"Did you really call telekinesis nothing interesting?!"

Zane sighed. They had left the scene before the three stooges regained consciousness. They were now approaching a magnificently crafted cobblestone building that Rick indicated was the location for their current class.

"Depending on your perspective, it really could be nothing interesting," Zane replied, already dreading the conversation.

"Wrong! No sane person would think telekinesis isn't amazing. I mean you can move things with your mind, do you know how insane that is?"

Zane couldn't refute that logic. He felt a certain undeniable exhilaration making those bullies bend to his will. This was the type of power people got drunk on in the many comic books he had read.

"What's your power then?" Zane asked, eagerly searching to change the subject away from him. "The ability to get beaten up and get back up again?"

Zane was only half joking. From what he'd seen Rick had been used as a human punching bag by Mohawk and Green Eyes, and yet, he'd been back up with his wounds healed by the time Zane had knocked them out.

"I have a healing factor. Well, every meta does but mine is more powerful than the average," Rick replied. Zane noticed he didn't seem very enthusiastic when describing his ability.

"Hence the punching bag occupation?" Zane didn't like prying into people's business but it was clear being Rick's roommate directly affected him. He needed to know the type of person Rick was to know what to expect. "You didn't even try to fight back. Did you purposely rope me in back there, hoping I would be powerful enough to save you? Or perhaps you planned the whole thing to learn what my power was."

"Jesus," Rick exclaimed, looking more than a little offended. "What type of upbringing did you have? I'm not some evil manipulator. I didn't know they would choose today of all days to attack me. They do it when they think of some new moves to try out, and as you said, I'm pretty good at being a punching bag." He let out a frustrated sigh, "at least until I develop another ability."

"What makes you so sure you will?" 

"I'm preparing my vessel diligently," he replied, flexing a toned muscle. "It's only a matter of time before it all pays off."

"So blind hope then." Rick stopped at a weird-looking machine with plastic cups on top of it. "So your plan is to get beaten up and hope the emotional response to being rag-dolled lets you start breathing fire?" Zane added.

Rick shrugged as he picked up one of the plastic cups. "I guess I haven't thought that deeply about it. I just thought of it as training my healing factor and pain tolerance."

Zane was glad Rick was turned away from him so he didn't see the look of disgust that he knew was draped across his own face. Rick sounded like a coward who was afraid to fight back. That didn't sit right with Zane at all. "Right. Why is fighting in the open allowed? I'd figure there are security measures in place to monitor the petty criminals that end up here now that they're juiced up with superpowers."

"Good point. I don't know why, but it has been a thing since before I was sent here. It's why people travel in groups, so that they won't become a target for eager superpowered delinquents looking for test dummies."

"And I take it you like being a target?" Zane replied, watching in fascination as Rick pushed a button and placed his cup under a dispenser which a caramel brown liquid flowed out of. 

"I think it's lame to travel in packs," Rick replied before pausing to take a sip of the beverage.

"But not too lame getting beat up?" Zane nodded at the cup. "What's that?"

Rick looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "You've never seen a tea dispenser before? I'm starting to believe you really did grow up on Mars."

Zane ignored the comment, observing the machine suspiciously. "Is it free?" At Rick's nod, Zane approached the machine and took up one of the cups. He skeptically observed the flavor options, unsure what any tasted like. Finally, he decided on French Vanilla and imitated what he had seen Rick do to get his own brew.

Zane stared with wide eyes as the steaming hot liquid fell into the cup and he sniffed the contents, blessing his nose with the rich, creamy aroma that invited - no demanded his lips to steal a sip of the concoction. The taste did not disappoint, and Zane found himself once again staring in wonder at the cup.

"As fascinating as french vanilla is, we really do need to get to class," Rick said, rudely interrupting Zane's discovery. Zane frowned but followed Rick's lead into the building. They walked down a twisting hallway with doors at irregular intervals until Zane started to wonder if Rick was perhaps lost. Finally, Rick stopped in front of a door and pushed it open after shooting Zane a grin.

It took a second for Zane's eyes to adjust to the sunlight streaming through the many windows but when it did he almost dropped his cup. The classroom was huge, resembling more a college lecture room than the small high-school classrooms he was accustomed to. About a hundred rows of seats were stationed on the descending stairs in a tiered seating technique, giving a clear view of a woman wearing pink glasses below with a microphone in front of her. She paused, keying in on the new entrants before going back to her rambling as the pair settled into the closest open seats. 

Most of the seats were unoccupied actually, which wasn't an indicator of a small class but instead of how massive the space was. Zane figured it was like this because they never knew how many newcomers would arrive at any second. To Zane's surprise, Rick pulled out a book from his backpack and stared intensely at the woman as she talked. He was among the few who appeared to be diligent students while the majority were either staring off into space or on their electronics.

This certainly didn't seem like an effective way to create super-heroes to Zane.

The class ended up being as stupid as Zane expected. The lecturer detailed a scenario where a super-hero had to save hostages and so, he had to earn their trust and calm them down in order to lead them out of the building safely. She kept repeating phrases she highlighted as important such as "everything is going to be okay" or "I won't let anything happen to you". While reassuring, Zane didn't like the fact that they were promises that he couldn't guarantee keeping. If he were a hostage, he'd like the potential last words someone told him not to be a lie.

Rick scribbled down notes at a frantic pace as the lecturer talked. At one point, Zane leaned over and glanced at his almost-filled page. "Is this really that interesting or important? I don't think you have to remember the exact one-liners that she's giving."

"Textbook is best," Rick replied, not bothering to lift his head from his book. "When you freestyle under pressure, you're liable to make mistakes."

"And when you repeat generic lines you don't appeal to the individual," Zane countered.

Rick took a break from his note-taking to look Zane evenly in his eyes. The boy's dark brown eyes sparkled with intensity. He believed every syllable he uttered. "My aim is to save as many lives as possible, not to appeal to every individual in the world. I'm not God, dude." With that, he resumed his mindless scribbling.

Zane frowned but held his tongue. When Metas adopted the mentality of saving as many lives as possible they subconsciously decided that not being able to save everyone was likely, and so focused on saving the majority, but not everyone. In some cases, more effort could've led to saving more lives but these 'superheroes' were content with the existence of casualties. These casualties, designed for the 'greater good' led to the ending of human beings because they were unlucky enough to not be deemed important. 

They led to orphans.

Rick seemed to be infatuated with the concept of superheroes, so it was really no surprise he was heading down their path of thinking. Zane sighed and once again tried futilely to gain some substance from the lecturer's blabbering. 

Mercifully, the class ended shortly after and Rick led Zane to their other class, their disagreement forgotten. "I bet you'll like this class a lot more. It's battle training, where a Meta teaches us how to control our abilities. Sometimes they even let us fight against each other to simulate a real fight."

Zane's ears perked up. Finally, something to look forward to; learning to control his powers properly. His stride even quickened to match Rick's excited gait. 

Rick led him to a door and opened it, revealing a room small enough to pass for a janitor's closet. "What is this?" Zane queried.

"It'll be a lot cooler if I show you," Rick said with a smile, beckoning Zane to join him inside. As Zane stepped inside, he noticed there was a sort of rune on the ground. The strange carvings were mesmerizing, as the symbol created didn't seem to deface the floor, but instead be projected on it harmlessly. 

As he studied the weird symbol, he saw Rick push a button out of the corner of his eye and suddenly everything vanished. It felt like his entire being had been sucked into a black hole and he had ceased to exist. He was now nothing, surrounded by the vastness of nothingness with the responsibility of nothing. 

As suddenly as the feeling came it went and his surroundings no longer matched a janitor's closet. He looked around and found himself surrounded by a forest. In front of him, a large dome ascended into the clouds, its magnificent interior dwarfing football stadiums in elegance. The forest was eerily silent, as if all the wildlife had taken a hike and Zane once again looked around, searching fo-

"THAT WAS SO COOL RIGHT?"

Zane almost leaped out of his skin as Rick's voice ambushed his eardrums. He turned in annoyance to see the smirking Rick looking very pleased with himself. "What just happened? It felt like I was traveling through the ocean...or space."

Rick shrugged unhelpfully. "I'm not a teleport expert but that's what it is, teleportation. They say a Meta made that rune so that residents could travel to this pocket dimension where they can freely use their powers without damaging infrastructure."

Zane's head reeled. "Did you just say a pocket dimension?" He couldn't wrap his head around the amount of power needed to do such a feat. Was that even possible? Did this mean that he could face villains that could banish him to some artic dimension? How was such power even viable? Zane looked around in wonder.

Rick snickered and then erupted into full on laughter. "You looked petrified. Metas are not Gods, Zane, this is no pocket dimension," he managed in between his laughter. "This is just a remote location, most likely some island they built this arena on."

Zane scowled at Rick but he still found the feat impressive. Clearly, they had been transported a long distance and the power had somehow been stored in a rune no less. Zane's mind once again tried to decipher the science behind the feat.

"Hey," Rick said, snapping his fingers in front of Zane's face. "This is a class you can actually get in trouble for being late for, so we should get going."

Zane nodded. "Lead the way."

Truth be told, the dome was the most impressive edifice Zane had ever laid his eyes on personally. Walking through the entryway felt like entering a new world, perhaps as a gladiator preparing to wow a crowd with his tenacious fighting abilities. The inside was as big as three football fields with many cases of webbed asphalt, indicating a history of very strong power displays, or perhaps fights. In the clearing, about thirty people were gathered together.

"Damn it, class is starting," Rick said, rushing forward to the crowd. At first glance he hadn't appeared the studious type, but today was certainly painting him as one in Zane's opinion.

A woman watched their approach with narrowed green eyes. She wore full beige suit attire, though her suit jacket was unbuttoned to expose a solid black T-shirt that read 'Rock On'. "Nice of you to join us, Mr. Delaware," she said to which Rick grinned sheepishly. Her eyes traveled to Zane and they scanned him, "and I assume you're the new roommate I've heard about."

"Likely," Zane replied.

"I want you to come with me," she said and to Zane's surprise, she started walking forward but an after-image of her materialized and turned around to the rest of the group. It was her spitting image and even began to talk to the others as if nothing had happened. "You coming?" What Zane assumed was the original woman asked, looking back at him with a hint of amusement.

Zane followed the woman to the side of the clearing which seemed to magically produce a set of stairs into the stands as they neared. This place was starting to give Zane the creeps. They kept walking up the aisle until they came to a door which the woman opened without hesitation. The dimly lit room seemed to be a gym of sorts, with rusty equipment littered across the room.

"I've heard you're a telekinesis, correct?" 

Zane nodded. "Is your power the ability to clone yourself?" Zane asked with genuine curiosity.

"Among some other things."

Zane raised an eyebrow. Rick had mentioned waiting for other abilities to develop too. "You can have more than one power?"

The woman laughed. "You have much to learn, which is why we should stay on track. My name is Ms. Stone and I'm the instructor for this class. My aim is to help everyone to gain control of their abilities."

"Was I brought in here because my ability is rare?" 

Ms.Stone shook your head. "It doesn't make you special. The others are ahead of you so you have some catching up to do before you can join them. It's important to understand the basics first."

"You mean you teach everyone the same way?" Zane asked incredulously.  He had a hard time believing training someone with telekinesis and Rick's ability could fall under the same technique.

Ms.Stone regarded him calmly. "Improving all abilities comes under one subtopic: control. Even for passive abilities, learning how they work and how you can handle them is the first step, above all." She flicked her hand toward the gym equipment strewn out across the room. "Now, i want you to practice lifting these one-by-one to begin with. The idea is you'll get accustomed to lifting weight with your mind, knowing how much effort you have to distribute to lift, and gradually increase your mental strength."

Zane considered her words. Was that all there was to it; working out his mind as if it was a muscle? "I assume you've taught many telekinetics before?" Zane asked, lifting up the smallest weight he saw with little concentration and no hands. Again, he felt intrigued at how full even the tenuous weight felt against whatever force allowed him to lift it.

"Actually, there's only been one other confirmed telekinetic and he's quite infamous for his villainy." Ms. Stone replied, watching the floating weight with keen interest. "I didn't personally train him but I saw him a lot around campus. Before he decided to walk down his path, of course."

Zane recognized a glint of sadness in her eyes and he decided not to push the issue. Instead, he focused on understanding his power. The next twenty minutes were spent lifting weight after weight and to Zane's surprise, there were some he couldn't lift initially. However, with some coaxing from Ms.Stone, the weights eventually bent to his will and floated like he wanted them to. It felt less like he was getting stronger and more like he was getting accustomed to the more weight over time. 

"Ok, I'm going to throw the objects at the floor and it's your job to catch them before they hit," Ms. Stone said suddenly. With that vague explanation, she separated into three clones and took some weights up a set of wooden steps, so that they were a few feet higher. Unceremoniously, she threw a weight at the floor and Zane scrambled to lift it up before it hit the floor.

The result was a pain that felt like he had broken his back. The weight only wobbled before slamming into the ground with a loud bang. Before Zane could collect his bearings, Ms. Stone threw another weight at the floor. Again, the same thing happened, even with Zane putting in more effort.

 He paused, taking a deep breath as another weight began to fall. Frustration wouldn't help, he needed to approach this logically. Instead of trying to force it upward, Zane decided to try to catch it first. It was a weird feeling to try to manipulate the tendrils of force to act as a taut net. Before now, he'd only ever tried to use it as a means of power.

He let out a sigh of relief as he felt the weight fall under his control and the weight slowed before stopping a foot above the ground. He didn't realize it, but he wore a smile as he gently sat down the dumbbell.

He was a step closer to understanding his powers!