I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Tim had finished giving me the tour of the campus a half hour ago and I had few hours to myself. A few empty candy wrappers were beside me and I chewed on a wad of bubble gum that was slowly loosing its flavor. I should be jet lagged but wasn’t really feeling all that tired. I had slept off and on during the flight and I figured that had messed with my internal clock enough that my body just accepted that it was daytime and therefore not time to sleep. I had today and tomorrow to adjust to the time change but worried I’d just wind up being bored in my room. I could go to the library if I wanted, but the rest of the campus was off limits until I started my classes.

My room was nothing special, besides the fact that most of it was built out of steel or maybe titanium. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that Tim had said it was one of their sturdy rooms built for people like me who were super strong. I still wanted to be careful since I knew I could likely break everything in here.

Someone knocked on my door.

I sat up, scooping the wrappers off the bed and tossing them into the trashcan.

“Come in,” I called out.

The door handle rattled and I realized it was still locked.

“Oh, sorry, hang on,” I hopped off the bed, ignoring the shudder it gave beneath my push, and walked over to the door. I pressed gown gently on the handle and opened the door successfully without damaging it.

A guy about my age and with silver skin stood in the hallway. He was a good foot and a half taller than me and built like a football player. He looked surprised when he saw me.

“I didn’t know you were a girl,” he frowned briefly but then recovered and grinned. “Whatever, we have a group of supers with strength powers that get together to play sports and I was wondering if you’d like to join us? It’s the only way we can get any sort of a challenge.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I said.

“Hey, we’ve already got another girl that plays with us.”

“It’s not that,” I said, although that was part of the reason for my hesitancy, “I don’t know if I’m allowed.”

“Look, I know you just got here, so if you want to rest or do whatever, that’s fine, but you’re not going to get in trouble. I joined in my first day here and no one said anything.”

“What if I break something?”

He just laughed.

“That’s half the fun,” he said, his grin getting even bigger, “but seriously it’s not likely to happen. They built this place pretty well.”

I didn’t feel like pointing out that I was potentially the strongest person alive, worried I might come off as bragging, so I let it go.

“I’ll come,” I said after a little consideration. “I don’t know if I’ll join in. Probably just watch.”

“That’s cool too. We don’t get new supers all that often so it’s nice to meet new ones, you know? And it’s a bonus that you don’t spew acid every time you open your mouth. That’s what the previous new guy’s power is.”

“Gross,” I said as I joined him out in the hallway and letting my door shut closed behind me. “I’m Misha, by the way.”

“Oh, right, sorry, I’m Hector.”

He held out his hand. I looked at it warily.

“It’s okay, you won’t hurt me,” he assured me. “I’m the strongest and toughest one here. I promise not to squeeze your hand too tightly,” he added when I still hesitated.

“Probably best not to,” I said and he retracted his hand, shrugging.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It takes a while to get used to things here, especially your powers. Most of us with super strength take a while to figure out how to manage our power. I’ve been here a little over a month. I should be going home soon, though. It’s been over a week since I last messed up and broke something.” He chuckled to himself before going on. “When I first woke up with my powers, I crushed my entire dresser. What about you?”

“Ripped my blankets,” I said.

“Is that all?” He sounded a little disappointed.

“Well, I also almost ripped my door off it’s hinges, I crushed the doorknob, broke a car door.”

“You’re probably mid tier strength, then,” he said. “Did they tell you where you ranked?”

“Yeah,” I said, knowing I couldn’t hide the truth much longer.

By this time we were out of the dorms and walking across the campus towards a grassy field where a dozen or so others were gathered.

“Mid tier’s not bad,” Hector said,clearly assuming that my lack of contradicting him meant I was in fact mid tier. “You’ll probably get out of here in a few weeks. Most mid tiers do.”

“Um, I’m not mid tier,” I told him. I’ve always hated lying, not to mention I was worried what might happen if they thought I was mid tier and I accidentally hurt one of them. “I’m actually really strong, maybe the strongest yet. They said I was stronger than Chiro.”

Hector stopped dead in his tracks, staring at me in disbelief.

“No way,” he said at last.

“It’s true.”

“Squeeze my hand,” he said, holding his hand back out for me to take. “I have to know for certain.”

“Know what?”

“How tough I am!” His face was positively glowing with excitement. “All their tests here are for our dangerous powers but they’re not allowed to test our durability because it could end up hurting us.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I insisted.

“It’s okay, we have a healer right over there,” he pointed to the group of supers gathered at the field. “They always have one there in case of injuries. Please, I promise I won’t be upset if you hurt me.”

“I accidentally crushed the super who did my initial testing,” I admitted. “If there hadn’t been a healer there, I don’t know what would have happened.”

“It’s just my hand,” he reasoned, “and we have a healer right there. Look, we can even bring them over.” He turned and shouted, “Hey, Sifu, come here!”

A gray skinned man floated over to us, his feet gliding a few inches above the ground.

“Are you injured?” he asked at once. His voice was accented and, judging from his features, I guessed he was Asian.

“No, but I’m having Misha here test my durability.”

Sifu frowned but said nothing, instead turning to face me. He considered me for a moment, thinking, and then his eyes widened as recognition dawned on his face.

“Oh,” he said, “I do not think this is a good idea, Hector. She is considerably stronger than anyone you have had test you before.”

“That’s why you’re here, Sifu.” Hector replied.

“Please,” he held up his hand, “only my students call me Sifu.”

Hector shrugged and proffered his hand once more to me. I looked to Sifu, or whatever his name was, and then to Hector. A part of me was curious as well so I gingerly took Hector’s hand in mine. Ever so slowly, I began to close my hand more tightly, ready to let go at a moment’s notice.

“Come on,” Hector said after a moment, “don’t hold back.”

I don’t know why I listened to him. I knew better, but something in his voice, the challenge in his eyes, as well as my own curiosity at just how tough he was, made me do as he said. I closed my hand into a fist. There was a slight resistance from his hand, like play dough, before bone shattered and Hector began screaming. I let go at once, though there was hardly anything left in my hand, and looked away.

“You fool,” Sifu muttered and bent down to heal Hector.

A moment later, everything was alright. Hector was a little pale and shaky, but otherwise fine.

“And that’s why…we have Sifu,” Hector panted.

He was sitting on the ground, absently massaging his hand.

Sifu turned to me, still shaking his head.

“I am Minh,” he said. “Do not feel bad about Hector. He gets everyone to try and break his hand. You are the first to succeed. Perhaps he will be more careful in the future now.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if I meant it more for Minh or Hector.

“He brought it on himself,” Minh sighed. “If you hadn’t done it now, he would have eventually persuaded you to do it. At least now it is done.”

“Yeah,” Hector shuddered. “I’m sorry I pushed you into that. It was stupid.”

By now, the rest of the supers had come over. Most of them had seen what had happened and were laughing at Hector’s poor choices. None of them seemed all that bothered by what they’d seen and it made me wonder what their time here had been like so far.

“Perhaps it would be best if Misha here only watched for today?” Minh suggested.

The others sobered up as they considered what might happen to them if I joined in their sports and nodded. I nodded along with them and joined Minh on the side of the field where a few bleachers were set up.

The others began playing a game of tag. It was interesting to watch because every time one of them got tagged, the force of it usually sent them flying. It was entertaining to say the least.

“They are all mid tier, except for Hector,” Minh said after a while. “Hector is top tier but still far below your strength. I don’t know if it will ever be safe for you to participate with them. You are to them what they are to normal people.”

“I’m sorry about crushing Hector’s hand,” I apologized again.

“Do not worry about that,” he waved casually. “As I said before, Hector would have insisted until he got his way. You did nothing wrong. You are here to learn your limits and to learn control. Mistakes are expected and we will handle them as they come up. You have already done very well. I understand you’ve broken nothing since you’ve arrived.”

“I’ve only been here a few hours.”

“Considering your strength,” Minh smiled, “I would say that is an accomplishment worth praising. Hector broke every door he tried to open for the first three days he was here.”

I smiled in return. It was a simple thing to point out but it was comforting to know I was doing well, all things considered.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Why do they call you Sifu?”

Minh chuckled.

“It means teacher,” he said. “My students call me Sifu, but none of you will be in my class.”

“What do you teach?”

“I teach the students who’s powers are not only a danger to others, but also to themselves. Many of them live in constant pain as they cannot help but hurting themselves and I teach them to manage that pain while they learn, if possible, to mitigate the damage they do to themselves.”

I thought of the supers who sweat acid and the chemical burns some of them had on their skin.

“I guess I should be glad I got what I did,” I said.

“An excellent perspective,” Minh grinned.

After a while, Hector came jogging over to us.

“Hey Sifu, you think it would be alright for Misha to give us a boost?”

I looked to Minh confused. Minh considered the request for a moment and then nodded

“Yes, I think that would be an excellent idea,” he said before turning to me. “Misha,” he went on as he rose into the air to lead the way back down to the others, “being so strong and durable means that all these supers here can fall for any amount of distance and land without injury. Some of them have found it enjoyable to be thrown high into the air and then free fall back to the ground. The stronger the super throwing them, the higher they can go.”

“Normally I’m the one who throws them,” Hector said, “but you’d be even better.”

“Of course, you do not have to if you do not want to,” Minh added abruptly.

“No, it’s fine,” I replied at once, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity.

Hector showed me his technique, holding the other super in his arms and then spinning around to build up momentum before launching them upwards. It wasn’t the most efficient, but it also didn’t require him to grasp them with his hands which was where the danger lay. This way he could maximize his lift while minimizing the risk to the other super.

I tried it out with Hector first. To say it was a little awkward would be putting it lightly. I almost tripped on my first revolution and only managed to toss him a few dozen feet into the air. I tried again, and this time he soared around a hundred feet into the air.

The thud he made when he landed was almost sickening but he popped right back up, grinning from ear to ear. After that they all lined up and took it in turns to be tossed into the air. I got better and better as the afternoon wore on and soon I could toss them so high that they were little more than specks in the sky above us. That was too much for a few of them and they requested to be thrown a little lower than that.

Hector offered to give me a break so I could take a turn, but I didn’t see the appeal in it. Instead I stayed at it until it was time for dinner.