Roman woke in a surge of electricity and glitching code full of errors. Eight holes pincushioned him all over his abdomen from collar to navel. Each wound throbbed with a hollow agony unlike anything he had ever felt before. It sawed and scraped at him with every breath, thought, and moment he existed.

He flopped in a jangled misfire of spasming nerves. Wait, he was real flesh and blood. Human instead of the majestic security of his robot forms.

Anatomical Engine.

His only salvation failed to cocoon him in armored exoplates. To streamline his thoughts with algorithms and code. All of his suits had been scrapped in the fight with Land and Sky. Without them, he could not strip his pain down to bare diagnostics.

What about his other powers?

“Hey, Roman, it’s okay! Stop moving, please?” Steria pleaded above him, her outstretched hand aglow with moonlight. He felt the light slide over the craters and chasms inside of him.

“If you want me to cauterize anything, I should do it now,” said the other woman, ablaze with fire.

“Don’t!” Roman snarled in harmony, with countless echoes of his own voice. “I will handle it.”

He felt his namesake of a foregone empire settle over him. Imperial Will quivered with the potential of repeating his every action, if he so wished it.

Other powers stirred.

Phantasmic Magitech pulsed all around him in search of any technology he could enchant. Imperial Omniforge banged its hammers into the rubble strewn ground until it flattened into a perfect field. Both sank into the concrete, rock, and soil beneath and around him.

Heal me.

Roman shoved his illogical fear and pain into every material he had at hand. Filled the base resources with the intention to stop the progression of his body’s own decay. Scour it of contaminants. Bridge various tissues together to new wholeness.

Nothing happened. How could it when he had no schematics to follow? No predetermined place to store and execute the command. He needed to use his other powers, even though they did not fit.

They pinched in on him, squeezing him like a pimple about to burst. Before his fuck up with the satellite, he would have never been able to use his two unequipped powers with his other three. He did it anyway.

Fuck the consequences and deal with it later, right? That was practically Eli’s motto by this point. It was his turn.

Volcanic Savant dredged the earth beneath him. Pressurized it with an instant uptick of heat. Vented it in a sudden blast of heat exhaled through stress fractures in the poorly enchanted soil. Charred the rock below into an expanding pool of magma.

All that earth and heat would have been wasted without his Pyrovolt Foundry.

Roman imagined he was whole. Recovered to the picture of health. Exactly how his younger brother Theo had been when the cursed blessing of these powers cured his cancer. All he needed was better tools. Materials. Power.

So he did what he always did and he dreamed it up and made it.

Someone was screaming.

“Qui-et-et-et!” Roman snapped at the litany, trying to interrupt him. How could they not see he was busy? Raw emotion, so unusual for him, stamped the earth into sheets of reflective obsidian. Trails of electricity charged and condensed into vibrant streamers of vivid white-blue metal.

Heal. Me.

Electricity zip-zagged his eight gaping hole wounds shut. Molten voltmetal plugged his open cavities and torn organs. Obsidian slagged over the sparking chrome like a second skin. Imperial Omniforge aligned and shaped it with his body’s edifice. It hurt. Bad.

Phantasmic Magitech seethed into the obsidian strata and the voltmetal’s grain. Enhanced it. Glowed with Steria’s pure silver moonlight, stolen and corrupted to a volcanic red shadowed with purple. Echoed in his other seven wounds. Then again, in the field of obsidian, he was lying on.

HEALME!

Anatomic Engine gladly incorporated the eight sites and hybridized them between organism and machine.

Roman fell still, throat hoarse from all the screaming. He blinked up at the sky. Sore in every part of his human body, liberated in the fantastical machine spots. Despite the trauma and tragedy of it all, he felt more like himself than he ever had before.

“Are you okay?” Steria asked. He rose, studying his hands and arms. Every scratch sustained from the battle, scar collected over his life, and every other blemish matched the voltmetal-obsidian alloy portions of his abdomen. Apparently, it must be quite the sight based on the burning woman’s dry heaving and Steria’s concern.

“I am fine,” Roman boomed with a wide smile. He stretched his arms out to either side to their maximum width. None of the material impeded his mobility. “I feel better than ever, in truth.”

“Riiiight. So, I realize I don’t know you at all, but that was freaky as fuck. What the hell kind of an abom are you?”

“What is an abom?”

“Abomination? Those monstrous fuckers that turned our country from ‘shit’ to ‘holy fuck, this is the apocalypse’?” She scrunched her nose.

“Oh, you mean spawn. I’m human like you. Or mostly human, I guess.” He glanced down at his patchwork chest riddled in volcanic metal cyborg parts. Steria rolled her eyes from the sideline. He briefly remembered her mentioning them before Land and Sky had attacked.

“I find that not only very hard to believe, but concerning. Whatever you did set off a lot of error messages, which was scary as fuck, considering I’ve never seen system errors before either!” said the burning woman.

“Me too,” Steria nodded. “Well, I mean, the only other time was when Eli went all crazy, like three hours ago.”

“Eli? Wait, does that mean you’re Romeo?” Burning woman pointed fingers of living flame at Roman.

“You mean Roman? Yeah, who are you?”

“Celi! It’s nice to meet you. I’m Scott’s girlfriend. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, we came to rescue him, I guess? Catch up and all that.”

Steria and Celi exchanged a long, withering glance. Both women turned back to Roman as if he were the biggest idiot they had ever heard of. Neither of them said anything.

“You really came all the way from New Faram to meet Scott? Him?” Steria crossed her arms.

“Yeah, wh… wait, what do you mean by that?” Celi raised her eyebrows at Steria for a second before laughing. “Just kidding. I get he’s a bit stern and all that.”

“You have no idea how surly he always was,” Roman scoffed.

“Better that than your shyness and Eli’s constant whining. What are you doing here?” Scott rose out of the shadows with his trademark glower. A shadow coiled into his hand, extending into a slender blade. Something about it struck Roman that it was quite toxic.

“We came to see you. To save you if necessary.” Roman eyed the bared blade with no small amount of anger or surprise. After years of friendship, this was how Scott greeted him?

“What do you mean ‘we’? Where is Eli? I’m surprised you would drag that asshole all the way across the country.”

“He was the black hole.”

“Eli was a black hole? Did Land or Sky hit you on the head? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. There is no way that coward could become something like that.”

“It’s true, I saw it,” Steria interrupted. Scott looked at all three of them as if they were beyond crazy. He squeezed the sword until it burned with black fire.

“You mean to tell me that fucking Eli Newton, the one who abandoned us when Tom became a ‘roid asshole, is powerful enough to turn into a literal black hole?”

Roman plied a loose piece of obsidian out of the ground. Shrugged. “What can I say? It’s been a crazy few months, but that about sums it up.”

“That does not make sense and you know it. How did he do that? How are you guys even here? Not even the military travels much farther than D.C. now.”

“Apparently, they teleported here,” Steria said with a pleased grin at Scott’s discomfort.

“Always knew you were a lunatic, Moongirl. There’s no way they could do that. Otherwise, the government and a half dozen aboms would be able to also.”

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“I hate to burst your cynical egotistic bubble, but I saw Eli teleport all over the place. There’s no reason to not believe that or anything else Roman is saying. And I don’t know who you think either of them were, but it’s not who they are now.”

“You mean other than the fact it makes no sense?” Scott sneered at her. “If you are telling me that little crybaby Eli was the literal absence elemental, then he beat the shit out of Land easier than any of us ever had or could. You know that old fucking bat is practically invincible. So, what is it then? What makes him so special? Huh, Roman?”

“Hey, you need to chill.” Celi grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, light enough to be comforting, but hard enough to be a warning. “Do we need to move somewhere else to talk in private about whatever is bothering you?”

Scott leaned against his girlfriend, limp as if the wrathful strings holding him up had been cut. He released his sword and hugged her.

“I got carried away.” Scott turned back toward Roman and sighed. “Sorry. I am glad to see you’re doing okay. Even though it looked like Sky bodied the fuck out of you?”

“Eh, I’ve had worse.” Roman thought of Sandra. Or the fight with Sapblood. Yesterday had been rough in general. “Whoever said that the apocalypse should be safe was a liar.”

“Ha!” Scott ran over with a laugh and patted him on the back. Hard. “Shit, do you not have a Body stat? What the fuck are you doing? How did you even survive this long?”

“I was lucky.” Roman shrugged, although he knew the truth was probably because of Eli and his family. He needed to be better. Stronger. How else was he going to take care of Cyrus once they got back home?

“You’re actually serious, though? That was Eli? No joke?”

“Absolutely.” Roman nodded.

“Do we need to be concerned that he’s a giant black hole that disappeared?”

“Nope, he does stuff like that all the time. If anything, we should relax.” Roman reshaped the obsidian floor into a wall that shone with Dream. Remembered childhood TV shows and movies appeared with a push.

“Sweet. Now I’m definitely glad I didn’t kill you.” Steria strung out a series of moonbeams, then swaddled herself in it like a hammock. “Turn it up.”

“Me too.” Roman settled back and watched the makeshift screen with a large smile on his face. He hoped Eli actually was okay and that he would show up soon… and that Eli’s mom was here because he would kill for some conjured movie theater popcorn.

*****

Walls of earth sloped together in an uneven maw eclipsing the toppled buildings. In the night sky, stars winked through clouds of smog and smoke.

Eli prodded at the cluster of aspects inside of himself. Space rippled and warped in a foreign response he could only just begin to understand. Pain throbbed from his spatial powers whenever he tried to sense the world around him or teleport. He could do it once, maybe twice, but that would be it.

“Guess this is as good of a time as any to use some of my other powers.” Eli needed to get out of the hole and find Roman. Make sure he, Scott, and Steria were alright.

Ten powers unrelated to Space flickered closer to the core where Starspace Nexus and Stardust Aurora waited with Profound Erudition. At least the latter was still active. Wisps of Dream stirred inside his thoughts, helping him calm the fuck down after almost getting smote by the System.

Profound Erudition’s help was a far shot from fixing.

Eli rubbed his hands over the crust of dirt and vomit staining his cheeks. Disgusted, he wished he could teleport the filth off him or burn it with stardust.

Profound Erudition diminished the feeling so he could focus on the matter at hand: finding Roman and Scott. What if they needed help?

He searched the junk drawer of aspects cluttering his essence for anything valuable. Nimbus Sentinel, Sorrowful Fulmination, Joyous Fulmination, and Chromatic Dream stood out to him. Only the last three were usable since Nimbus Sentinel ached with the seeds of Space in its construction.

Essence folded the aspects together, swapping out Starspace and Stardust with the three powers. Bloat gurgled inside of him from the sheer burden of holding four powers at once. Eli ignored the discomfort.

What did a little pain matter when he needed to get out of here and make sure Roman was okay?

Eli blinked the swathe of hyper-realistic colors out of his eyes and mind. Fumbled for his lightning powers. Electricity coiled off his fingertips, a vibrant euphoric pink and depressing blue, as the two lightning powers activated. Layers of emotional charge plugged into his mind.

Joyous Fulmination fell inert at the lack of any such emotion. However, Sorrow continued to spark a deep, lingering blue. Chromatic Dream latched on the color, emotion, and idea of it. He felt the sadness well in between his fingers, like a tangible ocean of blue.

Happiness buzzed above him from someone standing at the lip of the crater. Eli looked up. A woman close to his age stared at him with a wide smile. Cracked square glasses perched crooked on her face.

“Those are interesting powers you got there.”

“I could say the same about you.” Eli frowned at the twisted, fuzzing mess of her aspects. Never before had he seen so many orbiting her core three separate from her two slotted in her mind and soul. How many unequipped powers did she have? One of her aspects blurred, shifted into a new form, over and over ad infinitum.

“In fact, your powers are unlike anything else around here. Abom or people. The strain and even the flavor are different. Where are you from?” Her glasses inched down her nose, she shoved them back into place.

“New Faram,” Eli said with a nervous swallow. A single on of her core aspects reassembled into a replica of one of his own powers.

“That’s not it,” She said behind Eli, teleporting behind him.

He whirled, joy and sorrow sparking on his fingertips. She snapped her fingers, nullifying his power entirely. It felt less like a domain smothering him and more like she had the exact power that allowed her to counter his own. It must have been whatever was in her Will slot.

“Who are you?” Eli backpedaled away from her incessant approach. Profound Erudition went into overdrive. Something about her was familiar. Did she have a counterpart in the other dimension?

“My name is Daisy. Daisy Schwartz? They call me the Collector around here. I love powers, don’t you? Before them, I felt so weak, alone, and bored. Now, I can do anything once I figure them out. Each one is a little puzzle, you know?”

“Lacey?” Eli blinked with a flash of purple insight from Profound Erudition.

“How do you know my mother’s middle name? What kind of intelligence boosting Dream power was that? Tell me now.” Daisy closed the distance with another teleport.

Muffled footsteps echoed outside of the crater. Something moving?

“Ignore the scavs and tell me how you knew that.”

“Scavengers?” Eli glanced up at the sound of laughter. More joy built its charge up bit by bit.

“There is no way they told you somehow. I saw your Dream power spike! Oh, you’re confused by their presence?” Daisy pulled away to frown at the approaching sounds. “They are pretty annoying, but sometimes they have unique powers to copy. Or steal.”

“You can steal powers?”

“If you kill them, you can.” Daisy bared her teeth in an open grin. “Now I’ve answered two of your questions. Your turn now.”

“You just reminded me of someone whose name was Lacey. My power helps me think and remember stuff. That’s all.”

“Hm, fair enough. A half-truth is better than nothing.” Daisy shrugged, a finalized Dream aspect of truth shifted back out from her core.

“Eddy, look, there’s some people down there with good powers!” A teenage boy shouted above them. Eli frowned up at him, a sense of foreboding stamping his heart flat. Daisy teleported out of the crater behind him. Startled voices yelled.

“Whoever gets the most of them wins! There are about twelve of you, right?” Daisy called down to Eli. The last part was for the boy.

He jerked his head in a nod. Her mouth twisted into a smile. Her copy of Eli’s original teleportation gleamed vanishing the air, then making it reappear around the boy thunder-smashing him into the ground. Bloody mist painted her red.

“Fuck, fuck, retreat! It’s her!”

“Got one!” Daisy smiled at him for a second. She disappeared.

Eli climbed out of the hole into a dilapidated world crumbled into a wrecked mockery of urban life. Puddles of blood splashed up his leg. Bones stuck out of the boy’s skin in a crush of jagged ends folded together.

Profound Erudition and far too much experience seeing bodies was all that kept the bile he had left inside of his stomach. He turned at the sound of rapid gunfire.

Scavengers pinned Daisy down with enchanted assault rifles. Ejected shells built up in a pile around their feet, repacked themselves, and reloaded.

Daisy vanished into what must have been the void avoiding it all with ease.

“There’s another one!” roared a tall man covered in scars. Each one glowed the pink of a medium rare steak under the effects of Chromatic Dream. The joyous charge from the remaining ten scavengers upticked at the sight of him.

Guns pointed his way. They pulled the triggers without another word. Sorrow built up inside of him. He disliked killing people, even if he had grown numb to it.

Eli let Sorrowful Fulmination guide him. Dodged the opening salvo of bullets. Allowed blue sadness to wreath his hands in lightning that crackled with the sound of countless sobs chained together. Fired.

Time slowed in a series of languid moments. One to the next pinned to a standstill. Blue snapped into Tall Man. He collapsed in a long, backward tumble. All the man’s grief polluted his outward dream in a violent blue marred purple from the red of his wounds.

Profound Erudition blazed like a forgefire inside of Eli’s head. He glanced down at the smeared body and the puddle of red at his feet and on his pants. Pulled the color out of the liquid, leaving behind a gray stain.

Red tinted the world wherever the color and symbolism fit together. His own hands dripped with the color. Maybe one day it could finally dry.

That would not be today.

Eli pulled the abstract bloodlust, blood spill, and passion of red into a glowing ball in homage to Photon Shot. Decided on his next target. Only five scavengers remained.

Daisy scythed through them one flicker and spatial trick at a time. She was an amateur when it came to Space, but a master at using powers. And taking lives, as she demonstrated one by one.

He decided on the man that turned his gun on one of his brethren, somehow knowing where she would appear next. Aimed and loosed a beam right into the side of the man’s head. Eli expected it to drill a hole through his skull.

“Woo!” He pumped his gun over his head, turning enough so Eli could see the whites of his eyes blaze crimson. A blush crept over his skin, dripped from his hands.

Daisy reappeared beside him, hand raised to smite him with Space. He swung his rifle like a club when she paused. She ducked out of the way, glanced at Eli, then teleported over to the last scavenger.

“Wharugh!” He shook his gun at Daisy, then at Eli. Dropped it. His hands had swelled into an oversized balloon along with the rest of his skin. Decadent, exultant rage bloomed from him. Every other color leeched to give way to the spreading stain of red.

Until he popped in a geyser of scarlet that turned gray mid-splatter.

Eli blinked in irritation. The color had faded from his sight until he could no longer distinguish it. How did that happen?

“That was pretty impressive, even if you did lose.” Daisy teleported next to him to bump her shoulder into his. He stumbled, thrown off by how strong she was, even though he sensed nothing slotted into her Body stat.

“Better luck next time, I guess?” Eli frowned around at everything, confused. Why and how did the bodies leak gray? What was that even called? It was on the tip of his tongue. Someone got cut and then ___.

“It’s a date.” Daisy grinned at him for a second. Frowned when he failed to respond, still thrown by the sense of loss plaguing him. “Was that the first time you used a Dream power to change reality?”

“Yeah.”

“You used your Light/Dream power, then? Just give it a break and it should come back. It’s a bit unique and interesting, but your other powers are more fascinating. Tell me more about your Space power. I haven’t figured it out past the first evolution.”

“Oh, okay.” Eli shook his head to clear the static fogging his thoughts. Profound Erudition chimed as if speaking a foreign language. He ignored it. “Do you know where my friends are?”

“You mean Moongirl and the Couple? ‘Course, I do. I know where everybody is. They’re that way with the only other stranger in town. Is he your friend too?”

Eli nodded.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go there together. So, what all did you merge Teleportation with? It feels incredibly robust. All of your primary powers do, really. Except for your Body stat. That’s kind of thin. Maybe even a little weak, but I’m glad you fixed it! Would have been disappointing otherwise.”

“Yeah, me too, I guess?” Eli felt like he had been pinned to train tracks and run over by Daisy’s personality in short order.

“You should be! I do not like being disappointed.” Daisy winked at him, then vanished in a teleport.