“You’re up?” She paused, glancing over. “You got what you wanted?” Grabbing his still ringing head, Slava glanced to his side. There, sitting against the curved wall, was Sasha staring at him incredulously.

“How long was I out?” In the dimly lit room, he could barely see her lips move. His exosuit had retreated from his head, letting him see the dull and empty sphere lined with pulsing blue circuits.

“About a minute?” she said inspecting her nails. His body was aching all over, from his stinging back to his aching legs. Compared to him, Sasha looked like she’d just come back from a light stroll.

“You’re already recovered? Damn!” Slava almost couldn’t believe his eyes. He never could get over how durable her body was. It reminded him of his roommate. He still had a long way to go.

“Fuck off! I’m pretty sure you almost destroyed my spleen,” she said pointing at her lower ribs. “You’re insane! Anyways, are you ready to go?” Leaning towards the exit, she continued, “People outside must be wondering what’s going on.” Hearing her say this, Slava abruptly stood up, frowning. Not bothering to answer, he walked towards one of the wide-opened doorways. Passing through the opening, he was momentarily blinded as a small crowd of people appeared before him. Not dallying, he tried to get past them and that’s when he was intercepted by an imposing man. He knew this would happen. This was exactly why he didn’t want to come here.

“Hey man, what’s your name?” The man asked. “I saw your fight there and I’d love to have a match with you.” Ignoring his words, he walked past him. His vision was tunneling and all incoming sounds became muffled.

“I’m sorry for my friend, I think he’s still shaken from the fight," said Sasha. Her expression was bitter. Coming out of the sphere, she barely glanced at the man, her eyes shifting right back to Slava.

“By the way…” he tried to interject.

“Ah, I’m sorry,” she said as she passed him by, “I’ve got to catch up with him before he does anything stupid,” Glancing back, she politely smiled. Watching her storm off underneath everyone’s still baffled gazes, the man stood there, stunned.

Slava entered the changing room in a cold sweat.

“Hey man, that wasn’t very nice.” Right there, leaning against the door frame, stood Sasha, in her black skin-tight suit, her usual smug look plastered on her face.

“You fucking bitch! You knew this would happen!” he yelled. Facing the wall, he glanced back menacingly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The calmness of her voice agitated him even more.

“You know what Sasha? I’m sick of your fucking games!” He said throwing his hands up in defeat. “You know yourself, you know your public image, you know how people react to you!” He was getting angry. “You knew this would happen and you purposely dragged me along like a fucking pet, all for your personal sadistic pleasure!” Taking deep breaths, he began to walk towards the wall. “That guy was clearly trying to use me to get to you and God fuck would I have none of that!” He said pointing back towards her. Slava wasn’t thinking anymore, his anger was taking over. How could she do this to him over and over again? Why did he still hang out with this bitch.

“Now that’s simply not true,” a tinge of anger could be heard in her voice. “That guy was just trying to spar with you,” she tried to explain, “he saw how good you were and wanted to compare his skills!” As she approached, her demeanor began to change. “I get it Slava, you don’t trust people, but not everyone is rotten to the core!” Oh and now she was getting angry? He couldn't believe his ears. Trust people? Trust who? Who should he trust? The random people on the street? The ego-stricken bastards giving the lectures? Or maybe the random people trying to fight him?

“Oh, I didn’t think you were that oblivious Alexandra. Are you this naive or is this another one of your sick games?” Turning around to face her, his expression was livid. He was shaking and in his anger, his blue eyes began to glow. An unnoticeable glow that only appeared if you stared long enough.

“Vyacheslav, I was just…” At this point, Sasha's behavior had completely changed. She felt angry, dejected but mostly sad, and as she tried to reach out to him, he suddenly grabbed her arm. Spinning her around, he slammed her against the wall.

Their eyes met, emotionless gazes hiding a flurry of unspoken words. The room fell into silence, a silence disturbed only by the sound of Slava's hectic breathing. After what felt like an eternity Slava calmed down and the glow in his eyes disappeared.

“I’m going to change,” he said slowly, removing his hand from the wall behind her.

Walking over to a bench, he started to undress. His body was full of scars from the fight and on his back, he had a tattoo. It depicted an empty circle with intricate patterns along its edges. Seeing this Sasha grit her teeth walking over to do the same. Compared to his, her back, adorned with a similar tattoo, was flawless, with no bruises or blemishes. No one would have guessed that she had just come out of a serious spar. Not exchanging a single word, they each entered a separate stall.

“Injuries detected, proceeding to radiation stimulated cell growth acceleration,” a robotic voice said. In the next moment, Slava was basked in a warm glow. Once his wounds had completely healed, adding to some of his scars, the voice rang again.

“Warning! Continuous use of stimulated cell growth may lead to a reduction in lifespan!”

He knew this well, in this twisted world you could gain almost anything but you could also lose everything. He had to put everything on the line to get where he wanted to be. Even if that might lead to his death.

As he escaped the cubicle dressed in casual loose clothes, Sasha did the same and at this moment, she decided to speak.

“The inside of your suit seemed pretty damaged…” Not letting her finish, he instantly replied.

“Don’t worry, that's from something else. I’ll tell you later.” His voice was neutral. It was as if the previous events hadn't happened. Sasha was worried. Slava had always been agitated around people, but this was something else.

“Okay.” Hearing his response, she sneakily sighed in relief. “By the way, I didn’t know you got a tattoo. It looks good!” Her voice was now way softer than before.

“Yea I saw yours too, pretty sexy if I do say so myself.” he grinned. Truthfully, he found its intricate design interesting.

It took a minute for them to realize what they had just said before they exclaimed in unison:

“Wait, what did you just say?” In a hurry, they both rushed back into their stalls.

“Enable back view!” Answering his call, the image of his back sprung up before him. Shocked, he burst out of the small room coming face to face with a similarly surprised Sasha.

“Wait for a second would you let me have another look at your back Sasha?” He said pensively. “Something seems familiar.” Not bothering to answer, she turned around.

When Slava touched her back, she shivered. He had seen this type of design before. He just couldn’t remember where.

He ran his fingers a couple of times across the symbols, mesmerized by their intricacy.

“Are you doing something? Or are you really just enjoying touching my back that much?” Ignoring her snarky remark, he continued until he reached her shoulder when his body stiffened up as a scene flashed before his eyes.

"Hang on Slava, we'll get there in no time," said a familiar voice. Slava's vision was blurry. Even though he could see, he felt like his eyes weren't his. He felt like he was looking at the world through a lens, he had no control over his actions.

"Akasha?” The weak voice that came out of his mouth wasn’t his. Although it was similar, its pitch was higher and the language he spoke wasn’t English. “What's on your back?" Her warm glowing back felt refreshing and comforting. He had felt the heat coming off of it for a while now. He could even discern some of the shining symbols next to her neck.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, little star. That’s something I got from a deal I made,” she said as they sped past their surroundings. Through his cloudy eyes, he could barely see cracks appearing around them, spreading from her back.

“Is that why you can do all these things now?” he said, weakly looking around at the mesmerizing sight. She was effortlessly speeding past building after building, street by street. He felt scared to look anywhere. He still had chills from remembering all those bodies.

“Yes, he’s my namesake, I think you’ll meet him someday,” she said somewhat regretfully. “So when the time comes don’t get too mad at him alright Slava?” Hearing his name, he felt the world twist around him.

“Slava! Hey, Slava, what's up with you?” Snapping out of his daze, he was faced with Sasha’s worried expression.

“I… my sister..” he said, bringing his hand to his face. When he finally noticed her stare, he forcibly turned her back around. Shrugging her shoulders, she put her clothes back on. She didn’t want to poke into his past; that was a thing they never joked about. Not to mention, he was already agitated enough. He really seemed on edge today.

What did this mean? Why was Akasha’s tattoo glowing and who was she referring to? Could he even trust what he saw? Slava dazedly tried to make sense of what had just happened.

“Slava, you don’t look well, let's go back to your room.” Absentmindedly nodding, Slava kept replaying the previous scene in his head. How was this linked to his previous… What should he call them now? Memories? Visions? No, they were more like dreams. But then, how did he just dream with his eyes wide open? Ah, shit that wasn’t important, what was he thinking about? Ah, yes Akasha had mentioned getting her strength from something, rather someone.

She’d never had this kind of strength before, could she have been a Tainted or did she meet with someone before coming to fetch him? Was that why she had felt like a completely different person after… after what? The slap! She’d never slapped him before. After she'd slapped him, everything had started to change. She started doing the impossible. He didn't remember everything, but he knew she’d changed after that. How was that possible though? How had she changed so much? She did mention that she made a "deal" with her “namesake”… Akasha’s namesake…