“In a shocking raid,” the anchor announced, “the Blackhats attacked a nightclub at the edge of town last night. The club, known as the Damini, was found to be a front for the Grunters. Witnesses describe the presence of a terrifying new supervillain, who is reported to be able to turn into smoke and start fires at will, and who is speculated to be in the service of Tigerstrike. Many are speculating whether this could be the start of a brand new gang war…..”

Anne turned off the television.

I frowned. “Turning into smoke? Starting fires? That’s not my power.”

“I know,” replied Anne, “you’re not Flamespark or Inferno or, heaven forbid, Agni. Still, the news often gets it wrong.”

“And I’m not sure I like being known as a supervillain.”

“I doubt you control that one,” replied Anne. “Remember Nachsturm? Everyone called him a villain, too. I’m more puzzled by the fact that they didn’t mention any bodies.” She gave me a pointed look.

“You can’t control everything in a fight,” I told her. “Sometimes I lose track of how much force I can exactly exert…. I’ll get better.”

“Dead people generally means supervillain,” Anne pointed out. “Heroes aren’t supposed to leave behind a dozen-odd corpses.”

“It was only seven,” I groused. “Do heroes actually never kill?”

“No, there have been cases where they ended up killing supervillains. Those are usually dressed up as ‘regretfully lethal force had to be applied’.”

“Well….”

“It still doesn’t excuse what you did. Though at least you got the hostages out, which is something.”

“And now the Grunters hate me, so I’ve got to lay low for a while.”

“The fact that your powers are so wrong in the news helps. If you appear with a new costume, using your actual powers… You could pass for a completely different hero.”

“Keep two ultra identities, one a hero and one the villain Belessar?”

Anne sighed. “I’m…. not sure we did the right thing, naming you as Belessar on your first outing. I didn’t want that to be a villain name.”

“What’s done is done. Anyway, I plan to stay low until I can forge a new set of armour. This one’s badly dented and I don’t want to go into my next battle without full protection.”

“Can you repair it?”

“No - it only has 115 armour points left out of 400.. I can keep the set in reserve for the future, but it makes more sense to create fresh pieces.”

“By the way, did you hear from Jimmy or the others?”

“No, I’m expecting to as soon as he gets a new phone. Could be a day or two.”

At that moment, my phone buzzed.

1-813-837-2817: hey it’s J

1-813-837-2817: u thr

An unknown number.... so he probably picked up a prepaid card somewhere non-traceable. I hoped.

Andrew: are you safe

1-813-837-2817: yeah we r all ok

1-813-837-2817: Dad wants me to give u something

Andrew: what?

1-813-837-2817: bag

1-813-837-2817: left it in your locker

Andrew: how do you even have the combination

1-813-837-2817: ur birthday

1-813-837-2817: update it dude

1-813-837-2817: and don’t open the bag in school

Andrew: is C all right

1-813-837-2817: little shaken up

1-813-837-2817: but ok otherwise

1-813-837-2817: we r keeping it quiet

1-813-837-2817: will msg u once we get to safety

So, Jimmy was keeping quiet about their final destination. I nodded in approval.

1-813-837-2817: we r hoping the g’s stay distracted

Andrew: let’s hope

Jimmy had a point - keeping the Grunters’ attention focused elsewhere might help them get away safe.

“I just heard from Jimmy,” I told Anne. “They got away okay.”

"Wasn't he supposed to not call?"

"He's messaging from an unknown number. Likely a prepaid, which should be safe enough."

“Okay. How’s Clarice holding up? They didn’t…. make her do anything, did they?”

“I don’t think so. She was with her parents when I broke in. Seemed fine. Just a bit shaken.” I winced. “She reacted badly when she saw the dead bodies.”

Anne nodded. “I never told you this, but I puked after the Crawleys.”

“We’ve seen a little too much death,” I agreed.

Anne shrugged. “I’m not going to feel sympathetic for the Grunters. Not after Mom. I just wish I could wave a wand and make the gangs just…. go away.”

“All the gangs?”

“The Grunters, the Blackhats. They’re both manifestations of the same thing.”

“Extreme poverty and deprivation?”

“Supervillainy and its lack of consequences. Cops can’t take on gangs backed by supervillains, and the heroes….”

“Why don’t the heroes take on the Grunters?”

“Grumman,” shrugged Anne. “They say he’s one of the top ten candidates for the next time the Sled comes around.”

“We can predict who the Sled picks?”

“You don’t know about the Sled leaderboards?”

“No. Not a clue.”

“Oh.” Anne switched on the TV and spoke. “Alexa: Search Sled Leaderboards.”

A chart appeared on the screen:

Rank

Name

Class

Country

1

Dr. Magnetic

Inventor

United States

2

Neurohawk

Summoner

Ireland

3

Sandwave

Elemental

United States

4

Chikaradzuyoi

Herculean

Japan

5

Drakkar

Herculean

Germany

I’d heard of these ultras, of course. Dr. Magnetic and Sandwave were two of the best-known American heroes, and the others were famous in their own right. Drakkar was a super-strong ultra based out of Germany, Neurohawk was an Irishman who could create armies of flying creatures and had single-handedly led the defence of Dublin and Chikaradzuyoi - was Japan’s most famous villain. With a body harder than steel - literally - and strong enough to lift a locomotive, he ruled over the Japanese gangs with a literal, as well as metaphorical, iron fist.

That didn’t explain the ranking, though.

“How does this work?” I asked Anne.

“A bunch of French scientists looked up more than two hundred ultras chosen by the Sled. They figured out that when the Sled chooses an ultra, it seems to look at certain things that the ultra does best. Like, how many aliens they’ve fought, how many other ultras they’ve defeated, how strong and powerful they are. The person the Sled chooses tends to be the best in the world at these things - at the time.”

“So the Sled picks people based on how good they are in a fight?”

“That’s what scientists believe. It’s not like we have solid evidence, since nobody’s ever talked to Skyguard itself. The leaderboards are just an AI-generated forecast about the most likely ultra to be picked next by the Sled.”

“Most likely?”

“Yeah - last time the odds were that Dr. Magnetic would get picked, but the Sled picked Lutador instead.”

“Who’s Lutador?”

“She was… is… a Brazilian superhero. She joined Fortress Skyguard in early August, just after the attack on Tanisport. Can fly, superhuman strength.”

“Okay. That would explain why I haven’t heard of her.”

“Yeah. Anyway, there was a big splash a couple of years ago when the scientists published their findings. They developed an algorithm that can predict who’s most likely to be chosen. Generally, the Sled picks one of the top ten candidates.”

“How accurate is this?”

“They predicted fourteen of the last fifteen correctly.”

“Wow - that’s good.”

“That’s why Grumman’s important,” Anne said. “Alexa, next page.”

Another five names flashed on the screen, but I only had eyes for one.

Rank

Name

Class

Country

9

Grumman

Inventor

United States

Grumman was ninth on the list?

“It doesn’t mention that he’s a villain,” I said.

“The Sled doesn’t care. Out of the top fifty, and a third of them are villains.”

“Hold on. How powerful is Grumman exactly?”

“Based on the leaderboards?” Anne smiled thinly. “He’d be the third most powerful villain in the world.”

…. This was the man whose gang I was fighting?

“You could have mentioned that before I got into a fight with the Grunters,” I remarked lamely.

“Would it have changed your mind?”

I thought about my two battles with the Grunters - protecting Niklas, saving my friends’ families. “No.”

“Then there’s no point. I honestly never expected you to get into a fight with them.” She shrugged. “But if you’re in one - I’d rather you won it.”

QUEST ALERT! SLOW THE SEARCH.

THE GRUNTERS HAVE BEGUN SEARCHING FOR THE ULTRA KNOWN AS BELESSAR, TO EXTRACT THEIR VENGEANCE IN BLOOD.

TIME TO DISCOVERY: 180 DAYS.

DELAY THE SEARCH BY CONDUCTING RAIDS AGAINST GRUNTER INSTALLATIONS AND BASES. WRECK THEIR OPERATIONS, ERODE THEIR FOLLOWERS, AND DISRUPT THEIR FINANCES.

EACH SUCCESSFUL RAID AGAINST A GRUNTER OPERATION ADDS 10 DAYS TO TIME TO DISCOVERY.

I bolted upright.

Was my power freaking kidding?

“Everything okay?” Anne asked.

“I just got a… damned dangerous quest.”

Anne’s eyes widened as I explained the details. “Please tell me this isn’t real. You’re on a timer? And the Grunters will find you eventually unless you attack them first?”

“My power is hell-bent on destroying me,” I said bitterly.

“No, Andrew.” Anne breathed deeply. “I told you - you’re a Cognitive, right? This is straight-up Precog. You hit the Grunters really hard - they were always going to search for you. All your power is doing is warning you.”

When Anne put it that way, it made sense. “Then …. I have to get ready to fight them again.”

“Yes, you do. Does your power give you any hints about how to stop them eventually?”

NEW QUESTLINE: BANG THE GANGS!

THE GANGS OF TANISPORT HAVE BEEN A BLIGHT ON THE CITY FOR YEARS. FIND A WAY TO ELIMINATE OR NEUTRALIZE THEM.

QUEST ALERT: DESTABILIZE THE GRUNTERS.

DISRUPT 3 GRUNTER OPERATIONS.

REWARD: +800 XP, NEW BLUEPRINTS UNLOCKED.

QUEST ALERT: SHATTER THE BLADE.

DEFEAT 14 GRUNTER SOLDIERS AND DESTROY THEIR ARMOR.

DEFEAT 4 GRUNTER LIEUTENANTS AND DESTROY THEIR ARMOR.

DEFEAT 2 GRUNTER CAPTAINS AND DESTROY THEIR ARMOR.

REWARD: +3000 XP, NEW BLUEPRINTS UNLOCKED.

QUEST ALERT: ANIMAL CONTROL.

DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OR KILL TWO ULTRAS IN THE SERVICE OF THE BLACKHATS.

REWARD: +1000 XP PER ULTRA, +1 ATTRIBUTE BOOST PER ULTRA.

COMPLETING ALL QUESTS ON THE GRUNTER QUESTLINE WILL AUTOMATICALLY COMPLETE THE QUEST ‘SLOW THE SEARCH’ AND END THE CHANCE OF DISCOVERY.

“… To stop the search for good, I have to defeat the Grunters once and for all,” I explained to Anne.

Raised eyebrows. “That’s a tall ask. You did hear, third most powerful villain in the world, right?”

“My power doesn’t care.”

“Can you… avoid it?’

“If I don’t, I’m exposed within six months. Then the fight comes to me.”

Anne cocked her head. “I guess it’s obvious what you have to do, then.”