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fighting crime, reeling in bad guys, and saving humans from natural disasters. I wouldn’t marry because I wouldn’t have time for it. I wouldn’t have children because I don’t want the risk of having twins. But I would be a Hero, the world’s greatest Hero, and none of that stuff would matter.
    My dream doesn’t have to be over. I can catch this intruder and win my Hero status. They won’t be able to deny me once I’ve saved the entire city from an internal villain attack. Such a thing has never happened.
    And it will never happen.
    I close my eyes and allow my ears to absorb everything around me. The steady flow of wind as it sweeps across the sky and crashes into the canyon. Water trickling through the river hundreds of feet below. There’s the sound of one heartbeat and one set of lungs inhaling and exhaling. Those are mine.
    With precision steps, I move right since it has the worst line of sight. To my left, the canyon dips inward and I can see along the trail for a mile or so. It’s as empty as my Hero record. The left, however, is only visible for thirty yards before the pathway juts out with the mountainside and turns sharply around a corner. That’s my best bet.
    Several moments pass as I near the corner. I breathe slowly, reducing my heart rate. I suck in my power so that nothing discernible radiates from my chest. The sun has long since dipped below the horizon but the abundance of stars casts a glow on the sharp rocky wall in front of me.
    Two fingers wrap around the corner’s edge and disappear.
    I take several steps back and leap into the air, grabbing ahold of a small ledge. My body dangles as I shimmy along the edge, only my fingers making contact with the mountainside. Several minutes pass as I climb and work my way up the massive wall until I’m about fifty feet higher than the pathway and right on the corner where the fingers were.
    My left arm drops as I dangle from my right hand, swaying my body enough to get a view around the corner. Someone in a solid black bodysuit presses against the wall, keeping a lookout every way but up.
    Typical villain idiocy.
    He whispers something into a communication device on his wrist and then peeks around the corner and relays another hushed message. I glance back and almost miss it at first. But as I narrow my eyes, I see another figure approaching from about a mile away.
    Perfect timing, second villain. You’ll arrive just in time to see your friend unconscious. But don’t worry, you’ll soon join him.
    I return both hands to the wall, press my feet against it, and push off. For a brief moment I fly through the air and a rush of adrenaline, sweet sweet adrenaline, pours through my body. I release the hold on my power moments before I land, sending a shockwave of currents outward which makes my victim turn around in shock.
    “What the— oomph ,” he groans as I land on his shoulders like we’re playing volleyball in a swimming pool. Sucks for him that this isn’t a game.
    I lock my feet under his armpits as he pulls at my legs. Grabbing the rocky ledge, I swing my legs, shoving him face first into the wall. His nose breaks but it’ll heal soon so I slam him again, and again, each time breaking it just as it heals. He cries out in pain and drops to his knees.
    I throw my head back and somersault off him, landing with my back against the pathway wall. “Get up,” I hiss as he sits on his knees, his hands pressed against his face while his nose heals. Blood seeps through the cracks in his fingers. “Get up.” I kick the ground, hoping to startle him into standing. “Don’t you want to use your power one last time before it gets ripped out of your veins?”
    He says something in a hushed voice as he turns to face me. I must have misheard him. “What?”
    “Go home,” he repeats. It isn’t a threat or a warning. It’s an order.
    “How dare you tell me what to do?” As quick as a flash of lightening, I slap my hand across his face and slam his