At the institute, a loud ruckus could be heard from the senior class.
"Look at Mystica holding up all that rubble with her boost. She is so cool!" one of the students shouted.
"And fashionable!" another girl added.
The students had turned the learning monitor into a TV to watch a broadcast that was happening live. The HDF was on the scene, trying to stop a rogue boost user who was terrorizing the inner city.
"Folks, this might be the most powerful enemy the HDF has faced to date!" the reporter shouted into the mic.
The person they were fighting appeared to have an earth-manipulating boost and had formed armor around his body, making him look like a walking Golem. He towered above the streets, crushing the ground beneath him.
"Dude, you need to evacuate the area," a man in a slim suit told a nearby civilian.
The students watching screamed, "Countdown!"
"Countdown, have you evacuated all the people in the area?" a voice asked through his comm.
Standing tall and calm, Valiant fixed his gloves and got ready for action.
"That was the last one," he said as he zipped the journalist to a safe location.
The journalist looked annoyed since she couldn't get a good view of the action.
"Dan, use your boost so I can see what's happening," she told her cameraman.
Dan held her hand. Her eyes glowed with a faint blue light.
"That's better," she said.
Dan's boost activated—he gained the ability to see from a distance and even through obstacles. The heroes were deep in battle.
Two more figures arrived on the scene: a woman in a long, flowing light-blue dress, and a man with white, angelic wings.
"You two sure took your time," Countdown smirked.
"An entrance needs to be memorable," the woman replied with a smile. "Something you wouldn't understand." She raised her hands, pulling every drop of water from nearby burst pipes into the air, forming a massive swirling sphere.
With a flick of her finger, the water sphere slammed into the Golem—SPLASH!
"You can do your thing now, Valiant," she said, flicking her hair back.
"With pleasure, Siphon," Valiant replied from high in the sky. He was being carried by the winged man.
"Okay, Seraph—let's do this!" Valiant shouted.
Seraph flew higher and then released Valiant. He plummeted toward the earth, smashing his fists together. The tattoo on his hand glowed brighter.
"BULL RUSH!" he roared as he thrust his glowing fist downward. Air resistance heated his punch—his descent looked like a falling star.
SMASH!
He collided with the Golem, shattering the armor. Concrete and stone exploded outward.
Mystica, acting fast, snatched the enemy out of the rubble just before Valiant's fist could harm him. With her other hand, she created a barrier to shield the surrounding area from flying debris.
Seraph flew to the other side and used his wings to guide loose rubble into the barrier.
"And that's how it's done," Valiant said as he rose from the crater.
"Nice work, team."
The students watching back at the academy erupted.
"That's my dad!" Mark shouted.
"That was so cool!" Lenny added.
"Mystica was the most useful!" Siri yelled.
Back at the battle scene—
"Would be nicer if I didn't have to clean up after you," Mystica said.
Valiant smiled. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'll do better next time."
The rest of the team chuckled.
Mystica handed the rogue boost user to the containment unit that had arrived.
"I'm just saying... we should look for less flashy, more controlled ways to handle these situations. We're doing just as much damage as the people we're stopping," she said, pointing at the crater Valiant had made.
"That would be a problem if we weren't living in a utopia," Seraph said. "It'll be fixed by tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, don't worry about it, Mom," Siphon added.
"Okay, HDF—move out," Valiant ordered.
The journalist from earlier came running toward the heroes.
"Mr. Valiant! Mr. Valiant, sir—would you like to comment on the increase in intensity of rogue boost users that have been showing up lately?" she asked, pointing a mic at him.
"That's a question for the scientists at the lab, ma'am. Our job is to protect the city—and the world—from these threats," he replied.
"Mr. Valiant, sir... we have information that your son has gained a boost similar to yours. Some people are saying you had a hand in making this happen. Is this true?"
Valiant's face grew more serious.
"Yes, my son did get a boost similar to mine—and I'm very proud of that. But me having a hand in that? Those are just rumors. We all know the binding system is random."
"Now, if you'll excuse me—I have places to be," he said, handing back the mic.
The journalist turned back to the camera, putting on her signature news smile.
"Well, you heard it here first, folks! That's all from me in the field—back to the studio."
The broadcast cut back to the studio. The students immediately lost interest.
"Can't wait to be out there punching bad guys!" Delis shouted, throwing air punches.
Mark laughed. "Well, I'll be out there sooner rather than later. But I don't think a scrawny kid like you will make it."
Delis turned, looking for Ulim to back him up. He found him—sleeping.
Delis walked over.
"Let me guess—someone stayed up watching that dinosaur show again," he said, shaking his friend awake.
"Something like that," Ulim mumbled, slowly waking up.
"I had this weird dream... it felt so real," he said, rubbing his neck.
"Well, you looked pretty peaceful just now. Probably stress from yesterday. I mean, seeing Mark's ugly face get powers would give anyone nightmares."
Ulim laughed. "You're probably right. And... I didn't have the dream just now."
The door to the class opened. Mr. Port stood there, arms crossed and clearly disappointed.
"Using the school monitor for personal entertainment and making a ruckus? Just because you're graduating next week doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want."
"But sir," Calliope interjected, "we were just gathering information about a possible career path we might choose."
"And seeing how cool it is to be a superhero," Delis added.
"But was the noise necessary?" Mr. Port asked.
The class went silent.
At Infiniverse Labs
"Sir, we've done multiple checks on the Unicollider and repeated them several times, but we still can't explain the incident," a scientist said.
Dr. Mathers paced back and forth.
"Then what was that dark energy? And why can't we detect it anymore? A massive energy burst like that doesn't just disappear—it's impossible."
"Check the surveillance cameras during the hours of the incident. Maybe someone tampered with the Unicollider. As impossible as that sounds, we have to rule out nothing. Until we find an explanation or we have no right to call ourselves scientists."
Dr. Mathers left the Binding Department and went to his office. He sat down and thought about the Unicollider situation. On his monitor, a news report showed Valiant from earlier that day.
"You and Oken are at fault for my current situation," he muttered. "You both tried to play God with things we didn't yet understand. And now... we may all suffer the consequences."
Back at ulim's room
Ulim lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I guess I'll have to do something once I graduate from the Academy," he thought. "Best I can hope for is to get a boost with high intensity so I can get a decent job. Or, if I'm lucky, maybe even a hero-level boost. Yeah right." He smiled.
"I guess I'll see what the future holds next week. Locksmithing doesn't sound so bad—Dad makes a decent living."
Meanwhile at Infiniverse Labs
A scientist ran toward Dr. Mathers' office, nearly out of breath.
"Dr. Mathers—you have to see this!"
"Can it wait until tomorrow? My workday is done," Mathers replied, clearly exhausted.
"It's important, sir," the scientist insisted, handing him a tablet.
"We did a clean sweep of the surveillance footage like you suggested. And we found this... during the student visit."
Mathers' eyes widened.
"Good God… we need to get in contact with this kid immediately."
He stared at the screen—shockeed