《Powerforge Girls》


 Powerless

    <h2>Chapter One: Powerless</h2>


    The worst thing about the catacombs under Sunport City, apart from the undead, had to be the smell. Hands down. The walls were slick and green with mildew and the air was warm and not properly ventilated. The damp was terrible this close to the ocean; the air felt sticky and wet down here. The tunnels were cramped and winding and maze-like. Clearly only barely thought through.


    It was almost as if the catacombs were invented in a hurry as a place to stash a bunch of brand new dead bodies that could potentially become dangerous later.


    Pretty sure that¡¯s exactly what happened.


    After the cataclysm, a lot of people had to come to terms with a brand new power pretty damn fast. A lot of the ¡®lucky¡¯ new supers were immediately out of their depth, out of control, unsustainable -- they burned themselves out figuratively or very, very literally. Cities needed places to throw the subsequent bodies before they started to stink the place up. If the body count remained a statistic, a number, the people were less likely to revolt, right?


    Now, thirty years plus PC -- post cataclysm -- the cities were just about starting to thrive again. It was the underground areas, the hastily dug out and propped up caverns and tunnels populated by the poor, the unlucky, or the downright dead, that needed help.


    The Sunport Catacombs was one such place. My foot snagged in a tangle of root as I ran my hand across a section of particularly wet, mossy wall, and I almost stumbled but caught myself. My palms weren¡¯t so lucky as the rest of me, smooshing into the loose dirt and coming away brown.


    The others, all four of them ahead of me by a short distance and strategizing in hushed tones, turned to look at the source of the hissed curseword I let tumble out.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Sonoro muttered from under the white mask across his eyes, a contrast to his dark skin. ¡°It¡¯s just the whelp.¡±


    I looked down to ascertain that the rest of me wasn¡¯t muddy or dirty, and noted gladly that I wasn¡¯t. My dark jeans and green hunting jacket remained embarrassingly civilian, and clean. I resisted the urge to clap my hands together to rid some of the mud from my skin. Loud sharp noises like that would only attract trouble.


    ¡°Don¡¯t call him that,¡± a deceptively soft feminine voice chided him, and I looked over to its source. The woman standing a little ahead of Sonoro was squeezed into a skintight red leather suit with no visible seam or zip or buttons. A black utility belt hugged her hips, the only combat advantage she would get with powers that were purely non-combat based. A cheap black mask covered her eyes, wrapped around her blonde head tight enough to alter the silhouette of her hair. In the dim light I could see the golden waves falling around her shoulders, curling by her full breasts; the way her lips, painted red, were twisted into a look of disapproval.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to defend me, Elle,¡± I said, looking momentarily over at the other two guys in costume, looking really bored already by having to stop. I didn¡¯t blame them -- it wasn¡¯t exactly comfortable down here.


    She forced air out from between her teeth in a sharp noise that made me look back over at her. ¡°Zander, I know this is your first time out with us, but you can¡¯t use our real names. It¡¯s a real no-no on the super scene.¡±


    I tried not to roll my eyes as I spoke again. ¡°Sorry, Lady Luck.¡± It felt stupid as fuck to call her that when I¡¯d known her most of my life, but it did make sense. If there was some kind of a villain or henchman around and they learned a hero¡¯s name, yada yada, they could harm innocent loved ones, unpowered humans, to get to them.


    I nearly thought us instead of them, but I stopped myself.


    There¡¯s nothing super about me. The only reason I was there, right then, was Elle had insisted I come along with them for the mission. And her power meant that generally no one questioned her decisions or argued against them. That was why she was the leader; because she made the best calls. To the untrained eye, she seemed like her name suggested -- the luckiest damn living creature on the face of the planet -- but there was more to her power than that. I didn¡¯t know all the ins and outs.


    I¡¯d always known she was powered. My parents were both supers and she had once, funnily enough, been the down-on-her-luck neighbor kid. When she was granted powers my parents gave up on waiting for me to come into my own and finally get my own skillset -- as the kid of two supers it was basically guaranteed I would -- and decided to mentor her. Make sure she remembered herself and chose the hero¡¯s route. She joined their team as the girl behind the desk, at the other end of the earpiece, and when she turned 18 they helped her form her own team. H-Bomb. She¡¯d recruited Primer first, and there were whispers that he had just been a random guy she¡¯d met and started fucking who had turned out to have a pretty fancy-ass power. Then Sonoro, a local super who was starting to go down the vigilante route until she convinced him to join her. Then finally there was Fissure, a real mysterious jackass with a wildcard power that was pretty much what it sounded like. She¡¯d recruited him when he¡¯d accidentally carved a gorge through the center of the park.


    They all worked pretty great together, I had to admit, and I had been enjoying watching them fight a little tonight.


    I¡¯d been primed and trained to join when I got my powers, but they weren¡¯t rearing up to greet me any time soon, so the others refused to acknowledge me. No big deal -- of course I wasn¡¯t gonna join while I was still an unpowered civilian. I didn¡¯t need them to treat me like an equal. The outright insults, though? Fuck that. They weren¡¯t better than me.


    I wasn¡¯t really sure why Elle had bullied me into joining today.


    ¡°Are we nearly there?¡± Fissure asked, his Southern twang the most apparent when he was bored and irritated, which was usually. He wore his usual costume, dark brown padded armor with the faint pattern across it of cracked, thirsty earth. Since his power required him to stand still and concentrate, he needed to be able to take more of a hit.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be a toddler, Fish,¡± Elle -- Lady Luck -- scolded him too. I was seeing a lot of her leadership technique here, too, and it seemed to involve a lot of telling off. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to when it would be levelled at me in the future. If I ever got my powers, I mean. I wasn¡¯t even sure I wanted them. Being in a team of superheroes seemed stressful as hell and filled with needless drama.


    Primer made sure to catch my eye and give me a smirk just before they all turned to walk again. I was never sure what that guy¡¯s aim was. Either he was on my side, and giving me friendly grins, or he was openly laughing at me. I really couldn¡¯t figure out which it was. He was the traditional poster boy for superheroicism. The ash blond semi-quiff, the blue and white skintight suit designed more to show his physique than be useful for anything else, the sweeping cape that trailed behind him when he strode. And the dude never went anywhere without striding. I wasn¡¯t sure yet whether I was supposed to be looking up to him or hating his guts.


    A lot of my place within the group was going to be decided by what the hell my powers turned out to be. If I was more of a heavy hitter than Sonoro, or if I could totally turn the tables on the enemy like Primer could, or if I even had a more reliable wildcard power than Fissure¡¯s, I would obviously earn respect way quicker than if it wasn¡¯t that useful to them.


    As it was now, I was a liability and I knew that. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t want to be here.


    ¡°There¡¯s a 90% chance he¡¯ll be in the next chamber,¡± Lady Luck said, glancing down a tunnel arcing off to the right and choosing to move forward instead. ¡°So we¡¯ll just press on.¡±


    As she fell behind, looking off into the distance as she tended to do when she was using that nebulous power of hers, I moved over and fell into step with her, just out of earshot of the others who had eagerly pressed ahead.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I said low. ¡°What am I doing here? And what¡¯s the plan when we find the Lich?¡±


    The Lich was an up and coming villain. His power was insanely strong since he¡¯d been turned close to the cataclysm, but it hadn¡¯t torn him apart. And he¡¯d gone underground and practised it for years. When a super like that decided to go bad, it was pretty bad. He¡¯d sent his minions up to the surface to terrorize and flex his muscles, and that had forced the mayor¡¯s hand. He wouldn¡¯t have cared if he¡¯d continued to bother people here underground.


    ¡°We are going to fight him,¡± she said, turning her head a little to look me up and down, bright red lips upturned in a slightly condescending, but sweet, smile. ¡°You¡¯re going to hang back and try to avoid his minions.¡±


    I fucking hated his class of super -- Summoners could pull minions from an alternate dimension or plane, and Creators could pull them out of the damn thin air. I didn¡¯t know how that shit worked, but I knew it would involve the same neural interface that Elle was staring at right now, which I couldn¡¯t see, her eyes flicking left and right super fast as she took in information only she could access.


    I¡¯d heard plenty about how powers worked, of course, I just hadn¡¯t experienced it.


    ¡°Why did you make me come then? Just to poke fun at the unpowered second gen?¡±


    She shook her head, and her long blonde hair shook around her shoulders too, tracing across the tops of her breasts. I let my gaze trail down the body of the woman I had grown up with, now twenty-one years old and looking so fantastic, and then managed to snap my eyes upwards to meet hers before she noticed.


    ¡°You really wanna know?¡± she asked, suddenly sounding unsure.


    ¡°Well, yeah?¡±


    ¡°My powers, they aren¡¯t infallible. Obviously. But if you say something as confident as ¡®This event has a 95% chance of succeeding¡¯, and it doesn¡¯t happen? You¡¯re gonna sound like an idiot even though you made it clear there was a 5% chance for failure.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh,¡± I said, understanding what she meant but not why she said it.


    ¡°Well, what if I had said to you that I saw, plain as day right here, that there¡¯s a 95% chance your powers are gonna appear today? Soon?¡± She looked at me meaningfully and I felt my heart leap into my throat.


    My reaction surprised me, actually, because I¡¯d always told myself I didn¡¯t give much of a shit whether I got powers or not. I had an okay job, a nice place to live -- though sure, it was with my elderly aunt at her farmhouse outside the city -- and a couple of friends I liked enough. My life was, you know, a life. I told myself I didn¡¯t need this drama and this danger that came with getting a power.


    But knowing I might get one today? Soon? My heartbeat was faster, there was a roaring in my ears ¡­ I was excited. More excited than I thought I could ever be about something like this. 95%? That¡¯s basically a certainty, right?


    ¡°...OK, yeah, I get what you mean now,¡± I said, clearing my throat and rubbing my neck. ¡°Do you, uh, think I will, then? Like, with all your experience with powers?¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Elle let out a soft little laugh. ¡°I know, with 100% certainty, that there¡¯s a 95% chance. Do you know how frustrating that is? There¡¯s no way of knowing which way something will swing. I just understand what¡¯s likelier. So yeah, it really might happen, Z. It also might not. 5% isn¡¯t so insignificant.¡±


    I felt heat spread through my body and wondered for a second if that was it -- was I some kind of a flame projectile master like Fletchsinger or a pyrokinetic wizard like Sahara? But no -- it was just normal unpowered excitement making my skin tingle like that.


    She sighed, and then shoved me. ¡°See, you¡¯re grinning like an idiot. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t tell you.¡± I looked over at my old friend to see that, despite her words, she was smiling. In a way, I was really jealous of Elle. She not only got powers back when I would have killed for them, but she also got the mentorship and guidance of my parents. Now they were gone, permadead, and I never would have any of that after my powers came in. I didn¡¯t harbor any anger towards her specifically, but the thought made me feel really crappy. And, yeah, looking at her reminded me of all I¡¯d lost. We could have been closer friends than we¡¯d ended up being, if I hadn¡¯t struggled for so long with all that jealousy.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s this kinda thing usually like?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s the deal gonna be when we find him?¡±


    Elle looked like she wished I hadn¡¯t asked. ¡°Honestly? A bunch of this is all for show. The real money in being a super is in the fandom right now. With no world-ending events coming up right around the corner, it¡¯s all about televised events. Word of mouth. Stuff like that. It¡¯s about the merch. Have you thought about what your alias is gonna be?¡±


    I raised my eyebrows. ¡°No, not until I know what my power will be,¡± I admitted. I had a bunch of notebooks filled with names and costume ideas from when I was a teenager, but I¡¯d lost interest in the whole super thing around 18, when Elle had been starting up her own team and my parents had been killed.


    ¡°So don¡¯t be surprised if a lot of the stuff with Lich is just, you know, pretty formulaic. Good guy stuff. Bad guy stuff.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I would have noticed,¡± I said.


    ¡°I mean, who really gives a fuck anymore about right and wrong? Life is shit up there.¡± She pointed at the ceiling of the tunnel, referring to the actual city of Sunport, where we both lived. Where we¡¯d grown up.


    ¡°This is way more cynical than I expected from you,¡± I admitted.


    She shrugged. ¡°I had to do a lot of growing up now that I run a team. The only thing that actually separates the four of us from the Lich? It¡¯s who¡¯s bankrolling us. For me, it¡¯s the mayor. The taxpayers. For him? Who knows, but I don¡¯t think he got this powerful this quickly on his own. He¡¯s being told to make waves.¡±


    ¡°So ¡­ are you saying this is a trap?¡±


    ¡°In a way,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he probably won¡¯t kill us. We¡¯re all just spinning our wheels, fighting and gaining more skills until something serious gets here. If someone arrives who actually wants to, you know, kill everyone? Take over the world? We¡¯ll get right on that. This is just a pantomime until then. Everyone knows it.¡±


    I furrowed my brow and tried to take that all in. I guess this was it; the other side. I was seeing behind the curtain at all the inner workings. No wonder I got such a bored vibe from everyone with powers. They were just all battling each other, endlessly, for no reason. Waiting for some real purpose.


    With a jolt of disappointment I realized that was exactly what my current life was like already. Spinning my wheels, making money and spending it, waiting for something bigger and better to come along so I could ¡®finally shine¡¯. Elle gave me another small shove to snap me out of my introspective frowning, and I looked over at her. She was really fucking hot. Why was she caught up in something so fucking pointless?


    Did I even want powers if it was just going to trap me in some kind of hamster wheel of repetition?


    You won¡¯t be like that, a voice inside me said. A voice I wasn¡¯t sure I exactly recognized¡­ Maybe you¡¯ll be the one to finally shake things up around here, when you get powerful.


    Lady Luck quickened her pace as I rubbed my arm right where she¡¯d playfully pushed me, and I watched her walk away. Her body was amazing; her curves seemed to almost shift and undulate, lit by the artificial flickering candles set in the walls.


    Maybe it was good we never ended up better friends. It meant I felt way less guilty about looking at her ass in that tight red leather suit. Her body was flawless, especially as her costumed alter ego. As herself, as Elle, she tended to wear loose sweats, tie up her long hair in a messy bun, train at combat styles until she was glistening with sweat, or don her reading glasses and study. The girl was a machine when it came to becoming a formidable super. She wasn¡¯t going to let her non-combat power stop her from becoming someone you watched out for on the battlefield.


    Elle didn¡¯t wear makeup, hid her body, while Lady Luck was the opposite. She had a couple fansites online dedicated to her, and at least one of those was pretty pervy to say the least. Closeups of all known shots of her, long forum discussions about which of her costumes was the hottest. Etc. She was sexy in exactly the way most women could only ever wish they were. Those plump bright red lips were almost her trademark, and I bet there was hardly a straight guy in Sunport City who hadn¡¯t imagined what they¡¯d look like sliding up and down his cock.


    Myself included... I hated to admit it, kind of, because I really did like being friends with her, but man -- I was only human.


    As for why she had wanted me close by today, I was pretty sure it was because as a second generation I was a little more likely to get consumed by my powers. If it only affected me, you know, that sucked but at least no one else would get hurt. If it turned out to be another Angelo Verdini incident, she clearly wanted me to be near Primer so he could absorb any explosive energies before I could hurt anyone. The middle school had only just been rebuilt after Verdini levelled it.


    ¡°Minions,¡± Fissure warned from the front of the group. The four of them ran into the upcoming cavern, and I sighed and fell back. I needed to stay nearby just in case I needed Primer¡¯s energy absorption, but I had to keep away from any combat so they didn¡¯t need to worry about protecting me. It sucked being unpowered on a hero mission.


    The Lich was a Creator, which meant he built his minions using materials on this plane, in this universe, instead of pulling them from a different place. The material he happened to be able to manipulate was bone. Any creature¡¯s bone, as long as it was not attached to very much flesh -- I was unclear on his limitations -- he could mentally stick them together and send them out to do his bidding.


    Creators were scary because they started out pretty weak, only able to make and control maybe one or two things, but if they worked hard to grow and improve, they could have armies at their disposal. The universe tended to have ways to balance itself out, so some types of supers with minions were only able to have a few at a time, or they could only control a couple at a time, or their material was really rare.


    But sometimes you got a situation like with the Lich, where he took up residence in the catacombs and found a bunch of bone to work with from the get go, and slowly but surely built up his skill until he had a mob he could control all at once.


    He¡¯d been using it to terrorize the Subs -- the Subterraneans, people who lived underground by choice, paranoia, or circumstance -- for a couple of years to test his powers and gain skills, but now that his minions were breaching the surface to bother the cityfolk, the mayor had employed H-Bomb, Elle¡¯s team, to take care of him.


    Now in the cavern, I managed to catch a glimpse of him as the team members spread out. Down a slope, dotted with jagged stalagmites, sat an unhealthily skinny man, hunched over eating, wearing a gray ensemble, holding two sharpened bones in his hands. Surrounding him was a very small, but very real, army of skeletal constructs of varying shapes and sizes. They stood still beside their master, swaying a little.


    When the Lich saw us enter, he hopped up from his seat and tossed his chicken bones across his shoulder, wiping grease from his mouth with his sleeve.


    ¡°Aha!¡± he cried in his best bad guy voice. ¡°Lady Luck! Primer! I was wondering who they would send.¡± His grating voice echoed easily through the cavern.


    I shuffled into the cavern, and picked my way across discarded and broken bones that littered the floor.


    ¡°Lich!¡± Lady Luck called back, her hands on her hips and her shoulders back. She really did look like a hero, in every sense of the word. Beside her towered the handsome and muscular Primer, grinning a dazzling grin. Nearby Sonoro kicked at bones and made a disgusted noise in his throat, and Fissure hopped up onto a stony ledge and kicked his feet, looking bored.


    ¡°We are here to stop you,¡± Primer boomed, his voice a stark contrast to the hoarse, higher tone of their enemy.


    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± the Lich said, and I could have sworn I saw him sigh. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to stop you from stopping me. Shall we get started with the fight or would you like to hear my monologue, maybe?¡±


    Lady looked at Primer. ¡°Should we?¡±


    Primer turned to glance at me, seeing that I was still creeping my way towards a ledge I could maybe pull myself up on. ¡°Yeah, give Z a minute to get out of dodge.¡±


    I shot him a look to determine, if I could, whether he was being shitty or genuinely concerned, but I couldn¡¯t tell. I gripped a ledge and pulled myself up so that when the minions swarmed I¡¯d be out of the way.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Lich asked, unsure.


    ¡°Mm, hang on,¡± Lady said, and then turned back to him, replacing her hands on her hips and then pointing straight forward. ¡°We¡¯re going to stop you!¡± she cried.


    ¡°Oh, you said that. Well, he said that,¡± Lich reminded her.


    ¡°Right. Sorry.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Should I say my bit?¡±


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Primer said with a nod. ¡°Any last words?¡± he added, loud and commanding.


    ¡°Ooh. Yes. So -- for years I laid in wait, and--¡±


    ¡°Lay,¡± Lady Luck said. ¡°You lay in wait. It¡¯s a common mistake.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that present tense?¡± Primer asked.


    She shook her head. ¡°No, I lie. I lay yesterday. I have laid.¡±


    ¡°Yeah you have,¡± Primer said, nudging her until she laughed.


    ¡°Jeez, guys, can we get this over with? I have a family to get back to,¡± Fissure groaned. Then he turned to point accusingly at Lich. ¡°Don¡¯t you think about using that against me, man.¡±


    Lich raised his hands defensively. ¡°Wasn¡¯t gonna. Should I continue?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think we really have time, if you don¡¯t mind,¡± Lady said. ¡°Let¡¯s get this started so we can all go home.¡±


    I frowned, looking at all of them. This wasn¡¯t ¡­ exactly what I had been expecting. It was just like Elle had said. Now I really believed her.


    The citizens, superheroes and supervillains of Sunport City really, really needed someone new added to the mix. To shake things up. To remind everyone what life should be like. They had superpowers, for the love of crap. When had this become like a boring desk job to all these people?


    I watched as Lady Luck pulled up her interface, invisible to me, and used it to bark orders at the others. ¡°Primer, thirty feet to your three o¡¯clock! Sonoro, on my count. Fissure, you ready?¡±


    Sonoro sped forward, jumped into the air, and then made a motion as if to scream at the ground. The air rippled and he was shot into the air. Supersonic ¡­ sonar ¡­ something or other. He could weaponize blasts of sound. Luckily, he was decent enough to make most of the blasts too high-pitched for the rest of us to hear and get distracted by.


    At Lady¡¯s orders, Sonoro screamed a ripple of pure sound energy in Primer¡¯s direction as they launched towards the army of minions. Primer turned, caught the energy of the blast in his hands, and crunched it into a little ball, which he then turned and threw at the army. The Lich screamed, and at least a dozen of his minions exploded in a shower of bone. He definitely seemed to have no secondary powers, or anything. He was really just depending on his army to beat back the entirety of this team of heroes. He had no chance, right?


    Well, from behind him, two enormous bone minions lurched from the shadows, and Lich¡¯s cackles of glee echoed all around us. They were at least ten feet tall and wide, with swinging arms of thick bone, sharpened bone at their elbows and knees and claws. Their empty eye sockets glowed with power, and Lady took a step back and gasped.


    ¡°Sonoro, give ¡®em hell!¡± she shouted. ¡°Start with the smaller ones. Primer, can you absorb the big ones¡¯ hits?¡±


    ¡°A couple,¡± Primer said, and she nodded to confirm it.


    ¡°Two, read. 78% chance for you to remain unharmed and destroy them with that energy.¡± She clapped her hands. ¡°Fissure, I need you, buddy. If you attack in fourteen seconds you have an 80% chance for a grade 9 hit.¡±


    Wildcard supers like Fissure could use their powers whenever they wanted, but if they got a grade 1 hit, at random, it was colloquially referred to as a critical fail. It¡¯d backfire on them and cause pain, or worse. A grade 9 was the hardest they were able to hit. Usually they never knew how their power would act. That was why Elle and Fissure on the same team suddenly became pretty lethal, I realized.


    He nodded once and leapt off the ledge, ran forward, counting down loud so everyone on his team knew what was coming. I craned my neck to follow the action, catching myself before I slipped off my tall ledge.


    I began to feel a small tingle at the base of my skull, and then all the way down my spine, and my breath caught in my throat momentarily.


    Without a doubt I knew, this was it. My powers...


    It was happening.


    And just then, Fissure launched his power, driving a foot-wide crack through the earth that grew until many minions fell through.


    ¡°Shit,¡± Lady Luck screamed suddenly. ¡°99% chance that--¡± She wheeled around. ¡°Z, run!¡±


    ¡°Wha--?¡± I just about managed to get out before the crack split into branches, one reaching me on the ledge, and the ground gave way underneath me. I started to fall before I even noticed, through the ground, far, far beneath the surface, and into the dark depths of the lower catacombs.

 Forged

    <h2>Chapter Two: Forged</h2>


    It took me a moment to realize that the screaming headache between my ears was, in fact, Sonoro using his powers to blast falling rocks away from me and not my body being crushed to death.


    I patted myself down and found that, apart from being pretty badly bruised, I was actually fine. I hadn¡¯t fallen that far after all. I looked up at the gaping hole that had opened up to see four sets of concerned eyes staring down at me.


    ¡°I¡¯ll come get you, Z, but I dunno how we¡¯ll get all the way back up,¡± Sonoro warned, looking annoyed at the situation. He¡¯d be able to blast the ground with his power to cushion his fall -- and thinking about it he might have cushioned mine too -- but he was right, I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be able to blast us both upwards again.


    I waved, and brushed dirt from my clothes. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I said truthfully. ¡°Finish your battle, OK? I¡¯ll figure something out, there¡¯s a couple of paths.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll finish up this thing with the guy,¡± Lady Luck said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. ¡°It won¡¯t take more than a minute, and then we¡¯ll find you. Stay safe.¡±


    ¡°It will too take more than a minute!¡± I heard the Lich yell over.


    ¡°Sorry, yeah, where were we?¡± Primer said, and the four of them jogged back over to the battlefield.


    I sighed heavily -- this had been a really weird day -- and concentrated on looking around the little pocket of the lower catacombs I¡¯d found myself in. My spine tingling had increased to the point that I felt it like a buzz in my entire body, especially my very core, and my heartbeat pounded hard in my ears. I didn¡¯t know what to do ¡­ how to bring it to the surface, so instead I just figured I¡¯d let it be. Like letting an egg hatch.


    I traced my hand against the rock down here, much more dry than it was up there, and the air felt dusty instead of damp. I coughed into the crook of my elbow, and looked over in the direction of a strange sound.


    In the low light streaming from above, illuminating swirling rock dust, I noticed just a couple of minions that had survived the fall through Fissure¡¯s trap. I bet he was one of the mayor¡¯s least favorite supers by far, by the way, with all the destruction and damage he¡¯d caused -- especially before he¡¯d been able to team up with Elle.


    The two medium-sized bone minions creaked as they stretched up to their full height, and then wandered towards me, probably fulfilling their last command from the Lich -- to wound, at the very least. Maybe worse.


    I looked around desperately for something I could use as an improvised weapon, but saw nothing.


    And then ¡­ I felt it.


    Rippling from the center of my being, the most incredible feeling of urgency, correctness, pure energy that I had ever felt. I had experienced nothing like it. Panicking briefly, I looked around to see if there was any way I could call Primer down here without damaging him. Would he need to get down here fast to absorb anything to make sure no one around got hurt? To make sure I didn¡¯t get hurt?


    I couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. My power was longing for me to let it out. It was like holding my breath, right at the end when your lungs are screaming and burning, and I had to suck in a breath. I had to let it out.


    When I did, a burst of energy curled through me, and my eyes felt white hot.


    A screen appeared in front of me. The interface. Every super had one, and from what they described, it looked basically the same. Gray and transparent with white floating text. No one knew where they came from, if they had been programmed, and if so, by someone on Earth or somewhere else? Or was the explanation something we weren¡¯t even currently equipped to comprehend?


    All I knew was that around thirty years ago, at the same time, out of nowhere, a huge number of people got superpowers at once. They all got access to their own personalized interface that nobody else could see, and from there they could control their powers.


    I blinked a couple of times to stave off the light glowing in my vision so I could read the text -- eager to see what it was I was able to do before the half-broken bone minions managed to reach me.


    Congratulations, Zander Reid!


    You have gained a power! Welcome to the system.


    Your class has been determined. Your strengths, skills, and limitations have been set.


    Please use your power responsibly.


    Accept/Deny


    ¡°Is that it?¡± I muttered, swiping through the air at it madly before I remembered that I¡¯d never seen anyone do that before. When a super used their interface it usually just involved a lot of rapid eye movement. I swallowed, and tried again. This time just looking at the word ¡®Accept¡¯ until it dissolved.


    Then another screen appeared in its place. I was running out of time -- they would reach me soon.


    To begin to use your power, touch a large solid inorganic object with your palm.


    I stared at that for a second longer than I needed to, fascinated by what was happening to me right now. It was really just ¡­ talking me through it? What the hell was this, and why was it happening? For the first time in a long time I found myself seriously questioning the motivation and the reason behind the cataclysm. But either I would learn the answer, or I wouldn¡¯t.


    I turned and jogged to reach the large flat rock wall, and pressed my palm hard against it, having absolutely no idea what would happen.


    A large square appeared, colorless and translucent in such a way that I was fairly sure I¡¯d be the only one able to see it. I tossed a glance over my shoulder at the bones and muttered ¡®Come on¡¯ to the interface. What next?


    What the hell was my power?


    The interface was transferred to the rock wall, and this time it was saying something different. I shifted from foot to foot. I really didn¡¯t feel like getting impaled by that sharpened pelvis bone one of them was using as an arm.


    What if that shit ended up in my obituary?


    Zander Reid


    Alias: Not set


    Class: Summoner


    Medium: Forge


    Level: 1


    OK


    I clicked ¡®OK¡¯ and watched as the screen faded and then another came up in its place.


    This one had a list of words like ¡®human¡¯, ¡®alien¡¯, ¡®shifter¡¯, ¡®beast¡¯... This was crazy. I could summon any one of those? I skimmed through them, heart pounding. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the bone minions unfreeze from their place and continue to lurch.


    So when I was using this rock face menu, time stopped? I allowed myself a deep breath of relief and turned back to it. I was able to take my time to get used to my powers, at least for a little while. There might have been a limit on the time freeze.


    Beside the words on the screen were numbers. Points. They ranged from 10 to 10,000, and it looked like whatever these things were going to be, this was their cost. I clicked on one of the highest points on the board: Draconic. 10,000 points.


    It came up with a creation screen. Human shape silhouettes twirling in slow 360. I could change between male and female, and the different silhouettes had different stats that I could show and hide and compare. I found myself getting pretty excited. I decided on a big, hulking Draconic dude and checked his stats one more time.


    Name: An¡¯dronix


    Alias: Sky Eater


    STR: ?


    DEX: ?


    INT: ?


    WIS: ?


    CON: ?


    CHA: ?


    Loyalty: 0If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The initial stats appeared in a dropdown and I frowned; it wasn¡¯t exactly helpful. Seeing no reason not to, and figuring that this brutish Draconic guy was gonna be pretty helpful in this combat, I clicked ¡®Accept¡¯, but it was grayed out and didn¡¯t listen to me. I clicked it again, and then frowned. I must not have had enough points ¡­ which seemed obvious. I searched around the interface until I saw a little box in the top corner.


    Points: 100


    One hundred.


    I blew air into my cheeks and then out of my mouth. That was ¡­ not much. I exited the Draconic section entirely because that was way off, and scrolled back up. And up. And all the way back up to the lowest point score.


    Human. 100 points.


    Again a screen with rotating 360 human figures came up. I looked at the males and noted their stats, this time actually able to see them instead of question marks -- I guess the dragon people were just far too strong for me to even see what they were capable of. I was disappointed, but also excited. There was a hell of a way for me to go -- this power was going to be fun as fuck to grow in.


    I looked over my shoulder just to check, and sure enough, the bone minions instantly unfroze and rattled another step towards me, so I turned away again. Great -- they would be loud enough that even if they did start moving I¡¯d be able to hear them. I had a little more time to choose what to do.


    I switched to the women to see if any of their stats leapt out at me, and one of the rotating figures caught my eye.


    She was short, but didn¡¯t look young if her silhouette was anything to go by. She had a prominent chest, small waist, and a great butt. A human woman, yes, but her stats really weren¡¯t bad. The thing that really caught my eye was the Loyalty stat. It was already at 8, whereas the others usually ranged from 1-3, from what I¡¯d seen. I was starting to feel relieved that I hadn¡¯t picked that dragon guy, I didn¡¯t know how 0 loyalty would have played out.


    But this girl? I stared at her stats for a moment longer.


    Name: Mia


    Alias: Sweetheart


    STR: 10


    DEX: 13


    INT: 9


    WIS: 7


    CON: 10


    CHA: 13


    Loyalty: 8


    The girl right next to her on the screen, for example -- taller, more slender and boyish looking in her figure -- had much lower stats in all but Int and Wis, which were both 14. Her loyalty was 2. I tapped on the word Loyalty to see if it would define it, and a little string of new words popped up.


    Loyalty shows how likely your summoned pet is to obey you.


    It also directly influences how much you can advance your pet¡¯s skills and attributes with points.


    How much I could advance them? Upgrade them, I assumed. That was awesome -- it looked like I wasn¡¯t only buying them with points, I could buy them and make them stronger and stronger. That meant that I wasn¡¯t just going to be inevitably waiting around until I could get a Draconic ¡­ pet? That sounded terrible when they were clearly people.


    I just wished that I could easily see how much the loyalty score affected how upgradable they were; that would influence my purchasing decision, after all.


    Just as soon as I thought it, the Loyalty section changed.


    Loyalty: 8 (+3 attributes)


    So it looked like I could make changes to my tables -- it was my interface and mine alone, after all. I assumed that meant that I could potentially add up to 3 points to all of this girl¡¯s attributes. I looked at the second girl, with 2 loyalty, and saw I could only add 1 to all of her attributes, so it looked like loyalty was definitely important.


    I wondered if the Lich had loyalty stats for his bone minions or if they were just automatically 100% loyal to him.


    But I¡¯d have the advantage of being able to get actual smart, powerful people to help me out, it looked like. I wouldn¡¯t have to actually control them, if their loyalty determined how much they followed my orders.


    I made my decision, and I tried to pretend that it wasn¡¯t because I was pretty captivated by her petite, curvaceous form, and the automatic high loyalty. And the implications that came with having a girl with the alias Sweetheart appear beside me so willing to do what I said. No -- it was also that her starting stats were already pretty close to the highest I¡¯d seen in my price range.


    I clicked Accept, hoping she would come with a weapon or something. Wasn¡¯t the intention of the entire power that she would fight on my behalf? I¡¯d have to hope, otherwise it was just two of us that would be screwed instead of only me.


    The silhouette blinked white a couple of times, as if the system itself was excited I¡¯d picked it, and then it grew, stopped rotating when it faced me, and began to slowly walk out of the rock face.


    When the tips of her toes broke past the stone, they became soft pink flesh instead. Then came the rest of the foot, then a shapely calf, a knee. Her foot padded silently on the floor of the cavern, her toes curling in response to stepping on a bunch of broken rock, and then the rest of her followed.


    She was completely naked.


    The peaks of her breasts drifted through the stone wall, her toned stomach, wide hips and ¡­wow, her neatly trimmed--


    ¡°Wh-- where am I?¡±


    I pulled in a breath in surprise and looked up at her eyes, heavy with sleepiness for a moment, and then wide with confusion. Fear flashed in her bright blue eyes and she wildly looked left and right, backing up to press against the rock, one arm shielding her nipples. Her short dark hair, layered to be longer in front, whipped around as she jerked her head to see past me.


    I hadn¡¯t expected this. This panic. But it made sense if I was a Summoner instead of a Creator. I¡¯d pulled her from somewhere else. Some kind of life.


    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s OK,¡± I assured her, and then glanced over my shoulder. I swallowed, the effort to not look at her completely perfect naked body almost overwhelming me. ¡°It¡¯s OK. I¡¯m Zander. I, uh, I brought you here from wherever you were. To ¡­ Earth? California. Um ¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not sure where you¡¯re from.¡±


    She finally stopped glancing around and locked her eyes on mine. Then her wide, pretty eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears and she took two long steps toward me and threw her arms around my neck, lifting her feet off the ground for a second. I gasped, instinctively grabbing her waist to steady her until she hopped back onto the floor. ¡°Um¡­¡± I started.


    ¡°I¡¯m back on Earth? For real? For how long?¡± She wasn¡¯t even trying to conceal her body anymore, she was so excited, but I still forced myself to look straight into her eyes.


    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know.¡± I looked over my shoulder. ¡°Listen, you mind if we talk a little later? I have a lot I want to talk to you about.¡± Like what? I wondered. Like what it was going to be like now that I¡¯d summoned her -- would she want to go back to where she came from eventually? Would she have to go back? Would she ¡­ live with me forever? I had no clue how this particular power was going to work.


    She was looking in the same direction at the unfrozen bone minions approaching us, about fifteen feet away, slowed by having to scramble over the boulders and fallen broken rock. She nodded.


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m Mia,¡± she said, and held out her hand. I smiled and shook it, lingering at the warm feeling of her small hands. Fuck ¡­ she was really gorgeous. She had huge eyes, thick dark eyelashes even without the aid of any makeup, and pink soft-looking lips. She had a really faint, almost unnoticeable, dusting of freckles on the tops of her cheeks and on her nose, and her short haircut made her look even cuter.


    ¡°Zander,¡± I said, noticing that my voice was low and soft, as if instinctively I didn¡¯t want to scare her off.


    ¡°If you¡¯re a Summoner,¡± she said, ¡°mind summoning me my stuff?¡±


    Hmm -- I wasn¡¯t ready to admit that I had no idea how it worked, or if I could, but I could use a few more seconds to think, and that came with using the ¡®forge¡¯. But when I returned to the rock wall, the interface had disappeared and a vaguely human shaped chunk had been cut out of it.


    I knew about this -- Summoners generally had to replace mass with mass if they were bringing something to Earth. That meant that Mia was not pulled from this planet. But the way she¡¯d lit up it seemed like she was maybe from Earth originally.


    I hopped a step to the right to get to the untouched intact rock wall and pressed my palm against it, concentrating for a second on creating another interface, or forge, as the system had called it. It rattled off my stats again and I clicked OK, glancing behind myself to check the time freezing thing wasn¡¯t just a fluke. Sure enough, Mia and the minions unfroze as soon as I looked away from the screen.


    I looked back, seeing that same interface, but now there was a tab I could switch to that said ¡®Pets¡¯. The term really bothered me on almost a fundamental level, because they were real people, it seemed like. Not like bone minions or anything else, but real people I was pulling from some other dimension or reality. I wondered what I would call it instead if I could, and settled on ¡®army¡¯ as the least offensive thing I could think of quickly. Sure enough, the word changed instantly.


    There was only one row in ¡®Army¡¯, which made it clear that what I had was not an army at all. It just said ¡®Mia¡¯ and had a profile shot of her face beside it. It also told me that she was a Human, and had a little blank space beside it that I wondered about -- would it be filled with something else if she got stronger or got a specialization, or was it reserved for stronger pets? I mean, people.


    I clicked on her and saw the table I¡¯d seen before, but now it wasn¡¯t view only.


    It was customizable. Amazingly, deliciously customizable. Almost everything about her was upgradable, and I wanted to just spend hours poring over it, maybe making notes and scribbling down ideas, but she had asked if I could try to find her some stuff. She needed a weapon, and -- as much as I would have enjoyed leaving this part out for a while longer -- some clothes.


    There, under Equipment.


    I could tap on different parts of her body and equip her with basic clothing or armor, whatever I could afford. I glanced up at the Points section again, and saw it was lightly flashing, so I clicked on that.


    You have summoned your first creature!


    Reward: 30 points


    It navigated me back to the equipment tab where I¡¯d been before, and I looked through the best armor I could afford. It wasn¡¯t great, just slightly padded chest pieces and leggings. The most basic clothing was listed as 0 points, but gave no bonuses to defense. I selected that for now, and had more fun than I¡¯d admit just dressing her avatar in a short black skirt -- for maximum maneuverability of course -- and a tight black tank top. I didn¡¯t know much in the way of fashion; I could ask her how she wanted to be dressed later. This was easier than having to go buy her clothes in a store, but the selection was really basic at the 0 points tier.


    Once satisfied, I glanced over my shoulder. Mia, now dressed in real life, looked down at her body with slight surprise, and was just about to turn her lips upward into a smile when I turned back to the screen.


    Weapon was more important. She has really high Dexterity, it looked like, which probably meant that if she had a fighting style at all, it was based around being quick. I looked through all the weapon types, feeling totally overwhelmed by the information.


    I just want a dagger, or something, that I can afford, I thought, and the interface quickly faded into something more organized, a selection of daggers that I could sort into their length size or via their points cost. A small thought later and I had willed away every weapon that cost more than 30 points, because they were just going to confuse me. What I had left was a selection of five daggers sorted from smallest to largest. I looked at the largest, wondering how it was still classified as a dagger -- it was slightly serrated and looked thick, like Mia¡¯s small hand wouldn¡¯t even be able to close around it. I swallowed at the image of her delicate fingers closing tight around the hilt¡­


    I decided to just go ahead and spend all 30 points on the largest dagger available. Sure, I didn¡¯t know yet how to gain these points, but I also had no upcoming expenses. Mia could fight for me right now and that was all I needed. It would be dumb to skimp right now and then die. I would live to improve my power, add to my army, gain the respect of my peers.


    And maybe one day soon I¡¯d be powerful enough to actually make waves in this boring ass seaside city.

 Pet

    <h2>Chapter Three: Pet</h2>


    When I closed down that forge I noticed a couple of really small chunks had been taken out of the rock wall. The weapons were being pulled from some alternate dimension too, then, and their mass was being swapped with material from the forge to maintain balance. That was kickass.


    I turned away and time began again. Mia jumped at the sudden sensation of a heavy dagger sheathed at her hip and then pulled it out and inspected it, casting an eye over at the bone minions.


    ¡°You want me to fight, Zander?¡± she asked, her voice light and raising up at the end like she was really unsure what I wanted.


    I nodded my head. ¡°I should have asked you what weapon you wanted, but I figured a dagger was a good start. Can you?¡±


    ¡°Fight?¡± she asked, turning back to them, and then looking down at the dagger. Her fingers closed around the hilt and it was easier for her to grasp the handle than I had thought; no need to worry. ¡°I can if you want me to. Kill them?¡±


    Her voice was so gentle and sweet that it sounded strange to hear words like that come out of them. ¡°Yes, they¡¯re only minions.¡± I licked my lips slightly, watching her every move. ¡°They don¡¯t feel pain. They¡¯ve been ordered to kill us.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure about that, but it was a fair assumption. The Lich was supposed to be a terrible supervillain, after all.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± she said with a small nod, and then she took off at a run, dagger held high. When she reached the first minion she threw her whole weight into shattering it across the ¡®neck¡¯ with the flat of the thick blade, and its biting mouth narrowly missed her hand. The head flew off and shattered into a dozen pieces on the floor, but its body kept coming. Mia kicked it in the chest and a rib splintered as it fell back. She stomped on its center and it broke apart easily.


    Shit -- couldn¡¯t I have done that?


    But watching her fight I realized that maybe I couldn¡¯t have. She ducked a slash from the other minion and then hissed through her teeth as a sharpened bone on its other arm scratched at her exposed skin, leaving a small red line. She growled and flipped the dagger, punching a hole through the minion¡¯s skull with the hard hilt of her weapon, and then spinning and kicking through the center of its mass, breaking it in two. The jaw kept working, torso wiggling, like it wanted to be able to break through her skin again more than anything -- which was true, it was a minion after all -- and Mia ran up and booted the skull across the cavern, then grinned over at me when it shattered.


    ¡°You¡¯re unbelievable!¡± I cheered and ran over to check she was alright. The scratch didn¡¯t look bad at all, but I felt completely responsible for her wellbeing, to a degree I hadn¡¯t expected. The thought of her being seriously injured after I¡¯d summoned her here was pretty awful.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said, in reaction to me taking her arm and squinting at her scratch. ¡°I could do with some shoes though, Zander.¡± When she said my name it made me feel like smiling like an idiot. I didn¡¯t know why. But yeah, she was bruising and cutting her feet walking around; I was an idiot for not thinking of that sooner, but I¡¯d been distracted.


    Sure, I had no more points, but I figured shoes would be free. I opened up the interface on a new section of wall and tapped quickly through it to come to clothing. I gave her some tennis shoes, as shoes with more protection cost a couple of points. But then I noticed the Points box was flashing lightly again, so I clicked on it.


    You have defeated a Bone Minion!


    50 points


    You have defeated a Bone Minion!


    50 points


    Bonuses: 10 points


    110 points


    I punched the air when I read it. I clicked on the Bonuses box and it told me Mia had earned the extra 10 points with her speed. That meant that chain-killing minions looked like the way to go to advance as quickly as possible in my power. I grinned, happy I was already starting to figure this out.


    I was tempted to immediately dump the points into her attributes and maybe start to look at skills -- or even go chat with her about new weapons -- but I realized I had enough points for a new member of my army. Or ¡­ maybe I wanted to save points up for a little while, take some time and get to know the system and what would be the best decision right now -- a large mediocre army or a small powerful army? I also needed to figure out the fastest way to increase their Loyalty for when I was forced to start recruiting low Loyalty people to my team.


    I liked how this didn¡¯t seem to be a levelling up system. It looked like I could fight purely with Mia and then pour all the earned points into someone different, if I wanted to.


    Excited to get started on figuring this out, I turned around to hear voices coming from the tunnel that led to this chamber. I frowned, and realized with a jolt that I didn¡¯t want the others to know about my power yet. It was hard to explain, and it would be even harder to explain why I had opted for this petite girl -- whose nipples I could almost see through her tank top -- over a heavy hitting dude or something like that. I had never heard of a super who could summon real people from another dimension. What if they thought it was ¡­ odd? That I was some kind of freak?


    ¡°Mia, can you ¡­ hide for me?¡± I asked her, scrunching my brow up. She gazed at me for a moment in confusion, but then nodded firmly. ¡°Give me this a moment,¡± I added, gesturing for the dagger. She instantly placed it in my hand and ducked behind a large rock.


    ¡°Z!¡± Elle cried and ran into the chamber to pull me into a tight hug. ¡°You¡¯re fine, right? Tell me you¡¯re fine. God -- I was so scared. Did your powers come in? Are you really OK?¡±


    I pulled away from the hug and looked her up and down. Her hair was dishevelled now and her lipstick slightly smudged. I smiled, still thinking she looked beautiful, but the concern in her face and body language made her look so much more like the Elle I knew than her confident, sexual alter ego.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I said. ¡°How was the fight?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we apprehended him,¡± Primer cut in, his hands on his hips and his chest puffed up with pride. ¡°Sunport is a safer place for it.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± I said, rubbing my hands on my jeans and glancing over my shoulder to check if Mia was still hiding. I just ¡­ didn¡¯t want to explain it just yet.


    ¡°So?¡± Sonoro said, his arms folded. ¡°Powers or not, kid?¡±


    I looked down at the dagger in my hand and then opened my palm and showed it to them. ¡°Uh, yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Summoner.¡±


    ¡°You can summon weapons?¡± Lady Luck cried. ¡°That¡¯s so cool, Zander! We have to think of a great alias for you. Do you get any innate fighting experience with the weapons you summon?¡± She stepped back and looked me up and down.


    I shrugged, wanting this conversation to end so I could get back home and work on my powers as much as possible.


    That was going to be my life now. Getting stronger. Getting better.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s just weapons,¡± I said, and even stopped short of adding ¡®and armor¡¯ because I didn¡¯t know if I could pull clothing from the other dimension without a person to put them on. In that case, they¡¯d arrive as an exact fit, surely, which would not be that useful overall.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Elle said excitedly.


    ¡°So great,¡± Sonoro repeated, but his tone was completely sarcastic. It was true -- it was a fairly useless power, especially in the context of their group. But I was finding more and more that I didn¡¯t want to be a part of H-Bomb. If I could build my own army, I could be my own team. I could give them all earpieces, build up their loyalty and pour points into them, and sit from afar and reap the rewards.


    Fuck, this was going to be amazing.


    ¡°Listen, I have a killer headache,¡± I said, and it was half true. ¡°I¡¯m gonna ¡­ I¡¯m gonna stay here and play around with my power for a minute and then I¡¯m gonna walk straight home. That cool?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t want to walk with us?¡± Elle asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Fissure let out a loud sigh.


    ¡°I dunno where my mask went,¡± I said truthfully. I¡¯d dropped it somewhere. I shouldn¡¯t be seen up in the city with H-Bomb without it.


    ¡°We have to get back to the mayor for our reward. If the Lich escapes custody or does any more damage we might not be rewarded. Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Fissure said.


    ¡°This place is disgusting,¡± Sonoro agreed. ¡°Listen, Z, congrats on the power,¡± he added, turning to me but not really looking at me. ¡°You should be on the lookout for someone getting their power around now who can, like, use any weapon or something.¡±


    I frowned. ¡°Why?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Your foil?¡± he said, looking at me like I was dumb.


    I understood suddenly -- the universe did tend to balance itself out in this way. First, powers usually had limitations so no one was world-endingly strong. Usually. This wasn¡¯t always the case. Also, when one person got a power, often someone else relatively nearby got a power that either worked in tandem with theirs, or worked seamlessly against it. We called that person your foil. They ended up being sidekicks or nemeses a lot.


    Would they get suspicious if a foil of the power I¡¯d made up didn¡¯t turn up? Should I just tell the truth? No, it would be even weirder now, since I¡¯d already lied about it¡­


    ¡°We gotta get moving, let him figure out his weapon shit,¡± Fissure pressed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you soon, Zander, yeah?¡± Elle said. ¡°We¡¯ll hang out and talk about H-Bomb, and stuff.¡±


    I shrugged and smiled. I would need to sit down with her and tell her I didn¡¯t want to join. I had definitely always been the type who didn¡¯t work well on the lowest rung of any organization, and I didn¡¯t really like anyone else in her group except her. I was really feeling the idea of a maverick super, calling the shots behind the scenes, answering to no one.


    I was suddenly really extra glad I hadn¡¯t told them my true power. I didn¡¯t want anyone to know. I had a true secret identity, and that was the way I wanted it to stay.


    ¡°See ya,¡± I said, and made a show of settling onto a ledge to get comfortable and bringing up my interface. I pretended to stare at it and read it, but all it told me was my stats and to press my palm against a large solid inanimate object again. What it hadn¡¯t told me was that object would get eroded, so I was glad I¡¯d tried it first on a cave wall.


    When they¡¯d gone and their voices had drifted away into silence, Mia peeked up from the stone and I waved her over. ¡°Sorry about that,¡± I said. ¡°New to powers and I wanted to keep my secret identity.¡±


    ¡°Oh, of course,¡± she said with a small laugh. ¡°If this is your only power, I guess that¡¯s why you wanted me to fight for you?¡±


    I felt strangely judged. She was acting more distant than she had before, looking down at her new tennis shoes and kicking at some debris. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± I said.


    ¡°Who was she? Was she another one?¡± she asked, not meeting my eyes.


    It took me a second to figure out what she was referring to. ¡°Elle?¡± I asked. ¡°No, you¡¯re the only one I¡¯ve ever summoned.¡± I almost laughed at how this was sounding. But she wasn¡¯t looking amused.


    ¡°She sure hugged you, huh?¡± she said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.


    This time I did chuckle. ¡°I guess she did. Are you jealous?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± She frowned and looked me in the eye. ¡°I just want to know who the people are we¡¯re going to be working with, that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s just a friend from when I was a kid. That was her team of superheroes.¡±


    Mia raised her eyebrows, looked away again.


    ¡°What?¡± I asked, no idea what had bothered her that time.


    ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s just ¡­ you associate with teams of heroes? Are you part of one?¡±


    This surprised me. ¡°Uhh, I guess so. Sometimes. Is that weird?¡±


    Mia shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ve ever met a superhero. It¡¯s nice to meet you. Did you have an alias yet? Hero aliases are always lame cliches like ¡®Truthstorm¡¯ or ¡®Fire Eagle¡¯ or whatever.¡± She looked genuinely exasperated at the idea that I might be one of them.


    ¡°No, brand new power. No alias. What do you think it should be?¡±


    Her eyes sparkled with thought. ¡°Well. You can pull people from the Inferno, right? So maybe something like Infernal?¡±


    ¡°Hold on, the Inferno? What¡¯s that?¡±


    Mia looked wide-eyed with confusion that I didn¡¯t know the answer, and then her breathing quickened as she struggled to begin to explain the place. I watched her chest rise and fall and then she shook her head hard, noticeably paler.


    ¡°Shit, no, it¡¯s OK,¡± I said quickly. Judging by the state she¡¯d arrived to me in, fear and tears in her eyes, maybe I didn¡¯t want to push her on this one. At least she had looked intact, not cut up and bruised ¡­ or was that worse? Whatever had happened there, where I pulled her from, it had been scarring without getting her physically hurt. ¡°Please, it¡¯s OK. I won¡¯t make you think about it again.¡±


    ¡°Do you need to put me ¡­ back? Now that I¡¯ve helped you fight?¡±


    Damn, the fear in her eyes. I chewed my lower lip and brought up the interface. It really didn¡¯t say anything else. Just reminded me how to get a new forge. Nothing about her going back. Nothing about a time limit. ¡°Mia, I really don¡¯t think you need to go back,¡± I said. ¡°But it could be that I just don¡¯t know how these powers work yet, so please don¡¯t be too mad at me if I¡¯m wrong. I¡¯ll pull you back out of there if you end up going back.¡±


    She nodded slowly, bitterly, and I felt awful that I couldn¡¯t help any more than that. I desperately wanted to know what the place was -- after all, it was kind of looking like it was the basis of my entire power -- but I just couldn¡¯t push her yet. Maybe later when she knew me more, or even when her Loyalty was higher.


    I needed to change the subject. ¡°Infernal isn¡¯t a bad name but I think it doesn¡¯t really say what I can do.¡± She looked up at me again with some interest, so I continued to speak, trying to calm her down if I could. ¡°Although, you know, that¡¯s not a bad idea. People will hear my alias and try to figure out what my powers are, but I decided I don¡¯t want anyone to know as much as I can help it. Since my power is to upgrade fighters, I can be on the sidelines.¡±


    ¡°Something like Centurion,¡± she suggested. I was about to give a reason to dismiss it but actually it wasn¡¯t bad.


    ¡°Yeah, I like the idea of my name being something to do with commanding a group of people. That sounds pretty cool. I just ¡­ wouldn¡¯t it be weird to call myself Centurion and have like two or three people?¡±


    ¡°You said you wanted your name to be misleading,¡± Mia said, a mischievous grin on her face. I raised my eyebrows.


    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s pretty smart,¡± I said, and bit my tongue and didn¡¯t add even though your Intelligence is pretty low¡­ because if she didn¡¯t know I could see her stats that would be a bizarre and horrible insult. Even if she did know I could see her stats, it was a pretty weird thing to blurt out.


    ¡°Also,¡± I added, ¡°you¡¯re not bothered by this? Like, I can¡¯t control you or anything but you don¡¯t mind being a part of this?¡± I gestured between us wildly. ¡°Whatever this ends up being?¡±


    Mia smiled and shrugged, looking particularly cute when she did. ¡°If it¡¯s a choice between being a part of this and going back there?¡± She threw her thumb over her shoulder to nothing in particular. ¡°Zander, I¡¯ll follow you anywhere.¡±


    There it was, the reason behind the loyalty of 8. Whatever had happened to her in the Inferno, whatever that was, it was so crappy that she automatically liked me a lot for freeing her from it. I was fine with that, but I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little bad if all the silhouettes I¡¯d seen were actual human lives stuck in some kind of tortured existence. Were they all just ¡­ waiting for me to free them?


    I¡¯d need to get started earning a lot of points. That was the only way to help them.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get out of this gross cave,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll find you somewhere nice to sleep, how¡¯s that sound?¡± My mind went over every nook and cranny of my aunt¡¯s farm, ex-farm, really, since my uncle died, and brought up a couple of potential places I could stow Mia away for a while that would be warm and dry.


    Until I figured out something smart to do with her. With everyone I summoned, actually, if they were staying forever. It occurred to me now that I had kind of a lot of responsibility with this power, and not just in the traditional ¡®use it for good¡¯ kind of way. I actually was going to be bringing people here and I¡¯d need to make sure they were safe and happy if they were going to stay loyal -- and loyal if they were going to be any kind of asset to me. And hidden, if I was going to stay faceless.


    I reached up and rubbed the back of my head as I led a cheery Mia out of the winding tunnels of the catacombs and up towards the surface, hoping no one would see me exit with a whole new person.


    Sure, this power was going to be a lot of fun, but as I reached out to help Mia when she stumbled over her untied shoelace, I realized it was going to be pretty difficult, too. These weren¡¯t minions, these were lives, and I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to start caring about them whether I wanted to or not.


    That was how my power was going to balance itself out.

 Sweetheart

    <h2>Chapter Four: Sweetheart</h2>


    I snuck Mia through the back streets of Sunport from the catacombs to the small, happy farmlands just outside the border to the northeast. Primer had driven us to the catacombs from our meeting place near the mayor¡¯s office, and I had taken the twice-daily bus from the farm to the city center. I didn¡¯t want to take Mia on the bus and risk getting looks, and she was acting a little too needy for me to tell her to pretend not to know me.


    She clutched at my hand with her two small hands as I swung open the gates to my aunt¡¯s farm a little over an hour later. I grimaced, and glanced over to the farmhouse. Sure enough, though, the telltale flickering of the TV through the living room window showed me she was relaxing on the couch for the evening, and probably wouldn¡¯t move from her spot until she awoke for her 6am bathroom break.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna take you through to the barn,¡± I told Mia, and when she grimaced at that I mirrored her expression. ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t know where else you can go, though. I¡¯ll figure something out later.¡± A pause. ¡°When we¡¯re successful supers and earning a lot of money we can get our own place, how does that sound?¡±


    Mia still didn¡¯t look impressed, turning away slightly so that her dark hair obscured some of her pretty face. ¡°I don¡¯t want to stay in a barn, but it¡¯s still better than where I came from,¡± she said softly, and then I felt like shit. Obviously I¡¯d been intending to do it up for her so it was nice and cozy and her own special place, but the poor girl had been somewhere hellish for however long. She turned back to me and her eyes bored into mine. ¡°Can¡¯t I just stay where you stay? Isn¡¯t there room?¡± She looked down at herself. ¡°I¡¯m small,¡± she added.


    ¡°That¡¯s not the issue,¡± I said back, feeling flustered.


    ¡°I¡¯m quiet,¡± she said. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t bother you. I just¡­¡±


    She trailed off and I looked into her big blue eyes and sighed heavily. ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°Of course you can.¡± But when I started to summon more and more recruits, then what? I¡¯d have to make them all a little hideaway somewhere. ¡°We just have to sneak past my aunt, alright?¡±


    Mia nodded rapidly, still clinging tight to my right arm. I resisted the urge to kiss her right then, to show that everything was fine and I was pleased she was here with me, but I had no idea how she¡¯d take it.


    I slid my key as slow as I could into the front door and found that it was unlocked anyway, despite how many times I¡¯d reminded Aunt Frankie to be more careful. There were thieves in the area. Some of them even had superpowers. And she had, what? A rubber spatula? A saucepan? I wished she would at least get a couple of farm dogs.


    I gestured for Mia to follow me closely, but as soon as we entered she drifted over to the open plan kitchen and began squinting at the pictures stuck to the fridge. When she came across one of my mother holding me as a baby she gasped and plucked it off, and the magnet fell clattering to the floor. I gripped her slender arm and pulled her towards me, shaking my head, and held her still as I listened for sounds from the couch just six feet away.


    I heard a slight snuffle as Frankie turned over in her sleep, and the low buzz of the 24 hour news, and took Mia¡¯s hand to lead her upstairs.


    ¡°Zander, there¡¯s someone in the house,¡± she hissed suddenly, yanking on my arm so that I stopped halfway up the stairs. She stared, concerned, at the wall leading to the living room and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.


    ¡°Yeah, this is my aunt¡¯s place. The whole farm. I¡¯ve just been staying here while I work and save,¡± I told her. ¡°You gotta be quiet, though, I don¡¯t want any q--¡±


    ¡°Zand?¡±


    I froze and scrunched up my face, maneuvering Mia so that she could be behind me, and trying to flap my hand in a way that told her to run up the stairs before we were questioned. My aunt appeared in the doorway from the living room and rubbed one of her eyes, looking confused.


    She looked pretty youthful and chipper for a woman in her 60s. My father¡¯s older sister and her husband had taken me in at 18 while I tried to finish my education -- and failed, but that¡¯s a story for a different time. I¡¯d enjoyed the work here on the farm, it had taken my mind off of everything from my parents¡¯ death, to how Elle seemed even more heartbroken than me over it, to how I was never going to get any powers. Or so I had thought. Waking up at 5 to feed the goats and doing chores like a zombie until my evening shifts at work was almost therapeutic, and I didn¡¯t know what the hell would have happened to me without my aunt.


    When my uncle died I¡¯d tried to be there for her as much as I could, but Frankie hated being alone and it was difficult to balance my life with being there for her. It had made having a girlfriend feel almost impossible when there were things to take care of at home, on the farm, and at work. I had always wished deep down that if I did get my powers, it would be one where I could split myself off into multiple copies, because I wasn¡¯t sure how I could ever live my best life as just one person.


    Funny, how this wasn¡¯t all that far off.


    ¡°Hey, Frankie, I didn¡¯t mean to wake you,¡± I said quietly, hoping Mia had taken the hint and scrambled quietly upstairs, but knowing from the light breaths on my neck that she hadn¡¯t budged an inch.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make us a pot of tea and you can tell me about work?¡± she suggested, running her fingers through her long hair, still more brown than gray. Then, even in the dark lit only by the occasional flicker of the TV through the doorway, Frankie squinted her still-sharp eyes and they landed straight past me. I closed my eyes for a long moment and then opened them, ready to lie to my aunt. I hated lying to her, but ¡­ I guessed it was time to get used to it.


    ¡°Hey, who¡¯s your friend? Sorry, sweetheart, I didn¡¯t see you there. Do you have a tea preference?¡±


    Dammit, she was so nice. I glanced over my shoulder to allow Mia to show herself a little more, a false grin plastered over my face as I leaned in to brush my lips against her ear. ¡°Go with this whatever I say, alright? Please.¡± I was about to lie my butt off. But I didn¡¯t get the chance to speak before I heard Mia growl.


    ¡°How do you know my name?¡±


    I backed away from Mia and frowned at her. The hell? She was staring, wide-eyed, at my aunt and started to shake a little. ¡°Who are you?¡± she added.


    Frankie tilted her head, still very sleepy, and now very confused. ¡°I--¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± I interrupted, holding a palm out to each woman before this escalated. It had clicked in my mind what was happening. ¡°Frankie, this is Mia. Her, uh, her nickname is Sweetheart.¡± I turned to Mia. ¡°Mia, this is my aunt, Frankie. She was just calling you, you know, a pet name.¡±


    Frankie covered her smile with her hand and then laughed lightly. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, how silly,¡± she said. I thanked her silently for being cool. It occurred to me that I actually didn¡¯t know shit about Mia. Sure, she was nice to me -- I¡¯d freed her from a place called the Inferno, for god¡¯s sake. I had no idea how she would act around others. But my influence seemed to calm her immediately and she wrapped her arm tight around my waist for comfort, or by way of silent apology.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Mia said, glancing from my aunt to me and back again. ¡°I¡¯ve had a really weird day.¡± She let out a laugh, but it sounded a little too high. I caught Frankie¡¯s eyes and grinned widely, as if to let her know for absolutely sure everything was fine. Or that I was insane, I don¡¯t know, I didn¡¯t have a mirror. My heart was pounding in my throat and I didn¡¯t know why.


    ¡°Oh, hun,¡± Frankie said, and then paused and glanced at us both as if wondering if that pet name would elicit a response too. I smiled wider and she gave me a puzzled look. Yes, I probably did look insane. ¡°How about that tea, then?¡±


    ¡°We were just going to¡­¡± I trailed off. I¡¯d never even asked about my aunt¡¯s policy on girls in my room. What had I even been about to say? I readjusted smoothly as I could. ¡°Mia is new at work and we were just going to talk for a bit. You know ¡­ gossip about the coworkers.¡± Shit, I was bad at lying.


    Frankie, though, just smiled and shook her head. ¡°Well keep the talking down, Zander. I have to be up early to feed the goats.¡±


    I felt my cheeks burn an embarrassed pink, but the light was low enough that no one could see.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mia agreed. ¡°Well we might not just talk all night. Maybe we¡¯ll fuck.¡±


    I froze and then slowly turned to stare right at her smiling profile. She turned back to me and then her face fell into confusion. ¡°What?¡± she whispered. ¡°That¡¯s way more believable, Zander, you¡¯re sneaking me up into your bedroom at night.¡±


    I let out a heavy breath and shook my head. ¡°Night, Frankie,¡± I mumbled to my aunt, who was shaking with the effort it took not to laugh out loud, and I just turned to trail up the stairs, Mia bouncing up behind me.


    ¡°I think she bought it,¡± she said, excitedly as we reached the top.


    ¡°You think?¡± I repeated, and then couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°I was hoping she wouldn¡¯t think that¡¯s why you were here, Mia.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°You wanted to just tell her the truth? I thought you were feeling the whole secret identity thing.¡±


    I shook my head. ¡°I didn¡¯t want her to think either thing.¡± It was maybe hard to explain. I was twenty-one, and Frankie was the furthest thing from a prude, but it was embarrassing, you know? Just something we didn¡¯t discuss in this family. Even though our family really just consisted of the two of us now.


    I shut the door behind us and nodded to my bedroom, turning on a lamp so the light wasn¡¯t too bright but we could still see. It threw a warm glow over my unmade double bed, a pile of yesterday¡¯s clothes on the rug, and a messy desk covered in books and sketches. I crossed the room before Mia had fully looked around and bundled up the clothes to dump them in the hamper, and then shook out the duvet and threw it across the bed to make it more inviting.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna sleep on the floor,¡± I said before she could argue. The image of her curled up at the foot of my bed, a pet like the system had called her, crossed my mind and I shook my head, uncomfortable. It would be ridiculous to treat her like anything other than a person. A guest.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot,¡± she argued, simply, and sat on the end of the bed. She looked down at her clothes. ¡°I like these and all, but I don¡¯t want to sleep in them,¡± she added.


    ¡°Oh, I could summon you some comfy clothes but¡­¡± I looked around. ¡°Well, my power kind of carves a chunk out of whatever I use. I¡¯ll just lend you some PJs, OK?¡±


    She grinned wider than I¡¯d expected, excited at the prospect. ¡°I can wear your clothes, Zander?¡±


    Fuck, the way she kept saying my name was really hot, and I couldn¡¯t even put my finger on why. Girls had said my name before. Girls had been in my bed before. When my aunt and uncle had been away on their yearly vacation I usually brought people over. Otherwise, I would go to their houses. I wasn¡¯t a virgin, but I hadn¡¯t exactly been playing the field since living out here in almost-nowhere and prioritizing keeping my aunt company. I wasn¡¯t super frustrated about it, either, just accepted it wasn¡¯t the right time for girls.


    But now with this extraordinarily pretty girl sitting on my bed in her tank top and short skirt with no underwear -- had I really forgotten to summon her any or had it been subconsciously on purpose? -- and kind of giving me the vibe, I suddenly felt like I¡¯d been in the Sahara for weeks with no water.


    ¡°Let me find you something.¡± I pulled open my drawer and chose a pair of shorts, with an elastic waistband so it would fit, and one of my t-shirts. When I handed them to her she ignored the shorts and just picked up the shirt. I wasn¡¯t a big guy -- I¡¯d worked out a lot more in the past in anticipation for powers I¡¯d recently given up on, and still had some muscle mass from farm work -- and yet it totally swamped her tiny frame.


    She stood up, and in one swift movement grabbed the hem of her tank top and peeled it off, over her head, and let it fall to the ground. I looked in the opposite direction as purposefully as I could.


    ¡°Zander, you¡¯ve seen me before,¡± she teased. My neck was hurting with the effort to stare behind my own shoulder, and I must have looked ridiculous.


    ¡°It¡¯s still ¡­ impolite, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    She laughed softly and when I couldn¡¯t hear any more movement I turned back around, expecting her to be dressed. She stood topless with her hands covering her breasts and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Um,¡± she said mockingly, ¡°you¡¯re being impolite.¡±


    I looked away again and she laughed harder. ¡°I forgot how funny people are on Earth!¡± She clapped her hands with glee and out of the corner of my eye I saw the way it made her breasts jiggle. I bit a little too hard down on my lower lip as I tried to will away the hard-on. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°You were born here, then?¡± I asked, wanting to change the subject.


    ¡°Mm,¡± she replied with a nod and slipped out of her skirt. I caught another glimpse in my periphery of a neatly trimmed triangle and I really, really wanted to ask. Well, what the hell? She hadn¡¯t exactly been cagey.


    ¡°The, uh¡­¡± I started, and then lost my nerve.


    ¡°Hmm?¡± she asked.


    ¡°You trim,¡± I pointed out, looking up at her as she let my t-shirt fall over her torso, still somehow accentuating her perky tits despite how loose it was.


    She looked down towards her crotch, concealed now, and then back up at me and shrugged. ¡°You don¡¯t like it? I can grow it out.¡±


    ¡°I...¡± I shook my head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter if I like it. I¡¯m just wondering if there¡¯s a reason. You were in...¡± I trailed off a second time. I didn¡¯t want to bring up that place again.


    ¡°No, just preference,¡± she said with a sweet smile. That didn¡¯t really answer my underlying question -- if she had been a prisoner somewhere hellish enough to be called the Inferno, why would she focus on trimming and shaping her pubes? I guess it didn¡¯t really matter, but it was weird, right?


    ¡°Do you wanna, um, talk about the future for a bit?¡± I asked. ¡°Or would you rather get some sleep?¡±


    I was really rattled by seeing her naked, more so this time because it seemed like she¡¯d done it on purpose, and had even enjoyed it. I wanted to talk and strategize a little before I went to sleep to get my mind off of her body. I stood and started to pace, thinking.


    ¡°The future?¡± she repeated, perching at the end of the bed and resting her hands on her knees. She bounced the balls of her toes on the carpet, a smile on her face.


    ¡°Yeah, with the power I have. I want to start thinking about it. I could really be something with this. Make a lot of money. I think I want to go all in on the super thing. Are you really in? You can sleep on it, but I¡¯d like you to stay.¡± I paused. ¡°Of course, you can leave whenever you want to, you don¡¯t have to decide now.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure I know what you¡¯re asking. You want me to be on your superhero team?¡±


    I nodded. ¡°We can take contracts, get paid, do some cool stuff. I¡¯ll make sure you have everything you want with the money we earn, and I¡¯ll also power you up however you want, with my ability.¡±


    A larger smile spread across Mia¡¯s face, reaching her eyes, and it was like I was seeing her for the first time. In that moment I was glad that the system laid out exactly how loyal she was to me, because if I didn¡¯t know that it was fairly high, I would have been concerned just then about ulterior motives.


    But then the strange look in her eyes faded and I felt stupid for being temporarily paranoid. Whether or not Mia was a villain of some kind, or didn¡¯t get on with people easily, she had been nothing but great for me and had even saved my life already.


    ¡°I¡¯m with you, Zander,¡± she said. ¡°I won¡¯t lie to you and tell you I¡¯m uninterested in the power element of it, as well as whatever luxuries might come with having a paycheck. But I also get a good vibe from you. If you ask me to do something I don¡¯t want to do, I can really just leave?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d rather you talked to me about it first, if that¡¯s OK? I¡¯ll be willing to listen to your opinion. But, of course, the door is always open for you to enter and exit however you want.¡±


    Hmm. There was really very little stopping Mia, and the rest of my army later, from reaping the benefits of my ability for, say, a month or two and then leaving and striking out on their own as individuals or groups without me. I wouldn¡¯t bring this up yet, maybe when her loyalty was a fair bit higher, but I should start to think soon about a failsafe. Of course, they could all leave me whenever they wanted to, but they shouldn¡¯t be able to keep all the skills and attributes I¡¯d gifted them.


    There were other things I¡¯d need to figure out, of course. Maybe my next purchase should be someone with really high Intelligence so I could brainstorm with them. Alternatively, it could be someone with really high Strength, or even a superpower, and I could get the two of them starting to take on jobs as soon as possible. After all, defeating minions looked like the fastest way to get points so far.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk shop a little before we sleep,¡± Mia said, wiggling underneath the covers and getting cozy, propping up her head on her hand and gazing over at me in a way that made me want her even more.


    ¡°Sounds fine with me,¡± I said, and sat back down on the end of the bed, wary about getting too close. If she teased me any more I¡¯d be hard all night with no relief. ¡°So, uh, we can talk a little about your fighting style, and how you want to improve it. And then I can see how much that costs.¡± She nodded, looking sleepy and comfortable. In my shirt, and tucked up in my bed, which was way hotter than it should have been.


    ¡°I¡¯m fast,¡± she said, eyelids looking heavy. ¡°I like light weapons and clothes. I¡¯m not good against any enemies who have really good defenses because I tend to attack with low power and high frequency.¡±


    I tried to internalize that as best I could, and it seemed like I¡¯d already made some alright decisions by equipping her with light clothing and a small but sharp dagger. It would make sense to just keep putting points into her Dexterity, then. Make sure she had as much of what she wanted as she needed. After a moment of hesitation, assuring myself I wouldn¡¯t pull anything from the other side, I pressed my palm against the wall beside my bed and made a forge so I had something to reference as I thought, and brought up Mia¡¯s sheet.


    I willed it to tell me how many points an increase cost now, too, and to look a little more like a spreadsheet so it was easier to organize.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td colspan="3">


    Mia


    ¡°Sweetheart¡±


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attribute


    </td>


    <td>


    Score


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    STR


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    DEX


    </td>


    <td>


    13


    </td>


    <td>


    40


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    INT


    </td>


    <td>


    9


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    WIS


    </td>


    <td>


    7


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    CON


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    CHA


    </td>


    <td>


    13


    </td>


    <td>


    40


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Loyalty


    </td>


    <td colspan="2">


    8 (+3 attributes)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Powers


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    100


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    So there was no increase cost when it came to Loyalty, of course, but that was still disappointing. I had no idea how to increase it. It looked like increasing her Dexterity was going to be pricey and I¡¯d only be able to get it up 3 more levels anyway. If the point price increased every time the skill levelled up, that also meant I could only get her Dex up by around 2 points right now. When it was currently that, or get another recruit, it didn¡¯t seem immediately worth it.


    Then my eyes were drawn to the new field I hadn¡¯t seen yet. Now that I¡¯d turned it into a table with costs it must have added the things that didn¡¯t yet exist, but were unlockable.


    Powers. I leaned back. OK, now it was a choice between giving Mia superpowers and unlocking a second recruit? I reached up and rubbed my neck, unable to choose. There¡¯d be really no telling what her power might be, if I¡¯d have any control over that, if it would be useful, if she¡¯d take it and leave me with nothing¡­


    But that could be said about almost every decision.


    It felt too risky now. If I made the wrong move we wouldn¡¯t be able to get any more points. That would be something of a dead end when it didn¡¯t need to be. I¡¯d wait.


    Turning towards Mia and away from the interface I¡¯d pressed onto the wall had her unfreeze and smile at me.


    ¡°That¡¯s weird, when you do that.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± I asked her.


    ¡°When you stare at a wall and your head moves all fast, like a blur. That¡¯s your power?¡±


    I nodded at her. ¡°Yeah, I can see a bunch of information about you here.¡± I gestured to my bedroom wall. ¡°I can equip you with different things and make your attributes like Strength and Constitution better.¡±


    She squirmed, sleepily. ¡°What¡¯s better Constitution gonna do?¡±


    I gave a small shrug. ¡°Defense, I guess. Attacks will hurt you less. You¡¯ll maybe be able to move around for longer, better endurance. Resistance to stuff like poisons and disease.¡±


    She raised her eyebrows. ¡°You can do all that, to anyone?¡±


    ¡°Only people I can pull in through these invisible portals I make,¡± I said. ¡°The system calls them forges. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll all come from where you came from, but I think for Summoners that¡¯s usually the way. One plane or dimension they have access to.¡±


    Mia yawned and then apologized. ¡°Come here, Zander. I don¡¯t want to talk about that anymore. I¡¯ve had a really strange day.¡±


    ¡°Me too,¡± I realized. She rested her head on my pillow, her chest rising and falling, her hard nipples clear to see underneath the material of my t-shirt.


    ¡°Come here,¡± she murmured again. ¡°I haven¡¯t had human contact in so long, I just want to feel you next to me.¡± She cracked an eye open to peer at me. ¡°I saved your life today,¡± she joked.


    It wouldn¡¯t have been easy to refuse if I¡¯d wanted to. I shuffled down to the pillow end of the bed and lay on top of the covers beside her. She rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Get changed, we¡¯re sleeping.¡±


    ¡°I usually sleep--¡±


    ¡°Naked? That¡¯s fine.¡±


    Fuck. I got so instantly hard at the thought of sleeping next to her naked, knowing she only had on a t-shirt that ended just below the curve of her butt.


    ¡°I was going to say in my boxers.¡±


    She closed her eyes again. ¡°That¡¯s fine too.¡±


    I wiggled out of my jeans, realizing they were pretty covered in rock dust even though the walk home had shifted most of it. I pulled off my shirt too and threw them both from the bed straight into the hamper without touching the sides. I glanced casually over at Mia to see if she¡¯d seen but her eyes were still shut, so I slipped under the covers.


    While I deliberated whether or not to spoon her, touch her, wrap my arms around her in any way to provide some comfort, she made the decision for me and scooted over to rest her head on my chest. Her leg draped across mine, just under the enormous erection tenting my boxer shorts.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t weird to you?¡± I asked, after a short silence. I was struggling to get totally comfortable when I didn¡¯t know if touching her back would make her angry or upset. But I couldn¡¯t think about anything but touching her.


    In response she wiggled against me, a smile on her lips, and I felt the unmistakable brush of short pubes against my leg. I knew nothing about this girl, but I wanted to. Because something about her made me think she was just as dangerous as she was sweet.


    ¡°I want to know your story, Mia,¡± I said.


    ¡°Like what?¡± she replied.


    ¡°How did you get a nickname when you don¡¯t have powers?¡±


    ¡°I was still a part of a group,¡± she said. ¡°Not everyone involved in the super world has superpowers. I¡¯m a good fighter and I do what I¡¯m told. That made me valuable.¡±


    I digested that for a moment. ¡°Were you, like, a henchman?¡±


    Her lips turned upwards even more and she nuzzled at my chest. ¡°Mm, you could say that. That¡¯s not usually what we call ourselves, though. Mercenaries, bodyguards. Sometimes we¡¯d call ourselves peons, but that¡¯s our word. Other people can¡¯t call us that.¡±


    It was really ridiculously hard to concentrate, as much as I wanted to know what she was saying, when her delicate fingers were running lightly up and down my happy trail, stopping at the waistband of my boxers, and trailing back up to my belly button again.


    ¡°I like your body,¡± she said, and there was such a hint of surprise in her voice that I had to question it.


    ¡°You do?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not, you know, classically model handsome.¡± She pinched at a little extra skin around my waistline and I swatted her hand away. ¡°There¡¯s a really good foundation here, though, Zander. You¡¯re broad-chested and kind of tall, and your face is really nice.¡± She lifted her cheek from my chest and looked at my body in a way that I should have found embarrassing, but I was more amused. ¡°I think if you just worked on strength training you¡¯d be really hot.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t offended, but it had taken the edge off my hard-on to hear it.


    ¡°I¡¯d still fuck you, probably,¡± she added thoughtfully, and rested her head back on my chest and closed her eyes.


    How the hell was I supposed to get any sleep now?


    ¡°Wait wait wait,¡± I said, and her eyes fluttered open once again, looking confused -- as if she had no idea what I¡¯d want to follow up on. ¡°You can¡¯t just say that to a guy and then immediately fall asleep. Shouldn¡¯t we maybe¡­¡±


    She squinted up at me quizzically as I tried to find the words. ¡°Sleep together and get it out of the way? I don¡¯t know, I was thinking maybe that¡¯d be a good idea, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯d be distracting since we still don¡¯t have a clear goal?¡±


    I left my mouth hanging open. I was going to say something like ¡®talk a little more¡¯, mostly because I was just curious, but the fact that she¡¯d been thinking about sleeping with me, even in passing? Something about what she had said struck me as off, though.


    ¡°Mia, I ¡­ don¡¯t want you to think you need to sleep with me¡­ This isn¡¯t that kind of role. We¡¯re just teammates.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°Oh.¡±


    Shit. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it in a bad way, I just want you to know that I¡¯m not expecting anything. I¡¯m not even thinking about that.¡±


    Before I knew it her hand disappeared under the blanket and her fingers wrapped tight around my hard cock over my boxers. I let out a breath in surprise, and in arousal.


    ¡°What¡¯s this, then?¡±


    It took me a second to realize she was teasing again. I didn¡¯t know what to say, or do. I¡¯d never been in a situation like this before. I¡¯d saved her from some kind of bad situation, and in return she¡¯d saved me, and now we were looking into having some kind of career together using my superpower. That wasn¡¯t a relationship I¡¯d ever explored with a woman before, and I didn¡¯t know the rules.


    I didn¡¯t move, just in case she stopped. Her fingers trailed up and down my shaft and it felt so good even though her touch was light. It really must have been too long since I¡¯d been with someone.


    ¡°You like that?¡± she said, her nose brushing against my hair and her lips right by my ear. Fuck, I already felt close. If I ever actually did want to sleep with Mia, I would have to make sure I didn¡¯t embarrass myself right this second.


    I nodded.


    ¡°Do you want my mouth?¡±


    Goosebumps pricked all over my skin. Even hearing her ask that brought me dangerously close. Her voice was suddenly throaty and sensual. Out of nowhere I pictured Lady Luck¡¯s red lipsticked mouth, her tight leather suit, her pink tongue flicking the head of my cock. And then it was Mia in my imagination, her big blue eyes locked on mine.


    ¡°You wanna feel me too? I¡¯ve been so fucking wet for you, walking around without underwear. You¡¯re so naughty, Zander, for doing that to me.¡± She traced her tongue across my earlobe and my breathing got heavier but I remained frozen, not completely sure what was happening all of a sudden.


    ¡°Yes?¡± I said, truthfully, nervously, and then reached under the covers to try to find her, but she took her hands off my cock and threaded her fingers through mine, smirking.


    ¡°One day, maybe,¡± she said, her voice snapping back to normal as she placed my hand onto my stomach. I could feel precum leaking through my shorts. ¡°We have a lot to figure out if we¡¯re going to work together for a long time, Zander, but at least now I know how you feel.¡±


    Before I could even open my mouth to answer -- though what the hell would I say? -- Mia brushed her soft lips over mine just briefly, smiled, and rolled over to fall asleep.


    It took me a lot longer than her to drift off.

 Valkyries

    <h2>Chapter Five: Valkyries</h2>


    I woke up a little earlier than Mia and took a long shower. A really long shower. And then I sat at my desk and scribbled down ideas. Ideas for what? I wasn¡¯t entirely sure, but gaining superpowers was a life-changing event and I needed to make sure I improved my life with them instead of messing up.


    So far I wasn¡¯t ready to go out seeking trouble just yet, with only Mia, even though she was powerful. So that meant I was going to just use the points I had and optimize our team before fighting. So far I knew I had three choices.


    I could increase 2-3 of Mia¡¯s attributes. That was nebulous, since I didn¡¯t know exactly how much a 1-level increase actually affected her. Probably a fair amount, because she was a damn quick and capable fighter with 13 Dexterity. If I had stats like hers, my Dexterity was probably below 10.


    I could unlock the ¡®power¡¯ section of her character sheet. Even more nebulous. I didn¡¯t know what that power would be, and if it was a waste I was throwing all my potential for early progress away. If it was really good, I could even risk her walking out because she wouldn¡¯t need me. That was a no for now.


    I could unlock another person. Having two mediocre people or having one slightly better person? In the end, it struck me that it was a better decision all around. In fact, if the only reason I was so nervous about sending Mia out fighting villain minions was that she was on her own, it was the obvious choice.


    So I had settled on choosing another Human from the forge, then. As soon as I fully realized that was my next move, I had a whole other load of problems to sift through.


    There was space in the farmhouse, but my aunt had her own life to live and I didn¡¯t know how to explain all the new people showing up. She was being exceptionally kind letting me stay here for free in exchange for a couple of chores, and I didn¡¯t want to throw it in her face in any way.


    There was the old barn where she used to keep her cattle before she sold them. Three years ago she had talked about turning it into a big luxury guesthouse, but she hadn¡¯t so much as set foot on that section of the land since her husband died. A thought occurred to me and I scribbled it down with a smile.


    It was coming together.


    Mia sat up and sighed, peeking behind the curtains from her place in my bed and wincing at the bright sunlight. ¡°Jeez,¡± she mumbled. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to sleep that long in ¡­ I don¡¯t even know.¡±


    I gestured at the mini spread I¡¯d brought up for her. Bread, butter, jam, a fresh cut-up apple and some still steaming herbal tea my aunt had made from scratch. ¡°Eat,¡± I said, and looked back at my notes. ¡°And when you¡¯ve eaten I want to talk to you.¡±


    She paused with a hunk of bread halfway to her mouth. She hadn¡¯t even bothered to spread anything over it; clearly starving. ¡°Hmm?¡±


    ¡°I just wanted to know how you felt about adding people to the team so early on.¡±


    She leaned back and chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed and batted a couple of crumbs off my bed. ¡°Well, that is most of the point of your power, isn¡¯t it? A Summoner is powerful because he builds an army. Not because he summons one girl and doesn¡¯t fuck her. What¡¯s your limitation, anyway?¡± She took another monster bite and I thought about how to answer her. I wasn¡¯t sure.


    ¡°I¡¯m limited by loyalty,¡± I admitted. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about other Summoners, but I¡¯m guessing they don¡¯t have that limitation. I can¡¯t power someone up at all if they aren¡¯t loyal to me.¡±


    Mia raised her eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s really interesting,¡± she said with her mouth full, and then leaned forward. ¡°Does it say I¡¯m loyal?¡±


    ¡°It just says ¡®8¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°I have no way of knowing right now if that¡¯s high or low. It could be out of 10 or out of 100.¡± She shrugged, took a big gulp of tea and then looked confused at the cup. She shrugged again and then drank more. I continued. ¡°So you definitely think I should? It would be someone to fight alongside you so I kind of want your input.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m fast but I can¡¯t fight well in armor and if I get one good hit I¡¯m done for. I used to fight alongside big burly dudes who kind of took the heat off me while I lined up shots and dealt quick damage.¡±


    So someone tanky. And her words also made me wonder how I might recruit a healer of some kind. Because yeah, Mia had no power and she was small and human. One good hit from a foe and she could realistically be out of the match, maybe even for good.


    ¡°We need to go find a new forge,¡± I said, suddenly missing how easy it had all been in the catacombs. I couldn¡¯t immediately think of anywhere to do it. I thought of a tree or a hay bale but I didn¡¯t want to carve a chunk out of anything useful, so I waited until Frankie¡¯s car was gone and I guided Mia to the very edge of the property, near the old barn.


    ¡°What are we doing here?¡± she asked, back in her tank top and skirt and hugging herself to keep the chill off her body. It might be kind of me to summon her a sweater. And some underwear.


    ¡°Uh, you know how I have to pull you guys out from that place? Well, I need to replace the mass, so I have to make these forges out of solid matter. I didn¡¯t want to destroy anything important so I¡¯m just gonna try to use the ground here.¡± I pointed down at the grass just beside Frankie¡¯s fence.


    Mia was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot and looking over her shoulder, so I sat back on my haunches and squinted up at her. ¡°Something wrong?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I just ¡­ I don¡¯t want anything messing up our dynamic before we even get started. This is a critical stage of our operation,¡± she said. She wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°We need to get established from nothing, gain the trust of the mayor, get a headquarters, presumably. A payment structure. A hierarchy.¡± She shook her head. ¡°I think you should prioritize loyalty over anything else, is all, Zander.¡±


    I sucked in a breath and thought about it for a moment, realizing she wasn¡¯t wrong. As tempting as it was to prioritize fighting synergy and strategy, at this stage it was probably more important to make sure people would go to the end of the Earth for this burgeoning group I was making here, rather than people who could specifically best complement Mia¡¯s dexterity.


    Still thinking through what she had said, I pressed my palm down onto the grass and opened up the forge in the ground. To my relief, it worked just as perfectly there as it had on the cavern walls.


    I willed a table that just showed me loyalty in the human category and instantly I saw a pattern when I sorted from high to low.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name


    </td>


    <td>


    Loyalty


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Rebecca


    </td>


    <td>


    7


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Amelie


    </td>


    <td>


    6


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Freida


    </td>


    <td>


    5


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Anka


    </td>


    <td>


    5


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Celia


    </td>


    <td>


    5


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Sam


    </td>


    <td>


    4


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Victoria


    </td>


    <td>


    4


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Yeah. Women. It looked like the high loyalty possibilities were all women, depending on the gender of Sam. I leaned back again to regard it. I guess, in my mind, I had initially imagined Mia fighting alongside a really burly dude. He could take all the hits while she concentrated on fast damage from relative safety. But loyalty was definitely the priority. Especially considering that I didn¡¯t know how to increase it.


    What would I do without Mia to bounce ideas off?


    I clicked on Rebecca¡¯s name, hoping to get the same table I had for Mia, and it popped up instantly.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td colspan="3">


    Rebecca


    ¡°Diamond¡±


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Attribute


    </td>


    <td>


    Score


    </td>


    <td>


    Cost


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    STR


    </td>


    <td>


    12


    </td>


    <td>


    30


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    DEXYou could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    INT


    </td>


    <td>


    6


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    WIS


    </td>


    <td>


    6


    </td>


    <td>


    10


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    CON


    </td>


    <td>


    11


    </td>


    <td>


    20


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    CHA


    </td>


    <td>


    12


    </td>


    <td>


    30


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Loyalty


    </td>


    <td colspan="2">


    7 (+2 attributes)


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Powers


    </td>


    <td>


    None


    </td>


    <td>


    100


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That was ¡­ actually, not so good. She had an alright foundation but I wondered if her stats were really any better than an average human¡¯s, and maybe I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, since that¡¯s probably what she was. I had really struck gold with Mia. Her stats and loyalty combined seemed rare in the universe I¡¯d pulled her from. After all, she was ¡®only¡¯ a human.


    I had 110 points, though. An extra 10 could go towards ¡­ what? Realistically, a weapon. A really small, crappy one, but otherwise she would still be little use to me without powers. A Strength of 12 was not that bad either, considering that Mia¡¯s Dexterity was at a 13 and her Strength a 10, and she hit hard.


    I rolled my shoulders and hummed to myself, but I had clearly already made my decision. With a flick of my wrist I summoned Rebecca.


    Her rotating silhouette was tall, almost as tall as me, I¡¯d guess, so probably over 5¡¯10 while Mia probably barely scraped over five foot tall, but I wasn¡¯t the greatest judge of height. She didn¡¯t have as much of an hourglass figure as Mia either, instead looking slender and toned like she spent a lot of time working out.


    Her hands were the first to come through, bursting through the earth and grabbing for purchase before the top of her head burst through too. Long hair the color of burnt caramel swung over her pink face and the rest of her body climbed above the surface shortly after. She bent over, breathing heavily, naked as anything, and I didn¡¯t waste any time this time. I crouched down and pressed my palm into the dirt again, just a few feet away from the new Rebecca-sized gouge in the grass.


    I took her in just for a short moment in my periphery. She was as tall and slender as she had looked in the system. Her long hair was poker straight and she had choppy bangs that fell in front of her light brown eyes. Her nose was long and sharp and she had lips on the thinner side and high cheekbones. Definitely not an unattractive girl, even if she did lack the instant cute charm Mia had.


    But I was going to try to play this as well as I possibly could and make sure she maintained that loyalty of 7 -- logically, I could even get an increase if I treated them as well as I possibly could. I was going to dress Rebecca before she had the chance to feel vulnerable and scared like Mia had.


    I picked out a loose orange blouse and had them tucked into some dark brown flared pants. It looked like the stuff I saw women wearing around here, and seemed weather appropriate. This time I found the underwear section and was relieved it was just sorted by color and style, and I didn¡¯t have to guess her sizes or anything. I went for a comfy-looking white matching set. Anything sexier and I¡¯d have felt like a creep when she found out I was the one who¡¯d dressed her up.


    Just while I was here, I navigated to a table to show me all the 10 point weapons I could get, and the selection was huge. I sifted through things like baseball bats, hammers, wrenches, raising my eyebrows at all the options. The Inferno was filled with useful items. As long as I had someone in my roster to equip it to, I could pull so many different things from that universe -- it was crazy.


    I paused on brass knuckles, and went back and forth between that and the baseball bat. I decided on the knuckles because I felt like it would be easier to use, to conceal, and harder to defend against.


    But it put me back to 0 points.


    I unfroze the world around me again as soon as I looked away from the forge, simultaneously deleting it and leaving a fine graze over the grass where I had pulled up clothing and brass.


    Rebecca patted herself down, shook her hair from her eyes, and got to her feet, staring for a while at the backs of her hands. At her knuckles. Maybe I should have waited before I equipped her with weaponry; maybe until I¡¯d explained some stuff to her.


    ¡°Welcome,¡± Mia said, stepping up and sticking out her hand with her best smile. ¡°My name is Mia, and you have just been saved from a lifetime of torture in the Inferno by this man.¡± She gestured at me and I gave a small half-wave. Rebecca turned to me and blinked, astonished, before looking back at Mia. ¡°Zander is a Summoner and we are his Summonees.¡±


    ¡°He summons humans?¡± she asked in a croak, and then cleared her throat a few times, pressing her fingers on her throat and wincing.


    ¡°From the Inferno, yeah.¡± Mia laced her fingers together behind her back and maintained her eye contact. I vaguely remembered, then, that her Charisma was not too low, and I was even more grateful for her at that moment. I could have explained it alright, but I was sure it sounded better coming from someone else who was in the same situation.


    ¡°I¡¯m out for good?¡± Rebecca looked at me again, her brown eyes narrowed, before turning back to Mia, who nodded rapidly. ¡°What does he want in return,¡± she said flatly, and then looked back down at the brass knuckles for several seconds.


    Mia also glanced at me with a sweet smile. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, and allowed it to sink in. ¡°If you want to, you can leave. So can I. But if you want to stay, he¡¯ll give us whatever we need. Food, lodging. He can even upgrade us, like any Summoner can. In return, if you stay, you and I -- we need to form a group.¡± She tilted her head as she said the next part, as if it was the most amusing thing she could think of. ¡°Of heroes. Isn¡¯t that right? To make money?¡± She addressed the last bit at me, and I gave a nod.


    It was probably time for me to chime in.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about heroes yet. We aren¡¯t going to work out of the goodness of our hearts a hundred percent of the time, but no, we won¡¯t be villains. We will work for pay, good pay, or to make a better name for ourselves. I¡¯ll need to make money to take care of you all, as Mia said. To feed you and clothe you.¡± Although clothing was free. ¡°And I have an idea on lodging that I¡¯ll expand on later.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Rebecca interrupted, clearly becoming more comfortable. ¡°You don¡¯t have lodging for us already?¡±


    ¡°We can stay with him in his bed,¡± Mia chirped and I shot her a look.


    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be like that, Rebecca,¡± I said. ¡°This is professional. There¡¯s no obligation to work for me, but you won¡¯t find a better job offer out there. How long have you been missing from Earth?¡± I just made a guess, but it seemed to pay off from the look on her face.


    ¡°Some years, I think,¡± she said quietly. ¡°Time ¡­ it¡¯s so different there. It¡¯s impossible to tell. Sometimes a minute drags on for months. Sometimes you blink and it feels like it takes all day. It¡¯s ¡­ it¡¯s--¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about that later,¡± Mia cut over her. ¡°I think what Zander is lightly getting at is that if you¡¯ve been gone for a long time you¡¯re not going to be that hirable. If you are anything like me you would have run straight away to someone calling for henchmen -- for bodies -- well, that¡¯s not so far from what it¡¯ll be like here. But¡­¡± Mia stared again at me. ¡°...he can upgrade us. Make us stronger.¡±


    ¡°I can,¡± I agreed. ¡°I can strengthen most things about you, equip you with anything.¡± I pointed to the brass knuckles. ¡°Those will be upgraded later on to anything you want.¡± I figured it was better to imply for now that I was able to do anything without restriction, rather than tell her -- or them -- that it was a points based system and I was broke.


    ¡°Interesting.¡±


    She wasn¡¯t looking completely convinced, so I hesitated and then decided to go for the trump card I had hidden in my back pocket. I looked at Rebecca, and at Mia, and shoved my hands deep in my pockets and smiled.


    ¡°I also have the ability to unlock your superpowers.¡±


    They looked at each other, and then at me, eyes wide and searching mine for a trace of deceit. I hoped they would find nothing, because as far as I knew, it was completely true.


    ¡°There¡¯s a slot on your sheets, that I can see and upgrade, that says ¡®powers¡¯. I have to warn you girls that I¡¯ve never attempted this before, so I don¡¯t have any idea what will happen. As far as I know, everyone has this slot if they don¡¯t already have powers.¡± At least, everyone I¡¯d glanced at had it.


    Mia¡¯s eyebrows shot upwards. ¡°Everyone?¡±


    I backtracked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, that¡¯s a huge assumption on my part. You two definitely have that slot, though. I just can¡¯t see what I¡¯d unlock.¡±


    Rebecca folded her arms. ¡°I¡¯m twenty-six and most people get their powers at thirteen or thereabouts, and you¡¯re telling me I have one, it¡¯s just¡­¡± She squinted over at Mia who shrugged.


    ¡°Sleeping?¡± she finished for the new girl. ¡°Zander, you didn¡¯t tell me this.¡±


    I thought to what Elle had said. Either my power came about on that day exactly, or the probability of it coming out at all dropped almost to zero.


    ¡°I think this whole power thing is just more complicated than we all know,¡± I told them. ¡°I really only know the limited information on my sheets. If I unlock your power, there¡¯s no telling if it¡¯ll be useful or not. I have no idea what it is.¡±


    ¡°Prove it,¡± Rebecca said, frowning. ¡°I¡¯m not saying I want to leave, exactly, but if you were to give me a superpower right here, right now, I¡¯d believe you completely. I¡¯d want to be on your side without question. Hell, there are people out there who¡¯d probably worship you as a god.¡±


    Shit, she was smirking, but was she even wrong? Gifting people superpowers was insane, the more I thought about it. People would kick down my damn door if they found out.


    As well as figuring out a failsafe to strip them of their upgrades, I needed to figure out how to ensure these recruits wouldn¡¯t talk if they left. Not a word.


    Now I was really starting to understand why supervillains had a ¡®work here or die¡¯ clause implied in every henchman contract. But I wasn¡¯t a supervillain. I didn¡¯t think I wanted to be a villain. I¡¯d be pretty strictly work for hire -- because I needed to keep my girls loyal and happy -- but I¡¯d rather work for good than evil. So how was I going to figure out this one huge problem without, you know, murder?


    Right now wasn¡¯t really the time to think about that. I needed to secure our new teammate.


    ¡°Rebecca, I can¡¯t until I trust you completely. It drains me of finite resources as a Summoner and if you¡¯re going to potentially leave me, I can¡¯t risk it. If you prove your loyalty to me, then yeah. Of course I¡¯ll do everything I can to make you the most powerful you can possibly be.¡± I wet my lips, getting into the speech. ¡°Which looks to be really powerful.¡± Both girls looked hungry at the thought.


    I took a breath and went for it.


    ¡°Listen. In this city, there is always something that needs to be done -- a fight that needs to be fought, crime to take down, a villain to hunt and stop. Power is currency and the stronger you are, the more you just get handed to you in a world of supers.


    ¡°You are both tough, sure, but you¡¯ve never been supers. I can give you that. I can give you lodgings, direction, and weaponry from thin air. I can give you what everyone really wants, no matter what they say. No matter what I said before I had it.


    ¡°I can give you power.¡±


    Rebecca slowly raised her hand, brass knuckles and all, and extended it out to me. I shook it, my insides burning with excitement.


    ¡°What are we called?¡± she asked.


    I looked at Mia, she said nothing, so I looked back at Rebecca and tried to think on my feet. ¡°We need to be something intimidating. Something feminine, since everyone on the outside will believe it¡¯s a team run by you two. What about the Amazons?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s obvious,¡± Mia said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. ¡°I¡¯ve seen several groups of girls who call themselves the Amazons or the Amazonians.¡±


    ¡°Seconded,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°What about the ¡­ Harpies?¡±


    ¡°Too negative. Hate it,¡± Mia said simply, and then smiled when I looked over at her. I was running out of female warrior-based words already.


    ¡°... Valkyries?¡±


    They both paused, looked at each other, then back to me, and Mia smiled and Rebecca shrugged.


    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°Valkyries it is. For now, anyway. We have a lot more to talk about, don¡¯t we?¡± I grinned, excitement coursing through me -- nothing had deviated too far from the plan yet and I was optimistic. ¡°Let¡¯s find somewhere comfortable to sit.¡±

 Foils

    <h2>Chapter Six: Foils</h2>


    Mia sat on a haybale and kicked her feet, dagger hilt flashing every now and then as it caught the sun, high overhead. Rebecca leaned against another one, arms folded and right leg crossed over her left. They listened and gave input as I paced in front of them and spoke.


    ¡°So we¡¯ll do what other newly formed hero groups do,¡± I confirmed. ¡°First we get a police scanner, and learn codes, so we can respond to emergencies if it sounds like they¡¯re at our level.¡± I grinned. ¡°Which is low, but that¡¯s alright. We also look at the open bounties on the internet. They¡¯re usually really high profile, but every now and then something will come up that will be low and we¡¯ll nab it.¡±


    ¡°What we really want right now is to find villains with minions,¡± Mia pointed out. ¡°If you farm points by killing, that¡¯s the easiest way to get a bodycount without getting in the way of your morals.¡± She smirked. So did Rebecca. I¡¯d vaguely explained to them how my power worked so that they would understand my motivations better, but without revealing my limitations too much too soon.


    ¡°Right,¡± I agreed. ¡°After a while, we¡¯ll build a name for ourselves. Or for you guys; I¡¯ll stay in the shadows. When we have a reputation we¡¯ll start getting jobs from the mayor that aren¡¯t even posted on the bounty boards, like other groups get.¡± I rubbed my palms together and paused my pacing for a moment. ¡°I have been thinking -- H-Bomb, this hero group I know, gets jobs they can do due to their skills. It could be smart to start more than one group when we get enough of a membership. Sort them by their skills, each has a leader. He¡¯ll give each group the jobs that line up with their skills and we can do a bunch at once.¡±


    ¡°That seems far down the line,¡± Rebecca pointed out.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± I said.


    ¡°For now we need to talk about lodging,¡± she said. ¡°Because you seem a lot nicer and ¡­ cleaner ¡­ than a lot of villains I worked for, but I still don¡¯t want to share a bed with you two every night.¡±


    My cheeks reddened again. ¡°I have a plan for that, I was going to talk about it next, when--¡±


    The sound of a powerful motorbike engine roared suddenly in the near distance and I heard the distinctive, somehow, sound of part of the farm fence shattering inwards and the engine roar rapidly accelerating.


    ¡°Here!¡± I heard the excited scream.


    ¡°You can smell it?¡± a much lower voice growled, as if the bike engine itself was talking. ¡°Is it right here?¡±


    ¡°Summoned within thirty minutes, it¡¯ll be somewhere. You look that way and I¡¯ll check in there.¡±


    I didn¡¯t have to see where the guy was pointing to know he meant the barn. I folded my arms and frowned, and Mia hopped from her perch as Rebecca straightened up.


    ¡°What is this?¡± I asked aloud, but quiet enough only they could hear.


    ¡°I should have warned you. Shit. They¡¯re still active?¡± Mia shook her head and pulled her dagger from her sheath. ¡°Get ready, Becks.¡±


    Rebecca wrinkled her nose. ¡°Would you call me Diamond? Especially in a combat situation. It¡¯s just more what I¡¯m used to.¡± She lifted her hands and curled them slowly into fists. Judging by the uncertainty on her face, maybe I should have gone for something like a wrench. I couldn¡¯t wait until I had more points and I could give my people anything they wanted to work with.


    ¡°Who¡¯s still active?¡± I asked, backing off and gritting my teeth. There was really no point in me being here and visible. I hoped they¡¯d understand and wouldn¡¯t just think of me as a coward.


    ¡°They¡¯re a pair of fucking jackass vigilantes,¡± Mia muttered, glancing at the barn and getting ready. ¡°Good news is, Sinker has minions. So fuck off and hide, Zander.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a Sinker,¡± Rebecca noted, getting into a ready fighting stance too. I watched them beside each other as I hid -- as powerfully and respectably as anyone could duck behind some old moist hay -- and thought maybe she¡¯d been a good choice. From the way they talked to each other, they seemed like they had both been mercenaries for pay. They knew how to fight with others, then, and their loyalty was naturally high.


    ¡°They¡¯re bullshit,¡± Mia told her. ¡°Hookline can locate and bind existing minions to people but doesn¡¯t have the interface to upgrade. Sinker can upgrade anything if it¡¯s in his roster but can¡¯t create or summon. They think they¡¯re so slick teaming up with each other, but combined they only barely make one passable super.¡±


    Foils, I noted internally. They probably would have acquired their powers around the same time and they had been lucky to find each other. Otherwise it sounded like alone they were both completely useless.


    But if Mia was right, it did stand to reason they¡¯d have minions. Minions that the girls could work together to kill, guilt-free.


    If she was right, it was also logical to assume they were here because¡­


    ¡°Here! Here!¡± one of them called. A smaller dude in a sky blue super suit plus swim cap was practically bouncing up and down at the entrance to the barn. ¡°This one, the one on the right. She was just¡­¡±


    He paused, tilted his head, staring at Rebecca. ¡°She¡¯s a human. Full human. No powers. But just summoned thirty-three minutes ago.¡± The guy tapped on his puffy lower lip, and I couldn¡¯t see his expression because a blue plastic mask covered most of his upper face. ¡°Sinker. You¡¯ve got to come see this.¡±


    ¡°Hookline,¡± Mia greeted. ¡°Still doing the same old thing, huh? You look like you¡¯ve aged twenty years.¡±


    Hookline in his too-tight blue suit blinked at Mia and then crossed his arms defensively. ¡°What do you mean by that? Who are you, a merc? Who are you working for?¡±


    Mia looked at Rebecca and then back at him. ¡°We¡¯re freelance now. We work for ourselves.¡±


    Hookline looked puzzled, and then frowned. ¡°But the smell. You were just summoned here.¡± He nodded at Rebecca. ¡°Or am I picking up something else, like ¡­ your clothes were summoned?¡± He screwed up his eyes and shook his head. Was it really that unusual to pull humans from plane to plane? Sure I hadn¡¯t heard of it before but there were plenty of things I hadn¡¯t heard of that were sure to exist.


    Her clothes actually were summoned, so maybe that was throwing off Hookline¡¯s sensors. I didn¡¯t know exactly how his powers worked, maybe an aura, or a scent, like he¡¯d said.


    ¡°I¡¯m a summoner of inanimate objects,¡± Mia lied sweetly, spinning her dagger in her hand. She was echoing what I¡¯d said. ¡°Weapons, clothing. You¡¯re dumb, and you picked up on the wrong thing. Sorry to say but you and your even dumber friend came all the way out here for a stylish pair of mahogany culottes.¡± Mia gestured to Rebecca¡¯s brown pants. I was secretly pleased she thought they were stylish. I didn¡¯t know what I was doing when it came to clothes, and I wanted them to be happy.


    Hookline squinted and looked from girl to girl as they stood there, patiently waiting for him to back off Rebecca.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that,¡± he muttered when Sinker rounded the corner. He was a huge guy, looked like a bodybuilder. As a fellow Summoner, I envied him. He¡¯d be able to join in with the fighting instead of ¡­ ducking behind old feed to preserve his identity while they did all the work.


    I¡¯d have to see about getting an HQ soon. And a way to see what they were all doing and communicate with them. This was lame. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Whoa, we get girls this time?¡± Sinker asked, his voice deep and rumbling. I wondered if he was putting it on. He had a huge red outfit with a cape and all, and a mask that made me think of wrestlers. A big flashy ¡®S¡¯ was emblazoned on his front, and I didn¡¯t think much of the whole look.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna try to bind her to you, you ready?¡± Hookline asked.


    Stop him, I urged silently, wishing I could do anything more than throw hay at them. If I was willing to compromise my identity to enemies right now, I could throw a decent punch but I wasn¡¯t a trained fighter, and if these supers had been on the scene for a long time they¡¯d probably know how to knock me out in one good hit.


    I knew I should at least start to carry a mask everywhere I went.


    Good thing they knew what to do on their own. Rebecca might not be convinced she wanted to be with me, but I was willing to bet she would rather be aligned with Mia and I than stuck for good with these two losers.


    She launched forward just as Sinker was probably about to make some assholeish comment about how awesome it would be to bind women to him, and she sank her fist deep into Hookline¡¯s slight but puffy core.


    ¡°Jeez!¡± Sinker yelled instead. Hookline coughed hard, retched, and then wheezed, falling to his knees. Nice, one point for the brass knuckles.


    Mia jogged up to the distracted muscular super and sent an almighty punch right to his jaw ¡­ but just came away waving her hand through the air and grimacing while Sinker rubbed his chin and glowered.


    ¡°Minions!¡± he roared.


    I pressed my lips together and peered through the gap in the hay bales. Three little things appeared. The first one, to my pleasant surprise, was a bone minion. They must have worked together to grab a fresh one from the Lich when he came up to the surface. I wanted to instruct Mia to take it out as soon as possible because she had had such an easy time of it before.


    The second was a huge ¡­ crab? It definitely looked like it had been a crab. But the thing was pretty disgusting to look at. It had been artificially grown but the exoskeleton hadn¡¯t followed suit as fast as the, er, meat, so the result was a large pink fleshy mound on eight sharp legs, covered in cracked islands of shell. It had big serrated claws that snapped and lunged, and I wondered which girl would have an easier time fighting it¡­


    But neither of those minions were anything when compared to the third. I recognized this one from the press. These two guys must have had to travel all the way to the mountains to steal this.


    A hunched, bulging white-furred yeti loped its way into the barn, looked around, and snorted.


    The three of them all together against the two girls? And if the supers got involved that would get pretty dicey.


    It turned out I barely needed to worry, though. Rebecca leapt forward and spun on her toes, crashing her strengthened fist through the skull of the bone minion. Mia didn¡¯t even have to worry about it -- it was down for the count. She gripped her dagger tight and launched forward much faster than Rebecca had, slicing towards Sinker so that he backed off, and then spinning backwards to collide with the crab thing.


    She was unlucky enough to collide steel with a portion of shell, and the small knife ricocheted back, almost stunning Mia. The crab creature turned on her, all eight legs skittering madly so that the enormous swell of its main body could only barely move.


    Rebecca noted what was happening and decided to focus on the yeti. I had heard about these -- there was a summoner somewhere in the mountains who could pull one a year from an alternate universe and keep them under his control to protect his settlement. The dude must have been pissed when these two jokers turned up and took one.


    ¡°These all you have?¡± Mia asked breathlessly, landing a slice at the fleshy portion of crab meat. ¡°Kind of a shitty haul, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯ve been on the scene forever.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Hookline yelled. ¡°We have plenty more at home.¡±


    ¡°You guys share a house?¡± Rebecca piped up. Mia let out a cackle and slashed again. The crab let out a horrible hissing noise at the attack and reared up before lashing out with its pincers. I winced, but Mia bounced easily out of the way.


    Rebecca swung and hit the yeti once with her fist and it roared but didn¡¯t look hurt at all. Just annoyed. It lunged forward and swung with its own fist, but it was slow. Rebecca managed to dodge.


    ¡°D-Diamond,¡± Mia sputtered. ¡°Swap.¡±


    I appreciated the use of their code names, but Rebecca didn¡¯t know Mia¡¯s. Instead she just nodded and they darted past each other. Rebecca didn¡¯t waste any time socking the crab creature right in the pincer, shattering the already cracked pincer shell and causing bits of it to splinter and fall to the ground. Mia at the same time drove her dagger deep into the yeti¡¯s chest while it was busily lumbering after Rebecca -- a one-track mind.


    They swapped back once and Mia took advantage of the shattered shell to drive her dagger deep into the crab¡¯s core, while Rebecca beat the weakened yeti.


    All in all, it was ¡­ gorey. But it worked.


    I¡¯d summoned two women who worked well together, just as I¡¯d hoped. I would still need to optimize them so that Rebecca, Diamond, was more of a tank and Mia was more of a quick fighter who could do a lot of damage over time, but for now they were doing great.


    Panting, they turned back to the summoning pair.


    ¡°We can still get the girl, we only have a few minutes of a window left,¡± Hookline said, turning to his partner.


    ¡°You should reconsider,¡± Mia said, flipping the knife in her hand. ¡°She isn¡¯t a normal summoned creature. She still has all of her free will. And I¡¯m still here. Not to mention the rest of our crew. You bind her, the only thing that happens is that we kill you.¡±


    Hookline took a half step back. ¡°We¡¯re not supposed to be killing each other, it¡¯s the only reason the mayor lets us do this shit.¡±


    Mia stared him down. ¡°Stealing a human woman? That¡¯s not funny or cute. You flirt with slavery like that and yeah, maybe we¡¯ll flirt with murder.¡±


    The two supers looked at each other, frowning.


    ¡°You¡¯re crazy,¡± Sinker growled. ¡°And you destroyed my favorite.¡± He gestured at the yeti. ¡°This isn¡¯t over.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Mia said. ¡°It is.¡±


    They shook their heads and exited the barn together, with far less than they¡¯d arrived with.


    Mia and Rebecca lowered their weapons, looked at each other, and blew out a collective breath.


    I hopped over the haystack and shook my head in disbelief. ¡°You guys were incredible.¡±


    Mia shrugged. ¡°We worked with what we were given. Which, by the way, is hardly anything.¡± I agreed, to be honest.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get you guys the things you want,¡± I promised them. When the sound of whatever bike they¡¯d arrived in roared off into the distance, we left the barn and I glanced around to see that Frankie¡¯s car had reappeared at some point. Hopefully she hadn¡¯t heard anything from the other end of her land. Presumably not, or she¡¯d have come straight over to check it out.


    I had to go and propose something to her.


    I¡¯d decided that the best place to keep the girls was here with me, where I could give them the things they wanted at short notice, and they could stick with each other and bond.


    I¡¯d realized, watching Mia and Rebecca talk and defend each other -- one of the best ways to get their loyalty and to ensure they didn¡¯t leave as easily would be to make sure they made friends with each other, as well as with me.


    They couldn¡¯t both sleep in my bed tonight ¡­ could they? ... so I was going to have to get started on this idea I had with lodging.


    I grabbed Frankie in the kitchen of the farmhouse and ignored the knowing twinkle in her eyes while she tried hard to avoid asking me questions about Mia¡­


    She had been intending to repurpose the barn and the nearby unfinished stables into two little houses she could throw online and get guests for a mediocre rent. But she never had.


    I suggested to her that I would take care of that and be the landlord, and she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about any of it.


    ¡°And how are you going to pay for all the renovation?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I can do the basics for free. We can get furniture for free or cheap by shopping around,¡± I said, which wasn¡¯t a lie. ¡°Then I¡¯ll start charging guests hardly any money. Keep pouring all profits back into the guesthouses. Soon they¡¯ll be worth a bundle. A nice place like this, a short drive to the city center and a short drive to the beach? Fuck, Frankie, we¡¯ll be rich.¡± I grinned and she shrugged.


    It was only barely a lie. I would absolutely renovate them for her. I would keep earning money from freelance heroism and pouring that money into the sleeping quarters. It¡¯s just that I wouldn¡¯t be charging my Valkyries to live there. The money would come from elsewhere.


    And Frankie wouldn¡¯t be suspicious about people hanging out around here all the time.


    The plan to me seemed flawless.


    When it came to the time that the guesthouses were fully finished, I should be making more money anyway since I had a full roster of heroes and mercenaries at my disposal. I could just throw some earnings Frankie¡¯s way and call it her cut.


    When I was done talking, animatedly and really getting into the depths of this mostly-lie, she looked on at me, amused, and then nodded.


    ¡°Alright, Zander, I don¡¯t see a downside. But have this be a project in your spare time, OK? I don¡¯t want to see your online studying fall by the wayside and your work suffer because of this scheme.¡±


    Hmm. If only she knew.