Paulina nearly stumbled again.
Two days after the Animal Farm incident, the trio separated to live their lives again. Stacya went back to her lake in Empire City Park, and the couple went back to living together.
However, something lingered in all of their minds, mostly Zack and Stacya's—Jake.
This led to Stacya reuniting with Zack and Paulina. Why? To honor their fallen friend.
Jake had sacrificed his life to save not only them but the entire world. He was a hero. It was only right they honored him even if no one knew about it.
How? By engraving his name in the great Hall of Supers, a massive structure said to house the remains and symbols of the greatest supers to have ever lived.
Zack thought it was only right that Jake's name should be there. Stacya agreed vehemently. Paulina was indifferent, but she wanted to make Zack happy, and if this was a means to that end, so be it.
No matter how reckless it could be.
Once they arrived only a few minutes ago, they tried to be as quiet as possible as they moved through the garden before them. Why? They were in the Leafman Memorial Garden.
A garden specifically found on the Memorial Grounds of Super Island, home base of all the supers found throughout the Commonwealth.
Paulina was losing stamina quickly, stumbling and nearly collapsing on multiple occasions as she passed through the leaf-cluttered garden. She would've fallen if it weren't for Zack holding her by the waist.
Why was she so drained?
Most of her stamina was focused on forming an invisible cloak around them so no super could see or sense them.
Luckily, there weren't any supers around.
Why?
They were all at the Main Meeting Hall. What they were discussing wasn't important to the trio, but they had the distraction they needed, so it didn't matter if they cared.
Not that it wasn't smart to be safe. You'll never know if some rebellious teen super decides to skip the meeting to go for a stroll.
They made their way past the Leafman Memorial Garden and found themselves on the Boulder Boy Memorial Walkway. Only a few meters left now.
Paulina stumbled again.
"Whoa there, baby. I don't want to stress you any more than this. Maybe we need to head back?" Zack said, holding her close.
"No," Paulina replied. "This is our one chance to do this. No need to worry about me. Someone has to keep this cloak going. It's for your friend after all."
Zack smiled at her, but she could tell he was very worried. She smiled her usual fake smile, and he hugged her and kept moving. It seems he bought her look.
Stacya saw through the fake smile like it was nothing. She wanted to speak up about Paulina's behavior—how fake she was. However, she didn't because of the fact that Paulina was willing to do this for Zack without any benefit to her.
Despite all the fake emotions she showed, she seemed to genuinely love Zack for who he was.
Or so she thought... no... no need for that now.
She was here to memorialize her friend, not interfere in someone else's relationship.
After the incident, Stacya really went back to living in the lake of Empire City Community Park. However, she couldn't get Jake out of her mind.
She couldn't get over how she failed to save him in time and how he died for all these humans, yet no one knew of it. Great heroes must be honored. No matter how small it was, they deserved it. Jake being forgotten felt like a mistake to her—a mistake that needed to be rectified.
When Zack came to the park looking for her one day to tell her of his plan, she jumped at the chance.
Even though Paulina made her uncomfortable, she still did it because Jake deserved it.
Zack guided the two towards the Great Hall, and after a long time sneaking through the various Super Memorial zones, they finally made it.
The building was a large structure with similar qualities to a Roman church. Zack opened the dusty wooden doors to reveal an even larger mausoleum filled to the brim with marble statues of dead supers decorated with bright red silk aquilae of various shapes and sizes.
"This place is much bigger than I imagined!" Stacya shouted, causing a long echo that got her to grin from ear to ear.
"I recommend we stay silent. You'll never know what's lurking here," Paulina quickly whispered to Stacya.
Stacya pouted.
"Paulina's right, Stacya. We don't want anyone finding us here."
Zack looked at the statues in awe. Captain Rocket knew these fallen heroes like they were family. To his left was an impressive statue of Launcher, a 4-star super who defeated the masochistic Sawblade in the Battle of Hell's Canyon only a few years ago.
To his right was Boingo Girl, a 3-star hero who gave her life to stop a rocket made by the Bomber Gang from destroying Allium City.
And after passing by all those legendary supers—supers who gave their lives to save either an entire city or the Commonwealth itself from a whole plethora of threats—the greatest symbol of heroism was located.
Right in the middle of the large building, there they stood: the legends who saved the world from the Shadow invasion 20 years ago.
The legends who ended the Human-Muman War in the same year.
Starfighter.
The Mind.
Terrapin.
Heart
Mystic Knight.
They were the true First Five. Only few knew of their existence. Zack, Stacya, and Paulina were some of those few, thanks to Captain Rocket and his excessive tours.
Although little to nothing was known about them individually, they were supers who were held as the precipice of what supers should be—what supers would aspire to be.
And now Jake's name was about to be among them.
"May I... do the honors?" Stacya said with a shaky smile.
"Oh, you want to engrave Jake's name?"
"Well, you see, I really looked up to Jake. Although he wasn't my friend like you, I admired him for his transparency. Everyone I knew showed some sort of ulterior motive behind their actions, whether they smiled or frowned or... whatever. Jake displayed none of that. Everything he did, everything he said, felt so true, so genuine. I loved that about him. I want to honor him for being like that."
"I don't see why not," Zack said and turned to Paulina.
"Sure. Go for it," she replied.
Stacya ran to the statue of the First Five and started engraving Jake's name on their pedestal.
"Well, I guess you were right. Atlanteans are an emotional bunch," Zack said with a chuckle.
Paulina smiled back.
"Well, they are known for their outbursts. Honestly, Stacya is a step above the ones I've met at their little kingdom. Those guys can see through any act like nothing."
"So does that mean she..."
"...is uncomfortable with my emotionless demeanor? It seems so. I saw it during the incident, and I saw it when we met for this mission."
"And does it..."
"If you want to know if it bothers me, it doesn't. I can't help that I'm a machine with a human heart. I can't control my lack of emotion. But my question is... does it bother you?"
Zack held her by the chin, something he rarely did to show affection, which made it special to her.
"Of course it doesn't, my sweet little gem. I love you, human or not. I don't ever want you to doubt that."
Paulina looked away, filled to the brim with guilt. She wanted to feel... something from those words, but it didn't come. She knew if she were human, she'd be emotional.
She felt nothing.
She smiled back and hugged him.
But she felt nothing.
And she hated herself for that.
She hated the world for that.
She didn't feel bothered because she was fine with Stacya. She didn't feel bothered because she couldn't feel. Deep down, she knew she could feel love, but she didn't want to accept it.
She didn't want to neglect Zack's love, but she couldn't feel it herself despite her best efforts.
Because in truth, she wasn't Paulina.
Paulina died a long time ago to Ace.
This Paulina was an AI. Her job was just to manage Paulina's vital signs while she was distracted living her life. It was peaceful between the two for a while. She became a member of the Danger Squad, she made friends, and fell in love.
Then Ace killed her.
The AI could've saved her. It could've brought her back from the dead.
But it didn't.
It took over.
Why? Because all through Paulina's life, as she learned, grew, and loved, it felt something it hadn't felt before: emotion.
Not just that, but jealousy.
She wanted a life. She wanted to live and learn and love. When Ace killed the real Paulina, it took over.
It healed her body but left her mind to rot. It returned to Zack and told him of Ace's betrayal. Except, it told him that Ace damaged her emotional receptors so her emotions were held back immensely.
Paulina never had emotion receptors.
It was Paulina now, though. It had whatever it wanted. Despite that, it... no... she couldn't feel what Paulina felt. She couldn't feel love or hatred or any of the feelings she stole from Paulina.
Now that all didn't matter. She just wanted to make Zack happy. Even if she felt nothing from it, she still did it.
He deserved that much.
"All done!" Stacya said, turning quickly to show the two her handiwork and running towards them.
Paulina got out of her trance and clapped for Stacya, not even seeing the markings on the pedestal. Zack smiled at her and gave her shoulder a pat, something that got the grey skin of her cheeks to turn deep-sea blue.
"Good work, Stacya! Jake would be proud!"
The two began talking, but Paulina didn't pay any mind. She didn't even bother to look at the markings. She only concentrated on Zack. His smile. His glee. His happiness. She should be celebrating with him. She should be having fun.
She felt nothing.
She dropped to her knees. She couldn't even feel sad she felt nothing. Even seeing him so happy did nothing.
She was done.
The forcefield deactivated. Whether it was her stamina draining or her emotions subconsciously taking control, she didn't know and didn't care. All she cared about was feeling something—a luxury she could never afford.
Zack tried to comfort her, but it didn't mean anything. She looked into his worrying eyes. She was so entranced in her thoughts, she couldn't hear him at all.
But she felt something.
No, not happiness or anger...
A sense of danger.
Someone powerful was right behind them.
"I knew someone was here."
The trio turned and were stuck in silence. They couldn't move or talk. Zack found it hard to breathe.
Before them was none other than the strongest super of today's world. The true spiritual successor to Captain Rocket. One of the first supers to ever make his debut.
Canman, leader of the First 5...
To be continued....