Stepping over a piece of sun-dried rubble, Sami made his way deep into the Indus District of Hammerton all on his own. After having heard the news that the Underground headquarters had imploded on them, he felt like Indus would be a great spot to try out Freelance hero work. Criminals still stalked the streets, but he assumed they would be more disorganized without a central base of operations. Perfect for his first patrol.

  Regretfully, he didn’t bring his gallon of water with him, already feeling parched from regular monitoring. Every piece of rubble stuck out to him like a stalker in the dark corners, and he had one Shadow Hand hovering behind him, to give the impression that he was too powerful to be snuck up on. Not that his two Shadow Hands were a powerhouse exactly, but these days they held their own like a second set of arms. And they didn’t feel injuries, so he could wail on people much harder than with flesh and bone.

  Indus was a mess. Sprawling cityscape with about half the structures standing, and fewer of them totally whole. Windows were chipped, streets and pavement were uneven, reeking with a musky smell, and doors were boarded up. It was a wonder that people still lived in the district. But something resonated with him in the district, perhaps the fact he was born in a hospital on this side of town. Or perhaps the most impactful moment the city had ever seen.

  Coming to a sudden halt, Sami peered at a building two blocks down. Squinting his eyes, a melancholy wrapped over his heart as he figured out what was stuck to the first floor of a building. Firm, hardened clay had been shaped into cracks in the foundation, working to keep it stable.

  The work of Steve Ponder, one of the best Awakened people Sami knew before he was killed by the Underground a few weeks prior.

  Who would make those fixes now? The loudly advertised “We Will Rebuild” campaign? Sami doubted they would start with districts like this, more likely front-running the campaign with popular or expensive spots like repairing the door to the Steele Mill. Or, they would make it some weird, conditional help where you have to exchange your data for a modicum of assistance.

  Sami suddenly took in the area surrounding him and saw the immediate issues at a much more granular level. Upturned pavement. Scrap from long-destroyed vehicles. Stains on every street and sidewalk. Couldn’t he just… Fix this himself? Where HUE would be busy running the press junket to make sure they could operate above board, Sami could work as a concerned citizen and just pick up trash and clean it up. Literally, nothing was stopping him from making small improvements. And over time, those would add up.

  Day seeming to brighten, Sami felt like he got his first project for Freelance work. It wasn’t actually Freelance work since he wouldn’t be coming to anyone’s call, but he was certain he could make some connections with the people of Indus while asking about how to relieve some of their stress.

  He took another glance at the clay structural support. Is that exactly what Steve was doing in the background all that time? Working on building connections at a community level? Everyone had a role to play after becoming Awakened. Maybe Sami could find his here.

  Picking up a fist-sized piece of rubble with a Shadow Hand, he tossed it up and clasped it. Peering at it, inspiration molded into a clear idea. Clearing the streets could definitely help this place. And it would force him to reach all the different avenues of the district, meeting people and clearing up any criminals in the area. Grinning, he walked around with the rock in hand. It was one thing to pick debris off the street, but where was he supposed to take it? If there was already a designated space, he was certain people would have used it years ago.

  Checking out nearby dumpsters, all of them were overflowing and reeking with waste. Bags of trash surrounded each area, spilling far beyond the edges of the garbage. Closing his nose tight with two phantom fingers, Sami continued to search. All the spaces to collect trash were evidence of more cleaning to be done, definitely not the space to add more rubble.

  Crossing onto the next city block, Sami felt a little disheartened about his new plan. Sometimes being a teenager annoyed him because of the lack of knowledge it came with. If he were older, like Pinn, he might have a well-thought-out plan and a network to take action. He could always call his friends at HUE and see if they had ideas, but that felt like it defeated the purpose of going on his own.

  Footsteps scraped somewhere behind him, and Sami spun in place, on high alert for muggers. A young man of about his age was running with his head down and a bag tucked under one arm. A single red Power Sense Bubble floated along, as though tied with an invisible string a few feet above. Hoodie pulled over his head, and black goggles on his eyes, Sami prepared himself for a fight. No telling whether the guy was with EUE or the Underground.

  “Stop him! He stole my food!” A call came from around the corner.

  Squaring his stance, Sami stepped ahead of the young man with three fists held up. Raising his head to spot Sami, the black-goggled teen picked up his other arm.

  It started revving. Like a lawnmover? Or a chainsaw. Either way, probably not something he’d want to touch. But at least he knew what his power was now.

  Momentum steady, the young man glared at Sami, eyebrows low on his eyewear. “Move or get cut!”

  Chainsaw Kid it was. Twenty feet to contact. Sami grinned slightly, feeling his blood pumping already.

  With shoulder held high to bash and arm forward to slice, the criminal charged right for Sami. At the last second, Sami stretched out his Shadow Hand in a rapid fist, charging right for the face. Chainsaw Kid shifted his momentum and cut through the Shadow Hand with his humming arm, gradually slicing through like a hot knife in cold butter.

  While he was distracted with one limb, Sami procured his second Shadow Hand, grabbing an ankle and tugging hard, sending the goggled teen stumbling forward. Bowing low, Sami kicked out a leg and tripped him. Before his assailant face planted, he shifted to a practiced roll, ending up back on unsteady feet. Instead of looking back at Sami, he continued to race away.

  Quick to react, Sami shot out his Shadow Hand, stretching three times the length of a normal arm, and yanked the back of his goggles hard, rearing his head back and pulling him to a stop. At the same time, he chucked the piece of rubble, cracking him in the spine. Yelping in a mix of surprise and frustration, Chainsaw Kid dropped his bag of stolen goods and brought a second Chainsaw Hand into the battle, swiping blindly behind his head to cut the Shadow Hand.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Sami pulled even harder, and Chainsaw Kid lost balance and fell backward just as he cut off the Shadow Hand. By then, Sami made a new Shadow Hand and darted it out as he got closer to his opponent. Right as he hit the floor, Sami grabbed Chainsaw Kid’s elbow with a Shadow Hand and held his hand up to his chin, threatening him with his own chainsaw.

  “Give up?” Sami asked, standing over him.

  Chainsaw Kid glanced at his own hand revving under his neck and turned it off without a second thought. Sami then released his Shadow Hand from the kid’s elbow and snapped onto the wrist. Forcing with a twist of the dark hand, he placed the chainsaw arm on the owner’s neck, ensuring he couldn’t turn it back on. Unfortunately, he had two hands. The second Chainsaw Hand cut through the Shadow Hand and he rolled to a kneel.

  Sami assessed him as his second Shadow Hand sprouted out. The best move was to keep him down, especially his arms. As Chainsaw Kid snapped to his feet, Sami’s Shadow Hands snapped forward and plucked his legs out from under him, tossing him back again, this time hitting the ground with a thud. When Chainsaw Hands tried to cut him free, Sami stepped on his shins and used his Shadow Hands to push the Chainsaw Hands into one another. With a wild scream, Chainsaw Kid turned off his power, wincing with eyes screwed shut.

  So the Chainsaw Hands hurt one another. Easy, Sami pinned them together and stood with a foot on his stomach.

  “Resist and… I’ll kick you?”

  “Are you asking me or telling me?”

  Sami kicked him in the side and the criminal bowled over, groaning. Hopefully acting like a wild card would get him to give up easier. Except… Now what was he supposed to do with him? HUE usually handled criminals with their connections to the police, according to what he heard from Gan Wen. Was he supposed to do something similar?

  As he thought it over, another civilian came into view, looking completely out of breath and pointing to the stolen bag. While he may have been a tall man, a deep hunch in his back kept his gray-haired head at Sami’s shoulder height.

  “Don’t move.” Sami warned Chainsaw Kid.

  “Please let me go! I’ll pay! Thousands!”

  Sami kicked him again.

  “Thank you!” the man said gratefully, grunting as he picked up the bag and looking through its contents. “Stupid kid cracked my eggs, but everything else looks to be in order. I thought I lost this month’s food, but you really came through. Anything I can do to repay you? Other than money, I don’t got any of that.”

  Sami looked at the small bag, looking like it couldn’t have weighed more than five pounds at most. Food for the month? Pretty slim.

  “You can spread the word that Sami Raheem is around Indus if you need help. Feel free to call.” Sami offered him an index card with his number scribbled on it. “Any idea what I do with him though?”

  “Ehh, you can kill him here. Wouldn’t be the worst thing this street’s seen.”

  “No!” The goggled teen struggled against the shadow restraints, and Sami kicked him again.

  “No, I’m not gonna kill him.”

  “You’re not? Then what are you gonna do with him?”

  “I just meant who should I call to put him in jail.” Spinning his phone from his pocket, Sami judged between calling HUE or law enforcement for cleanup.

  “Jail? You think a cell is gonna hold someone with a blade-saw for hands?”

  Sami frowned as he glanced at the bound teenager, his face turned away from Sami as he groaned. Jutting his jaw side to side, Sami thought it over. The old man was right, a jail cell wouldn’t hold. In fact, he could probably break everyone out along with him. He dialed HUE’s number, and hovered over the call button, hesitating. This kind of situation was exactly why the top member of HUE, Apex, went crazy trying to get an Antiserum to shut off powers. It was difficult to manage people who couldn’t be reliably imprisoned.

  Even then, Sami couldn’t imagine killing someone his age for stealing a bag of groceries. There had to be another way out.

  The old man spat over the criminal. “Whatever you do, make sure he doesn’t come back this way, y’hear?”

  “I’ll do my best,” Sami promised.

  “Make sure your best is good enough,” he said curtly.

  As the man turned and limped his way home, Sami finally hit the call button. After two rings, HUE’s secretary Lilly picked up on the other end.

  “Hero Unification Entity. Can HUE be there for you?”

  Sami smiled. “Is that how you always answer calls? It’s a nice rhyme.”

  “Oh. Sami,” Lilly said, her customer service voice trading for disappointment.

  Sami felt a bitter sting in his gut. Were people at HUE that upset about him quitting?

  “Is this a bad time?”

  “No, you’re fine.” Lilly sighed. “It’s just we haven’t gotten any calls for deployments since the Slattery hit piece. I was hoping we finally got past that. What’s up?”

  “I just captured someone from the Underground down in Indus. Can you send a crew to help detain him?”

  “There’s no more Underground,” the detainee claimed. Sami ignored him.

  “You said he’s already captured? What more detainment is there to do?”

  “I meant like shuttling him to jail from here.”

  “We’re not the police, we can’t legally do anything beyond a good samaritan move, and even then we stretch that law pretty thin. You gotta call the cops.”

  “His hands cut through stuff like chainsaws. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could grind through a cell.”

  “I wouldn’t!” The criminal chimed in.

  “Dude. One more word and I swear I’ll kick you again.”

  His mouth clamped shut quickly.

  “It’s not really our problem if he can break out,” Lilly said. “Sorry, no, that came out wrong. It’s everyone’s problem, but we can’t really do anything but trust the police to have measures to hold the Awakened. Unless we get more leeway, that’s your only option.”

  Sighing through his nose, Sami looked out across Indus, wondering if the reason it remained in such disarray years later was because it wasn’t guaranteed criminals would ever be off the streets.

  “Thanks Lilly.”

  “You should come visit. People around here… We really miss you,” Lilly said.

  “I’m planning on it eventually. I just need to establish myself first.”

  “Getting someone from the Underground so soon will probably help with that.”

  “Hopefully. See you around.”

  “See ya.”

  Hanging up, Sami’s eyes lingered on a distant feature of Indus several blocks away, but still clearly visible. The blast zone of the Silent Scream. Before calling the police, he squinted at it, his earlier plan forming a path to conclusion. Twelve years later, and no one touched the area, thinking the air was poisoned, or cursed. Sami himself had avoided the area, but more from the bad memories of his lost family than superstition. But now it looked something like an opportunity.

  Maybe trash was out of the question, but what if he cleared all the rubble in Indus, and placed it in the empty hole? Could it count as cleaning up the district if he just moved material from one abandoned area to another?

  “Are you thinking about letting me go? I promise I’ll be good.”

  Sami sputtered, annoyed. “You ruined my train of thought. Obviously I’m not letting you go! No talking while I call the cops.”