The Ascension: A Super Human Clash Read Free

skin, much older and it’d take longer to heal. It should settle down in a year, two at the most, but soon all you’ll have is a few faint scars.”
    Roz piled the strip of bandage on the edge of the sink and then held her hand up to the light. The new skin had been closely matched in color to her own skin, but Doctor Holzhauer had warned her that it would always be that color: It would never tan.
    Roz’s older brother, Max, had paid for the operation. He hadn’t told her how much it cost, but he’d made it pretty clear that it hadn’t been cheap. “Holzhauer’s a genius,” Max had said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was one of us .”
    As with almost everything else he did, Max had an agenda: “Artificial skin is going to be a huge market in the next few years. The right investments now will pay off a hundred times over.”
    Like he needs the money , Roz thought. She wasn’t sure whether Max was a billionaire yet, but she knew he had to be close. His superhuman ability to read—and sometimes control—other people’s minds made him an incredibly astute businessman. Max always got what he wanted in a negotiation, and sometimes Roz wondered whether he was controlling the other people. Or, worse, reading their darkest secrets from their memories and blackmailing them.
    She’d always meant to ask him about that, but somehow she never thought of it at the right time. That made her wonder whether he was able to control her mind too. If he was, there was no way to tell.
    Roz left the bathroom and walked through the apartment to the south-facing drawing room, where the light was much better.
    Doesn’t look too bad , she thought as she examined the new skin. She carefully flexed her wrist—the graft covered the back of her hand from her knuckles halfway to her elbow, and aside from the slight color difference and the scars around the edges, it looked just like real skin. She poked the skin just below the wrist. Doesn’t feel real, though .
    On the coffee table behind her, the cordless phone beeped.
    Roz picked it up. “Yeah?” She slid open the glass doors and stepped out onto the balcony. The apartment was on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, overlooking Columbus Avenue. From this high up Roz couldn’t actually see the street without leaning way over the wall and peering straight down, but to the left she did have a good view across Central Park.
    â€œRoz, don’t answer the phone like that,” Max’s voice said. “It could have been a business call.”
    Roz raised her eyes. “OK, whatever. What’s up?”
    â€œStill stuck in this meeting. Looks like we’ll be here for the rest of the day. You OK to pick up Josh from school?”
    â€œYou can’t send a car for him like usual?”
    â€œIt’s his last day before the break, Roz. I promised him I’d be there—all of his friends have been begging him to meet me.”
    â€œRight, because you’re a big-time superhero.”
    â€œExactly,” Max replied, ignoring her sarcasm. “Won’t be the same if it’s just you there, but you can show off a bit. Use your telekinesis to levitate Josh or something like that. That’ll keep them happy. And promise them that we’ll arrange a party sometime over the next couple of weeks. They can meet me then.”
    â€œOK. You could ask Quantum to show up too. The kids would love that.”
    â€œYeah, sure,” Max said, in that too-casual voice he used when he really meant “I don’t think so.” That didn’t surprise her: Max didn’t like to share the spotlight. He continued: “Listen, that’s not the only reason I called…. Do you remember Lance McKendrick?”
    â€œWhat sort of question is that? Of course I remember him—he saved my life more than once!”
    â€œRight. Well, if you hear from him, let me