say, you’re all a bit early. Why don’t you go ahead and eat lunch in the cafeteria while I and the other Instructors wait for your slower compatriots.” Before they all turned to leave, he added. “Excellent work, everyone.”

 

Ravela left with the other recruits. The cafeteria food wasn’t great, but it was a chance to socialize more. She hoped Donna and Jocul would take their loss gracefully. On Kahli’s face, she saw not the usual sour expression. Maybe she had decided that whether or not her father had pulled strings, getting Ravela as a partner wasn’t so bad. At least, that was what Ravela hoped her current outlook on things was. She had a much harder time reading Kahli than Donna or Jocul.

 

“How is getting to know your partner going, Donna?” Ravela opened the conversation, pulling a distracted Donna out of her thoughts.

 

Donna put her behind her neck and stared at the cloudy sky. “If you must know, we get along well enough. Though, I don’t know about his hobby of collecting stamps and military patches. How about you? Any juicy insights on my old friend Kahli here?” She asked while motioning with a slight tilt of her head towards Kahli, walking just a few steps beside them.

 

Ravela thought for a moment. “Oh, you know nothing too scandalous. I found out she is riding a motorcycle in her free time. Didn’t expect that. Oh, and she doesn’t swap out people's cheeseburgers when she doesn’t get the answers she wants. That was a pleasant surprise.”

 

Donna gave her a smug grin, betraying her accompanying response. “Oh, who would ever do such a thing?”

 

The reward for such blatant villainous nonchalance was a bitter, accusatory look from Ravela. “A monster, that’s who.”

 

“You’re overreacting, Ramiel. It was just a small prank.” Donna said, not batting an eye.

 

Ravela scoffed. “Pickles on my cheeseburger are not just a prank. They are a declaration of war. That’s why I beat your brother in the race today. You hear that, Jocul? Remember to thank your sister for giving me the right motivation.”

 

Jocul raised an eyebrow at their exchange. “Pickles, really?”

 

She gave him a most serious look. “This act of barbarism committed against my tastebuds will not be forgotten.”

 

Donna dismissed her hurt feelings with a wink. “Kahli, what about you? Any insights on Mr. Roice over here?”

 

Kahli smiled, got closer to Donna, and whispered. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

 

Ravela laughed at Donna’s stumped expression.

 

The rest of the training day went over without incidents. She left the academy ready to go home and get some work done.

---

 

Troy Han sat twenty meters from the target set up for his training.

 

Vex Buster sat on a table beside him, waiting for him to be ready.

 

“Does it get easier?” Troy asked, tearing his gaze from the target.

 

His mentor sighed. “When I got my powers, I broke everything I touched. It made human contact impossible for some time. With your power, I can’t say. You say that changing your size doesn’t hurt. That is a good thing.” He paused and picked up a clipboard to read from it. “You can enlarge yourself up to five meters. Your strength seemingly increases in line with the body size you chose, as does your mass. Not feeling the change also means you could do it subconsciously. For example, when you feel threatened or when you have a nightmare.”

 

“Like, when I woke up in the middle of the night the first time I used my powers?” Troy said. “At least now I control it better. Why exactly am I practicing throwing baseballs at a target?”

 

“Oh, this? It has nothing to do with your growing abilities. That is solely exclusive to train your precision.” Vex hopped off the table. “Your grip strength and throwing speed are enormous. The bigger you are, the more accurate that statement is. I want you to get an actual feeling about the power you wield. Your arms are guns. That baseball in your lap is a deadly projectile. You have to be aware that anything you move with your strength, anything you push aside or bump into, is set in motion at an equivalent speed and a corresponding deadlyness.”

 

Troy gave Vex the ball when he stretched out his hand. His mentor held the ball in presenting fashion. “Your goal is not to hurt innocent bystanders. Left knee.” He announced, turning to the human mannequin and releasing the ball without hesitation.

 

The hit on the knee ripped off the limb. “And if you are not well adjusted, you will cost a person a leg or worse.” Two assistants ran to the mannequin and dragged it away while a new one was implemented. “The point of this exercise is that you develop the delicate sense of applying average force to your averagely inclined surroundings.”

 

“And a baseball thrown at a doll will teach me that?” Troy asked with a sigh.

 

“Oh, no. No, no, no. This is only to blow off some steam. When you’re frustrated with our power, you need an outlet that is not tearing down buildings. I picked this here simply because it will teach you to be more precise, and I need some competition in my favorite hobby.” Vex Buster said with a charismatic laugh. “When you play a game alone this long, you want to introduce others to the sport.”

 

Troy smiled, looking at the other balls in a basket before him. “So, you are saying this isn’t a lesson but recreational?”

 

Vex shrugged. “Sure, if it makes you feel any better, we’ll make it the official sport around here. You shortly won’t be the only one playing it with me here. There will be others much like you.”

 

Troy perked up at the news. “Oh, so that’s why you got me out here? To tell me the good news? More freaks out here.”

 

Vex put on a pained expression. “You need to stop hating yourself for your powers. More than that, you’re no longer alone. This phenomenon happening to you is no longer an isolated incident. There are more like you, so in time, we will find an explanation.”

 

He picked up a baseball and stood up. “Tell me about them. Who is coming?”

 

Vex moved away from the throwing line. “Go ahead, and don’t forget to call your hit.”

 

Troy stepped up to the line and prepared to throw the ball. “Right shoulder.” He threw the ball, and it made contact in a split-second. It just didn’t hit the spot he called. Instead, it buried itself in the center mass of the dummy. Sand started trickling out of the hole the baseball left.

 

“That wasn’t the right shoulder, Troy. But it was not so shabby on the control part. Sadly, that dummy is still very dead.” Vex paused and wrote something on the clipboard. “Some of the new arrivals are from your school. Three others, actually. Two of them are your age, and one was even from your class.”

 

Troy perked up. At least the chance of meeting a classmate or some of his fellow students was something to look forward to. “Who? You can tell me the names, right?”

 

Vex nodded. “The first on the list to arrive is a girl named Beth Nams.”

 

Troy was baffled. “The cheerleader? Did she get powers? What kind of powers?”

 

Vex shrugged and said. “That is not something I should tell you. It is private information. They can tell you themselves when they arrive here.”

 

“When will that be?” His excitement at the prospect of no longer being alone in a facility of adults was audible in his voice.

 

“They will join us Friday afternoon,” Vex said in his usual weird way.

 

“You mean they will join us tomorrow afternoon, right?” Troy asked, reminding Vex, not for the first time, that he could just call tomorrow, tomorrow.

 

Vex just laughed and pointed to the replaced dummy. “Come on, call it and throw.”

 

---

 

Ravela sat on the kitchen floor, putting together the kitchen furniture. Floating wall hooks in place and pushed them into the wall. It came together in a beautiful choreography. The angles aligned perfectly with the wall. A smile snuck onto her face as the drawers and doors slipped into their respective places.

 

Everything was just right. She felt like she was floating on a cloud. When all was done, Ravela stood up and took one last measure of the remaining gaps in the kitchen front left for the stove, oven, cooker hood, and sink.

 

She walked into the dining room and down the stairs leading into her basement. Much more work was left to be done before her home was ready. The progress she made on the house today made her smile.

 

Before moving forward with the rest of the house, she would build the below levels. From here on out, she would work primarily outside of the house. The fact that she didn’t have to expect Kahli to visit her here anymore would make that part so much easier. She just hoped that Safora and Laena wouldn’t make the ever-growing pit behind her house too much of a topic.

 

There was only one way to keep those two from bugging her about it: by distracting them with a more intriguing topic, for example, their future suits.

 

She went through the house and checked the cable tunnels she had fit in the walls. Things were coming together, and she was confident that she could finish her home before the academy was over. That was if there were no more time-consuming incidents and adventures. Ravela knew better than to think for a moment that she wouldn’t find a way to sidetrack herself, eventually.

 

Ravela stretched and prepared herself to call it a night. Her work was done for the night.

 

It took some time to pack the tools and drive to the motel. Resting her head on the pillow, she closed her eyes and calmed herself.

 

An explosion rocked the building, throwing Ravela off the bed and shattering the windows. Her ears were ringing as she scrambled to her feet, ready for a fight.

 

Her hammering heartbeat was the only thing in her world. Her vision fixed on the door and shattered window. The pause dragged on, and nothing happened.

 

She could hear other guests yelling outside. Deciding to check out what happened herself, Ravela joined the confused and disoriented crowd after putting on clothes and shoes.

 

The guests' voices became audible as the ringing in her ears slowly stopped.

 

Outside, she saw two burning husks of trucks, and her eyes made out another figure in the smoke and flames standing on the other side of the road. The Bomber stood there studying his work with a tilted head. Nobody else could make him out as clearly as her eyes could. She saw him standing there, staring at the flames under his mask. At least, she thought that was what he was doing. Ravela doubted anybody else could see him standing behind the bright flames. She would have to leave seeing him there in the police report.

 

Then he was gone, and Ravela had to stop herself from chasing after him. It was not the time and place. Her eyes wander to a piece of tarp sprawled out in the parking lot.

 

Ravela studied the smoldering piece with the brand name and logo on it.

 

Murmuring to herself. “Now, why would you attack a truck of Mother Hulsy’s Pharmaceutical?”