Half an hour after leaving the superhero evaluation center, Lester had made it to Mark's place and now stood at the door which led out. He was ready to leave with a mostly empty backpack and the clothes he wore.

  There with him were his two friends Mark and Flynn. Lester knew he would not see them again, at least not for a while, and he took a good look at them. They both were dressed in their civilian clothes. Mark a bit stubby guy, and Flynn an average-built young man. Neither looked like an ideal superhero. But they had been with him for over two years, mostly patrolling the mall and doing other small jobs, dressed in their costumes. They had been the closest friends he'd had since he'd left home to become a superhero in Recalm City. He had always been able to count on them. But things, finally, had come to an end.

  Flynn took out two sandwiches, which were in a plastic wrapper. Lester looked at the two pieces, each with two slices of bread, and between them ham, cheese, mayo, peanut butter, and egg. They were exactly like the one he'd gotten a month ago from Flynn. That sandwich had saved his life and also almost killed him.

  Lester smiled as he took the sandwiches. "Thanks, these are the best."

  Flynn let out a short laugh. "I know they are."

  Mark said, "We don't know what to do without you."

  Lester knew there was a hint of truth in his friend's words. They desperately needed a third person, or they would lose the mall-job, which was their primary source of income as superheroes.

  "I'm sure you'll figure things out," Lester said.

  Mark took out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it to Lester. Mark said, "Safe travels."

  "I'll pay you back. I promise," Lester said, but he knew he might not have a chance, at least not for some time. He would have to lay low, and that meant not being in contact with his former colleagues. It was the logical thing to do now that he was certain that Doctor Nastybrain was actually after him.

  Lester glanced at the door behind him, thinking that it was time to leave. If he would stay, he would likely put Mark and Flynn in danger with him.

  "It's goodbye then," Lester said.

  "Come here," Mark said and threw his arms around Lester in a hug. Flynn, with a smile on his face, joined in, and there they hugged each other for a moment.

  ***

  The Recalm City train station was a dome-shaped building. Inside there were several counters where you could buy tickets and some small shops that were a bit on the expensive side. There were also the escalators that went down deep below where the underground trains left.

  At the moment, Lester stood in the middle of the train station, with a ticket to New Helsinki in hand. New Helsinki had been the only destination he had been able to afford with the twenty dollars Mark had given him.

  Text appeared in his vision.

  Quest update, Escape Recalm City: The award is 1 point if you use the train to escape the city.

  Lester wondered if he should have taken another route. These points were really useful. They made him stronger and better in many ways. But the only other method of escaping, affordable for him, was through the wilderness, and even with his new superpowers, he likely would not survive the trip. And one point was still something. For just one train trip, it was indeed a big reward.

  The text went away, and Lester shrugged and stepped onto the escalator heading down to the train tracks.

  As he descended, Lester glanced back, noticing a boy quickly turning away. The boy was around fifteen. He was dressed in black leather and had a blue mohawk hairstyle. After a while, Lester glanced back again, seeing the teenager turn away again, this time the boy was talking to his phone while spying on him. There was definitely a likelihood the kid was one of the small-time villains after the bounty on his head.

  Quest update, Escape Recalm City: The award is now 2 points if you use the train to escape the city.

  It seemed like the Henchman Interface also agreed with his assessment, which kinda had a silver lining since he would now get two points for his train trip. Also, if nothing happened, he would know that the AI in his head didn't actually know much of anything.

  As he finally got to the bottom of the escalator, Lester looked at the estimated arrival time of the train. It was in twenty minutes.

  There were two tracks on opposite sides of the platform. This was the place where most people came to and left from Recalm City on the zigzagging train track, which brought together tens of cities in the Euramerican continent.

  He went on further down the platform, where a lot of people were already gathered, intending to leave the city.

  Lester went on further along the platform, stopped behind a column, and started waiting. He stood there, glancing occasionally at the estimated arrival time.

  Five minutes left, Lester heard a commotion coming near the escalators. He looked back, seeing a group dressed in black leather outfits. They were checking everyone's faces, pushing people around. One of them was the kid with the blue mohawk. This did not bode well. They would reach him before the train arrived.

  Lester looked around, noticing two superheroes, a man and a woman, both dressed in blue armor, which covered everything but their heads. The two seemed to have noticed the group of people causing the trouble and were already going to meet them.

  The superheroes stopped before the leather-clad guys and the two groups started talking. Lester saw one of the leather guys show something to the heroes, and the heroes just went away, letting the probable villains go on with their business. There were, he knew, instances where the superheroes would let villains disturb the peace without interfering. This was definitely not one of them. The power rankings of the leather guys couldn't be high enough for the heroes to just give up. And there certainly wasn't any big monster loose down here, which would justify a peace.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Lester was hit by a realization.

  No way. It can't be.

  He kinda was an escaping experiment, and sometimes these experiments were indeed monsters. And in some technical sense, he might have been considered a monster here.

  Shit.

  The villains continued checking people and making everyone nervous, but there was no panic, and, apart from some scowls, the group was left to do their business.

  Now, as they approached, Lester had a better look at the villains. There were four of them, and they were all dressed in black leather jackets and pants. One of them was that kid with the mohawk. One was a young woman with a bald cylinder-shaped head with no eyebrows. One was a young man with a big lion-like mane, and his canine teeth were large and clearly visible. The last one was also in his teens. A boy holding some kind of a weapon. It looked like a tinker-made weapon with coils around the barrel and a cable running to the guy's backpack, where presumably was the power source for the weapon.

  They finally got where he was, and the mohawk boy pointed at Lester and said, "Looks a bit like the guy in the picture, though a bit less skinny."

  "Yeah, the tracker is definitely pointing at him," the lion guy said while holding, in his hand, a small phone-shaped device with antennas.

  Lester realized what the words meant. There was a tracker. And it was inside his body.

  The lion guy pocketed the device and took out a collapsible stun stick from within his jacket. The others, except the guy with the tinker gun, did the same, taking out sticks and testing them, sending out sparks from the tips.

  Text appeared again in Lester's vision.

  Quest update, Escape Recalm City: The award is now 3 points if you use the train to escape the city.

  Three points. But fulfilling the mission now would be impossible. There were four armed thugs. Also, at least two, by the looks of them, had some kind of powers. Realistically, he wouldn't have a chance against them. And on top of that, the train was still two minutes away. He would have to somehow stall.

  "Excuse me," Lester said, "I'm just waiting for the train here. Who are you guys, and what's this about?"

  The lion guy—probably the leader—spoke, "We're the Dark Blight, and this is about ten thousand dollars."

  Ten thousand dollars, Lester thought. Working for villains can't possibly pay that well.

  "If you come willingly," the lion guy said, "I promise we'll go easy on you."

  "Really easy," the cylinder-head woman said while she let out some sparks from her stun stick and smiled. Her teeth were silver.

  "Wait," Lester lifted his hands in a calming gesture. "Before we start, I want to know one thing."

  The gang stopped.

  Lester continued, "You mentioned ten thousand dollars. Was that really the price on my head?"

  "Yeah, and a quarter of that is mine," the kid with the tinker gun said, having been silent the whole time. Now he aimed the gun at Lester.

  "Damn," Lester said as he dropped to the floor, avoiding the lightning that blasted out from the tinker gun and into the cave wall behind him.

  "Fuck, he dodged," the kid with the gun screamed, and the others sprang toward Lester, who was now prone on the ground.

  Instead of rising up, Lester, using his new strength, threw himself to the side, off the platform, and onto the train tracks. He landed on his feet and started running along the tracks, toward the escalators leading up and out.

  While he was running, Lester glanced around, surveying the situation, and he noticed three things. Firstly, after the explosion of lightning, the hundred or so other people on the platform were panicking, most of them trying to, same as him, get to the escalators. Secondly, the villains were now on his tail, sprinting in their black leather pants. The lion guy, likely having physical powers, was the closest to him, running also on the train track. The other villains were still on the platform, trying to get through the panicking people. And lastly, there was the train, which was now approaching. If the villains had only been a couple of minutes late, he would have soon been able to board the train and he would have then been safely on his way to New Helsinki.

  Heart beating, lungs puffing, Lester ran as fast as he could. Then, just as he was about to be hit by the train, he jumped off the rails, back onto the platform, and into the crowd of people. As he pushed through the crowd, he heard a roar from behind him. It was quickly followed by painful screams from the people behind. Lester glanced back and saw the Lion guy getting closer as he violently made room to get through the crowd. The guy would most likely catch him if he didn't do something, and the people in front of him were packed tightly, preventing him from going forward. But there was one advantage he had. He was still really thin, weighing less than forty kilos.

  Lester jumped up and landed on top of the crowd, distributing his weight equally among his hands and feet. Like a spider, he skittered over the crowd, leaving the villains behind him.

  "Shoot the fucker," Lester heard the voice behind him and dove to the right, barely avoiding another blast of lightning, which hit the crowd, sending people spasming around.

  Lester noted the suffering civilians. A real superhero would have done something about the situation.

  Good thing I'm not a superhero anymore.

  Lester kept on skittering on top of the people, in the process, knocking down some unfortunate civilians, as he scrambled on further and further away from his pursuers.

  As he went, Lester noticed that the blue-armored supers who had previously decided to stay out of the fight were now approaching the gang, seemingly not happy about the commotion.

  Lester reached the front of the crowd and started sprinting up the escalator, leaving the villains behind to face the heroes.

  ***

  After getting out of the train station, Lester had run around aimlessly for a while. And then he'd decided to hide in the dark sewers of Recalm City. And now there, only illuminated by his cellphone, Lester stood in knee deep water and thought about his situation. He had a tracker somewhere in his body. And as long as it was there, he would have to be moving. Being underground might distract his pursuers for a while, but they would eventually figure out where he was.

  Also, he really didn't want to go back to Mark and Flynn. That would only put his friends in danger. These villains who were after him were definitely a rank or two higher than his friends.

  Lester thought of calling Mom and Dad. But there was that one thing that Dad had said when Lester had left to become a superhero. It went like this, "Boy, if you really want to be an idiot, go ahead and be one. But remember, when you get into trouble, do not bring that trouble with you to this doorstep." His parents were really conservative about superhero stuff, still thinking that justice should be handled by some fascist group known as the police. It might be better if he didn't inform them about his current situation. He might only get a told-you-so in response.

  Lester watched as a long worm, on the surface of the water, wiggled past him. He couldn't hide in the sewers forever. He would have to leave the city. And now that he no longer had a train ticket or any money to buy another, there was only one option left. He would have to go above ground and risk the wilderness.

  Quest update, Escape Recalm City: Award is 5 points if you escape on foot to the nearest city. As an additional award, the tracking device in your head will be disabled.

  Lester noted the part about the tracking device. It seemed the Henchman Interface could have disabled it at any point.

  What the fuck?