Powerless

15. Pushy Roman

"You know... You didn't have to come with us." I called back as we walked along the sidewalk. Roman was sulking because we had ended up missing the play but he still insisted on dragging us into the city.

"That's ok, Kiddo. I just wanted to keep an eye out on Roman. He is right. This wasn't the first time he randomly got sick." I glanced over at Roman with this concerned look and he just smiled.

"Like I said, I'm fine. You didn't have to call Patton."

"I'm still confused as to my part in this. Why was I made to accompany as well?" I looked back to see Logan rolling his eyes at us and I frowned. Patton just playfully punched his arm laughing.

"Buddy system rules." Logan sighed pinching the bridge of his nose as Patton skipped ahead.

"But you would not have needed me, since you were with them." Patton just shook his head and pointed at the nerd.

"You would've been left alone. So you had to come with me, since I was your partner." Logan groaned and I laughed. I didn't think Logan and Patton would team up. There literally opposites. And what about Roman? 

"Speaking of Roman..." Roman shot me this confused look and I laughed. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. "Why are we here?"

"There's this mall and I heard they have power reader there. I wanted to check it out." I froze in my tracks and caused Patton to bump into me. The others all stopped and looked back at me with concern as I felt someone grab my arm. I looked over to see Patton smiling and I looked away.

"Don't worry kiddo. We won't force you to do anything you don't want to." 

"It wouldn't get anything off of him anyway." Roman laughed as he shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. "It's supposed to read your level. As well as tell you how many you have. Nothing too special but I thought it would be cool." Nothing too special? Power readers are machines that tell you exactly how strong you are. They're machines... meaning my power won't affect it. If I get anywhere near that...

"I don't want to go."

"Well, too bad, Masky. You are!" Roman grabbed my wrist and I frowned feeling my sleeve ride up a bit under his grip. I felt his fingers on my skin. Shit...

"Sunset Mall..." Virgil just stood there shaking his head and I could feel the anxiety build. I did not want to be here. "... well if we're going in..."

"Let's go, Caz!" Roman grabbed my arm again despite me struggling and dragged me inside. We were practically running through the mall looking for this thing until Roman started to get lose up and he stopped. "It's not here anymore is it?"

"I told you I wanted no part in this anyway." I called as I finally yanked my hand free from his grasp. Roman just frowned as he leaned against the wall. "Can we just go..."

"FOUND IT!" Patton yelled as he ran over giggling. "I found it."

"Oh my god, you did?!" Roman was instantly happy again. Whereas I wanted to run. "Thank you so much!"

"Yeah, Patton." He glanced over at me as I shot him a dirty look and he cringed. "Thank you so much."

"Oh lighten up, Cassidy!" Roman sang as he spun around me. "It'll be fun!" He stopped and just hugged himself as he looked away. "Besides, there's a reason I wanted to do this. None of you have to do it with me."

"What's that, kiddo?" Roman shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. 

"Nothing much... Just... Just a hunch is all." Patton led us all to this thing and I froze seeing it just standing there. Roman was practically jumping up and down and I started to shake. My Father is the lead scientist on all these projects. He's told me about so many. So it wasn't hard to realize what it was exactly. Those stupid idiots. That is a reader per se but I'm sure not even the mall director is aware of that. I mean it does the same thing as an older model of the reader but this one does a little more too... It was made to determine the strength of enemy groups. Of course, it was trashed so... It wound up being another public attraction. Typical... I am so fucked.

"Great we saw it can we go?" Roman glared at me and I froze refusing to get any closer to it. "Fine... then can you just do whatever you came here to please. I'm sure class is going to be starting soon."

"Who wants to go first?!" Roman yelled causing a couple of older strangers to look and laugh at us. We aren't kids Roman. Virgil sighed and walked up to it seeing no one else move and looked back confused.

"You have to place your hand on the plate to activate it. The rest is touch screen." I called over and Virgil nodded. Roman just narrowed his eyes at me and I frowned. The screen lit up and Virgil jumped hearing the charm it made in response to him starting it up. "Now just... select individual." Please... anything but team.

"Ok then, here we go."