Page 64 (1/2)

The humans turn sixteen years old and call it a Sweet Sixteen I call it Villain Ass-kicking Day There will be no strea the day I turn sixteen, and there sure as hell won’t be any frosting-covered cupcakes But I wouldn’t have it any other way

I pull the covers up over et comfortable in my bed Now that I’m officially sixteen, my power is fully developed I twistthe power reverberate through them as chills prickle down my neck

What if it doesn’t work? What if I’oes off and I can’t reht?

I shake ineered Earth Positioning Receiver strapped toThey are a part of me; a part of every member of the Super race Oh, and it’s one-fifteen in thesixty seconds after I last checked the time on my borrowed BEEPR

With a groan, I roll toin h the Grand Canyon paint a familiar picture on my wall I don’t kno the examiners expect me to sleep on my birthday This is the day I’ve trained forsecret, then et some sleep

Blurry i bits of drearasp the an all-fae I’ve waited sixteen years to see

HERO MISSION RECEIVED

I’m on my feet two seconds later, h h my body faster than the blood in ers and toes It isn’t fear that pulses through me It’s confidence

I twist the borrowed BEEPR around my wrist so I can viewwith it will cost precious seconds, but I only have to put up with this one time After today, I’ll have my own BEEPR

After today, life will be perfect

My footsteps echo off the sh tunnel after tunnel, following the BEEPR’s instructions until the blue dot turns green I kick through the tall steel door in front ofto see the Atrium Built into the side of the Grand Canyon, the Atriuround corridors all come to a stop

Soround; the main corridor to the Atrium has polished limestone walls to the left and a sharp three-hundred-foot drop to the right, enclosed with a wall of glass It’s a gorgeous view and I’ve grown uptrips to the Atrium with Dad and Max But this isn’t it

This is a … carnival?

Words flash across the BEEPR and I commit them to memory My first mission is to save one huh er flesh and bone, but pure adrenaline These two bastards ish they’d never turned evil when I’m done with them

My boots step cautiously on the gravel as I survey s I’ahts and colorful painted signs Gigantic stuffed teddy bears sway in the gentle breeze, their stitched-on s anxiously to be won and taken home Tacky music plays so but creepy when I’m the only person around

Sixteen years of Hero-training philosophies, rules, and even my own Hero daydrea carnival with zero visitors and not a carnie in sight This is a set up

“Show yourself,” I say, stopping in front of a booth with balloons taped on a dartboard My voice is strong and unwavering; exactly the way a Hero’s voice should be

He doesn’t y dance upthat he’s close I cross my wrists in front of each other and retrieve two black hooks Once activated, their chemical components willlike glass Any unnecessary movement and you’re dead I need to make this count

“I said show yourself, coward” I turn rip the hooks patiently, not wanting to release them until the perfect moment

“That’s no way to talk to your elder” He steps out froht’ above it in blinking lights The tinize him as Bammer, the world’s most pathetic villain who typically picks on ho my hooks

They shoot through the air with a thwoop Each hook wraps around his wrists, their fullonto the power in his veins and bringing hiroan, fronetic force or because his head bashes into the ground when he crumples

I walk up to hie when I scan it over his body, sending word back to Central that there’s a rogue Super ready for punishment Well That was easy

A satisfied laugh escapes ed my first villain in under sixty seconds It’s as if I’ve been doing this my whole life

Time to capture the second one

Sensing no other power in a in circles or flipping over and over, despite having no riders in the restraints The clanking of ears sendslull of each ride